A former owner of a West Side mill in Providence where another developer once proposed the Olneyville Urban Lofts redevelopment last month was the only bidder for the property, which was in receivership.
On Jan. 21, Rhode Island Superior Court Associate Justice Michael A. Silverstein granted the permitted project to Fall River chiropractor Walter L. Bronhard, who bid $925,000. A closing was set for Feb. 12, according to Silverstein’s order. There were no other bids submitted for the project, Diane Finkle, an attorney with receiver Winograd, Shine & Zacks PC said late last month.
Messages left at Bronhard’s Fall River office were not returned last week, so it’s unclear what his plans for the building are. Bronhard owned the Oak Streetbuilding from Dec. 2001 until March 2006, when he sold it to Cranston-based Realtor John Risica, according to city records. Risica had planned a 64-unit condominium development in the 65,000-square-foot former worsted mill.
Risica had paid $595,000 for the property, which includes the adjacent 33 Magnolia St. parcel, to Bronhard, Risica said in September, when the project went bankrupt and entered receivership.
When it entered receivership, Olneyville Urban Lofts had been approved for Rhode Island Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credits, a state program shut down to projects that were not approved before January 2008. It’s one of the 82 projects statewide that had been approved before the Rhode Island. General Assembly and Gov. Donald L. Carcieri halted the program because of worries about the state’s budget deficit.
Olneyville Urban Lofts’ expected $11.08 million renovation had earned it a state tax credit of $2.77 million, according to R.I. Division of Taxation records. Under the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission’s program, Bronhard will be able to use the 23 percent state tax credit on any construction costs. And those credits don’t expire.
For that credit, Risica had paid an up-front state fee of $332,452.68, according to the state. He purchased those credits – with another $249,340 that’s due by May 15 – because it would make the project more attractive to other developers, he said.
“We just had to do everything we could to maintain all of the work that we had done to date,” he said in September, “and make it possible for some other developer to step in and make the best of this situation.”
Risica’s total investment was about $927,452.68, about $2,400 more than Bronhard’s bid for the project. But Risica, a Realtor who runs the Web site www.welovelofts.com, last month said he did not yet know whether the sale to Bronhard would cover his debt.
A list of Bronhard-owned properties from city records in both Providence and Fall River show that he’s a high-volume residential real estate investor with a presence in both cities.
According to city of Providence records, Bronhard owns more than $10.88 million in residential property around the capital city. Several of the 10 properties for which he’s listed as owner are rental properties on the East Side. Another three sales filed with the Recorder of Deeds last year showed an additional $4.44 million in residential property investment in Providence.
One Bronhard building, the multiapartment building at 308 Benefit St., last year had its façade replaced. Bronhard had bought that building, valued by the city at $1.15 million, in April 2007 for $1.08 million. It’s one of four rental properties that Bronhard owns on Benefit Street – the others are 378, 376 and 250 Benefit St., according to city records.
Bronhard also owns the building at 9 Hayes St., a three-story apartment building that’s sandwiched between the Providence Place mall and the Renaissance Providence Hotel.
The Fall River Tax Assessor’s office lists Bronhard as owner of 14 properties, most of which are single-family or multifamily residential, with values totaling $17.5 million. •
