A Grand Mess At Grand Street | City may take rejected developer's advice, demolish building
Photo/Matthew L. Brown
95 Grand St.
The city may put out another request for proposals to redevelop the former Crompton Knowles Loomworks building at 95 Grand St. after only one company intent on demolishing the building responded to the request made over the winter.
But the city may have learned something from Salisbury-based Granite Bank Salvage LLC, the only respondent to the 95 Grand RFP. At minimum, Granite Bank’s proposal forced the city to admit to itself that some historic buildings are not worth saving and that adaptive, mixed use development can’t work everywhere.
Now, after rejecting Granite Bank’s proposal, the city says it may put out a new bid for only the demolition and salvage of the 351,911-square-foot mill building.
According to Tim McGourthy, the city’s economic development director, the winter RFP may have asked too much of developers and may have been too optimistic about refurbishing 95 Grand, especially in the “quiet” real estate market, he said.
“We had hoped that a developer would find enough value in the redevelopment of the property to both address the existing building conditions and construct new on the site,” McGourthy said.
But in its proposal, Granite Bank says the “fire trap” must be taken down. It’s obsolete, unsafe, in an unattractive neighborhood, provides no parking and is away from major roadways, according to Granite Bank. Also, the building’s historical significance has been preserved by the refurbishment of an adjacent Crompton Knowles building now known as the Royal Worcester Apartments and by 93 Grand.
The Main South Community Development Corp. has owned 93 Grand for about a year and a half and says its neighbor has been a problem since day one. Executive Director J. Stephen Teasdale said, “95 Grand is preventing us from going ahead with 93,” a property he sees as “a natural progression” from the newly refurbished and much improved Kilby Gardner Hammond neighborhood.
“We hope the city does decide to do something fast-track,” Teasdale said. 95 Grand “is a detriment to other peoples’ developments in the area,” he said. “It’s structurally unsafe and unsound. It’s beyond saving for an economically feasible number. The bottom line is: we want the city to move forward. It’s unsalvageable and dangerous.”
Teasdale said the CDC has scrapped its plan to develop 93 Grand as affordable housing and is now planning to make the building mixed use.
McGourthy said the city hopes an RFP for the demolition of the building could open up the project to a greater number of bidders. The city may also decide to “hold off and allow the market to adjust over time,” or take on the demolition itself, he said.
Bid Worthy
And although the city hasn’t worked up any formal cost estimates for demolition, McGourthy acknowledged it would be a very expensive undertaking and perhaps better left to whoever the city deems worthy to remake the property.
Granite Bank’s proposal “wasn’t where we were looking to go,” McGourthy said.
Once the building is taken down Granite Bank would recycle and resell 95 Grand’s wood, bricks, cement, metal components and other pieces, its plan “envisions the side of property facing Grand Street store fronts and restaurants with off-street parking.”
“Behind this will be constructed a light industrial/office multi-tenant arrangement” all the way to the Providence & Worcester Railroad right-of-way, the proposal says.
In its proposal, Granite Bank says it’s been successful with similar salvage jobs in other cities, including Chicago.
In its RFP, the city asked developers to plan for retail, residential and other commercial uses at 95 Grand. The RFP said, “Preference will be given for proposals that incorporate green space, creative economy industry development, public art, and/or utilize green building techniques as they fit the needs of the neighborhood.”
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