Roughly 100 concerned community members and tenants stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the Olneyville community library on the evening of Oct. 9 to discuss the pending sale of Atlantic Mills on Manton Avenue. The meeting was convened by the Olneyville Neighborhood Association (ONA), which rents space on the first floor of the building and hosts free and low-cost community events there.
The Atlantic Mills complex has attracted countless artists and small businesses with affordable rents for large spaces over the last several decades. The building is home to the Big Top Flea Market, an Olneyville community staple that brings hundreds of visitors to the Mills every weekend. In addition to the market, there is also a church, several small artist collectives, multiple furniture stores, and a computer museum, to name a few of the other tenants. The building is estimated to be about 88% occupied.
State Rep. Enrique Sanchez, who has been outspoken in his support for the Mills’ tenants, and City Councilor Oscar Vargas (Ward 15) were also present at the meeting.
Many of the tenants expressed their confusion about the current status of the building’s sale and whether or not they could trust the potential buyer.
“I know there’s some misinformation going around,” said Nick Cicchitelli, director of real estate for the Providence Redevelopment Agency (PRA). “So one of my hopes tonight is to dispel that information.” However, Cicchitelli misstated that one of the potential buyers, Eric Edelman, is the current owner throughout the night, adding more confusion to the situation. Neither Edelman nor any representatives from his agency attended the meeting.
The City’s failed deal with the current owner of the Mills, Eleanor Brynes, came under scrutiny throughout the night. Cicchitelli maintained that the PRA did everything they could to find a developer before Brynes pulled out of her contract with the City. However, one former board member of the agency disagreed with that story.
“One of the challenges I had as a board member was it didn’t seem that the board was trying as hard as [it] could to find a manager, a developer, a partner that had community interest at the forefront,” he said.
Some tenants in the Mills have received notices from Edelman’s leasing agent that they are occupying spaces larger than what they are renting. Edelman has stated that his leasing agent is working on behalf of the owner and that he does not plan on evicting any tenants “in good standing” or hiking up the rents.
“The letter does not say anything about an eviction,” one tenant who received a letter from the new leasing agent clarified at the meeting. “I am not a fan of these new buyers, I don’t believe them at their word… but when I called the buyers, they were responsive.”
The vast majority of tenants have not received eviction notices as of this report. PPS has spoken to 13 of the building’s tenants so far — of those 13, only one got a letter calling into question the validity of their lease. However, an unknown number of tenants rent their spaces on month-to-month leases and have done so for years; these tenants are most at risk of being removed should the potential buyer decide not to renew their leases once the deal closes.
“We have a lot of issues here [in Olneyville], a lot of problems, but we’re trying to solve them. But then we have that big cloud,” Cindy Miranda, board chair of ONA, said about the sale. ONA is a vital community resource, offering legal help, citizenship classes, and English classes to the largely underserved immigrant population in Olneyville. Like many of the smaller organizations inside the Mills, ONA was already stretched thin before it had to worry about losing its space. “Everyone’s just kind of worrying what’s going to happen next,” Miranda said.
The tenants and community members at the meeting reiterated multiple times that they wanted Edelman’s promises in writing.
“Words are one thing, but I’ve learned I don’t trust millionaires and I do not trust billionaires,” one tenant said — afterward the room erupted in applause.
Mark Carlson, the building manager at the Atlantic Mills for the last 25 years, expressed concern that new space is now being advertised at $8 per square foot. “A lot of [the current] tenants have leases for $3 to $4, $4.50 a square foot. That’s double their rent,” he said.
One of the tenants who spoke with PPS theorized that the increased rent for new leases will be used to subsidize the low rents for existing tenants. Many of the attendees at Wednesday’s meeting proposed that a certain number of square feet in the building be explicitly reserved for affordable spaces as a condition of the sale. However, since the current owner opted not to renew their contract with the PRA, the City has little control over what is now a private sale. The only potential leverage the City has with any buyer would be to work with the state on whether or not to approve any state historic tax credits or subsidies for necessary renovations to the building.
Perhaps the biggest development of the night was broad interest from the Atlantic Mills’ tenants in forming a tenants’ union. A union would be able to approach any potential buyer with a list of demands as a united front. As a couple of the tenants with particularly large spaces told PPS, Edelman and his fellow buyers will need their rental income to begin some of the necessary repairs. As a group, the tenants could leverage some of the longer-term leases to protect people with month-to-month or short-term leases.
“Tenemos contracto hasta 2026, pero mucho usted tiene mes a mes. Nosotros somos importantes,” the pastor of the church inside the Mills told the crowd inside the Olneyville library, his voice booming above the murmurs in the room. Rep. Sanchez translated: “We [the church] have a lease until 2026, but many of you have month-to-month leases. We are all important.” The pastor, like many of Wednesday night’s speakers, pushed for unity among the tenants and urged that no one be left behind.
At the end of the meeting, City Councilor Shelley Peterson (Ward 14) confirmed that she had gotten in touch with Edelman’s attorney.
“They should be prepared to speak to you with your list of what you’re looking for. But be prepared,” she warned.
As Edelman’s team edges closer to purchasing the building, the timeline remains murky. He told PPS that the Mills are tied up in litigation that needs to be settled before he and his co-buyers can officially close the sale. Though Councilor Peterson said that Edelman’s team agreed to meet the tenants, a date for that has not yet been set.
By Keating Zelenke / Mary A. Gowdey Special Projects Fellow