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Dreyfus |
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Hotel |
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Providence, |
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Rhode Island
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| Introduction |
| The Developer |
| The Member
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| Tour the
Site (Video) |
| The Resident
(Video)
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| The Numbers |
| Interview
(Video): AS220 Founder Bert Crenca |
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Affordable Housing in Downtown Providence
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| View
of the restored Dreyfus Hotel in downtown Providence.
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The renovation of the former Dreyfus Hotel preserves a historically significant building in downtown Providence while providing new affordable housing for artists in a district where most of the new housing has been market-rate.
Developed by the arts organization AS220, the Dreyfus Hotel initiative includes 11 live-work spaces affordable to very low- and low-income artists, three market-rate units, as well as 10 work studios, gallery space, and a first-floor restaurant.
Financing for the restoration includes a $300,000 grant and a $710,047 subsidized advance from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s (the Bank) Affordable Housing Program (AHP) through member Bank Rhode Island. Other funding includes state and federal Historic Tax Credits, New Markets Tax Credits, and a predevelopment loan and a bridge loan from member Bank of America Rhode Island, N.A.
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| An
apartment at the Dreyfus Hotel in downtown Providence.
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Formed in 1986 by a small group of artists, AS220 acquired a blighted downtown building on Empire Street in the early 1990s and converted it to single-room residences and workspace for artists, a theater, and other performance space. In 1993, the Empire Street initiative was the recipient of an AHP grant through member Citizens Bank of Rhode Island.
“We have been on Empire Street for almost 15 years and have a waiting list for artists that need affordable space to live and work,” says Lucie Searle, AS200's development manager. “The motivation behind the Dreyfus was to do another affordable project that would keep us in the mix downtown.”
“Over the last 15 years we have been constantly looking at buildings,” says Mr. Shawn Wallace, AS200's managing director. “The Dreyfus was the first one where all of the pieces came together. I think we are doing the same thing now — if something makes sense we may pursue another project. “