Growing up on the East Side of Providence, Olneyville seemed a confusing maze of imposing buildings to Ethan Colaiace, as “foreign to me as the moon.”
For the past five years his work life has been focused on re-making the neighborhood on a more earthly scale.
In 2003 the Providence resident was hired by Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse to work on the redevelopment of what is now know as Rising Sun Mills. As development director, he’s been a key player in the acquisition, design, financing and development of three historic preservation projects on Valley Street that have brought more than 500,000 square feet of revitalized mixed-use space and $100 million in investment to Olneyville.
“Valley Street is now woven back into the fabric of the Olneyville neighborhood,” he wrote in his 40 Under Forty application.
Before joining Struever Bros., The University of Texas graduate worked with ConsultEcon Inc., in Cambridge, Mass., providing market and economic analysis, planning and management-consulting services.
In 1998 and 1999, he worked as an urban planner for the Providence firm of Barbara Sokoloff Associates Inc. His work there focused on developing strategies for revitalization and economic development for Rhode Island cities and towns.
His background in urban planning has led to several appointments to commissions concerned with how Providence manages development.
He was a principal author of Providence’s live-work artist housing ordinance, approved in 2005. The ordinance allows up to six individuals to legally share a communal space, which promotes housing affordability. •
