Josh Tonies, a painter and abstract film and animations maker lives in Lawrenceville.

But on some nights, Mr. Tonies, 26, an Ohio native who moved to Pittsburgh two years ago to pursue his art career, spends the night on a mattress in a spacious fourth-floor room in the old Ohringer Furniture store building in downtown Braddock.

		Listen in Mayor John Fetterman says Braddock has the potential to attract visitors. Artist Josh Tonies discusses the art community's positive impact on Braddock. Musician Tony Paterra talks about what brought him to Braddock. Filmmaker Merissa Lombardo talks about how quickly artists flocked to the building in Braddock.

He is one of about 30 artists who have taken up free working space in the eight-story building at the corner of Braddock Avenue and Seventh Street-- a relic of the days when this old mill town was an industrial hot spot.

Braddock officials hope that people like Mr. Tonies will spur the idea that Braddock is open for business again, especially to young professionals.

The idea for free studio space was the brainchild of Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, who believes the Ohringer building could be a piece of the puzzle in the economic revitalization of the former mill town, which has suffered decades of urban decay.

"What nobody thought was necessarily possible is happening. What we have established here is that people will come to Braddock if they are given an incentive," Mr. Fetterman said. An influx of young artists, he added, is just what Braddock needs if the borough is to make a successful economic revival.

But Mr. Fetterman also knows that economic development and revitalization efforts will not happen overnight or simply by offering free studio space to area artists.

On a snowy Wednesday afternoon last month, the mayor, flanked by Deputy Mayor Jeb Feldman, stood on Braddock Avenue as he outlined his vision for the borough.

Braddock's future, he said, lies in people overcoming their assumptions of what life is like in Braddock and then taking the initiative to invest in the community, which has an abundance of land and property waiting to be redeveloped.

John Katz, of Brandywine Realty, whose family owns the Ohringer Building, not only believes in the mayor's vision, he is willing to take a chance on it.

"My grandfather was born in Braddock and my family has operated many businesses here for many years," said Mr. Katz. He offered part of the tallest office building in Braddock to borough officials to use for the free studio space program.

Since its summer inception, the project has grown faster than its creators imagined, said Mr. Feldman, recalling that the idea was not initially well received when he promoted it within Pittsburgh's artist circles.

Merissa Lombardo, 25, a movie set builder who also does some work on commercials was one of the first people to move into a spacious, seventh-floor room in the building where she spends "a lot of time making things and taking pictures of them," she said.

"It didn't take long for young artists like me who are looking for studio space to realize that this is an incredible opportunity," Ms. Lombardo said. The concept, which initially was spread around the city by word of mouth, she added, is very attractive to artists who need cheap studio space.

Because of its success, Braddock officials now have a list of more than 20 artists waiting to sign up for free studios in the building, said Mr. Feldman.

"Our goal is to find another building in town where we could put all these artists that are now looking to Braddock as a place where they want to be," he said.

"Hopefully, we will get to a point when artists will no longer look to us. We want them to come into Braddock and start buying their own buildings which they can use as studios or homes," added Mr. Feldman.

Hunched over a 4-foot by 4-foot plywood board in his fourth-floor studio, Mr. Tonies said he saw parallels between his artwork and what Braddock officials are trying to do to revive the town.

"I feel like we live in a time of abundance of everything. My art is an expression of that overflow," he explained.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Josh Tonies, a painter and abstract film and animations maker, works in his studio space in the Ohringer Furniture building. Click photo for larger image.

"Braddock has all this property that is abandoned and decaying and that is one of the reasons I came out here. There is so much room for growth and that is an attractive concept," he said.

For Anthony Paterra, 29, a drummer in a two-man "sci-fi rock and instrumental" band called Zombi, it was simply a question of cost.

"It's free studio space," said Mr. Paterra, a Pittsburgh native who recently moved his band back from Chicago. "It's very unusual in most cities to find cheap studio space, and that is why people like me will come to Braddock."

Mr. Katz said that is why he is hopeful about the success of the Ohringer Building project.

As a longtime Braddock developer, he said that his hopes lie in the exposure of Braddock as a viable community. Mr. Katz said that in addition to offering part of the Ohringer Building to the borough, he has another "potentially large tenant who is interested in using the building."