Brownfields
Success Story
OPPORTUNITY
¦ NOW
Grant Types:
assessment and cleanup
Current Use:
multi-use arts center
Former Uses:
rubber manufacturing, machine shop
EPA Grant Recipient:
WaterFire Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
WaterFire Arts Center
The world-famous WaterFire arts organization transformed a blighted property in a
disadvantaged Providence neighborhood into a new arts center and headquarters
for the nonprofit. The investment and support of the Brownfields program was a
key part of this important project, which will help WaterFire continue to be an
important artistic and economic force in Providence for years to come.
Motivation for Redevelopment
WaterFire has continued to grow in prominence over the past quarter
century, expanding both its own programming as well as promoting arts and
education throughout Providence. By 2012, they needed a new headquarters
from which to coordinate their operations. They found a suitable 1.3-acre
property conveniently located on Valley Street, but contamination from a
long history of industrial activity on the site complicated their plans. The
property had been used by various industries since the mid-18Q0s, most
notably the US Rubber Company for manufacture of rubber products for
many years until the mid-1900s when it was transferred to a local company
for a machine shop. In recent years, it was also used for records management
and storage. Contaminants such as petroleum, heavy metals, and
polychlorinated biphenyls had to first be evaluated and cleaned up before
WaterFire could move forward with their plans.
Luckily, WaterFire had the support of the Rl Department of Environmental
Management, who invested about $105,000 of its EPA Brownfields statewide
grant funding to conduct in-depth assessment of the contaminants at the
site and begin preparing the plans for how best to clean it up. WaterFire then
successfully applied for direct cleanup grant funding from EPA in 2013,
winning a total of $600,000 for the three parcels that make up the property.
WaterFire undertook the cleanup in partnership with EPA and DEM staff.
Project challenges included having to address additional contamination
uncovered during the cleanup and navigating a complex property transfer
process to allow for the use of New Market Tax Credits, a financing
mechanism designed to help stimulate investment in low-income
communities, which was critical to this project. An additional boost to the
project was an award of state bond providing over $3 million toward the
cleanup.
Partnership and persistence paid off in Providence. WaterFire completed the
cleanup and construction project and opened their new center in 2017. What
was once a vacant and contaminated industrial property is now a community-
focused arts center with program offices and arts spaces that incorporate
innovative historic preservation and sustainable building practice.
"Opportunity Zones: helping to bring
investment to distressed communities"
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
&EPA

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"The remediation of a historic
property and development of
the WaterFire Arts Center was
a game changer for our
organization and Providence's
Valley/Olneyville
neighborhood. The financial
and operational support and
leadership of the US EPA and Rl
DEM were catalysts for and
integral to the success of this
major community initiative."
Peter Mello
Managing Director and coCEO, WaterFire
Today
Through its recurring urban river sculptural art events, WaterFire is not only a
public arts organization, but also a community revitalization and
environmental advocate. WaterFire has continued to pay forward its
experience through its leadership in the Brownfields areawide planning
project by the City of Providence in the Woonasquatucket River
neighborhoods and sharing its new arts center as a location for community
engagement. One of the unique features of the center is the Main Hall, which
provides 15,000 square feet of uninterrupted exhibition, performance, and
event space with a 40-foot ceiling. Activities in the building have included
arts production, performance, and exhibition.
This headquarters serves as a home base to support the main events of
WaterFire, which consist of music, rotating performance art, and over 80
stunning bonfires installed on the three rivers of downtown Providence.
Since the first WaterFire lighting in 1994, these events have drawn more than
15 million visitors, from Rhode Island residents to international tourists,
generated over $1 billion in economic impact, and supported thousands of
jobs in the community. It has been praised as a powerful work of art and a
moving symbol of Providence's renaissance. WaterFire has brought life to the
downtown, and now, through its new arts center, continues its work to
revitalize Rhode Island's capital city.
m in
i ! ¦
Waterfire hosted a
Brownfields
planning workshop
at the new facility
For more information:
Visit the EPA Brownfields website at
www.epa.gov/brownfields or contact
[Jessica Dominguez, (617) 918 1627,
Dominguez.Jessica@epa.gov],
EPA 901 F 21 001
January 2021

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