Will tax credits nudge developers?

BRINGING IT BACK: Peter Bouchard, Valley Affordable Housing Corp. executive director, in front of Cumberland’s Ashton Mill Village, which the organization hopes to use historic tax credits for. / PBN PHOTO/NATALJA KENT
BRINGING IT BACK: Peter Bouchard, Valley Affordable Housing Corp. executive director, in front of Cumberland’s Ashton Mill Village, which the organization hopes to use historic tax credits for. / PBN PHOTO/NATALJA KENT

Fred Presley, West Warwick’s interim town manager and economic-development coordinator, has seen firsthand how tax credits for preservation of historic properties can be a boon to a community.
Once one of the world’s busiest hydro-powered cotton mills, by the end of the last century the Royal Mills had become instead another industrial eyesore, and there was talk of demolishing the old granite buildings. Instead tax credits allowed a developer to transform the property into 250 apartments and 50,000 square feet of retail space.
“It’s a beautiful project that really adds something to the area, but it would never have happened without tax credits,” Presley said. “For some time now people have been saying we need to bring back the preservation program.”
You’ll hear similar stories in every Rhode Island city or town that boomed during the state’s manufacturing heyday, then sagged when those industries moved south or overseas. Before the historic-tax-credit program was suspended for budgetary reasons in 2008, almost every old, industrial center in the state saw once-blighted buildings come to life again as shopping plazas, office space or housing.
With a partial restoration of the program during this year’s legislative session, that trend is expected to resume, and municipal leaders all over the state are sending signals they’re ready to work with developers.
West Warwick is one example. Presley is hoping to attract investors to several old structures, most notably the Crompton Mill at the corner of Main and Pulaski streets and the Arctic Mill on Factory Street. He’s quick to point out that reviving those properties would do more than simply save cultural landmarks. The town’s tax base could get a healthy boost, too.
“If those buildings were renovated and rented to new tenants, it would greatly increase their value,” he said. “For tax purposes, it would help this town tremendously.”
Communities will reap other economic benefits as well, according to Scott Wolf, executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island. “It’s going to be a real shot in the arm for some of our hard-pressed municipalities, because those are the areas where a significant number of historic buildings are located,” he said. “Historic buildings and neighborhoods are potential magnets for knowledge-economy companies and workers, and this state has an expansive collection. And one sector of our economy that was really hit hard by the economic downturn was the construction industry. They’ll be helped by this.” The new version of the historic-preservation program provides a pot of $34.5 million for tax credits. Only $12 million of that can be used in a single year, and no project will receive more than $5 million. That’s not enough to benefit some larger renovation projects – like the one proposed at 111 Westminster St. in Providence (known as the Superman Building) – but no one doubts there will be plenty of interest in vacant factories and empty commercial buildings in the state’s smaller cities.
As yet, no one can say for certain which historic landmarks will be getting a boost. “We’re not sitting here with a stack of projects ready to go,” said Edward Sanderson, executive director of the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, which approves historic-tax-credit renovations. “This isn’t the same law that we had before. It’s very similar, but there are some differences, and we’ll have to get a look at those new regulations to see what qualifies.”
All the same, there’s a wish list in every community, including many properties on the National Register of Historic Places.
Valley Affordable Housing Corp., a Cumberland-based nonprofit that develops affordable housing, is making plans to renovate 10 red-brick row houses dating back to the mid-1800s. Ashton Mill Village sits adjacent to Ashton Mill, at the corner of Cumberland’s Middle and Front streets. A developer already converted the mill into high-end apartments. Now the nonprofit group hopes to turn the village tenements into 60 or more affordable units. Its plan also calls for using vacant lots at the site for two new residential buildings as well.
VAHC has experience renovating other historic properties throughout Rhode Island. The group purchased Ashton Mill Village for $2.5 million, before it became apparent tax credits would be available again. The project is expected to cost about $11 million, according to Peter Bouchard, the organization’s executive director. The group expects to use federal historic tax credits, which could generate $1.2 million. If they qualify to the state tax-credit program as well, that figure could double.
“As soon as the procedure [for historic tax credits] is established, we’ll be getting in line,” he said.
Tax credits may also be used to renovate Central Falls Landing on the Blackstone River, a 40,000-square-foot lot that includes a 10,000-square-foot industrial building. Back in the late 1800s, the property was the site of the American Supply Company, according to Steve Larrick, Central Falls planning and economic-development coordinator.
The city acquired the landing property from the state Department of Environmental Management. The agency created a launch for boaters who want to explore the Blackstone River, and it’s also used as a boarding area for its canopied riverboat owned by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.
Larrick suggests the area would be ideal for a restaurant with an outdoor eating area. “It’s right on the Blackstone where you enter Central Falls from Cumberland,” he said. “It could be a gateway project for the city.”
There are vacant mill properties in other parts of Central Falls as well, Larrick notes. Several buildings on Roosevelt Avenue were turned into high-end condominiums a few years ago, but some still await renovation. And a sprawling industrial complex that was once home to the Conant Thread Factory sits partly in Central Falls and partly in Pawtucket. A few of the buildings are rented out for uses as warehouse or manufacturing, but most are empty.
“The Conant Thread site covers more than a million square feet,” Larrick said. “But it could work as a series of projects that are developed piece by piece. At one time it was the largest thread-manufacturing facility in the world. It’s got the kind of architecture and history and urban location that could attract knowledge-economy companies.”
East Providence planning director Jeanne Boyle is hoping tax credits spur interest in the Odd Fellows Hall on Warren Avenue, a shingle-style fraternal lodge built in 1889. Developers may also be eyeing the Phillipsdale Landing, an industrial complex in the city consisting of 13 buildings on the Seekonk River. The owner had qualified for historic tax credits in the past, but failed to use them before the program was suspended. Another former industrial building now known as the Almacs Warehouse sits adjacent to the landing, and city officials are hoping to see renovation work there, too.
A top priority in Pawtucket is the former School Administration Building on Park Place, now owned by a private developer. “They were eyeing tax credits in the past,” said Barney Heath, director of planning and redevelopment. “It could be commercial office space or maybe a restaurant with retail, and we wouldn’t be opposed to residential.”
Warwick has the Pontiac Mills on the Pawtuxet River, built in 1863. Workers there produced Army uniforms during the Civil War, and later Fruit of the Loom brand cloth. “It’s 15 acres and 23 buildings at 334 Knight St.,” said Karen Jedson, director of tourism, culture and development. “And it’s ready for mixed-use development.”
Woonsocket has several downtown properties City Hall leaders hope to see renovated soon: the Stadium office building in Monument Square, which sits next to the renovated Stadium Theater, and the commercial block on Main Street.
Matt Wojcik, the city’s director of economic development, also points to Bernon Mills, on Front Street near the Court Street Bridge. The buildings stand out from other industrial properties because they’re built of stone, not brick. “A lot of work has been done in one building,” Wojcik said. “A developer had owned the property, but it fell into foreclosure and now it’s owned by a bank. The city would like to see market-rate apartments.”
Time has run out for Woonsocket’s French Worsted Mill, which was located off Hamlet Ave. A developer bought the property more than a decade ago, with renovation plans that involved tax credits. Last year, however, the owner razed the red brick buildings and sold the property to a party looking for a vacant lot. •

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