PROVIDENCE – The Providence Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday released a Request for Information to interested firms to join an equity partnership with the city to rehabilitate the iconic Atlantic Mills in the Olneyville neighborhood, the last in the city of its size marked for redevelopment.
The site has been identified as a potential strategic investment in Olneyville, according to the RFI. The PRA is currently engaged in a Purchase and Sales contract with the current owners, Howard & Eleanor Brynes LLC, first authorized in Sept. 2022.
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The agency was awarded a $2 million grant from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to use for the preservation of the mills. The four-story, 348,000-square-foot brick building on Manton Avenue and its prominent domed turrets include 50,000 square feet of vacant space and 333,000 square feet of leasable space.
Along with the $2 million HUD grant, PRA executive director Joe Mulligan said Tuesday the agency is vetting a $3.9 million purchase option, with the remainder filled with private funding or other financial resources toward both the acquisition of the site and “the substantial cost of building repairs and improvements required to ensure the desired use is viable at its outset and into the future.”
Submissions, a preliminary step for city officials to gauge interest, are due by noon on Sept. 27.
“The property’s unique community, industrial and cultural legacy offers a rare, remaining opportunity for a mix of creative economy, maker space and design-focused small-scale users,” states the document. “This initiative seeks to preserve the historical landmark within the neighborhood while improving the space for current and future tenants and furthering the development of the design district.”
The mill has more than 100 tenants and vendors and “has created a thriving micro-economy with affordable spaces that are increasingly at-risk in the current real estate environment.” PRA is looking for an applicant to rehabilitate the complex prioritizing the current small-scale users at risk of displacement, “while upgrading and modernizing the building and site’s functionality and appearance and expanding its use in the city,” according to the RFI.
Possible uses outlined in the packet include space for design firms, retail storefronts, artisans, small businesses, non-profits looking to co-locate, office space for social enterprises, artist live-work space, or “other affordable housing models that meet the overall goals for the project.”
Atlantic Mills was the headquarters of the Atlantic Delaine factory in the mi-1800s and was taken over in 1904 by the A.D. Julliard Company, the last to use it as a textile mill.
The site was acquired by the Byrnes family in the 1950s, where it has remained a mixed-use multi-tenant operation. Howard Byrnes, 85, died on Aug. 11 after a brief illness, according to an online obituary.
PRA announced last year it planned to purchase the building by October 2023. At the time, Providence Planning Department spokesperson Timothy Rondeau said the project was expected to cost about $15 million for acquisition, stabilization, and rehabilitation.
“It’s a really exciting project,” said Michaela Antunes, Providence director of communications for economic development. “The [mill] is such an iconic part of Olneyville’s history.”
(Update: Comment from PRA executive director Joe Mulligan added in 4th paragraph)
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
