Heritage Harbor Museum will open despite state and city budget crises
By Dana Goldstein

Despite budget crises in both state and city governments that are limiting public funding of cultural projects in Providence, private and federal funding is helping to develop Heritage Harbor Museum, an ambitious multicultural historical project set to open downtown in December 2005.

Heritage Harbor is billed as "a statewide history museum, bringing to life the hundreds of neighborhoods and villages that make up Rhode Island," according to the Heritage Harbor Web site.

The museum began as a twinkle in the eye of Al Klyberg, former director of the Rhode Island Historical Society, in 1984.

Cathy Blaney, director of marketing and communications at Heritage Harbor, said Klyberg's original concept for the museum developed while he was working with Jewish and black cultural groups to "pool resources to tell a broader story of the history of Rhode Island."

But the historical society pulled out of the project in March 2002 because of concerns with Heritage Harbor's development plan, said Historical Society Executive Director Bernard Fishman.

Fishman declined to elaborate on the Historical Society's decision.

Mark Davis, CEO of Heritage Harbor said, "The Historical Society decided to take a step back. We have the door open to them."

Although the Historical Society is no longer a partner in the Heritage Harbor project, 19 businesses and cultural organizations have joined a coalition of "member" groups in developing the museum.

Although plans for the museum have changed greatly since 1984, multiculturalism continues to be the focus of the museum's philosophy. Heritage Harbor's affiliates include German, Indian, Italian, Irish, Jewish, African American, Portuguese, Muslim and Hispanic cultural organizations.

Each of these member organizations contributed up to $100,000 to the project and agreed to "be involved with fund−raising not only for their own exhibit, but for the consortium in general," Davis said.

The Heritage Harbor Museum will become the physical home of many of these groups, and cornerstone exhibits in the museum have already been planned by certain member organizations.

A life−size replica of a 15th century Portuguese caravel, a ship used for exploration, will be one of the centerpieces of the museum. The grounds of the museum will also be home to the Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial. One cultural organization, the German American Heritage Harbor Association, grew out of a Heritage Harbor subcommittee examining how German Americans contributed to Rhode Island history.

Davis said balancing the competing priorities of each of the museum's member organizations was a challenge, but one that was consistently overcome. "Heritage Harbor is the first multicultural history museum in the country that is actually governed by the cultures it represents," he said.

This may have been what attracted the Smithsonian Institute to the Heritage Harbor project. Heritage Harbor Museum was one of the first twelve museums in the Smithsonian Affiliates program. As part of this program, the museum will have access to the Smithsonian's 140 million artifacts for temporary exhibitions.

"Heritage Harbor is a unique project," Blaney said. "It can be used as a model in other states and (the Smithsonian) sees the value of that."

Davis said Heritage Harbor employs a full−time staff member to oversee the museum's relationship with the Smithsonian. One 5,000−foot gallery will be devoted to changing artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian. The first exhibit shown in the gallery will focus on themes of transportation and communication, Davis said.

Although Heritage Harbor's relationship with the Smithsonian is central to its identity as a thriving project, the Smithsonian Affiliates program does not provide member institutions with any funding. Heritage Harbor came into its first windfall with a donation from Narragansett Electric — the company's former power plant will be the eventual home of the museum. Since then, Heritage Harbor has raised $43 million, of which only 19 percent was public money. "The rest is all private money," Davis said, "corporate donations and the like."

Much of the public money is in the form of an $11 million Brownfield Economic Development grant awarded to Providence in 2001. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development earmarked this money for the Heritage Harbor project, but the city is responsible for distributing the funds.

"It's a long process," said Blaney. "We're just trying to provide the city with everything that they need to see. … We're working with the mayor. We expect to have a good working relationship with him."

Despite the participation of the city and the integration of the Heritage Harbor Museum into Providence's master plan, "We are not a budget item in the city or the state," Davis said.

One state agency the museum is working with very closely is the Rhode Island Department of Education. Education taskforces have been working throughout the state in conjunction with Heritage Harbor for three years, Davis said.

Davis said Heritage Harbor was "doing something that is unusual in the museum field" by constructing a museum with teachers and students in mind. Exhibits at Heritage Harbor will be compiled to complement the Rhode Island public schools' curricula.

"Even though state history is normally taught in fourth through sixth grades, there are opportunities here for all levels," Davis said. "We have the ability to put the Smithsonian in every single school — everyone's backyard, essentially."

The resources that the Smithsonian will provide to Heritage Harbor will make the museum a center for research for students and scholars of all levels — right up to Brown professors, Davis said.

Internships will be available to college students in several areas, including preservation, curating, and finance, Davis said.

Technology will be another important educational resource at Heritage Harbor. It will add what Davis called "the whiz and the bang" to the exhibits, and students visiting the museum will be able to use a Fleet Bank−sponsored "learning center" where they can create "digital portfolios" that can then be accessed from home via the Internet.

Right now, Davis said Heritage Harbor's main priority is finalizing the layout and construction plans for the building, which will have floor space equivalent to two football fields.

Davis brings experience as the head of an international sustainable development non−profit to the Heritage Harbor project.

