State housing agency OKs financing for Lippitt Mill project - News - providencejournal.com

Christine Dunn Journal Staff Writer ChristineMDunn

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor on Thursday morning lauded a vote by the Rhode Island Housing Board of Commissioners to approve final financing for the Lippitt Mill Apartments development in West Warwick.

The mill, the second-oldest in Rhode Island, will be reused as 65 apartments, including 28 affordable units, Eric Shorter of Rhode Island Housing told the board. The total project cost is $15.9 million, including $2.3 million in Rebuild RI tax credits.

Developer Kristopher Shaw said there will be a groundbreaking this fall, and he hopes construction will be completed by next summer.

Board member Kevin Orth said that in addition to providing needed mixed-income housing, the project includes the preservation of a site with "historical and cultural significance," and it will also accomplish environmental remediation of the property.

Currently vacant and uninhabitable, the site requires frequent "police and fire presence," but this redevelopment will "put it back on the tax rolls," added Barbara Fields, executive director of Rhode Island Housing.

Pryor commended Rhode Island Housing for its work to finance developments that are helping to revive Rhode Island's economy by adding construction jobs and producing and preserving housing. In June, he said, employment data showed Rhode Island had the highest job growth in the construction sector in the nation.

"Thank you for quite directly contributing to that trend," Pryor said.

In other business Thursday, the board approved financing packages for the Coats Manor Apartments, in Pawtucket, and Maplewoods in the City and Charlesgate North Apartments, both in Providence.

Coats Manor, at 453-457 Lonsdale Ave., Pawtucket, includes 131 Section 8 apartments. The $9.6 million refinancing includes $300,000 for rehab work at the site. Coats Manor includes two interconnected buildings, one built in 1921 and renovated in 1981, and one built in 1981.

Maplewoods in the City, a proposed new 40-unit, 100-percent affordable family-oriented development on three acres on Huber Avenue in Providence's Manton neighborhood, is being developed by Stop Wasting Abandoned Property.

The $11-million Maplewoods development will provide rental housing for those earning less than 60 percent of the area median income. (For households of one to four people, this means annual income of $30,300 to $43,260.)

Nine of the proposed units will reserved for those earning less than 30 percent of the median income, which for one-to-four person households ranges from $15,200 to $24,600 a year.

Charlesgate North Apartments, at 670 North Main St., Providence, is a 14-story building with 200 apartments. It was built in 1974 and renovated in 2002. The board approved tax-exempt financing for the acquisition and rehabilitation of the property, which offers an assisted living program on-site for residents with Supplemental Security Income vouchers. The total cost is $27.5 million.

The board also learned Thursday that Rhode Island Housing, which is a state agency that generates income, has been required by the General Assembly to contribute $1 million to the state budget in the current fiscal year, instead of using it to support affordable housing efforts.

cdunn@providencejournal.com/

(401) 277-7913

On Twitter @ChristineMDunn

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