Atlantic Mills relisted for sale for $5 million

Published in Advocacy Alerts, Community News.

Atlantic Delaine Co. Mills is back on the market. Atlantic Mills, one of Providence’s most iconic industrial complexes, first appeared on the Providence Preservation Society’s Most Endangered Places list in 2009 and has remained up to the present

The owners of the property had been working with the City on a purchase-of-sale agreement. But they declined to extend the process further, instead relisting the property on the commercial market.

At the Aug. 14 Providence Redevelopment Agency (PRA) public meeting, the agency’s board discussed the status of the project.

“The current ownership of the Atlantic Mills has declined our offer to extend the purchase and sale agreement that had been in place prior to this administration’s arrival,” said Director of Planning and Development Joe Mulligan at the meeting. He explained that the PRA and the owners “had been in various stages in and out of contract over the preceding period of time.” 

The towers and other parts of the mills have needed repairs for years despite being a thriving community space. The City had been in discussion with the current owners of the complex, Howard & Eleanor Brynes LLC, beginning in fall 2022. The Providence Redevelopment Agency put out a request for information for developers the following year “in an effort to enhance and redevelop the property commonly known as Atlantic Mills,” according to the RFI.

Providence Business News reports that the property’s owner chose not to continue with the City “after PRA sponsored an environmental investigation through the R.I. Department of Environmental Management,” according to Josh Estrella, director of communications for the Mayor’s office. 

Mulligan said that the environmental report will be publicly accessible. “I don’t think it was anything that wouldn’t have been expected, considering not only urban conditions but because of the activity that occurred on that site in the past. There’s nothing that precludes the current use of occupancy of that building as it exists today.” 

He said there would be obstacles to converting the property into residential uses or “maybe other educational uses for youth and children… none of which are occurring or are intended to occur by anybody currently.”

Further remediation would be required to convert the property into facilities for those uses. A Remedial Action Work Plan will be completed in the coming months.

Atlantic Mills is currently home to the Big Top Flea Market, a beloved flea market that draws hundreds of patrons. A wide variety of tenants fill the mills, ranging from artist studios to a furniture store to metal workshops. 

“For the past decade every weekend, Atlantic Mills’ nearly three-acre parking lot in Olneyville is completely packed as 1,500 locals arrive per day to visit the award-winning Big Top Flea,” Atlantic Mills tenant Anne Holland shared with PPS for the 2024 MEP list. “It’s so popular among area Latino residents that it’s become a communal hub — one of those critical ‘third spaces’ that turn a city into a home.”

With a $5 million price tag, the fate of the Atlantic Mills is once again unclear.

Mulligan said he couldn’t “speculate as to the owner’s ambitions,” but acknowledged that “all the encumbrances and requirements of a public entity’s ownership” can complicate the timeline for sellers. 

“So at this point, we have stepped back from continued activity related to attempts to acquire that building,” he continued. “We stand ready to assist any new ownership that may come in with the understanding that that property and those uses occurring there [is] a benefit, not only to the immediate vicinity but to Providence as a whole.”

 

By Katy Pickens / Planning and Preservation Writer

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