Demolition Looms for French Worsted

Once the employer of hundreds of city residents, the long vacant French Worsted Company Mill could soon be nothing more than a pile of bricks, leveled to clear the way for new economic development.

Crews are currently at work removing asbestos material from inside the buildings at the sprawling six-and-a-half acre complex to ensure no
hazardous material is released into the air when the wrecking ball starts swinging.

"It's going in stages," said Tom Geving, property manager for the site. "We hope to get a lot done before the real winter weather gets here."

To many in Woonsocket, the mill complex at 153 Hamlet Ave. is a reminder of the city's historic past, when the Blackstone Valley was a
showplace for America's Industrial Revolution. The two main buildings, connected on the third floor by distinctive catwalk, were built in 1906, and are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Because the mill remained in operation until the mid-1960's, there are many older people in the area who once worked there.

The property is now owned by Henry D. Vara, Jr., a Boston-area businessman and an alumnus of .

Neither nostalgia nor landmark status will be an obstacle to demolition. City Hall officials hope that clearing the property will hasten economic development in that neighborhood. "It's on the tax rolls as a one-hundred-year-old vacant building," said Matthew Wojcik, the city's director of economic development. "I think it would be exciting to see it redeveloped."

A small red-brick guardhouse across the street is owned by the city, and will likely be renovated. Another smaller building, once home to Gian Carlo's restaurant, will also be taken down.

Geving notes the city can't issue a demolition permit until electricity and water service have been turned off, and that won't happen until the asbestos removal work is finished. In the meantime, the property is well protected against fire, vandals, and thieves.

"The buildings have sprinklers and are well secured and patrolled by guards," the manager explained. "I also have a good presence there."

The sight of cranes, front-end loaders, and other pieces of heavy duty equipment parked in the mill lot has sparked gossip that the tear-down could begin in a week or two, but according to Geving, that part of the project is still months away. Coventry Wrecking, the company Vara has hired for the demolition job, is simply using the lot as a convenient parking spot for equipment that is difficult to move on public roads.

Until several years ago, the state had a tax credit program aimed at encouraging developers to convert old mill buildings into housing, stores, or office space rather than tear them down.  The goal was to preserve Rhode Island's historic character by making renovation less costly.

Vara was hoping to benefit from the program when he first purchased the French Worsted complex. It was through his efforts that the site was named to the National Register of Historic Places. He once presented city officials with plans for a $30-million renovation project that would have included affordable housing, stores, offices, a restaurant and a tavern.

Those dreams came to an end, however, when the state's budget crisis ended funding for the tax credit program. The developer now sees demolition as the best route. "Insurance costs have gone up and taxes have gone up," Geving points out. "And the buildings have a wet sprinkler system, so you have to maintain heat."

There's no certainty as to what will eventually go up at the site. Vara has hired M & G Commercial, a real estate management company, to look for tenants. "It's going to be one open area," says Geving. "The buildings are something of an eyesore, but it's a nice corner. You have the new school right across the street."

A bicycle and walking route also crosses the property, leading to the .

At one point Mount St. Charles Academy eyed the property as a possible site for an athletic complex, but those plans never materialized. Wojcik is now suggesting the site would be a good location for medical offices once Stewart Health Care, Landmark Hospital, begins renovating that institution.

The property is one of several known as "the French mills" that sprang up in Woonsocket in the early 20th century. At that time many of New England's older textile manufacturers were relocating to southern states to take advantage of lower labor costs. Former mayor Aram Pothier responded by traveling to Paris to persuade European industrialists to build factories in Woonsocket.

In addition to the French Worsted mill, the foreign investors built the Guerin Mills, Lafayette Worsted, and Riverside Worsted. In all, Pothier, who later became governor, is credited with bringing $6,000,000 in foreign investment to the city.

The French Worsted complex includes 16 brick buildings totaling 413,000-square-feet and a towering smokestack. The structures were built between 1906 and 1939. The mill was owned by the firm of Charles Tiberghien and Sons of Tourcoing, France, a company that also owned mills in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Though he employed more than 400 residents and his business was one of the city's largest tax payers, company president Charles Tiberghien rarely set foot in Woonsocket.

Vara, the current owner, also holds the deeds to several other Woonsocket properties. Under a business named Jill Realty, he owns the Taft Pierce mill complex off Pond Street and an adjacent industrial site at 45 East School Street.

A portion of the Taft Pierce site is now known as the Woonsocket Industrial Complex, and houses a number of machine shops and other small businesses. - a business Vara owns - is located in the same building. The East School Street site includes space Vara leases rent-free to the Encore Repertory Company, the local drama company that performs at the Stadium Theater.

Vara and his family are well known for running a number of nightclubs and entertainment venues in Boston and elsewhere. He once owned the now-defunct Rocky Point Amusement Park in Warwick, then a favorite summertime hangout for countless Rhode Islanders.