How Gear Factory owner turned 60,000-square-foot factory into artistic oasis

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Rick Destito, owner and founder of The Gear Factory, wanted to develop a sort of artistic oasis since discovering the building in 2002 and purchasing it in 2005, he said.

After purchasing the 60,000-square-foot old factory for $144,000, Destito — with the assistance of the Near Westside Initiative — received a state grant which he used to turn the building into a hub for artists. The Gear Factory, located at 200 S. Geddes St., has studios where artists can rent both work space and live/work space.

“While other cities are tied to pre-established art communities,” The Gear Factory website reads, “Syracuse has the luxury of being up-and-coming, rife with bubbling opportunity and a wide horizon open to the progressive minds willing to grab hold”

Occupying five floors, The Gear Factory contains 18 music studios located in the basement of the building and two floors of live-work spaces on the fourth and fifth floors. The first floor has more artist studios, with a wood and metal shop on the second floor. The third floor is currently in the process of being turned into 30 more studios for different types of artists.

The Gear Factory houses all kinds of artists, including tattoo artists, musicians and photographers. Approximately 40-45 people live in The Gear Factory on the fourth and fifth residential floors, which are complete with common space, kitchen space and individual bathrooms.

Nick Feeley, who graduated from Syracuse University in 2016, is an abstract artist, director of A Lovely Time music festival and lives at The Gear Factory. Feeley moved into the building after living on the Northside of Syracuse. He had friends in the Factory but had never envisioned it as a possibility for himself.

“He bought a factory building that’s a hundred years old … was in disrepair and turned it into a haven for artists,” Feeley said. “So in a sense, he is an artist. He has developed this building (into) something that never was before.”

Feeley’s music festival, A Lovely Time, is held in July in Turin, New York, located in the Adirondacks. Past music acts have included the bands The Black River and BadHand. There’s skateboarding at the festival, as well as different workshops such as glassblowing, for attendees to participate in. But, due to the pandemic, Feeley canceled year three of the festival scheduled in June 2020. But during that time, he and his team added to their venue at Snow Ridge Ski Resort.

Feeley used his space at The Gear Factory to create pieces for his music festival venue, such as a modular stage, and bring them out to the venue in a truck.

Andy Padula, founder of the Boho Hobo lifestyle brand, the podcast Bindlism Podcast and Bindle Tea, moved into The Gear Factory in December of 2019. The freedom of living there and the collaborative nature of the space is what makes it so special, Padula said.

“If you’re working on a woodworking project today, you can go talk to someone who lives there, who’s a carpenter and pick their brain and maybe use some of their tools,” Padula said. “The idea behind it was that it is kind of like a commune now.”

The Gear Factory is equipped with space for various kinds of art, including music studios, a wood shop and a metal shop.
Wiley Chen | Contributing Photographer

The Boho founder added that he likes the resourcefulness of The Gear Factory, as being surrounded by hundreds of artists lends itself to being very useful.

Artist Drew Shoup, a co-owner of Flower Skate Shop, said the communal aspect is what makes it the best place to live as an artist.

“It’s mad corny to say, but it’s dope to just be around other people that are doing similar things,” Shoup said. “Obviously a lot of us are doing it and like a different way, but it’s cool to be like, just around a bunch of people that are making stuff.”