Press Releases

PROVIDENCE – A concrete loading dock set the stage for city and state officials to celebrate the proposed transformation of several Valley Street mill buildings.

Mayor David N. Cicilline called mills of the American Locomotive Works a monument to the thousands of immigrants who worked in them.

"They were the heart and soul of the industrial era and they were the engine that moved these cities forward," he said.

But a new locomotive engine moved in yesterday.

Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse officially announced their plan to infuse $333 million into the 22.5-acre site. Struever wants to refurbish 26 historic buildings and construct a handful of new buildings to create a neighborhood of retail, office space, apartments and condominiums. The plan includes two parking garages wrapped up and hidden behind condominiums.

The project consists of the former American Locomotive Works, U.S. Rubber and a portion of the Nicholson File sites, which are all owned by the Licht family.

The development is nicknamed ALCO, and its insignia was borrowed and updated from American Locomotive Works' letterhead. Struever hopes to complete the first phase of the project, which includes a hotel and office buildings, by the end of the year, and finish the entire project by 2008.

More than 100 people attended yesterday's sunny, but chilly news conference. Gray flannel blankets with the ALCO logo were placed on white folding chairs to keep the spectators warm.

"I'm excited to see these old, old historic buildings [that] had a legacy of one type being now converted and being the future of not only this city, but the state," Governor Carcieri said.

Carcieri, who has threatened to cut back the state's historic tax-credit program, said ALCO was the perfect neighborhood-transforming use of the credits. Struever will be using $30 million in state historic tax credits.

Rep. Steven M. Constantino, D-Providence, said the credits will benefit the city and state through increased property taxes, jobs, income taxes and sales taxes.

"This makes sense," Constantino said.

Struever officials said ALCO will reconnect Federal Hill to Smith Hill and Olneyville to the Promenade.

"We want to make Providence the coolest place in the world," said Bill Struever. "That's our small goal, and historic buildings are terrific for it. They have such an incredible magic and spirit."

But beneath yesterday's atmosphere of good cheer hovered a layer of uncertainty.

The ALCO project will displace more than 30 small businesses, and community leaders fear that it will drive real-estate values above the means of low-income and working families in the nearby neighborhoods.

Also, the developer is relying on the city to approve a $40-million bond to pay for infrastructure improvements.

Council President John J. Lombardi said the Tax Increment Financing that Struever is seeking will face considerable debate.

A TIF bond, which must be approved by voters, would pay for road improvements, bridge work over the Woonasquatucket River and a river walk alongside ALCO. The bond would be repaid by the tax revenue generated by the ALCO and other developments that -- hopefully -- follow it.

In an interview, Bill Struever said if the TIF was not approved, it would be a serious setback for the project. Struever, however, was confident that the City Council and voters would approve it when they learned of its benefits."

"TIFs pay for themselves," he said.

One person who was not in the crowd was Norman A. Ospina, president of the Olneyville Neighborhood Association. Ospina said he wasn't invited.

Ospina is skeptical that ALCO will improve lives of the people who reside nearby. He thinks it will force them out.

"We don't want to displace all the low-income people," Ospina said. "We need people to clean the hotel bathrooms and shovel the sidewalks, but we don't want to build housing for them to live in a dignified manner. This [ALCO] is not going to be for our people. This is going to be out of their reach."

Indeed, the 600 residential units at ALCO will range from $1,200 to $1,800 a month for rental units and $300,000 to $450,000 for condominiums.

Bill Struever acknowledged that the project will drive up property values, but his company plans to partner with affordable-housing agencies and other community projects. The company has dedicated 2 percent of its construction costs to community projects and an additional 10 percent of the profits from the project to a trust fund for community initiatives, including affordable housing.

Struever said his daughter, Sara Struever, converted him into a believer of the "triple bottom line: people, planet and profits."

Struever officials have met with representatives of Olneyville Housing Corp., Smith Hill Community Development Corp., Rhode Island Housing, the city and LISC, a national nonprofit that focuses on community development.

"People have to move away from the idea that this site had to have affordable housing," said Barbara Fields, director of the Rhode Island LISC office. "But if we can get money from [ALCO] to do the housing in the Smith Hill, Valley and Olneyville neighborhoods, then there are other opportunities.

Councilwoman Josephine DiRuzzo, who did not attend yesterday's event because she is recovering from knee surgery, said she will fight for the small businesses at the site and the neighbors around it, but she is enthusiastic about the Struever project.

"This area has been neglected and forgotten and has been lying dormant for years with the exception of a little activity," she said. "I think it's going to bring life to the whole area."

Cathleen F. Crowley, Providence Journal

# # #