Another element was added to developer Martin Ginsburg’s City Square project in downtown White Plains Thursday evening with the formal opening of an art gallery on the ground floor of 1 Martine Ave., a 14-story former office building that has been transformed into a 188-unit apartment building.
The One Martine Gallery is intended not only to serve as a retail location for contemporary artworks but also as an amenity for the building’s residents by providing a 2,700-square-foot space in which to enjoy the items displayed for sale.
The gallery’s director is Walker Manzke, a Westchester resident who had been looking for a location at which to open a gallery.
“People are hungry for things to do; they want to get back to normal and going to an art gallery is something to do and it also creates excitement in the area,” Manzke told the Business Journal. “It helps create a buzz in the community.”
Manzke said that they’re showing a wide variety of different levels of artists, from emerging to established, in styles ranging from original abstract expressionism to pop contemporary and urban street art as well as prints and other affordable pieces.
“We have things priced from $450 to up to $10,000,” Manzke said. “People are always looking for original art.”
Manske said that he studied art history in college.
“I used to be in the finance business and then I relied on my art history degree. Just being in the arts is way more fun,” he said.
Ginsburg said that in converting the building from office to residential they found that the design of many of the units resulted in large spaces being created that are perfect for the display of artworks. He noted that the apartments also feature 11-foot ceilings, providing plenty of vertical space for larger art.
“We have been working and incorporating art and sculpture into almost all of our developments but this was a unique opportunity to incorporate it directly into apartments and set them up so that a lot of the apartments actually have galleries with track lighting,” Ginsburg told the Business Journal. “It’s really introducing not only in the lobbies and the public spaces but actually carrying art into the tenants’ apartments.”
Ginsburg said that tenants are given credits at the gallery toward the cost of buying artwork for their apartments.
The gallery is accessible from both inside the building and Martine Avenue, and is part of Ginsburg’s plans to add more pedestrian-friendly retail features to the City Square complex.
The gallery will be followed in the next few months by a French bistro on the ground floor of the 50 Main St. building. And, consistent with Ginsburg’s use of art in his developments, a new sculpture for the front of 50 Main is planned to be delivered and hoisted into place as early as this weekend.
