| 1/8/2013 |
ADVISORY: Speaker, local legislators to tour mill project
STATE HOUSE – Speaker of the House of Representatives Gordon D. Fox (D-Dist. 4, Providence) will join Coventry area Representatives for a tour of the abandoned Anthony Mill in Coventry, which is being converted into apartments with the help of historic tax credits provided by the state.
A “hard hat” tour of the building will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday, January 11, at the former textile and dye plant, 618 Washington Street, Coventry.
Participating in the tour along with the Speaker are Rep. Michael W. Chippendale (R-Dist. 40, Coventry, Foster, Glocester), Rep. Scott J. Guthrie (D-Dist. 28, Coventry), Rep. Jared R. Nunes (D-Dist. 25, Coventry, West Warwick), Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-Dist. 27, West Warwick, Coventry, Warwick), Rep. Lisa P. Tomasso (D-Dist. 29, Coventry, West Greenwich), Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis (D-Dist. 33, Coventry, East Greenwich, West Greenwich) and Sen. Nicholas D. Kettle (R-Dist. 21, Coventry, Foster, Scituate, West Greenwich). Also attending will be Rep. Jeremiah T. O’Grady (D-Dist. 46, Lincoln, Pawtucket), who last year introduced legislation to restore the state’s historic tax credit, Coventry Council President Gary Cote, Coventry Council Vice President Kerry McGee, Coventry Town Manager Tom Hoover and Coventry Town Planner Paul Sprague.
All will be available to take questions from the media following the tour.
Speaker Fox accepted the invitation to tour the plant as further evidence of his commitment to restore the tax credit program, which was suspended a few years ago when the state faced severe budget constraints. In his address to the House upon his re-election as Speaker last week, he said that “it is time to bring back the historic tax credit program. We will be working with the Senate to develop a new version of the program that is affordable and, therefore, sustainable.”
In May, 2008, the RI Division of Taxation granted a State Tax Credit for Historic Structures equal to 25 percent of the cost of rehabilitation.
The Anthony Mill conversion project will preserve and rehabilitate the historic mill and provide about 125 residential apartments. Located on the banks of the Pawtuxet River and adjacent to the East Coast Greenway, the mill is within the Anthony Village Historic District which is included in the U.S. Park Service National Register of Historic Places.
The mill opened in 1806 and, under the name Coventry Manufacturing Company, was mainly a cotton mill. The current mill comprises three stone-and-stucco buildings on five acres at Washington Street and Laurel Avenue. The oldest structure, built in 1872, if five stories tall and includes two six-story towers. The others are a two-story building, erected in 1922, and a single-story building.
There are currently 60 workers on site; that is expected to grow to 90 or 100 by the spring. The development is expected to be substantially completed by June or July, 2013.
For more information, contact:
Randall T. Szyba, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457 |
LEGISLATIVE INFO
