Incubator, apartment mix eyed

EATING WHERE THEY LIVE? Antonio Manaigo and brother Federico are looking to redevelop a vacant mill complex in the West Elmwood neighborhood in Providence into a culinary incubator as well as residential units. / COURTESY ANTONIO MANAIGO
EATING WHERE THEY LIVE? Antonio Manaigo and brother Federico are looking to redevelop a vacant mill complex in the West Elmwood neighborhood in Providence into a culinary incubator as well as residential units. / COURTESY ANTONIO MANAIGO

Commerce in the West Elmwood neighborhood near Providence’s Armory District is a shadow of its manufacturing heyday in the early 20th century.
A few businesses are holding their own – the Virginia & Spanish Peanut Co. on Cromwell and Dexter streets; Capco Plastics on Dexter Street; and Stearns Tool Co. on Sprague Street – while the southern side of Cromwell Street is largely residential.
Enter New York City-based developer Federico Manaigo, who is working on plans to develop a culinary incubator in a vacant mill complex in the West End. His brother and partner, Antonio Manaigo, a furniture designer and Rhode Island School of Design alumnus, would be a key commercial tenant.
Named “Rooms and Works,” the $6.5 million residential and commercial project would feature the “Armory Kitchen,” which Federico Manaigo says could become a home not only for shared-use commercial kitchens, food startups and catering but also ethnic cuisine and the local farm-to-table movement.
Communal space, a wood shop and 3-D labs, as well as 52 apartments, would be integrated into the old mill complex here.
The mill complex is located in the former Klein Building built in 1890 at 55 Cromwell St. and in an adjacent building at 50R Sprague St., which the brothers have purchased. The project has been awarded $1.6 million from the 2013 Rhode Island historic-preservation tax credits program and could open in the second half of 2015, Manaigo said.
Though the brothers love New York, Providence has the elements of affordability, a vibrant college and startup scene and a growing food economy, they say.
Antonio Manaigo, who lived and worked briefly in Milan, where he earned his undergraduate degree in industrial design from the European Institute of Design before studying furniture design at RISD, said that he returned to the U.S. to start his own business in furniture design. Now he hopes to expand it if he’s able to take up residence in Rooms and Works.
His business, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., is called Antonio Manaigo Design Studio.
“I need to be in a creative, energetic place and that’s why I’m investing in Rooms and Works, because I think it’s something Providence needs,” he said. Together, the brothers have incorporated Cromwell Ventures LLC, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Cromwell Ventures purchased the former Klein building for $375,000 and the Sprague Street building for $150,000.
Federico Manaigo also is founder and president of Knight & Swan LLC, a boutique real estate development firm based in Brooklyn that focuses on residential and mixed-use projects in inner cities. In addition to that, he was a vendor in 2013 and expects to be again at Smorgasburg, a Brooklyn Flea Food Market.
Federico Manaigo makes and sells “frico,” a shredded cheese-potato-and-onion pancake inspired by the home-style cooking of Friuli, Italy, through his startup, Fede Frico, which is based in New York City’s Hot Bread Kitchen.
The Providence project’s incubator concept is modeled on Hot Bread Kitchen, a culinary incubator in East Spanish Harlem, Federico Manaigo says. It operates in a multicultural neighborhood, employing immigrants who live there and bring their culture as well as an understanding of food to the bakery, selling ethnic breads at retail, he said.
At 55 Cromwell St., three of the former Klein building’s four stories would be residential, with a shared-use office component. The ground floor would house shared-use kitchens, startups, caterers, perhaps a “pop-up” restaurant and could even attract and serve commercial food trucks, Federico Manaigo said.
The apartments would include 450-square-foot “micro-lofts” and larger one and two-bedroom apartments as big as 700 square feet, priced competitively, he added.
Candace Kaloostian, president of the 100-year-old Virginia & Spanish Peanut Co., is eager to see the Manaigos succeed.
“I’m optimistic to have them in the neighborhood,” Kaloostian said. “I know that has become popular – those test kitchens. You have a lot of students from Johnson & Wales [University] and it would be a good opportunity for them to test the waters. No one wants to see vacant buildings, so any type of improvement or redevelopment is a positive.”
Donald D. Gralnek, executive director of the Providence Redevelopment Agency, said the commercial and residential use fits his agency’s criteria, creating jobs and putting “an underused resource to use,” he said. “Food is a very big business in Rhode Island, and Providence is developing a significant reputation as a place for good eating and high-quality food preparation,” added Gralnek.
“Once it’s fully renovated, we hope and believe the culinary aspect [of the complex] would draw people and create jobs,” he said. “People would live in the building and ancillary uses would be supported, so the intent is to activate that space.”
Federico Manaigo said he has not yet determined how many jobs would result from the project but that the shared workspace could have a “multiplier effect” and jumpstart some startups.
Manaigo also has his eye on another potential Rhode Island project that he said could come to fruition this year. He hopes to convert an abandoned building at 19 Harrison St. in the Armory District to 15 lofts and has obtained the necessary permits.
As for Rooms and Works, permitting hurdles must still be cleared. Cromwell is waiting on a Zoning Board of Review decision on a variance and special-use permit for the site. The variance would allow commercial use and 52 residential apartments, but grant relief from regulations that govern minimum lot area for each dwelling unit. The permit, if granted, would allow 33 on-site parking spaces and 36 more on adjacent property, instead of the 118 that the proposal would typically require.
An April 7 board meeting was rescheduled to May because of a lack of a quorum.
Targeting the graduating-student population in Providence and emerging chefs from Johnson & Wales University will be a key part of the plan, Federico Manaigo said. He hopes to entice college graduates to stay in Rhode Island, and plans to promote the affordability and cultural experience that one can get here.
Manaigo said he has had preliminary talks with officials at JWU, and would encourage students to come to the Armory Kitchen as chefs.
“We’re trying to figure out what will work best in Providence,” Manaigo said. •

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