East Providence Does Affordable Housing Right – Architecture Critic Will Morgan

East Providence Does Affordable Housing Right – Architecture Critic Will Morgan

 

 

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East Providence may be synonymous with traffic jams in these days of Bridgegate. In spite of the chaos, however, the sometimes-perceived ugly stepsister to East Side Providence’s Cinderella is reinventing itself in incremental ways that will pay long-term dividends. Taunton Avenue, the Townies’ main drag, is slowly recovering from having been nearly destroyed decades ago by the incursion of Interstate 195. The transformation of what was once the local walk-to movie theatre into Ivy Place, a new housing complex. It is an example of the East Providence Phoenix rising from the ashes of those earlier unfortunate planning decisions.

 

This project is an affordable housing, demonstrating how that sought-after ideal can be achieved. Four units occupying a renovated commercial block on Taunton Avenue are joined by an adjacent row of nine townhouses around the corner on Ivy Street. Together, they form an attractive, sustainable, and sensitive addition to East Providence’s burgeoning downtown. Scheduled for occupation by the autumn, the sponsoring community development corporation is accepting applications for a lottery to determine who will live here. The lottery closes June 16, but the chance for home ownership has already drawn hundreds of applicants.

 

 

 

 

Housing, very little of which is really affordable, is the current buzzword that drives much of the overpriced and under-designed rental schemes infelicitously popping up on the already fragile East Side. In an attempt to seem responsible, some developers designate a small percentage of “ affordable” units, which may revert to market rates. Ivy Place, however, is thoroughly dedicated to affordability: It is home ownership, not rental. Imagine a 3-bedroom, 3-story house, with a garage for less than $200,000.

 

Ivy Place consists of mixed-use homes with nine connected townhouses and four two-bedroom live/work residences with ground-floor commercial space. The scheme has been developed by the non-profit NeighborhoodWorks Blackstone River Valley, working with the city’s mayor and the East Providence Waterfront Commission. Costs range from $169,900 to $294,742, with prices set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s area median income for East Providence. Applicants must be first-time homeowners. The homes must also be lived year-round and can never be sublet. If re-sold, pricing will be set by the Community Housing Land Trust of Rhode Island. As Bill Lewis, Co-Director of Real Estate Development for NeighborhoodWorks, says, Ivy Place has created “hope and prosperity for working families.”

    

To keep costs down, the 1,300-square-foot townhouses are identical, yet each is a different color; homeowners, immediately vested in the community, will no doubt personalize their own properties. The street fronts are a narrow sixteen feet wide, and twice as deep; there are abundant operable windows, which allow natural light and cross ventilation. The small front entrance porches are critically important as signifiers of home ownership, and according to Union Studio’s project manager, Joel VanderWeele, these porches “create a real sense of welcome.” The focus of social interaction at Ivy Place will be centered on the common area behind, where each townhouse has a large garage, plus a single parking space.

 

 

Adjacent to the townhouses on Ivy Street, the green commercial-looking block on Taunton Avenue offers a different and intriguing residential option. Here, four two-bedroom flats are above office, shops, and work space. Besides saving an artist or small businessman from a commute, the light-filled studio/offices will contribute to East Providence streets, extending the community life comprised of Café Zara, Sacred Heart School, City Hall, the Post Office, and Plaza Rebeira Grande. The living section of these apartments have bird’s-eye prospects of the city’s commercial heart. The apartment at the western end has the added asset of a trio of whimsically canted windows, forming a delightful perch above the neighborhood’s rooftops. As architect VanderWeele notes, infill projects such as Ivy Place “contribute to the creation of great streets, and there is little in this world that is more exciting than a truly great street.”

 

This creative success story should not be surprising given that the architects are Union Studio, under the direction RISD-trained Paul Attemann. Exemplars of New Urbanism, the firm achieves contemporary solutions featuring traditional design. As masters of affordable housing, the firm has designed more than 140 such projects since 2004, ninety-five of which are in Rhode Island. Union Studio’s affordable housing is driven by considerations of cost, sustainability, and urban context, adding dignity and value to neighborhoods, without gimmickry or fanfare. Ivy Studio is a gift to all of us who care about responsible design, as well as an investment in East Providence’s future.