Want

There's been a new development coming up across the street from me for several years now in what was once a hospital.

The center part was demolished. In the plans that I originally saw when I went to a neighborhood meeting, that part was intended to be condos and town homes. This part is now the vacant lot where we had a mini-golf course in 2010.

The main hospital tower and former parking garage did become condos and retail space. That's where my gym is, along with a lot of fru-fru places that are kind of awesome and kind of absurd (cupcakes, wine, gourmet pet products, dance school, organic grocery).

The other section hasn't been touched yet. It was previously a nursing school and eventually, rather than sitting empty, the developers rented space to an optometrist, a nursery school, and an arts center.

Even better, they've now agreed to let artists rent studios on two empty floors via the Jersey City Art School, which is a relatively new organization created by a remarkable go-getting painter from the New York Academy of Art. These rooms used to be dorms for nursing students, so imagine spaces that would house two single beds, two closets, and sets of drawers.

I took a look at the studios the other day.


Want. 


Really really want. 

I'd love to set up my sewing machine, woodworking materials, and a computer in there. I could leave the house to be productive. And the studios aren't expensive—only $300 each if you share with a friend, or $500 for a solo studio.

But then I'm forced to admit that I just got back from an expensive expedition, haven't yet looked for employment, have a complete home office, an office-office in Manhattan that I can use anytime, and oh, an entire small room in my apartment that I don't use at all.

So I can't have a studio.

But I really want one.