New studio, or not new studio

I looked at a potential studio today. I would share it with three other jewelers, although they wouldn't likely be there the same hours I will. It is another historic and cool old building in a terrible neighborhood. :-) At least it does have a gated entry and substantial doors that lock. They have some tools that I don't, which they are willing to share, and I have a few tools that they don't, which I'm willing to share, so it could work out nicely. It's cheap, too.

I talked to my landlady briefly about this, and she tells me that the house is actually zoned for artist live/work situations, so I could get my business license while still working out of the basement. I do like the basement, but it suffers from the "too close to the kitchen" syndrome that plagues me whenever I work at home. It's a very nice basement - dry and pleasant with actual daylight - unlike every cubicle I've worked in. I have a feeling, though, that she doesn't really understand exactly how much *fire* is going on downstairs in her amazingly gorgeous house, and I don't really want to tell her. This is the house:

http://www.frenchpark.org/photoGallery/index.cgi?album=Neighborhood_Photo_Tour&mode=viewpicture&picture=Keech_Klatt_house.jpg

Now, this house would be much more suited to having an open studio day or a jewelry house party. The studio space is, well, quirky - You can't see the building until you're already in the gate, and up until that point it looks like the worst neighborhood ever. This building is between the railroad tracks and the ice-packing plant. Really.

I'm inclined to take the new space, although I won't be able to move stuff into it until December. I still have some time to think it over, though.