Tax incentives requested for rehab of vacant Custom House Street building

THIS OFFICE BUILDING AT 32 Custom House St. in downtown Providence will be renovated into rental apartments, with street-level commercial space, possibly a restaurant. The City Council will be asked to approve tax incentives for the proposed rehabilitation. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MARY MACDONALD
THIS OFFICE BUILDING AT 32 Custom House St. in downtown Providence will be renovated into rental apartments, with street-level commercial space, possibly a restaurant. The City Council will be asked to approve tax incentives for the proposed rehabilitation. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MARY MACDONALD

PROVIDENCE – The City Council will be asked to approve tax incentives for the proposed rehabilitation of a vacant, five-story building on Custom House Street downtown.
An ordinance introduced this week would establish a 12-year process for the renovated building to pay full taxes. In the first three years, the property owners would pay no taxes while renovations were being completed. Taxes would be phased in beginning in the fourth year, under the ordinance sponsored by Councilman Terrence Hassett.
The request will be discussed at Thursday’s City Council meeting.
The project would convert the office building into 10 rental apartments with a street-level commercial space, possibly a restaurant, according to files at the city’s Downtown Design Review Committee.
The structure, at 32 Custom House St., was built in 1875. It is now owned by New York-based HM Ventures Group 7 LLC, which includes three of the four partners who renovated the Dean Hotel, according to Christine West, the project’s architect.
The ordinance states the project will generate jobs in the city, as well as preserve and showcase a historic building that is critical to downtown’s revitalization.
The company purchased the property in November for $800,000, according to the city assessor’s office.

No posts to display