PROVIDENCE – A dead-end street in Lower South Providence right next to Interstate 95, in an area that’s been troubled by gun violence and blight, will be further redeveloped as the “Swan Business Park” as part of a plan that was presented recently to the City Plan Commission by The Coletta Group LLC.
The North Kingstown-based real estate management company headed by Anthony J. Coletta received unanimous approval from the City Plan Commission for its master plan to build a 5,586-square-foot commercial building at 199 Swan St. and an 11,042-square-foot commercial building at 200 Swan St. One thousand square feet in each building will be for office space.
The newly proposed buildings are next to two warehouse properties that Coletta already owns, with tenants that presently include a composting service called The Compost Plant, a waste management company called US Ecology and a canine training business called Crossbones Dog Academy.
The City Plan Commission also voted 5-0 to approve an adjustment of parking requirements for the Crossbones Dog Academy building from 17 spaces now to nine to accommodate new construction.
Lawyer John J. Garrahy spoke on behalf of Coletta, explaining that the property was abandoned, and the area has been crime-ridden, with a neighboring home at 209 Swan St. that’s been the site of several shootings in recent years.
“This was an abandoned piece of property that essentially breeds crime and blight,” Garrahy said. “This project is putting it to good use, taking away the blight and crime in the city that occurs here, and essentially turning it into productive, job-creating uses.”
The Coletta Group LLC even presented a 3D rendering of its plans for the new buildings, which depicted the neighboring home, the only residential property in the area, riddled with oversized bullet holes. Coletta also shared a lengthy police incident history report for 209 Swan St., with the most recent shooting in November last year when a first-floor tenant was wounded and rushed to Rhode Island Hospital.
“This is not made up,” said Coletta, who also presented pictures of the home, showing bullet holes in the side of the building. “It’s a rough area. We have done our best to clean up some of the vacant lots that are there. Unfortunately, it gets a lot of illegal activity. I’m showing you actual photos of the house. It’s covered in bullet holes. There’s a lot of trash and blight.”
Coletta said he’s been trying to buy the neighboring residential property but has been unsuccessful thus far. Coletta said he acquired another residential property in the area but had “difficulty managing it,” before ultimately condemning it and tearing it down.
Coletta said his three tenants in the two warehouse buildings next to the project site are “looking forward to the growth of the business park,” which he said would be called “Swan Business Park,” with signage depicted in his renderings that will label it as such.
Coletta didn’t name any potential tenants for his new planned buildings but said they would be made “available to commercial and industrial tenants.”
The renderings of the new 20-foot-high buildings look similar to the neighboring warehouse buildings that Coletta presently owns, which were built in 2005 and 2007 and are made from corrugated metal.
Garrahy said Coletta will continue working to acquire 209 Swan St. and may return to the City Plan Commission with a plan to redevelop that as part of the “Swan Business Park” project.
“This area is not appropriate for residential living,” Garrahy said. “It’s so secluded, it encourages blight and crime. This is exactly what happens. We are working very hard to try to purchase this property. We may come back before you to include that in this development.”
The Coletta Group is expected to return to the City Plan Commission later this year for preliminary plan approval before starting construction on the business park expansion.
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.
How much will this cost the taxpayers?
Ray, It is all privately funded, it will cost the taxpayers nothing.