Grant Will Go To Clean Up Former Cranston Police Station

CRANSTON, RI—The state is helping a private company clean up an Atwood Avenue property that was once a Cranston police station. According to the state Department of Environmental Management, the project, dubbed the former Cranston police station, has qualified for $400,000 for "remediation/redevelopment." Although the DEM did not identify the current owner, Vision Appraisal lists the owner of 275 Atwood Avenue as 275 Atwood LLC. Records in the Secretary of State's office show 275 Atwood has offices in Johnston connected to the Carpionato Group, and a news article indicates the owner is the Carpionato Group, of Johnston.

The project is expected to create 50 construction jobs and 40 permanent jobs.

The grant money, which is coming from the 2016 Green Economy Bond funds, goes to decontaminate polluted sites, known as brownfields, so they can be used again. The agency and the governor's office announced the latest round of Brownfields Remediation and Economic Development Fund Grant grants on Tuesday. Voters will be asked on Nov. 6 to approve another bond question which includes money for more brownfields grants. Question 3, the Green Economy and Clean Water Bonds, includes $4 million for brownfields.

The brownfields grants are unique, according to DEM spokesman Michael Healey.

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"Most recipients of state brownfields grants are commercial entities," he said. "This makes brownfields grants unique among DEM's grant programs." The typical DEM grant goes to communities and/or land trusts for recreation or open space. DEM also awards grants to cities and towns for wastewater treatment facilities. But brownfields grants usually go to private companies.

"Brownfields grants are about reclaiming, restoring, and repurposing," he said. "Public investments to help private entities clean up contaminated brownfield sites help unlock many other private investment dollars to transform these sites into neighborhood assets."

For example, he continued, "with $10 million from the 2014 and 2016 green bonds, DEM has capitalized 45 projects in communities across Rhode Island. The money has unlocked more than $630 million in other investment and spurred transformative projects such as expansion of the Ronald McDonald House for families undergoing cancer treatment, green and clean solar arrays around the state, urban farming initiatives, affordable housing, and the Westerly Education Center, which has quickly become a key pipeline supplying skilled workers for good jobs at Electric Boat."

In this round, 12 projects were selected. The others are in Cranston, Newport, Smithfield, Pawtucket and Providence.

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