PROVIDENCE – A former funeral home in the Federal Hill area of Providence that was most recently used as offices, including one for Demco Realty, is being turned into a seven-family residential building, according to the owners.
Tal Pezzuco, an electrical engineer at Raytheon Co., and Nicholas Cardello, a local financial adviser, gave a presentation recently to the Providence City Plan Commission about their plans for the property, which is known as Sutton Place and was constructed in 1930 at 54 Sutton St.
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The City Plan Commission voted unanimously, 5-0, to approve a request from the co-owners for a zoning change from R-3 to C-2, which was needed to go forward with plans to renovate the three-story building, which currently contains three residential units in addition to first floor commercial offices.
Pezzuco and Cardello bought the property from Antoinette Esposito for $800,000 in November, according to public records from the Providence Recorder of Deeds. The 6,087-square-foot property is made of brick on the first floor, with a wood-shingle exterior on the second and third floors.
Dylan Conley, attorney representing the co-owners, said they have no intention to change the exterior of the building. But Pezzuco described their hands-on efforts to renovate the interior.
“We’ve kind of made this a little hobby now,” Pezzuco said. “Obviously, we need plumbers and electricians, but what we can do by ourselves, we try to do because we really want to preserve the history. This is something that we’re very passionate about.”
The property also features a 1,000-square-foot multi-car garage, Pezzuco said.
“It was a funeral home and still has a lot of those characteristics,” Pezzuco said.
Pezzuco said converting the commercial office space would be beneficial to the community, which is currently in short supply of housing.
“People are just begging for new places to live and there’s not enough units here that can be rented out,” she said. “Also, with COVID, people are starting to value their home life a lot more. … People are working from home more.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.
