Converting Dorm to Apartments Sought

A Barrington developer and commercial-property owner is looking to convert the former dormitory at 350 Taunton Ave. in East Providence into a 75-unit multi-family apartment building.

Joseph S. Ruggiero wants to turn the former Edmund Hall for Johnson and Wales University into Hamlet Court.  It sits next to the Bowling Academy on Taunton Avenue at the end of Cora Street.

Representatives for Ruggiero went before the East Providence Planning Board Wednesday night, July 10, to get a recommendation to the City Council to rezone the facility with conditions. It was approved unanimously.

The conditions are that the building would be allowed to convert from a dorm to apartments with less than the required number of parking spaces – 115 instead of 150 or two per unit. A large chunk of those spaces would be leased from the Bowling Academy.

The recommendation for the zoning change has the support of the Planning Department and has passed muster already with the public works, fire and police departments.

“The plan for the building also is consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan,” said Kelly Morris, a land-use consultant for Hamlet Court Real Estate, the firm created by Ruggiero to convert and operate the building.

Paul Carlson, of Insight Engineering in Seekonl, said that 53 parking spaces already exist under the building. An additional 62 will come from the lease with the Bowling Academy, including 22 “shared” spaces. 

“There is no parking issue based on the Bowling Academy demands,” said Carlson, who was sent to the bowling lane by the Planning Department to work out the need for additional parking. 

Carlson also said the building has been vacant for three years since the university moved out. It was operated as a dormitory from 2002 to 2010. Before that, the building was an assisted living facility with the same number of apartments.

Work could start as early as September with the City Council’s approval of the zoning change. 

If there is one negative with the plan, said Morris, it could be the “negative fiscal impact” of the building on East Providence. The net cost to the city could be about $21,000 although additional taxes for vehicles and other fees generated by the tenants could make that net cost “a wash,” Morris said.

Even with a net cost to the city, said Jeanne Boyle, planning director, there is so much more in economic value that could be generated by the apartment building in that part of the city. Among planners, she said, that amount of money plus or minus is not considered significant.