A proposed $45 million renovation of 19th-century mill buildings in Olneyville promises to bring luster to one of Providence's most disadvantaged neighborhoods. But even as a pair of respected developers outlined plans Tuesday, January 21, for their "Rising Sun Mills" development, critics sounded a familiar, one-word warning.

"Gentrification," said Johanna Dery, a filmmaker who has lived and worked in Olneyville for three years. She described a process that could spell trouble for her and fellow artists, along with immigrant residents: Artists move into a neighborhood, lured both by huge workspaces in unused industrial buildings and bargain-basement rents. Development follows, property values and rents rise. The original residents can't afford to stay.

Dery was one of a number of artists who spoke at a meeting of the Providence City Plan Commission at which the Armory Revival Company and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc., of Baltimore, described the plan. Bordered by the Woonasquatucket River and Valley and Delaine streets, the 10 mill buildings on 15 acres date to 1887, when they housed the Providence & National Worsted Mills.

Bill Struever, whose firm helped revitalize the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and Mark Van Noppen, of the Armory firm that has developed more than 400 Rhode Island homes, say their effort will create 151 loft-style apartments renting from $600 to $1400 a month. The complex will also have stores, offices and space for artists. "We thank you for considering and deciding to develop this particular area, because Valley Street needs so much development," gushed City Councilwoman Josephine DiRuzzo.

Critics were guarded in their comments, and no one suggested the project is another Eagle Square, just several blocks away, where scores of artists lost their workspaces last year. Struever, a Brown University graduate, was among those who advised the administration of former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. to come up with a compromise that saved four mill buildings, even as others were demolished for a supermarket, stores, offices, and artist studios.

Still, artists voiced fears.

Brian Chippendale, a musician and printer, said that it is a "huge struggle" for him to rent space in the neighborhood for $5 a square foot, with earnings of only $10,000 a year. He said the $6-to-$9-per-square-foot price outlined for artists' spaces to be overseen by Struever's daughter, Sara -- a Rhode Island School of Design graduate -- seem out of the question.

Lu Heintz, who creates metal sculpture, said artists like her need affordable space that they can use both for working and living -- something she has now in a nearby mill.

But B.J. Dupre, an Armory Revival partner, argued that current mill rents reflect the cheap prices landlords paid for properties that receive only Band-Aid maintenance. Rising Sun will replace leaky boilers, rebuild roofs, and correct industrial pollution such as lead and arsenic -- all at a cost -- he said.

Dupre and Struever held out this hope: because they are concerned about the entire area, not just their own development, they hope to be able to work with community and city interests to develop both affordable housing and long-term affordable spaces for artists near Rising Sun Mills.

City approval seems likely, given the huge investment, along with preservation of historic buildings. The Plan Commission approved the tentative plan, and Mayor David N. Cicilline called Rising Sun Mills, "A dramatic example of the opportunities we can bring to our neighborhoods."

Issue Date: January 24 - 30, 2003