Grocery step to reconnecting city neighborhoods

CLARK SCHOETTLE, the longtime leader of the Providence Revolving Fund, will retire in June. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
CLARK SCHOETTLE, the longtime leader of the Providence Revolving Fund, will retire in June. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

(Updated 12:30 p.m.)
Behind Citizens Bank in Providence, between Westminster and Cranston streets, sits a vacant lot.

It’s the previous home of Louttit Laundry, but after the building was abandoned in 1985, dilapidation was inevitable and the building got demolished in 2008. The lot now sits empty, filled with low-standing vegetation and accumulated garbage.

But not for long. Urban Greens Food Co-op, a consumer-owned retail grocery store, has plans to open operations in an 8,000-square-foot, mixed-use building on the lot with ground-floor retail and two additional floors of housing.

And the project could just be the start of improvements for the West End, Elmwood and upper south Providence neighborhoods, as the Providence Revolving Fund, a nonprofit lender, is on track to raise $1 million that would be matched by the U.S. Treasury to create a loan program for the neighborhoods and their commercial corridors.

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The Providence Revolving Fund isn’t working in conjunction with Urban Greens, but rather parallel to one another, working simultaneously to try and spark some growth for that portion of the city that has – in some ways – fallen victim to years of inactivity.

The development team for the lot behind Citizens Bank, comprising Bourne Avenue Capital Partners, D+P Real Estate and Truth Box Studio, has plans for a second building to be built adjacent to Urban Greens for housing and a ground-floor parking garage. Leshinsky Finance participated in an advisory role to Urban Greens. The buildings would run from Cranston Street alongside Thomas P. Witten Way and end about 100 feet short of Westminster Street. The size of the two buildings combined will total about 54,400 square feet.

Together, the two buildings would add an estimated 39 residential units and a much-needed grocery store for the area. Urban Greens and the development team in January was awarded $2.7 million in Rebuild Rhode Island tax credits, which comes with the requirement that the development get underway this year. The entire project is a $10 million investment and the tax credit funds would be distributed over a five-year period after certificate of occupancy, according to Ethan Sluter, principal director of development at Bourne Avenue Capital. Philip T. Trevvett fully expects that to happen.

“A lot has changed in this area, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the grocery situation. There’s still an apparent need and that’s something Urban Greens will actively address,” Trevvett said.

“The timing of the [Great] Recession has supposedly ended, so we’re just starting to see real estate appreciation happening again and I think, based on our previous experiences, Rhode Island goes through these 10-year cycles of good times before its bubble bursts,” said Clark Schoettle, PRF executive director. “We have seven or eight years of good times left and people are going to be interested in doing development.”

PRF is one of only two Rhode Island lenders certified by the federal treasury as a Certified Development Financial Institution, which allows the group to create the commercial-corridor loan program. Last month, the nonprofit lender secured a $75,000 grant from the 1772 Foundation, increasing its $1 million fundraising goal to $735,000.

“We understand there’s a lot of vacant land and a necessity for new buildings,” Schoettle said. “We have interest from people wanting to do things here, but they just cannot get enough equity together to borrow enough. … That’s where we would step in and put down the 10-15 percent.”

So far, the PRF has raised money from 15 different sources, including the Rhode Island Foundation and the Providence Redevelopment Agency. Schoettle fully expects to raise the remaining funds. Since 1982, the nonprofit has made more than $8.6 million in loans for more than 450 restorations, including the renovations of 62 previously abandoned buildings. It has leveraged more than $16 million in additional investments, resulting in the rehabilitation of 1,000 homes and apartments. Its existing capital pool for lending in Providence stands at $12.5 million.

Kari N. Lang, executive director of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, said the initiative “sounds like a win-win for everyone in the city.” For too long, she added, the neighborhoods have been cut off from other areas in the city, including by Route 95 from downtown and the 6-10 Connector from Olneyville.

“These highways did so much damage to us,” Lang said. “We’re one of the closest neighborhoods to the downtown and to do some of this reconnecting and restitching would be great.”

Urban Greens could be the first big step toward that reconnection and PRF hopes to augment the effort.

“There’s a lot of room for commercial development and improved housing options,” Trevvett said. “The biggest challenge in an area like the West End, or upper south Providence, is balancing development that is inclusive and mindful of the families and residents that are already living here.” •

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the size of the project and the amount of awarded tax credits. It also stated Leshinsky Finance was a part of the development team, but should have clarified the company is a consultant to Urban Greens.

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