PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Health is gaining support for its proposal to build a 5-story building that would house a new state public health laboratory on what’s now a parking lot in the I-195 Redevelopment District, with the chairperson for the district commission deeming it an “ideal fit” for the former highway land.
Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the Department of Health, recently gave a presentation at a Providence Foundation meeting, stating that her department analyzed different sites around Rhode Island and determined that a site within the I-195 district would be the “most cost efficient and have best economic impact potential.” The public health laboratory building would cost an estimated $81 million if built within the I-195 district, according to the presentation.
The favored site is Lot 3 of Parcel 25, a vacant 1.07-acre site at the corner of Richmond and Clifford streets, according to the presentation, which included a photo of the site.
The proposal is coming before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission during its public meeting set for Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. at the WaterFire Arts Center at 475 Valley St. The commission is expected to hold a discussion and take a vote on whether to designate the Parcel 25 site for the development of the state lab building.
While the project has not come up before the public body so far, the head of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission said it would be a good fit for the district, which was formed after part of the highway was relocated in 2011, freeing up more than 26 acres of land for redevelopment projects with a focus on life sciences and other high technology sectors.
“We welcome the opportunity to participate in the site selection process for a new state health lab,” said Robert Davis, chairman of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, in an emailed statement in response to questions about the proposal. “A state-of-the-art facility with additional space for private and academic investment is an ideal fit for the district and would further our goal of growing the life sciences cluster in Providence.”
The Department of Health presentation said the agency will be working with state budget officials to get the project paid for with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan, for which Rhode Island was allocated $1.1 billion, using allocations of that funding coming through the State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund.
The Department of Health presentation said the next step will be to submit a project plan to the R.I General Assembly for input and approval. The House budget passed in June did not fund a request submitted by the department earlier this year for $82 million to build a new laboratory, with legislators at the time stating they wanted to research and hold public meetings on such a project.
The new facility would be called “Rhode Island’s Center of Excellence for Laboratory Sciences,” according to the recent presentation.
Joseph Wendelken, a spokesperson for the R.I. Department of Health, said in an email that no additional details about the project are available, and that “a final site has not been settled on.”
Third party consultants analyzed the costs and potential impact of three other alternative locations, including the Pastore Government Center campus in Cranston, the Rhode Island College campus in Providence, and a “theoretical privately owned site” in Providence, according to Alexander-Scott’s slide show presentation.
The proposed 80,000-square-foot “Rhode Island’s Center of Excellence for Laboratory Sciences” would replace the current R.I. Department of Health Laboratory located at 50 Orms St. in Providence. The new lab would represent a technological upgrade and would also be 20% bigger than the current one, which has been in use since the 1970s, according to the presentation.
“Aging infrastructure, substandard life-safety systems, poor ventilation and a building design unfit for modern, competitive research needs weigh the institution down,” according to the text of the presentation. “The state needs a new laboratory building to continue rapid response to increasingly complex threats to public health, like the current COVID-19 pandemic, and to keep pace with emerging scientific technologies.”
The presentation states that the 5-story building could include additional space for institutional and organizational partners. A rough rendering of the building includes a lobby, retail units and back-of-the-house operations on the first floor, state labs on the second and third floors, support services for the state lab on part of the fourth floor, and room for two other unspecified tenants on the fourth and fifth floors.
The development of a new lab there could also spur economic growth in the city, including the potential to attract life science companies as tenants of the proposed building and other properties in the area, with the I-195 District offering the “best access” to experienced workers and venture capital firms, she said. Benefits of to the I-195 District, according to Alexander-Scott’s presentation, include that it’s near existing health care institutions, it’s close to mass transit, and is near restaurants, retail stores and hotels.
“For untested markets like Rhode Island, having the Rhode Island’s Center of Excellence for Laboratory Sciences as an anchor tenant in a multi-tenant privately owned building is another way to minimize risk for life science developers,” the presentation states.
Alexander-Scott’s presentation also states that public investments in life sciences can have significant benefits and the Rhode Island’s Center of Excellence for Laboratory Sciences could attract 40,000 square feet of private development, which could add over 300 jobs to the Rhode Island economy with $22 million in annual earnings, while injecting an additional $34 million annually into the state’s gross domestic product. However, the presentation states, the potential for this highest level of economic benefit “would only be possible at a Providence location like the I-195 District site.”
Community groups and prominent real estate Providence developer Joseph R. Paolino Jr. have recently called on the district commission to focus more on life sciences development, having already approved 1,000 units of housing in the district, along with a parking garage and the nearly 200,000-square-foot Wexford Science & Technology Building anchored by the Cambridge Innovation Center Providence coworking space, which is located at 225 Dyer St. next to the proposed public health lab site.
Cliff Wood, executive director of the Providence Foundation, said the proposal was well received by his group, although they didn’t take an official vote on whether to support it.
“People liked that it was a mixed development for public and private use, and it’s around a cluster of universities,” Wood said.
Sharon Steele, president of the Jewelry District Association, who has been outspoken in her criticism of other residential projects in the I-195 Redevelopment District, also voiced approval for the state lab proposal. The Jewelry District spans the southern part of downtown Providence.
“Clearly, it’s a good thing for us to have it here,” said Steele, during a recent meeting of the Jewelry District Association, pointing to medical innovation as a growing industry that will best support the Providence economy, especially with the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University located nearby. “Clearly, that is where a lot of our growth is going to be in the Jewelry District.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com
Why doesn’t Brown just build the building and save the taxpayers the construction costs?
Rhode Island’s performance in the public health sector has been better than many other states, but across the nation in every state this sector has been underfunded and understaffed for many years. The situation has become even worse during this pandemic and with abuse shown to this dedicated group of professionals, low morale is prevalent and many have fled for other jobs. Given all these circumstances, this is a much needed project for the State of Rhode Island and one hopes in addition to this new building, the state increases funding and staffing for public health making it one of the best in the nation.