PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Housing last week announced the first four projects approved for the agency’s $10 million KeepSpace community-planning initiative.
The four urban projects were cropped from 16 applicants for the first round of KeepSpace, Richard Godfrey, Rhode Island Housing executive director said at the May 15 announcement. This year, the developments will each receive $50,000. They qualified because of their mixed-use planning, allowing for open space near residential and commercial development, he said.
In total, $10 million has been committed to the four projects over the next several years. Godfrey estimated that the potential returns – in wages, taxes and other economic activity – could range high as $500 million.
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The KeepSpace initiative was announced in August, before Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s Supplemental Budget for the current fiscal year – signed into law May 1 (READ MORE) – reallocated $26 million from the Rhode Island Housing budget to the state’s General Fund, Godfrey noted.
“The money that they’re taking from us does not directly impact these developments,” Godfrey said, but it will affect the agency as it moves forward with other programs.
These are the first four KeepSpace developments:
• An Olneyville Housing Corporation development along the Woonasquatucket River on the West Side of Providence.
The nonprofit has rebuilt 51 affordable residential units so far, with another 120 planned, said Executive Director Frank Shea. But nearby there needs be a retail center, where those residents can work, Shea said. With the KeepSpace funds, OHC will begin community planning for a 120,000-square-foot retail-focused redevelopment of Paragon Mill, which will “allow us to develop a property with an eye toward jobs that can be filled by local residents,” Shea said.
• The rehabilitation of a mill site in Cranston. Developers Printers Row LLC has proposed a redevelopment of the mill complex at the corner of Dyer Avenue and Cranston Street.
• A two-site development being undertaken by the Westerly Land Trust and WH Properties. The project – including the former Westerly Depot train station and a downtown mixed-use site – “will positively impact Westerly by allowing growth in the most cost-effective manner and bringing major upgrades to the town center,” Rhode Island Housing said.
• Pawtucket Citizens Development Corporation project that includes the Pawtucket train depot complex. PCDC Executive Director Nancy Whit said her nonprofit and the city have been working toward many of the elements that define KeepSpace communities, “but we still have this giant disaster – a major element that isn’t helping with our revitalization.”
By bringing together the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, R.I. Division of Planning, R.I. Economic Development Corporation and other state agencies, the Rhode Island Housing hopes to create a more-streamlined approval and permitting process for the KeepSpace projects, Godfrey said.
If the first four developments are a success, added Kevin M. Flynn, associated director of the R.I. Division of Planning, the KeepSpace initiative might be expanded to include other projects.
Rhode Island Housing is a self-sustaining state agency that helps Rhode Islanders to obtain homes they can afford, offering loans, grants and consumer education. To learn more, visit www.RhodeIslandHousing.org.
