CRANSTON – About 30 people showed up to a recent meeting hosted by Rhode Island Housing to discus the renovation and planning process of a Cranston mill building.
That project, on the corner of Dyer Avenue and Cranston Street, will include a comprehensive neighborhood plan for the Print Works site, along with Knightsville Square, the Sprague Mansion and the bike path and churches in the area. Printers Row LLC is the developer.
Announced in August 2007, the KeepSpace initiative is a $10 million project intended to create “walkable” neighborhoods, where people “meet, people work, children play.”
“Cranston is a unique and special place to live and work,” Mayor Allan Fung said. “Rare in this day and age, Cranston has maintained its own special character and a sense of connection between our residents, churches and local officials.”
The project is one of four selected as a KeepSpace project by Rhode Island Housing. An important element of the KeepSpace project is creating those better designed neighborhoods through community collaboration, Rhode Island Housing Executive Director Richard Godfrey said.
“KeepSpace is about working together with partners. Instead of state, city and private entities pursuing projects independently, KeepSpace represents a new policy of cooperation and collaboration,” he told the crowd. “A key part of the KeepSpace philosophy is involving and listening to everyone who cares about what happens in the neighborhood. So each of you is now officially a KeepSpace partner.”
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.
