Affordable Housing Institute : US

Via the New York Sunday Times (subscription may be required) comes another tale of urban pioneering and the power of markets:

 

In the early 1970’s, when Ranne Warner and her husband, Ray, lived in New York City, they were among the very few to call TriBeCa their home. Far from the chi-chi, coveted enclave it is today, back then the neighborhood was all but deserted - an area of artist studios, warehouses and manufacturers.

 

If you lived here, you’d be in Pawtucket now

 

In 2000, she began to search for a mill in Boston to convert into residential space. But there were none to be found. So when, in November 2001, a business acquaintance suggested that she check out a 100,000-square-foot mill in Pawtucket that sits on the banks of the Blackstone River, she jumped.

 

“It was love at first sight,” despite the fact that, she recalls, “the windows were either boarded up or covered with plaster, and the fire escape was so rusted and unsound that it looked as if it was about to fall off.”

 

“Nonetheless,” she said, “it was beautiful. I call the building one large window surrounded by bricks. It was in excellent structural condition. I could just see what an amazing space it could be.” Following her instincts, in early 2001 Ms. Warner agreed to buy the building for $550,000, and her husband helped with the redesign. She has since named it Riverfront Lofts.

 

By then, she was committed not only to the mill but to the city of Pawtucket, which dates back to 1793, when John [Samuel — Ed.] Slater built the country’s first cotton processing mill. (The Slater Mill, which sits across the Blackstone River from the Riverfront Lofts, is now a museum and historic landmark.)

 

 

 

Pawtucket flourished in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but by the 1960’s the mills began to close down.

 

By the mid-1990’s, Pawtucket was known as the home of the minor league team for the Boston Red Sox, the Rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles and not much else. “We had kind of a dormant, moribund type of city here,” said James Doyle, the mayor of Pawtucket.

 

Ms. Warner agreed that Pawtucket had a bad reputation. “Everybody called it ‘the Bucket.’ ” But she saw magic in the city’s raw material …

 

Pawtucket had many of the same good bones we talked about in my post on Roxbury’s revival:

 

·         Good ground

·         Good bones (solid buildings with attractive features)

·         Strong metropolitan economy

·         Buyer’s bargain element

·         Government investment

·         Historic rehabilitation (love those tax credits!)

·         Mixed-income housing

 

… which includes a prime location along the Interstate 95 corridor, 45 minutes from Boston and 10 minutes from Providence.

 

 

“This was a very wealthy city in the 19th and early 20th centuries,” she said. “During that time, the mill owners built very beautiful buildings - the mills, the library, the armory, the Y.M.C.A., the City Hall, the churches and post office.”

 

Raising the capital required pre-selling units before the building was renovated:

 

“Buyers had to commit to purchasing the units before any construction was started or even final finishes were selected,” she said.

 

Those buyers definitely had vision.  

 

“We arrived at Riverfront and the place was a disaster,” says Dr. Steven Cohen, a surgeon who lived in Providence with his family for more than 30 years and was one of the early buyers to commit to Riverfront. “There were holes in the windows, holes in the floor, pigeons flying through the building,” he said. “It was just disgusting. But we fell in love with it.”

 

Price is always a driver:

 

Buyers like Mr. Casey and the Cohens were also attracted to the price. Units at Riverfront Lofts go for $190 to $215 a square foot, versus $265 to $300 in Providence and $500 to $600 in downtown Boston.

 

“Pawtucket feels a little bit like a frontier, and Ranne paved the way for us,” said Peter Gill Case, one of the developers of the Bayley Lofts. “We had no trouble getting the banks to finance us. At first, people had cold feet, but Ranne warmed their toes. She blazed the trail.”

 

Mayor Doyle agreed. “Ranne is kind of the Daniel Boone of the area,” he said.

 

“Now, the long-term appreciation potential of this wilderness is …”

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