The Bentley Projects, a downtown Phoenix art gallery, was recently repurposed into a remodeled multi-purpose event space–the art gallery remains, but was downsized by 27,000 square feet.
“We still have almost 13,000 feet [of the gallery operated facility] so I don’t think we’re small,” Bentley Calverley, owner of the Bentley Projects and gallery, said. “This has changed with the art business going online, smaller work, and we have rented the space out for ten years.”
In this remodel, they primarily focused on increasing the number of bathrooms in the event space, she said.
“When we’re finished we will have 22 bathroom facilities, which will allow us to accommodate larger gatherings than we’ve had in the past,” co-owner David Calverley said. “Our certificate of occupancy would be, approximately, 1,400 people with the increase of the bathrooms. That certainly makes us unique in the Warehouse District that we can accommodate that large number of people.”
Bentley Projects removed the artwork from the repurposed event space to prevent possible accidents when throwing events.
“It eliminates areas of potential conflict between the gallery having artwork hanging on the wall and events where you might have 200 to 300 people in the space,” he said. “As a general rule there are no art pieces in the event space unless someone chooses that as an option when they rent the space.”
One of the reasons the space was repurposed was to separate the gallery from event space.
“There were always limitations as to where you could put things, where you could set up,” he said. “We had to station around the artwork and it required additional staffing to make sure that the people using the space wouldn’t inadvertently affect the artwork.”
With the separation of space, it made coordinating events easier, venue concierge Riëtte Bartlett said.
“On one side it’s a little bit sad because it’s always been fun to be surrounded by all the beautiful art and it’s always made it more interesting, but as far as the events I find it works better,” she said. “Now you can come in and celebrate and we’re not going ‘oh please don’t touch the art’ or ‘please don’t do this.’”
Bentley Projects is a converted linen laundry building, which is separated into three bays and a gallery.
“The way we separated everything we have not cut off the gallery from the event space,” Bartlett said. “The way we did this is that there’s still that big door between bay three and bay four [the gallery] so we can have a corporate event and add on an option of having a tour of the gallery.”
The gallery will begin to participate in First Friday events starting in December.
Another flexibility for Bentley Projects is opening a restaurant in the building.
“Hopefully in the next year we would like to get a restaurant down here,” David Calverley said. “There is a demand for a restaurant and that is in our short term planning and in conjunction with the liquor license it could be a combination bar and restaurant.”
Bentley Projects has brought attention to the Warehouse District, Bentley Calverley said.
“There were businesses in the Warehouse District but the public did not have access to them,” she said. “The only thing the public knew about the warehouse district was the parking lot. So I think that we shown a light on the warehouse district and its possibilities.”
David Calverley said the Warehouse District contains a lot of possibilities.
“The Warehouse District is on the city’s radar as an area that is ripe for future development and that is changing the nature of the area,” he said.
Contact the reporter at Melanie.Whyte@asu.edu.
