Dakota Partners’ Project Named Co-Star Impact Multifamily Development of the Year in Providence, Rhode Island
Brookside Terrace in East Greenwich, RI has been awarded the Co-Star Impact Multifamily Development of the Year for the Providence, RI area. Click the link below to read more from Co-Star.
Brookside Terrace – Transforming a Community
East Greenwich, RI is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Rhode Island with a median income of $130,000. Prior to the completion of Brookside Terrace, Phase 1, there was virtually no affordable housing available to its residents. But the demand was there. Other affordable and market rate communities consistently reported over 95% occupancy with waiting lists that stretched years. With the completion of Brookside Terrace, local families will now have a safe and comfortable homes instead of getting priced out of this neighborhood.
Built on a formerly vacant 17.2-acre site, Brookside Terrace’s beautiful, contemporary buildings and lush open spaces for residents to enjoy are a welcome addition to the area. The community is immediately accessible from Route 2 (South County Trail) and conveniently located near the area’s downtown restaurant and shopping district.
Community Betterment
Known for its beautiful waterfront, excellent public-school district, and wealthy residents, East Greenwich has always been a desirable community for large-scale construction projects. As a result, it boasts a quaint and lovely downtown area featuring popular restaurants and busy shopping districts. The down side to all this improvement was an excess of construction materials. As a result, the site at 1470 South County Road served as a dumping ground for several local construction projects over decades. When Dakota purchased the 17-acre parcel, it contained everything from abandoned cars, trash, and rubble to construction materials like large boulders and ledge. It was an incredibly challenging site to clear and develop that may have been too expensive or difficult for most contractors to handle. But for Dakota, the pros outweighed the cons because the transformation of this site from a blighted dump was so valuable to the community.
“This project perfectly exemplifies Dakota’s mission to create housing that matters. Despite knowing this site would cost us more than $1 million in site preparation – a budget that far exceeds our typical costs – we went forward with this project because of the net positive results for both us as a developer and the community we’re working in,” said Dakota EVP of Acquisitions & Development, Cheryl Stulpin. “The site was an eyesore when we purchased it and clearing it was a huge challenge that took months and cost a substantial amount of money, but the end result was well worth it.”
The impact of Brookside Terrace is so positive because East Greenwich and its surrounding communities offered very little affordable housing options. And what they did have was outdated, run down, not energy-efficient, and still posted waiting lists that stretched years. The East Greenwich Housing Authority (EGHA) owns and manages 28 family public housing units in town. In 2018, the wait time for a family unit was at least one year, with 63 households in the queue waiting for available space. The lack of affordable rental housing choice, high rent burden, high occupancy, waiting lists and low capture rates all indicated that the residents of East Greenwich desperately needed the addition of Brookside Terrace to ensure stable housing in the future.
Of the 48 rental apartments Brookside Terrace, Phase 1 features, six units are income-restricted to households earning at or below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI) for the Providence-Fall River Service Area. The remaining 42 units are income restricted to households earning at or below 60% of AMI and are self-pay.
“The need and demand for rental housing options is strong in East Greenwich, where less than 5% of the town’s housing stock is considered ‘affordable,’” said Carol Ventura, Executive Director of RIHousing. “We’re excited to see Phase 1 of Brookside Terrace come to fruition, as it provides much-needed affordable homes in a highly desirable community with only limited affordable apartment options.”
What the judges said: “A wonderful development that is providing much needed affordable and workforce housing in a town with very few options currently.” — Michael Friedman, director of sales and leasing, Paolino Management.
“Anytime affordable housing for the southern half of Rhode Island is provided in an aesthetically pleasing package and as an improvement to a decrepit site, the positive impact is apparent.” — Gregory Arakelian, sales associate and commercial director, Lila Delman Real Estate.
“This development fits in extremely well with the area. Multifamily residential is still in high demand.” — Michael Giuttari, president, MG Commercial Real Estate.