Last hurdle to be cleared for redevelopment of former American Tourister site

A $600,000 federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Agency will be used to transform the vacant American Tourister plant property at 70 Houghton St. into an innovative business cluster. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MARY MACDONALD
A $600,000 FEDERAL grant from the U.S. Economic Development Agency will be used to transform the vacant American Tourister plant property at 70 Houghton St. in Providence into an innovative business cluster. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MARY MACDONALD

PROVIDENCE – The Providence Redevelopment Agency has awarded a contract to grade the 25-acre site of the former American Tourister Co. factory, one of the city’s largest undeveloped properties.
Once the work is completed, the site, at 70 Houghton St., in the Wanskuck neighborhood, will be marketed for redevelopment. The grading began Oct. 13 and is being conducted by DiGregorio Corp. of Smithfield under a $315,000 contract.
The property already has been cleared of contamination. The city obtained a federal Brownfields grant of $400,000 for that work in May 2014.
In a statement, Don Gralnek, executive director of the redevelopment agency, said the site represents an important opportunity for Providence.
“It has been properly remediated thanks to a Brownfields grant and the grading represents the last piece of the physical challenge that was put before us when the agency took control of the property in 2010,” he said, in a statement. “Upon completion of the grading, the agency will be in a position to market this valuable property throughout the region for robust development and job growth.”
American Tourister once employed several hundred people in the former Steere Mill on the site but eventually consolidated its operations to another location.
The mill changed ownership several times through the 1990s, then became vacant, according to the city’s grant application. The city demolished the mill building after a fire destroyed it in 2000. The city in 2001 acquired the property for nonpayment of taxes, according to the grant application.

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