Despite Oct. 2022 'groundbreaking,' state health lab lot still empty. When will construction start?

Wheeler Cowperthwaite, The Providence Journal
·2 min read

PROVIDENCE — For the past six months, through rain and shine, snow and sleet, a sign at the corner of Clifford and Richmond streets in Providence's Jewelry District has pronounced the empty grass-covered lot as the future home of a building housing the state's new health lab.

State leaders gathered for the ceremonial groundbreaking at the lot in October 2022 and shoveled sand brought in for the occasion.

But now it's May, and work still hasn't started.

When will construction start?

Construction on the lab building could start as soon as mid-June, Ancora L&G CEO Josh Parker wrote in an email. Ancora L&G is developing the project, after winning a bid from the state. It is a partnership between Legal & General Capital, a United Kingdom-based investment group, and Ancora, a North Carolina-based real estate firm.

The state health lab proposed by the McKee administration would be housed in a 212,000-square-foot building at Richmond and Clifford streets in the state-owned Route 195 Redevelopment District.
The state health lab proposed by the McKee administration would be housed in a 212,000-square-foot building at Richmond and Clifford streets in the state-owned Route 195 Redevelopment District.

The lab should be completed by the second quarter of 2025, while the tenants could start working in the building by the third quarter of 2025.

"We are in the process of obtaining final permits," he wrote in the email.

The new state health lab: New State Health Lab would go in $165 million Jewelry District building

What will be in the building?

The $165-million building will include private laboratory space, and Brown University has agreed to be one of the tenants, securing 20,000 square feet.

The 212,000-square-foot building will be located in a vacant lot at Richmond and Clifford streets, where the state Department of Health asked for it in 2021. State lawmakers then insisted on going through a bidding process to look at other potential locations, before settling on the same location.

Under the current plans, the state would own the 80,000-square-foot state health lab in a condominium arrangement while Ancora L&G owns the rest of the building. The state will use an $81.7-million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to pay for construction of the health lab part of the building, which will be on the second and third floors of the seven-story building.

Rhode Island public health officials have been clamoring to replace their run-down 1970s health lab on Orms Street since the onset of the COVID pandemic, saying the building is outdated and limited their ability to respond to the coronavirus.

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Providence Journal reporter Patrick Anderson contributed to this report. Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI state health lab building could start construction in mid-June 2023