Developer gets ‘Three Cities’ plan rolling on Allens Ave.

An old abandoned warehouse on the waterfront along Allens Avenue near downtown – neighboring an adult entertainment club, asphalt company and shipyard – could be transformed into artist studios with a two-floor gallery, an upscale meeting room and a seafood restaurant.

Attorney, developer and author Patrick Conley hopes his is the first in a string of commercial, private and public developments that will serve as the realization of the Three Cities plan, which emerged during the Cianci administration.

“Somebody has to be the first to jump in,” Conley said. “This is the first phase of the (Three) Cities, from Point Street down to the state pier in a plan to reclaim the waterfront.”

Conley, along with his wife, Gail, has owned a number of properties in Providence and South Providence, and has plans for a hotel with condos and a parking garage on a neighboring 9-acre site, and a 400-slip marina. The couple has been restoring and renovating the old warehouse, State Pier No. 1, since last April. Conley acquired the property at a tax sale for $106,000.

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“The whole project has great visibility and will be close to the new junction of Route 195,” he said. “We’re creating a vibrant enclave of multi-uses.”

Portions of the old Providence Teaming Company/Imperial Warehouse Company and adjoined Dunlop Tire building were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and Conley has applied for tax credits. He also wants the building to be placed on the National Historic Register.

Nine of the 11 acres Conley purchased are the site of the former Cargill Energy petroleum plant that was leased by Northeast Petroleum. Conley dismantled the old tank farm to ready the site for environmental remediation and, according to him, “prevent the reintroduction of an industrial use.” The site has an existing 1,100-foot-long dock. In addition to incorporating a marina, the attorney said he’d like to provide facilities for large cruise ships and ferries to dock at the wharf.

“I’m attempting to buy Pete’s Tire Barn, or at least buy him out,” Conley said of the company located at the end of the wharf.

Conley plans to house the Rhode Island Artists Consortium in the warehouse, and said a lease has already been signed for 37,000 of the 45,000-square-foot building. Artist studios will be on the first three floors along with a gallery on the front portion of the first two floors, and part of the fourth floor could be a large meeting space with amenities for nonprofits, he said.

“A number of groups expressed interest in utilizing that as a conference center, with a bar and facilities for meetings,” he said. “It will be available free of charge for the nonprofits. It will have a 16-foot, double-ended fireplace and a waterfall feature.”

On the now-vacant parcel directly north of the warehouse, Conley envisions a hotel with condo units on the top floors. The planned multilevel, above-ground parking garage will have at least 600 spaces for the artists, marina users, nonprofits and patrons of Conley’s nautical-themed restaurant, Patrick’s Pier 1, which will be located in the front end of the top floor of the warehouse.

Conley estimated he will spend $6 million to $7 million on the parking garage, $2 million or slightly more for the marina (which could be rental or condo) and $3 million on the rehabilitation of the State Pier building, excluding the restaurant. The hotel developer would finance that project. According to Conley, Pinnacle Advisory Group Inc. in Boston determined that the site would be suitable for an extended-stay hotel with at least 150 units and condos on the upper floors. Two major hotel chains are also interested in the project, according to Pinnacle, which is serving as a consultant to Conley.

The site does require remediation, which the petroleum company is responsible for, Conley said.

The state Department of Environmental Management has yet to approve a remediation plan for the site, and Conley said he’s willing to help Cargill Energy clean up to speed the process. For other sites along the water, Conley said environmental hazards and drawn-out remediation processes are a deterrent for developers.

“The biggest problem we have is site remediation,” he said. “Most of the land has been freed from leases. The remediation has kept them away.”

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