East Providence planners are calling more than 250-acres of developable land along the city’s waterfront their “last frontier.” Recent appraisals show the total property, formerly home to large industrial operations, could mean more than $1 million in tax revenues for the city, generate more than 600,000 square feet of office space and bring an additional 3,000 jobs.
”We think we have a wonderful shoreline complemented by its location close to a major high way,” said Paul Lemont, city manger in East Providence. “We are interested in developing this area of East Providence and increasing our tax base.”
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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East Providence isn’t the only city renovating its waterfront. In fact many areas located along the state’s 400-mile coastline are turning old industrial sites into proposals for new development.
Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr. has included Narragansett Landing, located along the waterfront running parallel to Allens Avenue in his “New Cities” plan as a potential mixed-use site that could attract private investment.
Save The Bay along with Johnson & Wales University recently announced plans to redevelop portions of Fields Point, a former industrial shipyard located on the Cranston waterfront as a new home for Save The Bay’s education center.
Meanwhile the state, along with the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and the town of North Kingstown, is trying to devise a plan for the future of Quonset Point/Davisville.
The ability to redevelop these areas is a direct result of the increased awareness in brownfields, or areas where any redevelopment is complicated by actual or perceived contamination, said Kelly Owens, senior engineer in the office of Waste Management at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
“There has been a stigma of contamination associated with these properties in the past,” she said. “In 1996 we came out with remediation regulations and our clean-up standards. That’s when we started to get into this aspect of brownfields.”
”These types of properties have been passed over because of fears of litigation and contamination,” said Jeanne Boyle, director of planning for East Providence. “One of the issues associated with waterfront properties is that they are either contaminated or there is a perception of contamination and the process of remediation makes some investors a little skittish.”
Jay Fluck, a principal of CB Richard Ellis, Rhode Island’s largest commercial real estate firm agreed. “Developers look at timing. For them time is money,” he said. “With properties like these, buyers need to find their way over regulation hurdles and that can take a lot of time, especially when you are looking at 200 acres.”
Grover Fugate, executive director of the Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC) — a state organization that was established in 1971 to preserve, protect, develop and restore the coastal resources of the state — said recent state and federal regulations that provide tax incentives for brownfield remediation and a stronger real estate market have boosted the development of brownfield properties.
”I think in terms of brownfield development there has been a big push to reuse some of these sites,” he said. “In terms of trying to rejuvenate the urban waterfront, that idea has been around for quite a while – all it needed was a good economy and investors. The conditions are ripe for that right now.”
According to Owens, since the brownfields legislation took effect, in excess of 530 acres have been redeveloped, resulting in more than $3 million in state taxes and more than 1,000 new jobs.
A VIEW FROM the blimp: photographer on a blimp ride found these boats moored in Cowesset.
“The legislation we had before held anyone who touched the property liable,” she said. “Today, if there is some contamination and they are a perspective purchaser, they can enter an agreement with us that we won’t hold them liable for existing contamination as long as they clean it up, and continue to use the property for mixed uses purposes.”
What also sets Rhode Island’s waterfront apart, Fugate said, is its ability to sustain waterfront growth.
”When you look at the waterfront compared to neighboring states like New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, Rhode Island is the last little bastion,” he said, talking about the amount of available land.
Trying to pro-actively manage the state’s waterfront in the 1980s, CRMC developed an overall zoning plan for properties along the bay. That gives each area a number from one to six. According to Fugate a one is given to the most pro-active area, and a six is used to label port or transportation water areas. The number designations are based on a property’s size, location, the water conditions and underwater habitats, and nutrient concerns, Fugate said. For example, Quonset Point has been labeled a 6 because of its ability to sustain a deepwater-port.
”We are leading the nation in this type of zoning,” Fugate said. “No other state has looked at the total conceptual look of waterfronts. The plan is still utilized as a guide to development in these areas.”
Boyle said the development plan along East Providence’s waterfront is in line with CRMC’s plan for the area, including both residential and commercial uses.
”The thinking is if we have a major commercial type of use, people who are working there will be looking for high-end residential homes. There’s a synergy to it.”
One major obstacle that still needs to be tackled, Boyle said is the need for more access to the property.
”These properties were developed toward water-born transportation so the road access isn’t the greatest,” she said. “One thing the city is pushing for is to provide a new roadway or improved road access.”
Though there is no real timetable on the plan, George De Tarnowsky, Growth Team director for the Central Rhode Island Development Center – a private non-profit corporation which promotes strategies and programs that encourages business growth and retention within the existing industrial base of the region — said the plan is its second phase as the New York Real Estate Firm of North American Realty has been brought in to work on the project.
”We hired them to work on a vision plan for the property and that was released last month,” he said. “At this point the next phase is marketing.”
The plans are a vast departure from the former industrial uses, and city officials say they aren’t afraid to turn down ideas that don’t fit into the overall plan for the area.
”We don’t want one person to come in and do the wrong thing. We have turned down several proposed uses for the land that we just weren’t interested in,” Lemont said. “This area is ready for reuse. A tone was set at the turn of the last century that has shaped East Providence into what it is today. We now have an opportunity to cast our lot for the future and we want to set a different tone.”
