12/21/2015
Citizens Bank provides $7.23 million construction loan for Providence mixed-use rental housing development
Project to create 40 rental apartments and incubator space at the historic Mechanical Fabric Company mill complex in the city’s West End neighborhood
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Citizens Bank announced today that its Community Development Lending Group has provided a $7.23 million construction loan to Cromwell Ventures LLC, whose sponsors are the principals of Knight & Swan, LLC, a New York-based privately held real estate development company.
The loan will provide construction and bridge financing for the substantial rehabilitation of a historic mill complex formerly known as the Mechanical Fabric Company at 55 Cromwell Street in Providence. The development will result in 40 rental apartments and about 11,000 square feet of commercial space, including shared-office accommodation and a commercial kitchen for lease to local food entrepreneurs, the first of its kind in Providence. A vacant lot at 36 Cromwell Street – adjacent to the three-building complex – was purchased for parking. The project will be branded as the first ROOMS & WORKS™ in the country; a novel live-work concept tailored to young professionals and recent graduates.
“We enjoyed working with the Citizens Bank team on this project,” said Federico Manaigo, developer at Knight & Swan. “The Citizens team, in particular Mary Vales, Senior Vice President of Community Development Lending, understood the vision for the project from the onset and moved quickly to help get this complex transaction, which included a state and federal tax credit investor, closed. We’re thrilled to be bringing an innovative live-work experience to Providence and look forward to being a part of the West End neighborhood’s revival.”
“We were very pleased to work with Knight & Swan on this project and to help the development team achieve its strategic and financial goals,” said Marc Paulhus, President of Citizens Bank, Rhode Island.
For more information, please go to the Citizens Bank website.
About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $135.4 billion in assets as of September 30, 2015. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle‐market companies, large corporations and institutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens helps its retail customers “bank better” with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid‐Atlantic and Midwest regions. Citizens also provides mortgage lending, auto lending, student lending and commercial banking services in select markets nationwide. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not‐for‐profit clients a full range of wholesale banking products and services including lending and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and interest hedging, leasing and asset finance, specialty finance and trade finance.
Citizens operates through its subsidiaries Citizens Bank, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Additional information about Citizens and its full line of products and services can be found at www.citizensbank.com.
