Paul Iannelli remembers the clang of moving steel, the smell of welding, the heat from the burners and the bustle as more than 100 workers scurried about the yard of the Providence Steel and Iron Co.
On Sept. 25, Iannelli was scheduled to cut the ribbon – or more precisely a steel beam – to a very different steel yard.
Seven years after the company closed, a nonprofit arts organization called the Steel Yard has finished a $1.2 million, multiyear cleanup of the brownfield site in the Valley Street section of Providence. Replacing the clang of steel are sounds of artists welding jewelry and steel art installations. A landscaped yard covers the bare dirt once littered with metal shards. Antique cars park where trucks once received finished steel. Iannelli has traded his traffic manager title to become the nonprofit’s site manager.
“It’s amazing,” said Iannelli, who worked at the yard from 1962 until it closed in 2003. “[My former co-workers] walk around with their mouths open.”
When Steel Yard founders Nick Bauta and Clay Rockefeller purchased the property in 2002 they knew that a century of industrial use left behind dirt tainted with lead and other pollutants. But Rockefeller said everyone expressed surprise at how long it took to navigate the government approval process for the cleanup.
“There were times where all of us I think questioned our sanity,” he said.
The Steel Yard eventually prevailed, with major construction completed in July and more recently workers putting on the finishing touches before the Sept. 25 steel-cutting.
The revamped yard includes a two-stepped grass courtyard bounded by old industrial buildings converted to studios, offices and apartments. Paved, brick and concrete walkways wrap around the lawn held in place with metal left from highway retaining walls. Original, burnt-red gantries that carried cranes remain and stretch across the yard.
In one corner concrete steps double as an entrance to the studio and as seating for presentations. Eventually, workers will hang a movie screen from the gantries.
“For everyone it was a big, challenging project,” Steel Yard Executive Director Drake Patten said.
The $1.2 million pricetag was also daunting for an organization that typically operates on a $400,000 annual budget. The Steel Yard relied on hundreds of hours of volunteer man-hours and an untallied amount of donated products.
The nonprofit also received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, $200,000 in federal money for brownfield cleanup managed by the state and $200,000 in donations. A $100,000 loan from the R.I. Economic Development Corporation also helped. Most of the rest of the money came from the original founders before they handed the property off to the nonprofit, formally known as Woonasquatucket Valley Community Build.
A company Rockefeller co-owns, Milhaus LLC, is planning to further redevelop an old industrial building that borders the Steel Yard. Already it hosts offices and Milhaus wants a restaurant that would anchor an area Rockefeller envisions as an arts hub.
The Steel Yard, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, also has plans. In an effort to become financially self-sustaining, the Steel Yard foresees renting its yard for private and corporate events to complement its own lineup of presentations.
The yard recently hosted its first wedding. Patten expects the yard will have hosted at least seven private events between July, when major construction finished, and the end of October. That’s up from zero last year. •
