How Pawtucket's new MBTA station could change the surrounding neighborhoods
PAWTUCKET — When commuter trains running between Boston and Providence start stopping here on Monday, they will do more than just offer a new option for travel.
They will also begin reshaping the economies of Pawtucket and Central Falls, which is about two blocks from the new $63-million station.
In fact, officials in the area say that just the promise of the trains has already changed the face of the two cities.
"Within the past few years, hundreds of new apartment units have been constructed in the areas adjacent to the station in anticipation of its opening," Pawtucket's Planning Department told The Providence Journal, adding that several hundred more are under construction or on the drawing boards. "The influx of new development and residents spurred by the train station is helping to bring to life areas of Pawtucket which have been traditionally under-invested and underutilized."
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Station will link rail, buses, highway, bike routes
The new station, which will link commuter rail with Rhode Island Public Transit Authority buses, the Blackstone River Bikeway and nearby Interstate 95, lies at the heart of the Conant Thread District, a 150-acre area that straddles the Pawtucket-Central Falls line. Established around three former textile-mill campuses, the district seeks to rehab the industrial past into a future of apartments, shops, restaurants and other attractions for new urban dwellers.
Jan A. Brodie, who once headed the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, has for seven years been executive director of the Pawtucket Foundation, which is spearheading the effort in the Conant Thread District.
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Brodie echoed the city Planning Department's assessment of what the train station has already done.
She said 850 units of housing are under development, along with some 80,000 square feet of retail space.
And that doesn't include the development potential of what had been the Conant Thread Mill complex, now controlled by Urban Smart Growth, Brodie said. Ten years ago, the hulking, 500,000-square-foot mill was destroyed in a spectacular fire. But that still left two buildings totaling about 250,000 square feet, plus the land left vacant by the fire, which Brodie estimates could accommodate 500 or more units of housing.
Population, rents expected to rise around the train station
"I think the population will increase, I really do," said Brodie.
And the new housing will command higher rents, she added.
Currently, the median rent in the area served by ZIP code 02860, which includes the part of Pawtucket where the new station is located, is about $1,600 a month, according to Zillow, an online real estate data company. And that median rent has risen by more than $800 in the last year, Zillow estimates.
Brodie said she's not concerned that new, higher-priced housing will force current residents out of the two cities.
"So much of this was vacant, and what wasn't vacant was mills that were still functioning as mills," she said. "It's an urban environment. We don't want to displace anyone. Right now, no one is being displaced."
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New businesses expected to be drawn in by station
Along with the people, the new train station will bring businesses,
"The train station is already generating interest for new commercial projects, including retail shops and cafés/eateries for commuters and nearby residents," the Planning Department said. "The opening of the new train station will help us increase the number of businesses in Pawtucket and will support the expansion of existing businesses.”
"We're going to need more of those kind of restaurants, destinations, fun things for people to do. And they will start to demand it," Brodie said, giving examples of gyms, clothing stores, coffee shops, restaurants and entertainment venues — "the destination-worthy reasons to be in Pawtucket and Central Falls," she said. "We don't want industrial in this area. This is more about lifestyle, where you're living, where you're playing, where you're working."
And the new train station is bringing a new sense of hope to the aging mill cities.
"People are excited about it because it's a new spirit," Brodie said. "It's definitely Pawtucket, Blackstone Valley, Central Falls on the road up."
What to know about the Pawtucket MBTA station
Officially known as the Pawtucket/Central Falls stop on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Providence line, the station will be served by 40 trains a day on weekdays and 18 a day on weekends. Northbound trains go to Boston, while southbound ones either end in Providence or continue to T.F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction, depending on the day and time of the run. Weekend trains end in Providence.
The station will also be served by 10 RIPTA bus routes.
It has about 200 spaces in a surface parking lot.
Its street address is 300 Pine St.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Long-awaited Pawtucket-Central Falls train station opens Monday
