Providence Water breaks ground on new central operations facility

This is an architect's rendering of the entrance to the new Providence Water facility. / COURTESY VISION 3 ARCHITECTS
This is an architect's rendering of the entrance to the new Providence Water facility. / COURTESY VISION 3 ARCHITECTS

PROVIDENCE – Providence Water soon will begin renovations on a newly purchased facility for conversion to its central water operations facility.
Once completed, the facility will accommodate customer service, transmission and distribution, the water quality lab, engineering, technology construction and administration for the Providence Water Supply Board. Work is expected to be completed in spring 2017. The nearly 181,000-square-foot building most recently was occupied by Bank of America.
The site, at 125 Dupont Drive, Providence, was purchased by the water utility Dec. 28 for $10.35 million. The acquisition was financed through a low-interest loan provided by the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank. The renovation cost is expected to be about $16 million, according to a spokeswoman for the water utility.
Providence Water is the largest water utility in Rhode Island and has 600,000 customers. It plans to consolidate its 200 employees at the Dupont Drive site by June 2017.
Now headquartered at 552 Academy Ave. in Providence, the utility also has offices in trailers in Cranston, where the engineering, finance and support service employees are located.
A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on Tuesday.

No posts to display