EAST PROVIDENCE – The East Providence Special Waterfront Development District Commission was awarded $5 million to renovate the building where Eaton Corporation plans to move.
Eaton currently has aerospace operations at a facility in Warwick next to the Pawtuxet River which was damaged during the March 2010 floods.
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The international technology company, which is a sole-source supplier of several components to some aeronautical and defense companies, experienced significant disruption in its production line and decided to look for a location outside of the flood plain, a news release said.
The commission applied for the funding, which is part of the $15 million funding pool for Rhode Island businesses damaged by the flooding, to renovate the partially vacant building at 10 New Road.
The renovations will bring the building up to Eaton’s technical manufacturing requirements and will take about 12 months, the commission said while noting that it will lease 145,000 of 340,000 square feet of the building.
Eaton employs 200 people currently and expects to add 50 more to its work force in the next three to five years.
“This investment will assure that a vital industry in Rhode Island will not be disrupted by a natural disaster and will retain the high wage manufacturing jobs that are desperately needed in Rhode Island with its high unemployment and declining manufacturing base,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca M. Blank, whose department supplied the funding.
