PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Environmental Management Friday announced $2 million in matching grants for the remediation and redevelopment of brownfields.
The grants come from the Brownfields Remediation and Economic Development Fund, which received funding from the 2018 Green Economy & Clean Water Bond. The nine funded projects are in Providence, Scituate, West Warwick and Woonsocket. Eight of nine grants this round are for redevelopment and one grant is for site preparation.
Grantees were required to make a 20% match.
“Today’s grant awards illustrate the power of government, private industry and nonprofit groups working together to create healthier, more-vibrant communities and city centers,” said DEM Director Janet Coit in a statement. “The vast array of projects funded by brownfields grants supports our quality of life and will pay dividends for years to come by redeveloping valuable real estate in communities across Rhode Island. I look forward to the success stories that our latest round of funding will set into motion.”
DEM said the projects are projected to create 1,016 construction jobs and 111 permanent jobs combined.
Funded projects:
- Community Music Works: $300,000 for redevelopment at 1326 Westminster St., Providence, for the construction of the Community Music Works headquarters on a capped site near Artillery Park/Dexter Park.
- MSC Realty/Meeting Street: $300,000 for remediation and redevelopment of the former National Plating Inc. site located at 946 Eddy St, Providence, to be converted into Meeting Street’s new Early Childhood Center.
- Natick Dam Hydroelectric: $300,000 for redevelopment at 649 Providence St., West Warwick, to excavate, dispose of contaminated soil and cap a site to allow for the construction of a hydroelectric dam expected to generate 1,700 megawatt hours of electricity per year.
- Neighborworks – 15 Island Place: $250,000 for redevelopment at 15 Island Place, Woonsocket, to convert a former mill into a mixed-use complex, including commercial and residential use. The project will be done in conjunction with the project at 68 South Main St., Woonsocket.
- Neighborworks – 68 South Main Street: $250,000 for redevelopment for the transformation of a mill to a mixed-use complex, including residential and commercial space in conjunction with the 15 Island Place project.
- West Elmwood Housing: $205,000 for redevelopment at 34 Fuller St. and 37 Westfield St., Providence, to clean up a vacant lot and to prepare the site for an intended compost facility for the residents of Westfield Lots and Sankofa Residential Housing Development.
- What Cheer Flower Farm: $195,000 for redevelopment at 28 Agnes St. and 46 Atwood St., Providence, to allow a nonprofit farm to continue its “build-out campaign,” converting an abandoned factory into an urban farm and training center in the city’s Olneyville neighborhood.
- Evolution Mills: $100,000 for redevelopment at 65 Manchester St., West Warwick, to continue ongoing rehabilitation of an old mill complex into office, retail, function and artist spaces, as well as the addition of residential areas.
- Paramount Apartments: $100,000 for site preparation at 5 Main St., Scituate, to clean up the former Hope Mill parcel to prepare it for planned affordable multifamily housing and market-value housing.
