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IN PROGRESS: Royal Mills in West Warwick


sharky10

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Hello all, new member - first post here. Hope to contribute to the forum. I'll especially have any info on TF Green related projects, but am very much interested in the greater PVD areas growth in any way.

Royal Mills:

I drive by it every morning and it is very much underway. The interior of the old mill complex appears to have been gutted with some replacement windows in place. The roof appears to be undergoing repairs too.

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I think that's called Chapel View or something. Center of NE is this big former gravel pit wasteland next to 95 that some developer is trying to turn into a bigbox retail wasteland.

One word, atrocious. There's a Home Depot and BJ's now, and I heard another strip being built too, with another hotel? Who the hell would want to stay in a hotel out there anyway? Such a creepy place too, but then yet, so is every place that has a Denny's in it.

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Mmmm... Denny's....

So where is this gravel pit wasteland?

The center of New England is in Coventry, just off Rt 95 where Rt ? & ? meet (sorry, I forgot). There are new hotels there and a Cracker Barrel restuarant and I think office buildings. Possibly big box stores and condos also. The developers name is Nicholas Cambio. Ah, RI politics........

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=..._id=74554&rfi=8

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A few points:

Living in the general area, I can say thats its far from being in the middle of nowhere. Its in Coventry and near WW - two sizeable suburbs. AMGEN's masively growing plant is right next door too. The hotel does well from what I've been told and they plan on building a bunch of condos next. The Walmart will be a new "super" Walmart and it is to replace the one already in Coventry.

It's located just off exit 7 on 95 on New London Ave and Arnold road for those who weren't sure. I know its not downtown/city, but its large development for the area - thats the only reason I brought it up.

The new Brook's Pharmacy HQ in EG/WW is coming along now too...

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  • 4 weeks later...
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  • 1 month later...

Heard on the news that the Phenix mill Condo project was axed by the developer citing the town of WW's unwillingness to coorperate with him.

The town was not happy about the developer dragging his feet cleaning up the site. I never heard the proposal was dead. This building was in my opinion the least impressive and architecturally significant of the West Warwick mills under restoration. Question: If the mill never burned and this thing was still on, where did they plan on parking all the cars?

I once lived on Maple Ave. which is the street across the Pawtuxet River from this property. A new proposal which grants some public access to the riverfront would be ideal. I favor urban townhouses, and maybe a restaurant with outdoor seating.

With the right project here, Phenix may just rise from the ashes and truly live up to its name.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Pictures from West Warwick

phenix1.jpg

Main St. - Phenix Mill construction site.

All the debris is gone - only a slab remains of the old mill... nothing new being built right now.

phxshovl.jpg

It looks like they're planning on something soon though (or equipment is safer parked in West Warwick than Providence?)

emainst.jpg

Royal Mills from East Main St.

westface.jpg

A view of the complex looking towards Arctic. Nice new windows!

Also, getting ready to tear out this island and reroute Providence Street to make room in front of the mill for parking.

windows.jpg

Some window replacement going on in the middle of the building.

tower1.jpg

A view of the east tower looking towards Bradford Soap and Westcott.

plaque.jpg

More to come...

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Good photos, thanks! :thumbsup:

Yea they were taken late in the day, good is all I could've hoped for.

Here's your Riverpoint Rundown... anybody living in WWRI feel free to contribute!!!

The Royal Mills / Ace Dye complex is at 125 Providence St. in the Riverpoint neighborhood. This belltower is a significant icon to the Town of West Warwick, and a portrait depicting the tower has been on display in Town Hall for many years. If you're coming down Providence Street from Arctic, the tower is dead ahead as you descend the hill towards the complex. I always thought that was cool. Hence my addiction to UP.

One thing I noticed was they took down the old Hollywood letters! We've all seen the "Rising Sun Mills" letters which I hear look pretty impressive from Rte 10 at night. This mill used to have letters which lined the rooftop and which read "Spaulding Mfg. Co - Royal Mills". I might have been wrong about the company name, but anyway they took 'em down. They probably won't bring it back because its not close to any highway but I always liked the way it looked. Maybe they got the Rising Sun idea from the Royal Mills, that would make me feel a little better at least.

The red brick Ace Dye building on the other side of the river is really coming along. It was noisy in there, the windows were all new and it looked like they cleaned up the brick. If there were a spot other than in Providence St. to stand and snap a few, I would have had more. The layout of this building for residential is really nice, one side overlooks the river and the other side abuts some woods (a nice buffer from the sprawlerific Tanglewood Apartments).

http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=adr.125%20Pr...2c%20RI%2002893

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Thanks for posting these. Glad to see the bell's till there. I read that Royal Mills was once part of the Knight Brothers' Fruit of the Loom empire--as were Pontiac, Valley Queen, and about another dozen others mostly in the Pawtuxet Valley.

As for the sign, I've noticed that SBER tends to have them on their buildings (like Rising Sun) so I wouldn't be too surprised if the old one is getting restored or if a new one shows up at some point.

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