Want to Live in a Former Fire Station? Providence Has Got a Couple for You

Want to Live in a Former Fire Station? Providence Has Got a Couple for You

Remember the Humboldt Fire Station at 155 Humboldt Avenue in Providence’s Wayland neighborhood that served residents for 100 years?  Yes, the one that former Mayor Elorza closed in January 2017.  The fire station at Rochambeau Avenue, just off Hope Street, closed at the same time.  No one was ever sure how the Providence Firefighters Union let those closings happen, but they did.

 

After 8+ years sitting empty, the city of Providence is finally offering the Humboldt Fire Station for sale.  Bids are due at the city’s Board of Contract and Supply at 2:15 PM on December 1, 2025.  You can get bid documents electronically from the city’s Department of Public Property, or for more information, contact Nicholas Cicchitelli, Director of Real Estate, [email protected]

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This is no ordinary fire station like the featureless brick boxes built in the Doorley Administration in the 1960s all over the city.  Humboldt, which features lots of ornate copper trim, was designed in the Beaux Arts style in 1906 by noted local architect E.T. Banning as a courtesy to the upper-middle-class residential residences surrounding the fire station.  You won’t find another fire station like it in the rest of the city.

 

The 8,026 sf building on two levels sits on a parcel of about 10,000 sf and is valued by the city this year at $1,095,000.

 

 

The lot is zoned R-3 and is in the Historic Overlay District.  The zoning will allow three dwelling units by right, plus one accessory dwelling unit.  By special permit, additional units may be allowed.  The city’s bid documents also allow “live-work spaces”.  In addition, a “Neighborhood Commercial Establishment” is also allowed.

 

The city is looking for a developer to buy the building and develop it.  Proposed bidders must score a certain number of points on the evaluation criteria.  These criteria include:  development team experience, project financial feasibility, historic preservation considerations, and proposed project schedule.

 

While the city is looking for a developer, two families could get together, form an LLC, and submit a bid.  All sorts of possibilities here.  Dwelling units upstairs with an above-ground swimming pool in the former fire truck areas.  You can access the new pools by the existing fire poles.  Or your dream coffee shop and bakery on the first floor, and you could commute to work from your residence upstairs via the existing fire poles.

 

Even if you don’t think you can bid on the redevelopment of the station, you may want to mosey over to Humboldt Avenue and see a genuine fire pole.

 

For more information about purchasing the properties, CLICK HERE.