The battle for Midway Studios in Fort Point apparently has a victor: The Phoenix's Eugenia Williamson is reporting that the military helmet manufacturer, Ops-Core, which is at presumably protective loggerheads with most of the building's tenants, has decided to move out. In a half-shell: The tenants did not like that the manufacturer took up the complex's prime theater space. The decision ends a standoff that has its origins in 2005, when Midway Studios opened via the Boston Redevelopment Authority as an affordable haven for artists who might one day buy the spaces they could rent on the (relative) cheap.
That day grew ever more distant, and seemed to go poof in the ether until the head of the military helmet concern blasted a Feb. 14 email to the tenants upset at his leasing of the theater space, calling them "posers" and "drama queens," and prompting unity amongst the tenants and a boisterous public meeting. The tenants met again on Wednesday night. Per Williamson:
About a hundred people gathered in a hot room at 10 Channel Center. Despite the heat, the mood was far lighter than that of the last BRA-sponsored meeting. It became lighter still when the BRA's chief planner, Kairos Shen, announced that Ops-Core had agreed to leave the space after a 45-day adjustment period. The Midway residents assembled met his announcement with applause. Shen returned the favor by thanking them for alerting the BRA to the conflict. Lest you think it's all smiles and sunshine for the tenants, the wife of the head of Ops-Core was at the same meeting and explained away her husband's Valentine's Day message as the product of stress. The tenants applauded her.
· In Fort Point, Defense Contractor Forced Out of Development Set Aside for Artists [Phoenix]
· Art of the Deal: Of 'Posers' and 'Drama Queens' in Fort Point [Curbed Boston]