Ollie’s plans opening, but DMV is delayed
Both projects will help re-shape city’s Diamond Hill Road commercial district
WOONSOCKET – Things are happening at Diamond Hill Plaza, including the opening of the new Ollie’s Bargain Outlet store on April 5, but area motorists will have to wait a little longer for the new Woonsocket office of the Rhode Island Registry of Motor Vehicles that is also in the works at the plaza.
A spokesman for the state Division of Motor Vehicles and Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt on Friday noted work is underway on the new registry site but it will not open on April 1 when an approved lease for the location goes into effect.
The plaza’s owner, Madison Properties of New York, is still renovating the old McDonald’s restaurant space in the upper section of the Plaza nearest Diamond Hill Road and is not expected to complete those improve- ments until summer at best, according to Baldelli-Hunt.
“My understanding is that they were trying to open for the spring but it will now be the summer,” the mayor said.
The property owner has already hired a contractor to do the renovation and all of the restaurant fixtures and furnishings have been removed from 5,000- square-foot commercial space and improvements started. The space was Diamond Hill Road’s longtime McDonald restaurant before that business moved to a new store near the entrance of the plaza.
The change of venue for the registry is expected to allow for an increased number of customer service stations and also for more visibility of the registry office in a busy business district than is possible at its current location at 217 Pond Street, opposite Parkview Manor, according to Paul E. Grimaldi, a spokesman for the RI Department of Revenue.
The state had completed a lease agreement with the Madison’s ownership entity, Woonsocket Mall LLC, that
called for the work to be completed by April 1, when the first lease payment would be made. But Grimaldi said the ongoing work indicates occupancy of the new space will not occur at that time.
“We are ready to move, but we can’t move until they are done,” Grimaldi explained.
The property owner is handling the cost of the renovations until the terms its agreement with the state and the state is not liable for the costs of the needed improvements, according to Grimaldi. The state could seek reimbursement of a portion of its lease costs, as it has done in other lease situations, if the work does not progress in a timely fashion, according to Grimaldi.
The five-year lease agreement with Woonsocket Mall LLC provides $70,000 in annual lease payments the first year, $71,400 the second, $72,828 for the third year, $74,285 for the fourth and $75,770 in the final year of the pact, according to Grimaldi.
The new registry office is expected to increase the number of service stations from five to eight and Grimaldi said the increase in staffing is included in the hiring of eight new registry workers the Governor has proposed in her budget for the coming fiscal year.
The existing registry office on Pond Street will continue to be used until the new location opens, Grimaldi said, but the added staff may be assigned to other locations until its expanded space and service areas are open at Diamond Hill Road.
The new space also provides additional parking for registry customers, according to Grimaldi, with 55 designated spaces included under the lease agreement. The current registry is located next door to the Department of Labor & Employment Training netWorkri office at 219 Pond St. and shares parking space with the agency.
The Registry of Motor Vehicles began looking for a new location several years ago and went out to bid on three separate occasions for a Woonsocket-based office before completing the agreement with Woonsocket Mall LLC for Diamond Hill Plaza, according to Grimaldi.
“The DMV worked with Mayor Baldelli-Hunt to find a new location in Woonsocket that would help us meet the increasing service demand in northern Rhode Island and help boost economic activity in the city,” Grimaldi said of the lease on Friday. “We’re eager and ready to move to our new location. It will give us higher visibility, more parking and more space to serve our customers,” he said.
Baldelli-Hunt said although it took three rounds of requests for proposals to come up with a new home for the registry office in Woonsocket, the end result will provide a needed boost of traffic flow to the city’s primary business district just as it is experiencing a resurgence in business interest and business openings.
Original House of Pizza just moved from Social Street to the former Dunkin Donuts shop at the top of Diamond Road near Walnut Hill Plaza, and the new Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen fried chicken and fast food restaurant opened nearby on Diamond Hill Road a week ago.
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has been hiring employees and is scheduled to hold its grand opening on April 5 with a visit by former Baseball Hall of Fame and former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley.
Ollie’s will be distributing 250 tickets to meet Eck at 7:30 a.m. and he is expected to hold an autograph session with the ticket holders starting at 10 a.m.
Baldelli-Hunt said other good news for Diamond Hill Road includes the expected opening of the new trampoline park in the former Shaw’s Supermarket at Walnut Hill, and the relocation of Planet Fitness from Diamond Hill Plaza to a new space next-door to the trampoline park.
“I toured the trampoline park two weeks ago and they are working on the electrical system and lighting,” Baldelli-Hunt said of the ongoing work at that business.
Filling spaces at the plaza will be a key component of building upon the commercial economy already in place in the Diamond Hill Road area, according to the mayor.
“Every vacancy you fill increases the traffic count on Diamond Hill Road and an increased traffic count represents increased potential shoppers,” Baldelli-Hunt said.
Although, the area is a prime business district for city residents, Baldelli-Hunt said Diamond Hill Road also needs major draws like the registry office to bring in visitors from outside the city to do business here.
“That brings a whole different dynamic to Diamond Hill Road,” Baldelli-Hunt said of the expected increase in outside visitors when the move is completed.
The potential for new business is so great in fact, Baldelli-Hunt said she wished Sears had waited a bit longer in deciding to close its long time store at Walnut Hill, now in the middle of its closing sale.
“I feel that if they had kept their store open another six to eight months, they would have had a better ability to determine its fate,” she said. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way,” she added. Baldelli-Hunt said her administration will be adding the Sears location to its lists of commercial opportunities for those interested in coming to do business in Woonsocket.