Eastbayri.com

EAST PROVIDENCE — The long vacant Weaver House could soon have a tenant.

Last Tuesday night, Dec. 20, the East Providence City Council unanimously signed off on a lease agreement regarding the historic, Grove Avenue building with the East Bay Community Action Program (EBCAP). Under the current proposal, the city stands to receive $12,000 annually inclusive of utilities, with a one year minimum commitment and two, one year extensions. The city also has the ability to review the rent amount annually and some space at the building will be reserved for the office of the East Providence Prevention Coalition.

Additionally, EBCAP has the ability to cancel the lease if the level of state or federal funding related to the programs proposed to be operated at the site fall below a “minimum threshold.”

According to a memo from the city’s Community Development Block Grant Program Coordinator David Bachrach, preservation work at the Weaver House was substantially completed in Jan. 2010. Funding for this work included $419,343 of CDBG funds, which are federal grants issued annually by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Because the city choose to use CDBG funds for the renovation, any potential lease of the space came with a few strings attached. For starters, the building must benefit low or moderate income city residents. The building’s use must also have a relationship to healthcare.

Coming up on two years from the renovation’s completion and still without a potential tenant, however, the city was facing the prospect of having to re-pay all of CDBG funds spent on the project.

“Unless the property is occupied consistently with the CDBG objective, the City will be obligated to repay $419,343 for preservation work,” reads a memo from East Providence City Manager Peter Graczykowski on the matter.

East Providence Planning Director Jeanne Boyle said the building has been empty since before she started working for the city 24 years ago. Recently, following the renovation project, Ms. Boyle said there was interest in renting or leasing the facility but the previously mentioned restrictions made it difficult to finalize a deal.

Ms. Boyle said the building was built in the mid-1860s and some of its history includes periods housing the city’s planning department and a Visiting Nurse’s Association office.

According to Mr. Bachrach’s memo, EBCAP plans to use the building for a job training program for young adults and a clothing collaborative program. Furthermore, Mr. Bachrach said there are plans to offer food bank services. Ms. Boyle said the building is an “asset” to East Providence and it will be helpful to residents in the center part of the city looking to utilize EBCAP services.

“It’s a beautiful, historic building,” Ms. Boyle said.

Currently, EBCAP’s only facility in East Providence is located in Riverside, on Bullocks Point Avenue.

Ultimately, despite the city council’s approval of the proposal, a deal won’t be complete until the issue comes before a recently appointed budget commission. Mr. Graczykowski said that because the lease has a budgetary impact, the budget commission holds final say on whether or not the plan comes to fruition.

In his memo, which was written before the budget commission’s appointment, Mr. Graczykowski said the lease agreement could be in place by Feb. 2012