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September 15, 2006
Anne-Brigitte Sirois, Director of Real Estate Development for the Arts, Lerner Group, New York City, 9-15-06
In 1995, Anne-Brigitte Sirois joined the Lerner Group, Inc., a commercial real estate firm in New York City. As Director of Real Estate Development for the Arts, Anne-Brigitte initiated an ongoing project to market the then-isolated area of Chelsea West to a group of influential art galleries located in SoHo. She formally advocated the creation of a new art gallery community in that area. Chelsea West offered more affordable spaces and a potentially fresh alternative to the fatigued post-nineties Soho art scene.
Twelve months later, her efforts culminated in the first conversion of a large storage warehouse located on West 20th Street into an art gallery building. It provided 110,000 square feet of gallery space and caused the art gallery population of Chelsea West to grow from six to 30 galleries during 1996. Today, Chelsea is home to almost 300 art galleries and hosts a vital scene for contemporary art in New York City.
Between 1996 and 2006, Anne-Brigitte has directly represented transactions totaling a value of over $250 million on behalf of various art organizations in the Chelsea district. She is currently writing a book telling the story of the Chelsea art gallery district, and remains actively involved with Chelsea’s future development phase.
Anne-Brigitte received her M.F.A. from Pratt Institute.
Posted by David Lemberg at September 15, 2006 05:02 PM Return to ARTSCAPE home page