State leaders and smart-growth advocates have been pushing for Rhode Island to revitalize its urban cores, bringing in residents as well as businesses, and both Pawtucket and Woonsocket have been trying to do that with their Main Street retail districts.
Both cities face similar challenges: once-thriving commercial hubs that declined along with their host communities’ industrial economies, leaving behind large, now-dilapidated buildings.
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Walk down Pawtucket’s Main Street retail district, and you will see plenty of vacant storefronts. But don’t be fooled, says City Planner Michael Cassidy: Only one building along the quarter-mile stretch is truly vacant; the rest are being redeveloped.
Farthest along is The Grant at 250 Main St., a small retail arcade now occupied by small stores, a coffee shop and art and design-related businesses.
Down the street, a furniture designer and his painter wife are renovating another building. And a former bank turned coffeehouse is being transformed into a community health center.
But there is a lot of work left to be done, Cassidy acknowledged, and the challenge is to get financing for the projects.
“I’m hopeful that once one of these buildings is successfully renovated with a successful mixed-use residential and commercial space,” he said, “that those banks will see that and want to lend to others.”
State leaders and smart-growth advocates have been pushing for Rhode Island to revitalize its urban cores, bringing in residents as well as businesses, and both Pawtucket and Woonsocket are trying to do that with their Main Street retail districts.
Both cities face similar challenges: once-thriving commercial hubs that declined with their host communities’ industrial economies left behind large, dilapidated buildings.
“Like any old urban area, we lost the retail in the early 1960s,” Pawtucket’s Cassidy said, “and Emerald Square Mall was the final death knell for us – and that’s been around for probably 20 years now. We had – and still do have – a lot of vacant buildings in the downtown area.”
Yet both communities have seen improvements, especially Woonsocket. On its Main Street, with about 88 storefronts, restaurants seem to be thriving, including recent additions such as River Falls Restaurant & Lounge, with a piano bar along the Blackstone River.
On both Main Streets, recent development also can be credited to storefront renovation grants put in place because of the foresight of public officials in the mid-1990s.
Pawtucket offers grants of up to $20,000 to revamp building façades along Main Street. To qualify, however, the owners have to follow the designs developed by Morris Nathanson Design, a firm based in the city that worked to plan a cohesive Main Street look.
Woonsocket’s Economic Development Department has a similar grant program, though it offers a higher $40,000 grant, said Jeff Polucha, director of economic development. But the Woonsocket grants – stemming from the city’s Main Street Riverfront Initiative – come with the stipulation that the store owners must stay on Main Street for five years.
One of the biggest exoduses from Pawtucket’s Main Street came during 2003, when two of the major employers left within six months of each other. The R.I. Division of Motor Vehicles, with 200 employees, moved to the nearby Apex building – on the far end of Main Street – and Pawtucket Mutual Insurance Co., with 300 employees, shut down. (The company, which still owns its Main Street building, did resume business, but on a much-smaller scale.)
“So you had 500 people, just across the street from each other, suddenly leaving downtown,” Cassidy said. That’s a customer base that recent developments haven’t yet replaced – restaurants like Cup N Saucer were ruined by it, Cassidy said.
In Woonsocket, Diamond Hill Road – where chain retailers such as Lowe’s, Wal-Mart and Sears draw consumers – controls much of the retail market. But Main Street has something different to offer consumers and future residents who want to live in a mixed-use, inclusive community, said Polucha.
“What we’re tying to do here is build a critical mass for those people who want to live down here,” he said. Both cities have seen extensive condo development near their retail cores. Both also have emphasized the arts in their redevelopment efforts.
In Woonsocket, the Stadium Theatre is one of the anchors of the Main Street district. Executive Director Cathy Levesque inserts “Dining in the City” guides into ticket packets – and on show nights, most restaurants along Main Street fill up, Polucha said.
“Every time this theater opens, there’s a potential for 1,000 people to come here,” said Polucha, who served as the Stadium’s director for 10 years before joining the city eight years ago. “And those people are going to come down Main Street to eat after the show.”
For Pawtucket, bordering Providence and its resurgence has been a big plus, Cassidy said. Ten years ago, the city started replacing brick sidewalks and creating parks near Main Street. “So in 2000 – the late 1990s to 2000 – when the real estate market started to move outside Providence and started to look at Pawtucket, we looked nice. We had the infrastructure and were ready to go,” said Cassidy.
Both cities are also benefiting from an influx of commuters, which is why both see the potential development of commuter rail stations near their Main Street districts as priorities.
Still, it’s been slow going for Pawtucket and Woonsocket alike. Yet with stable leadership – Woonsocket Mayor Susan Menard has been in office for 12 years, and Pawtucket Mayor James E. Doyle for 10 – they have been able to make steady progress.
“What you’re seeing now is a culmination of all our work over the past 12 years,” said Polucha. “With that continuity, you can put a lot of programs into place and you can see them to fruition.” •
