SEEKING SHELTER
New Main Street property owner proposes sheltering homeless in historic Harris Mill
WOONSOCKET – If Bob Cooper has his way, downtown’s historic Harris Mill will become the Jon 5aben Center, a facility that offers supportive services and emergency shelter for homeless veterans.
That, anyway, is the plan, says Cooper, the director of a little-known nonprofit called Save the Neighborhoods.
City records show Cooper’s organization recently purchased the 55 Main St. property for 500,000 from Mainland Properties of Providence. In a phone interview, however, Cooper said he did not have to raise any money to buy the building because the lead principal of Mainland Properties, :illiam 5icci, holds the mortgage and ownership would revert back to him if Save the Neighborhoods isn’t successful in leasing the building to a mix of tenants, including the hoped-for Jon 5aben Center.
“We’re already in the process of talking to people and making it happen,” said Cooper. “It’s important that people know we’re serious and they understand what’s coming.”
Raben, a Providence resident who died in June at the age of 6 , is described in his obituary as “a truly Renaissance man” with a keen interest in music, film and the arts. Trained as a gemologist, he taught geology at the
University of Rhode Island, but Raben may be best known as the producer and director of the 2006 documentary, “Italian Americans and Federal Hill.”
In his spare time, Cooper said, Raben volunteered for The Samaritans, the organization known for talking depressed individuals away from the brink of suicide. Often, Cooper said some of the people that Raben ended up talking to on the Samaritans hotline were veterans.
“Jon Raben was known for donating his time and money to The Samaritans and often took calls from people reaching out when thinking
of suicide,” Cooper said. “He lamented many times that all he could do was try and reason with distraught, angry and homeless people. He succeeded often, instilling them with hope when they had lost everything.”
Cooper said he had a preliminary meeting with Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt about his plans. He said the mayor would like it if his plans had a retail component, a suggestion he appears to be taking under advisement. Baldelli-Hunt couldn’t be reached for comment.
While Save the Neighborhoods has existed as a valid nonprofit organization since 1997, according to the Secretary of State’s website, Cooper was able to provide few details about its track record.
As Cooper explained, the organization was formed to assist various non-profit causes, including the affairs of veterans, the secretary of state’s documents say.
But Cooper could not identify one project on Save the Neighborhoods’ resume with any specificity. He said the organization had previously restored residential properties in Providence that were later offered for resale, but he couldn’t identify any of the properties or the buyers.
Asked why Save the Neighborhoods’ address on some official documents is the same as that of Mainland Properties, he said it’s because he lived in an apartment in the Wanskuck Mill on Branch Avenue in Providence – the same mill owned by Mainland Properties, and where the company maintained office space.
The lead principal of Mainland Properties – and the individual Cooper identified as the person who sold him 55
Main St. – was Ricci, according to the Secretary of State’s website. Ricci was sentenced to probation on federal obstruction charges in 2017 for lying to authorities about the murder of Stephen DiSarro, a Boston nightclub owner whose remains were found buried outside the Wanskuck Mill – some two decades after he disappeared in 1993. Prosecutors said DiSarro was slain in a mob hit.
Cooper said he purchased the old Harris Mill from Mainland Properties with tenants who remain lessees. He said one involved a cheerleading studio and another yoga, but he was unable to supply any further details.
Still, Cooper insists Save the Neighborhoods has an authentic plan for launching the Jon Raben Center as the marquee tenant of a newly populated mill. Several signs have been hung in the windows offering space for lease in the old mill, with his phone number.
“We will provide a REAL stone and mortar infrastructure that will accept misplaced veterans and homeless citizens,” his formal statement says. “A place that police, fire, and government officials can send people who are victims of a sudden fire or event that misplaces them.”
Initially, Save the Neighborhoods says, the Jon Raben Center will open with a barracks for men, with access to a shower, footlockers to secure their gear and a communal kitchen. A nodrug policy will be enforced. Later, the organization will add a women’s bunk area, followed by an area to keep “families in crisis” together.
The mill, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, gradually developed into a mixed-use facility over the years. The oldest parts of the building were originally the Harris Mill, a six-story rubblestone building that dates back to 1846, according to National Register documentation. A commercial addition with frontage on Main Street, erected in 1897, was originally known as the Buckland and Clark Building, housing an assortment of retailers.
The Kornstein family began leasing space for a dry goods store in the building in 1930, an operation that evolved into one of the city’s best-known department stores, Kornstein’s, which many city residents still remember.
Around 2009, Community Care Alliance began leasing space in 55 Main St. for about two dozen of the social services agency’s employees, serving a client base of about 400. CCA terminated its tenancy agreement with Mainland Properties in May, however, citing mold in the building – an issue which Mainland is believed to have addressed before conveying the property to Save the Neighborhoods.