"Anywhere we can apply the latest and greatest, we want to do that in the green building arena," he said.

To accomplish the goal of making this 100−year−old brick and concrete brownfield a "green building," Heritage Harbor will install solar panel roofing, geothermal technology and fuel cell development.

"We want to make our building an exhibit unto itself," Davis said. "We're looking at reducing what's called the island effect of having these big old monster corporate buildings."

As CEO of Heritage Harbor, Davis said he thinks often about how his leadership can affect change in the larger community. "Historically, you know," he said, "museums were isolated from the community. ‘Are we changing lives and building community by what we do?' As we go through our planning process, I keep using this as my yardstick."

From The Brown Daily Herald

That's an interesting concept for a museum. Partnering with the Smithsonian gives it instant exhibits, resources and credablity.
I don't like the tone of the article talking about budget cuts as if this museum is some example of frivalous spending or mis-directed priorities.

Boston could use a new museum or two. I'm gald to see this one go forward in Providence.

I found this mixed use plan for the South St. Power Station. It will incorporate Heritage Harbor Museum and have some new contruction. Don't know what the time frame is.

http://www.starwass.com/portfolio/provresearch/index.html

Wasserman's the same one that designed GTECH right? Seems like they have more interesting properties than Carpionato atleast.

First I've heard of this.

Fascinating. I hadn't heard of this either. I frankly don't care what else they graft on to that building at this point as long as something happens there. The only ones giving it any attention of late have been the ubiquitous (and still not jailed) graffiti vandals.

- Garris

from CPN Commercial Property News

Streuver Bros. Eccles & Rouse Chosen for Providence, R.I. Redevelopment
June 30, 2005
By Eugene Gilligan, Senior Editor

Streuver Bros. Eccles & Rouse (SBE&R) has been selected to oversee the redevelopment of Heritage Harbor, a former power plant located on the Providence River, in the Jewelry District of Providence, R.I.

The Baltimore, Md.-based commercial, retail, and residential development and construction services firm, will create a mix of office and retail space, as well as condominium units, in conjunction with the Heritage Harbor Museum. The project is estimated to cost about $50 million.

Construction on the project will begin early next year, and will involve the re-development of approximately 200,000 to 250,000 square feet of space, including the creation of 40 condominium units that will range in size from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet, with completion targeted for next year. The plant was formerly owned by the Narragansett Electric Company.

Newport Collaborative has been selected as the lead architect for the Heritage Harbor, and Lyme Properties and Brown University are planning to partner on the redevelopment project. The Heritage Harbor Museum will have exhibits focused on the history of Rhode Island.

The site was a gift to the museum (artinruins) from the Narragansett Electric Company, said John Sinnott, senior development director of SBE&R, who heads the company's New England office. "These type of mixed use developments create a vibrant, 18-hour environment in a city, and promote safety," Sinnott said. Brown University is in discussions to locate some biomedical facilities on the site, Sinnott said, as Heritage Harbor is located across the river from the university.

SBE&R has been taking advantage of state and federal tax credits to bring old industrial sites back to life, Sinnott said. In the Providence and Warwick, R.I., areas, the company's Royal Mills project (artinruins) will redevelop former textile mills into a residential rental and condominium development. Their Rising Sun Mills (artinruins) is a $69 million conversion of a 130-year old mill complex into office, apartment, and retail space. The Plant, another redevelopment of industrial space, will feature fifteen artist live-and-work housing units, fourteen rental apartments, and 26,500 square feet of commercial and rental space.

Sinnott said that cities, and its citizens, frequently get attached to old industrial sites. "They become landmarks," he said. Re-development also saves cities the cost of demolishing a structure, Sinnott said.

Heritage Harbor is part of "Providence 2020," an urban plan for the city. In 2004, Mayor David Cicilline commissioned a study of the city's downtown, to create a vision for Providence in 2020, to provide a framework for public and private investment.

Newport Collaborative does very good work

This seems a little weird to me. I need more info/time to digust this.


http://www.commercialpropertynews.com/cpn/...t_id=1000972687

Huh. THAT is some pretty big news.

Streuver Bros. likes to take on the tough projects, and this sounds like a good one.
Should be a really impressive project. (more so if 8-10 of the residential units are "affordable.")

Can we thus assume that the Heritage project will be considerably scaled back? Then why bother? How many people can say that they live in a museum. (IMG:http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/style_emoticons/default/whistling.png)

Maybe they can sell units in that life size replica of a triple decker that they kept talkin about way back when.

"This was considered traditional working class housing at the turn of the century. If you look closely you can even see the yuppies that now inhabit the building since it went condo..."

Liam

The house will probably be the first exhibit to go.

I'm a bit confused. I thought the Crompton Mill burned down entirely.

http://www.ri.net/schools/West_Warwick/Pag...pton.fire1.html

Anyone who knows West Warwick or SBER got any more info?

Well, on the surface of things, it sounds great. It's a great location, it's a great building... But I want to see some more details. This is going to be a public/private/Brown invested, mixed use residential, retail, museum, and biomedical laboratory? Huh... Pretty ambitious. How is all of this going to be integrated? I presume much more new building will be going on...

- Garris

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20...v2.21240db.html