Current Events

More info can be found at www.Riverfrontloftsri.com

This is a rather ambitious project for Pawtucket, a city where the average home price is much lower than Providence or the connected East Side. Lofts in this complex will range from 1000 square feet to 2800, and in price from 170,000 to 560,000 for the fifth floor penthouse. A grand entranceway will be made in the nook of the “L” that the first photo shows. Elevators and balconies will be installed riverside. Some of the units will be multi-floors and most will have river views. They have saved some of the old jewelry making machinery to use as sculptures in the elevator lobbies and are reusing all the old building materials. There are plans to make some sort of art gallery at the street-end of the Lebanon building, and space has been set aside for it.

Ranne P. Warner is the Boston real estate developer whose company, Blackstone Exchange, is heading the project. The estimated cost of the entire project is $15-million. Local architects and the local Stone Street construction company are heading up the project.

Because J&K Sales sold off portions of the land adjoining the mill complex, the condo developers had to obtain relief from zoning requirements for minimum lot size, side- and rear-yard setbacks and street frontage. They also had to obtain relief from the requirement that each unit be a minimum of 2,000 square feet. The Zoning Board voted unanimously in favor of the dimensional variances on May 7, 2004.

History

This is a 3-story, flat-roof, brick building with an additional floor below street level on the Front Street side that overlooks the river. Most of the complex has the typically grand windows with granite sills and arched lintels. The attention to detail in the preservation has been remarkably good. I was relieved to see that they did not square off the arches with the replacement windows.I was able to tour the inside while it was under construction, and the inside had fewer supporting columns than I have seen in most buildings, and the light that comes off the river side is great.

The building is 7 stories including the newly- constructed penthouse level. Entry is into the 4th floor, with 3 levels below ground (exposed on the river side).

The 81,086-square-foot former factory complex on the east bank of the Blackstone River was once home to the Lebanon Mill Company, which made knit fabrics. Blackstone Exchange purchased the buildings on August 14, 2002, from J&K Sales Corp., the small jewelry company that had occupied a small portion of the complex since 1965.

Anecdotes

Andrew Maguire  I am a granson of Henry Jablecki, who is the J of J&K sales, the occupants of the former Lebenon Mills from the 1960s to 2002. I have many memories of growing up and at times working for the family in the mill. It is such a great place with lots of places to explore when I was a child. I think what has been done with the mill is fantastic and wish I owed one of the lofts! I would love to be able to see what has been done to the inside someday.

Len Lavoie  So we are holding our breath for this project and hoping it shows investors that there is a future in Pawtucket. Hopefully too, with the eventual development of Parkin Yarn and the current development of 560 Mineral Spring, they will realize that a successful project doesn’t have to be an expensive loft project. And maybe soon, Pawtucket will become a bigger cultural and economic center on the Blackstone river. Remember 560 Mineral Spring Ave has been developed only for work spaces not loft or live work.

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