Developer wastes no time in targeting Providence Fruit warehouse

Citywatch

January 16, 2008 4:55:39 PM

A decade ago, the area extending west from downtown Providence embodied the grit of this old industry city. There was the Silver Top Diner, hard by the Providence Fruit and Produce Warehouse (1929), not to mention the fabled Fort Thunder artist collective in Eagle Square and plenty of other cheap, forgotten mill space spreading out toward Olneyville.

Flash forward a decade and much of this stuff is gone or significantly changed, replaced by burgeoning development. On Monday, the old produce warehouse became the latest bit of old Providence to feel the sudden, unforgiving bite of the wrecking ball.

While Providence has an undeniable need for more revenue, you have to mourn the loss when a bit more of old Rhode Island slips away.

In the case of the Providence Fruit and Produce Warehouse, it’s all the more concerning since, as the ProJo’s Dan Barbarisi pointed out on January 11, Johnston-based Carpionato Properties was able to buy the property for $10 million less than the amount previously paid by the state, because of an expectation that it would be reused, rather than demolished.

Yet although “top state authorities say Carpionato intentionally allowed the property to deteriorate in order to make it easier to justify its destruction,” the City of Providence sided with the developer, suggesting that Mayor David N. Cicilline had tacitly signed off on the demolition plan.

So when a judge on Monday backed Carpionato’s right to raze the warehouse, it was completely unsurprising that the developer’s crew set to work almost immediately — a situation reminiscent of how the Procaccianti Group launched demolition at the crusty former police station back in August, right after the city’s Building Board rejected an appeal by a neighborhood group.

While the low-slung concrete structure of the produce warehouse might have been difficult to redevelop, it’s also what made the site — which is included on the National Register of Historic Places — a local landmark. Yet Carpionato, whose lawyer, Thomas Moses, presumably used a straight face in telling the ProJo “that the intended demolition does not amount to a change in its development plan,” clearly sees things differently.

Even before this latest development, some preservation advocates detected a familiar pattern in Providence. As J. (from artinruins.com) recently noted (hat tip to gcpvd.org) on a related Urban Planet discussion board:

“1) Acquire a building that was once used for industry, preferably an obsolete one. These buildings have been known to be situated close to water and shipping lanes, so will have great views which you can exploit later.

“2) Don’t worry if the building was on the National Register, or protected by the State. Don’t listen to the people who may have great ideas to redevelop the project. You don’t want all that hassle and all those ‘conversations.’

“3) Sit on it. For a long time. It would help if it was already derelict when you bought it because the previous owner was losing money as their industry was becoming obsolete.

“4) Let graffiti accumulate. Hipsters will love it, but they don’t vote. The neighborhood will soon forget about the activity that went on there and the buildings own ‘glory days.’ It will start to look horrible, and they will start to complain about it.

“5) Keep sitting on it. It would help if you complained about the cost of potential renovations while you did so.

“6) Let security around the perimeter go lax. Teenagers will get in, wreck the place, and maybe start a fire or two. If you are lucky, that will take care of it. If not, it becomes a hazard and a public nuisance.

“7) Finally, after years of neglect, declare the place not worth saving, and suggest to the City that they let you demolish it. The city will go along because the neighbors have been complaining, and since you hold the checkbook, they will be too scared to demand anything more from you.

“8) (Optional) Build a parking lot while you ‘wait for the market to become ripe.’

“9) Build something there that won’t last for as long as the building you just let go to waste, but instead will remain shiny and new for about five. Sell it to an out-of-town conglomerate once you’ve made your money, and let them worry about the upkeep.

“10) Rinse. Repeat.”

Parts of this post were published January 15 on thephoenix.com/notfornothing .