The U.S. Economic Development Administration has awarded the City of Providence $864,000 to finish transforming an abandoned and polluted manufacturing site into what local officials hope will be a vibrant, tax-generating property.
Environmental clean-up crews are about six months away from purging the former Gorham Company site in Providence of decrepit buildings and hazardous materials used for over 90 years in the manufacturing of silver, silver plate and bronze products, according to John Palmieri, director of the Providence Department of Planning and Development.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
This latest infusion of grant money, combined with existing city bond funds, will pay for the remaining work including some demolition, the construction of a retaining wall, grading, an access road from Reservoir and Elmwood Avenues and a pedestrian walkway around Mashpaug Pond, the removal of buried building foundations and possibly the relocation of a 19th Century carriage house which the city wants to use as a museum of fire department history, Palmieri said.
The EDA grant — announced Sept. 29 and about which Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci said he approached federal officials in Philadelphia last year — promises to conclude what the mayor called a “long, drawn-out process.”
When the project is done, the city will have spent two years and about $1 million in city bond money razing the plant’s 42 structures, Palmieri said. Last June, demolition crews found unexpected asbestos in some window casings. More bond money will be tapped to pay for the removal of the potentially dangerous material, Palmieri said, and that additional work should be done within 30 days. At the time of the discovery, Textron Inc. of Providence, the plant’s previous owner, had already spent $1 million on asbestos abatement. The international manufacturing conglomerate has agreed to pay for the removal of other hazardous wastes from the property such as underground oil storage tanks, he said.
The 37-acre industrial site between Adelaide Avenue and Mashpaugh Pond has yet to be returned to Providence tax rolls, about seven years after the City purchased the designated Brownfields site from the State Court Receivership in lieu of back taxes.
Churchill & Banks Ltd., a Providence development firm, submitted a proposal to the Providence Redevelopment Agency about eight months ago for a “few large retail operations including a Stop & Shop grocery store,” Cianci said. The plan entails 250,000 square-feet of “gross leasable” retail space including parking, Palmieri said.
The agency has selected Churchill & Banks as the “preferred developer,” Cianci said. However, it has not been decided whether the property will be sold or leased and no papers have been signed.
“I imagine we can begin the process very shortly,” Cianci said.
Palmieri guessed that the deal could be closed within 60 days.
Demolition will continue through the winter and the property could be ready for construction by March, he said. Churchill & Banks did not return calls for comment.
Rosemary Galancy, Providence’s deputy tax assessor estimated that the grocery store alone would generate about $185,000 in annual property taxes.
The Gorham site falls within the Providence/Cranston Enterprise Zone so that future tenants would be eligible for significant tax credits, said Victor Barros, enterprise zone manager for the state Economic Development Corporation. Business owners would qualify for a maximum $15,000 tax credit per area resident employed and a maximum $10,000 tax credit per Rhode Island resident employed.
Tax-paying lenders to such businesses would also be allowed a 10% credit at a maximum of $10,000) for interest on loans made to certified businesses, Barros said.
Tenants of former Brownfields properties are encouraged to sign a consent agreement with the state Department of Environmental Management that would limit their liability for any pre-existing environmental contamination, said Jim Saletnik, the EDC’s assistant director for business development.
