Kinsley Building renovations to be unveiled

THE INTERIOR OF THE Kinsley Building on Westminster Street in Providence is shown during a recent tour of downtown housing. Completed renovations will be showcased at an event Monday. The building, formerly office space, has been renovated into apartments and, at the street level, commercial space. / COURTESY MARIANNE LEE PHOTOGRAPHY
THE INTERIOR OF THE Kinsley Building on Westminster Street in Providence is shown during a recent tour of downtown housing. Completed renovations will be showcased at an event Monday. The building, formerly office space, has been renovated into apartments and, at the street level, commercial space. / COURTESY MARIANNE LEE PHOTOGRAPHY

(Updated 4 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Completed renovations of the Kinsley Building on Westminster Street were unveiled Monday afternoon.
The former office building at 334 Westminster St., vacant for five years before renovations began in August 2014, has been renovated into apartments and commercial space at street-level.
Cornish Associates, a development company led by managing partner Arnold “Buff” Chace, purchased the five-story building in August 2013 for $1.2 million.
It previously had been administrative offices for Johnson & Wales University.
The building features 44 apartments on the second through fifth floors, and will have two restaurants on the ground level. The Malted Barley, a franchise of the Westerly craft beer pub, will expand into the space by early 2016. A lease for the second restaurant is being negotiated.
The apartments are designed to appeal to working professionals, and will include rents as low as $900 a month. The larger units will rent for $1,600.
“We’re very excited to open this building today, because it allows us to have more of the smaller units to attract our workforce downtown,” Chace said, following a tour of the building that included Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, U.S. Rep. David N. Cicilline and Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza.
Ten of the 44 units are leased already, and residents have started moving in, he explained, as the group moved through several completed units overlooking Westminster Street.
In comments later, Raimondo thanked Cornish for its investment in downtown Providence – the project is the development company’s eighth historic renovation.
“There are few people who are more committed to downtown Providence than this guy,” she said, of Chace. “One street, one block, one development at a time. I can’t thank you enough for your belief in Rhode Island, for your hard work, for your investment.”
The project architect is Union Studio, of Providence. The general contractor is Pezzuco Construction Company Inc., of Cranston.
The project of about $12 million is expected to receive $2.5 million in state historical preservation tax credits, as well as federal historic tax credits.
Primary financing was provided by Rockland Trust Company. The city of Providence provided financial incentives, including a property tax stabilization agreement.

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