It’s a late summer morning and the stately brick building that is Shri Studio Inc.’s new home is about to officially open for business.
A worker tidies the roof. Down below, there are flower beds ready for plantings and the green irrigation system. “The goal is to be self-sustaining,” said Alison Bologna, Shri’s founder and the building’s new owner.
Bologna launched the yoga studio in 2010 in an empty downtown Pawtucket storefront, offering low-cost and free classes to students who didn’t have access to yoga. On Aug. 28, she marked the official grand opening of the new 15,000-square-foot Shri headquarters in the Conant Thread District in Pawtucket.
In Sanskrit, the loose translation of “shri” is bringing light. Based on that guiding principle, Bologna founded Shri Service Corps in 2012. The nonprofit underwrites free yoga outreach programs to many in the Shri community, from adults and
children with developmental and intellectual disabilities to veterans, shelter residents, the elderly and people in recovery.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shri offered 2,900 free outreach classes. Today, it funds more than 100 monthly yoga classes and, with 40 certified instructors, serves more than 8,500 students annually. Bologna has a goal of doubling that number. An offshoot, Shri Bark healthy snacks, provides funding while feeding 40,000 public school students each month.
Bologna, who grew up in San Diego, discovered yoga’s benefits after she graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She was living in a small apartment in New York and working as a producer for NBC’s “Dateline.”
“I was desperate for space and there was a studio around the corner with yoga classes. I could move and spread out, and I realized not only was yoga physically challenging but I felt better,” she said.
She also took on another challenge: on-air reporting. There was just one hurdle; she had virtually no experience. But in 2002, WJAR-TV NBC 10, had an opening for reporters. She came to Rhode Island to apply and work for two weeks.
“I’d never done a live shot, but they let me try out,” Bologna said. “I used my vacation time, then went back to New York. Six weeks later, Betty-Jo Greene, the news director, called. She asked if I’d freelance. I said no. She came back and said they’d worked out some numbers.
“I took a pay cut, but I wanted to do reporting, so I moved here for good. I didn’t know anybody and had barely been a reporter. I had two weeks of on-air experience, so I dug in. I figured if I wasn’t any good, I could go back to producing. Then I fell in love with Rhode Island and got very comfortable with the lifestyle,” Bologna said.
After the move to Rhode Island, Bologna was reporting nights, which freed time to take yoga classes. When the studio offered teacher training, she jumped in, leading sessions in commercial studios.
“It was fine,“ she said, “but I always wanted to do something adaptive. My younger sister, who’s disabled, has influenced me my whole life, so I gave it a try. I found cheap space and did the math. I realized I wasn’t going to quit my day job. I never opened Shri to make a living. It’s always been a passion project, always.”
She’d also always wanted to design a building and this combination of opportunities motivated the move to 390 Pine St., Pawtucket, a 15,000-square-foot, two-story structure that once served as the offices of the now-defunct Conant Thread Co. “We’d outgrown three leased spaces,” Bologna said.
After suggestions from Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien and others, and with funding from the city, R.I. Commerce Corp. and a construction loan from Coastal1 Credit Union, Bologna and her husband, Dave Mongeau, a Boston news videographer, bought the underused 19th-century property for $250,000 in January 2020. “This building called to me. It’s beautiful,” she said.
But within weeks, a massive fire destroyed nearby buildings, then the pandemic and inflation drove renovation costs roughly $700,000 over budget.
Construction finally began in 2022. Working with architect Ed Wojcik and development consultant Pawtucket Central Falls Development Corp., Bologna hired Stand Corp. in Warwick as the general contractor. All provided valuable advice. Additional funding specific to Shri’s nonprofit space came later from the Champlin Foundation and Centreville Bank Charitable Foundation, which believed in Bologna’s mission. And now the Providence Revolving Fund is involved with the project, which is approaching $4 million.
Step inside and there’s an elegant, bohemian vibe. A salvaged walk-in safe is the studio’s boardroom and a pink neon “Shri” sign announces the space, and the building is shared by Flying Shuttles Studio and a food pantry.
On the second floor, there are eight apartments, five of which are designated as affordable housing and deed restricted. Bologna has referred to the building as a creative, live-work wellness community.
Although she took a four-year detour to report at a Boston TV station, Bologna never moved out of Rhode Island and returned to WJAR-TV in 2010. She now co-anchors the early morning shift. Management and colleagues have been supportive throughout, she says, and the challenges of building a live-work-wellness community reinforced the importance of persistence. It’s been three turbulent years that have paid off, she says.
“There were times it felt overwhelming, but I always made sure the numbers worked,” Bologna said. “I kept reminding myself why we were doing it. I could just feel it was going to happen.”
[gallery link="file" size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="446714,446715"]
