City moves to raze five River Street properties
WOONSOCKET – Five vacant multi-families that stand shoulder-to-shoulder on River Street, with a view of the Blackstone River, are on a collision course with a wrecker’s ball after the city opened bids for their demolition Thursday.
The homes – 179, 189, 193, 203 and 209 River St. – were all purchased by the city with the intent of demolishing them as part of the city’s blight eradication and density reduction program.
Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt says the idea is to open up some space in an underutilized area that might be attrac- tive to private redevelopment interests – particularly with the Blackstone River Bikeway coming through on the opposite side of the street.
“There are multiple reasons as to why I have been focusing on the River Street area,” the mayor said. “It’s part of the vision for the future. We have a bike path that will be constructed on the river side, it’s in close proximity to the downtown. As we all know some of the most tempting and pleasing pieces of land in all states, in all areas, in all countries, are on rivers, oceans and lakes. Water is a draw for property owners.”
Three companies tendered offers to raze the houses. All from Johnston, they were AA Wrecking, $68,230; J.R. Vinagro, $88,700; and R&P Construction, $108,650.
The mayor said Construction Manager Thomas Koback will review the bids and make a recommendation to the administration on which company should be awarded the demolition contract.
City officials weren’t immediately able to say how much the city paid for the properties. Along with other homes and vacant lots the city has purchased in the River Street area, the property transactions date back nearly two years in some cases. All the houses were acquired with proceeds from the city blight eradication fund, which was budgeted for over $400,000 in the current fiscal year
With the advent of the Blackstone River Bikeway – a project that’s been on the drawing board for more than three decades – Baldelli-Hunt says, “We’re really excited to see this moving forward.”
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will have two of four proposed segments of the bikeway that pass through the city under construction this calendar year. One is Segment 8C, which runs along River Street from the Massachusetts line, south to the tennis courts at Cold Spring Park. A groundbreaking was held for that segment last fall, but work is to resume this construction season.
This fall, DOT will break ground on Segment 8B1, which runs from the municipal lot in Market Square, crosses Main Street between the old Vintage Restaurant and Hanora Lippitt Manor and runs down the Truman Bypass, roughly to Worrall Street.
There are two other unfinished sections, including Segment 8B2, which would pass by the houses in the demolition zone. Segment 8B2 would run from the tennis courts at Cold Spring Park, south along River Street to the Glenark Landing Apartments on Sayles Street.
On DOT’s current funding schedule, 8B2 isn’t slated for preliminary design until 2023, however – much later than the city would like to see work get under way. Baldelli-Hunt said she has been talking with officials at DOT about pushing ahead the schedule for 8B2 on the state Transportation Improvement Plan.
Also unfinished is Segment 8A, which would run along an earthen levee that hugs the Blackstone River from a point just south of the Truman Bypass, behind Kennedy Manor, all the way to the current terminus of a finished portion of the bikeway that begins on Davison Avenue and stretches all the way to the Cumberland-Central Falls line. Ultimately, the idea is for the Blackstone River Bikeway to link up with the East Bay Bicycle Path, forming a mostly off-road route for bicycles that would traverse the state. The Blackstone Valley Bikeway would also connect to its counterpart in Massachusetts, the Blackstone River Greenway, which starts at the state line in Blackstone. Currently it ends in Millville, but plans are to lengthen it all the way to Worcester.
“Because a bike path will cross our entire state in its completion and the fact that it will travel down the riverbank on River Street – we’re preparing for the future of that area,” said Baldelli-Hunt. “It’s a completely underutilized area, but there is a lot that can be done and a lot of commerce that could potentially have an interest, so we’re really pleased to be moving forward on this. It’s another piece of the puzzle for a better tomorrow for the city.”
The demolition work is expected to start as soon as the administration receives Koback’s recommendation on the bidders.
The City Council actually passed a resolution earlier this month instructing the administration to hasten the demolition. schedule of properties acquired by the city as far back in some cases, as calendar year 2016.
The Feb. 5 resolution lists all of the properties that would be covered in the proposed contract, as well as 44-52 Blackstone St.
Since the council’s goal is to demolish and remove blighted properties “as opposed to owning and maintaining them,” the resolution says, the council instructed the administration to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to demolish the listed properties and raze them no later than May 30. The City Council passed the resolution unanimously.