Galapagos Moves: Williamsburg Dying?

Today, the NY Times did a feature on Galapagos Art Space that confirms the pioneering space will be moving to Dumbo.

With this move to Dumbo, its hard not to think of this as the beginning of the end for Williamsburg. 5 years ago, it made sense to move to Billyburg; everyone you knew was there, the restaurants were many, but there was still a "starving artist" culture in the air that isn't there anymore. Last week, I was up on a roof in Williamsburg, and the most glaring thing to me was the insane number of condos going up everywhere.

“We’re doubling our size and halving our rent,” said Robert Elmes, who started Galapagos in 1995, when it opened in fits and starts on North Sixth Street, which at the time was notable mainly for the rancid smell of nearby meat-processing plants.

But Williamsburg has changed a bit in the intervening years. It has long since become an established, even respectable neighborhood of fashionable restaurants and expensive condos. The rent increases have followed.

The monthly rent for the Galapagos space had increased to $10,000 a month in December 2005, Mr. Elmes said, and the landlords were asking for a 30 percent increase next month.

Anyway, Galapagos will be continuing with their regular schedule until June 17th, at which point it is unclear what their plans will be. Go to Burlesque Mondays while you can!