By
Robert O’Malley
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View
of Burlington Waterfront Apartments in Burlington, Vermont.
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The renovation of the former Dreyfus Hotel preserves a historically
significant downtown
building while providing new affordable housing in a district where most of the
new housing has been market rate.
“The ‘AS’ in AS220 stands for alternative space,” says
Shawn Wallace, AS220’s managing director. “We very much see ourselves
as an alternative to some of the other development that is happening downtown.
Rents in Providence are going through the roof. It’s very hard for people
who don’t make that much money to live in Providence neighborhoods, let
alone downtown.”
Once completed the Dreyfus Hotel
initiative will include 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 ground-floor restaurant.
Before it was converted to a dormitory for Johnson & Wales University in
1975,
the 19th century Dreyfus Hotel building had been used as a hotel, a lounge, and
a restaurant. The current renovation includes preservation of historic architectural
detail such as the ornate wood paneling
and decorative carving in the ground-floor restaurant space. “This is really
the historic centerpiece of the building,” says Lucie Searle, development
manager for AS200.
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 bridge loan from member Bank of America Rhode Island, N.A.
“This is a $7.5 million project with about $1.5 million in permanent financing
to be supported by the rents,” says Ms. Searle.
“I think we really want to underscore the indispensability of the Federal
Home Loan Bank of Boston funding piece. It not only involves a $300,000 grant,
but provides us with permanent financing through the subsidized advance.”
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View of
Burlington Waterfront Apartments in Burlington, Vermont.
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Ms. Searle also points to the critical role Johnson & Wales
University played in keeping the downtown district alive during
its most challenging years and for ensuring that the Dreyfus building
was transferred
to AS220. “There were other people who wanted to buy the
building, but they said they wanted to make this work for AS220
because of the affordable space it would provide for artists.”
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 Ms. Searle. “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. Wallace. “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. ”
Peter Walsh, senior vice president at member Bank Rhode Island,
says the AS200 project will “diversify the population moving into downtown. It’s
going to bring people back to the city and provide affordable housing in the
downtown area, where the housing is typically more expensive. It’s
better to have a broad mix of people living downtown.”
Mr. Walsh says the “availability of state Historic Tax Credits makes many
downtown renovations more attractive and doable. Quite frankly, they probably
couldn’t have done them without help from the tax credits,” he
adds.
Developing
affordable housing in historic buildings presents challenges that
don’t exist with new construction, says Ms. Searle. Code
issues require adaptations that can be expensive for a developer. “Often
what we want to use the buildings for today is not what they were
designed for originally,” she says. “The challenge is
how do you reuse them, make them relevant today, and keep them affordable.
I think the first step is to keep them — some cities lost
their historic buildings to the wrecking ball.”T
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