Pawtucket eyes riverfront revival

A LOT OF WORK: A rendering commissioned by The Pawtucket Foundation in 2008 illustrates the development potential of an area that now includes a large surface parking lot owned by Pawtucket and the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency. / COURTESY THE PAWTUCKET FOUNDATION/DURKEE BROWN VIVEIROS AND WERENFELS ARCHITECTS
A LOT OF WORK: A rendering commissioned by The Pawtucket Foundation in 2008 illustrates the development potential of an area that now includes a large surface parking lot owned by Pawtucket and the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency. / COURTESY THE PAWTUCKET FOUNDATION/DURKEE BROWN VIVEIROS AND WERENFELS ARCHITECTS

With so much hype being focused on real estate in Providence’s developing Knowledge District and next to T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Pawtucket’s downtown riverfront is sometimes in danger of being overlooked.
But the vision city and business leaders have for development on the Blackstone and Seekonk river waterfront to drive an urban revival stretching through downtown into Central Falls could rival those plans in other parts of the state.
With up to $125 million in state and federal infrastructure improvements committed to the area and a Downtown Development Plan, city and business leaders are now taking steps to nurture riverfront projects to life and make sure Pawtucket appears on developers’ radar.
“We want to create an environment where we have shovel-ready projects,” said Pawtucket Planning Director Michael P. Davolio. “We’re pulling together the information a developer would need before they could make a decision about building. We want to take the risk out of things for developers.”
In the last few months, the city has approved zoning changes that removed parking requirements for buildings in the downtown area, making new mixed-use projects more feasible and discouraging the clearing of lots for surface parking.
The changes also allow some uses by right instead of requiring a special permit, which can add two or three months additional lead time to a project and make mixed use difficult.
Joining the city, businesses and other stakeholders, The Pawtucket Foundation is now raising money to hire consultants to study the area, recommend what kind of buildings would work best on each parcel and come up with a marketing strategy.
“We view the river as the most underdeveloped part of the city,” said foundation Executive Director Thomas Mann Jr. “The primary land-owners have agreed to work together for a master-development vision for the riverfront. We have all the pieces and need to tie it all together.” Already, The Pawtucket Foundation has raised $90,000 for riverfront study, including $38,000 from The Rhode Island Foundation and $3,000 from the Ocean State Charities Trust.
Ultimately, Mann said he envisions a formal development district along the waterfront with pre-permitting for advantageous projects and financial incentives such as tax-increment financing.
To get there, Mann said the consultants will start out collecting information on individual parcels in the area and what utilities and infrastructure they have access to, then determine what kind of use works best where.
After that, the study will turn to recommendations on how to get those projects built, including financing options and possible public-private partnerships.
The campaign to develop the riverfront comes as local leaders try to leverage significant outside investments in Pawtucket, especially in its transportation infrastructure.
The $81 million replacement of the Interstate 95 bridge, scheduled to restore full truck traffic at the end of this year and be fully completed by the end of 2013, is expected to open up areas of the riverfront now blocked by the old bridge as well as alleviate the traffic congestion of current detours.
The federal government has also committed $2 million toward the construction of a new Pawtucket commuter-rail platform at Barton Street that city leaders hope will spur growth and bring back residents to downtown.
On top of those projects, the city has identified approximately $18 million in local infrastructure projects to improve, among other things, the notoriously confusing tangle of one-way streets in and out of town. Finding funding for those projects is another goal of city officials.
The Pawtucket Downtown Design plan completed by Thurlow Small Architecture last year won several awards for designs intended to improve pedestrian access and encourage mixed-use development downtown by, among other things, returning many streets to two-way traffic. Another key component of the current riverfront development is that the area will get a boost from the eventual creation of a new national park along the Blackstone River, including Slater Mill and other historic industrial sites.
In addition to the city, donors and property owners that are part of the Pawtucket Foundation’s river partnership include the Central Falls’ receiver’s office, Slater Mill Museum and Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.
Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien said in a news release announcing the partnership that the Pawtucket riverfront can be branded the “Gateway to Rhode Island and the Blackstone Valley River Valley.”
As for what will eventually be built along the river, Mann said mixed use was the goal, with a significant amount of housing to support retail and recreational use.
The properties along the targeted area have a mix of private and public owners. Davolio said six sites in particular are “primed” for redevelopment.
So far at least, Pawtucket is not taking planning of the riverfront to the extent that the I-195 District Commission is orchestrating the redevelopment of the Knowledge District or Warwick has mapped out the urban village it wants in the Station District.
“The vision is pretty broad, where we are not ready to define specific uses,” Davolio said.
One thing none of the groups involved with revitalizing the riverfront consider acceptable is a project oriented only to the automobile that ignores the water.
“Based on my experience, we have a pretty well-defined asset in the riverfront,” Davolio said. “We want to have mixed uses and change what has happened in the past where people turn their back on the river.” •

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