Current Events

Congratulations to Peter Case and his partner George Potsidis for the recent acquisition of Parkin Yarn. This mill will once again breath life after 20+ years of being empty. Yes, the news is official and work has already begun (contractors fence is already up). Stay tuned for new live/work artist spaces in Pawtucket. Peter promises to speak at one of the PAC membership meetings to fill everyone in. Peter Case is one of the principals of Truthbox, LLC, an architecture firm.

The struggle to find a new owner (previous events):

City planners are working with developers interested in putting artists’ lofts and affordable housing in the building. But others suggest the property might be better used as the site of a major commercial development, like the Home Depot that opened during the summer on Charles Street in Providence.

The Parkin Yarn building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and included on the Preservation Society of Pawtucket's annual list of endangered properties. The city has a lein on the building because a government grant was used to purchase it. The lein gives the city the power to decide the fate of the building even though it’s in private hands.

Any plan to demolish the building is bound to provoke an outcry from preservationists, but City Council members don’t flinch from that possibility, not even after Michael D. Cassidy, director of the Department of Planning and Redevelopment, said that state or federal money couldn't be used to tear it down.

The Parkin Yarn project went through nearly 8 years of delays restoring the property, a five story factory visible from the Regisrty of Motor Vehicles. The major sticking point has always been financing, he said, which is difficult to come by because the building would be the first mill building in Pawtucket converted into rental housing, so there are no comparables that banks and other lenders could use to calculate income from the sale of historic tax credits and rents.

If the Parkin Yarn building is demolished to make way for a store, such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot, Pawtucket wouldn’t just be losing a historic mill building. It would be throwing away an opportunity, people familiar with such matters said. In an interview, Edward F. Sanderson, executive director of the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission; Polly Stiles, president of the Preservation Society of Pawtucket; Patty Zacks, president of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative; John Barrett, mayor of North Adams, Mass.; and Richard C. Davis, executive director of the Pawtucket Foundation, all said tearing down the Parkin Yarn building would be a mistake.

“You’ve got people in different parts of the country wanting to come to New England because we’re known for the big old mill buildings,” Zacks said. She said she was disappointed to learn that the City Council was contemplating demolition, despite plans by the Department of Planning and Redevelopment to turn Parkin Yarn into affordable housing and artists’ lofts. This plan has been unable to attract the financing necessary to get the project off the ground. In other places, such as Manchester, N.H., and North Adams, Mass., abandoned mill buildings have been restored in a way that has helped to jump start the local economy, according to Davis and North Adams Mayor John Barrett.

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