Atlantic Mills in Olneyville, one of Providence’s oldest mill buildings, is currently pending for sale. Tenants have expressed concerns surrounding the purchase of the building and the preservation of the historic space.
The building was listed to be sold for $5 million in August. The mill building has been owned by The Howard and Eleanor Brynes LLC since the 1950s, and seems likely to fall into the ownership of Robert Berle and Eric Edelman.
Atlantic Mills has “been this hub of the Olneyville and Providence community for over 70 years,” said Emily Harrington, a media representative for the Atlantic Mills Union and an artist with tenancy in the building. She added that the Byrnes family has intent on keeping Atlantic Mills affordable for the local community.
The building has been a landmark in Providence since its construction in the late 1800s and held a “legacy of being (an) affordable space for artists and Latino small businesses,” Harrington said. Now, the building houses dozens of tenants in studio and commercial spaces and hosts Providence’s oldest flea market, Big Top Flea, on weekends.
In fall 2022, the current owners and the Providence Redevelopment Agency entered into a purchase and sales agreement. The PRA, a city department, entered the agreement “with the goal of stewarding the property into its next phase of ownership,” Michaela Antunes, a spokesperson for the city, wrote in an email to The Herald.
But the owners decided not to go through with the agreement, instead choosing to pursue conversations with potential buyers Berle and Edelman.
Concerned about the turnover in ownership, tenants of Atlantic Mills unionized on Dec. 21, becoming Rhode Island’s first commercial tenant union. The announcement followed months of community meetings where tenants discussed their concerns and demands in the face of new ownership.
Tenants “started getting really worried” when the PRA agreement fell through, said Linsey Wallace, an artist who works out of the mills. “When a private equity group purchases one of these old buildings, it’s much more worrisome, because they likely can’t get the amount of revenue that they need to generate out of the building,” Wallace said.
With the change in ownership, “there isn’t a real threat” that the building itself will be demolished, said Marisa Angell Brown, executive director of the Providence Preservation Society. But if the change in ownership causes tenancy turnover, the vibrant community in the mill is at risk “of losing its place, connection and sense of community.”
“The preservation of these safe spaces is crucial to our collective ability to continue to create,” said Jenine Bressner, a glass artist in Atlantic Mills.
The potential new owners intend to continue making Atlantic Mills “a hub for small business and innovation,” Edelman wrote in an email to The Herald. "We specialize in preserving historic buildings and want the building to last for another 150 years.”
Brown hopes that the union can offer a sense of community for tenants, as well as additional layers of protection.
For Bressner, “it was so inspiring and energizing to realize that we had so much momentum together in the same direction.”
Over 125 people attended the announcement of the union in late December, where organizers demanded immediate rent stabilization, a 99-year lease and an eviction moratorium to begin on Dec. 21, according to Harrington. The union asked for a response from the potential buyers by Dec. 30.
The union did not receive a response by that deadline but is “hoping to give them the benefit of the doubt” as they await communication, Harrington said.
“As the sale has not closed yet, it is not our place to negotiate with tenants of the building,” Edelman wrote. If the sale goes through, he and his partner “will work with each tenant in good standing after the closing to figure out a new lease,” he added.
The City of Providence “remains deeply invested in the mill’s future” even though the PRA agreement did not pan out, Antunes wrote. The potential buyer “has assured the City that the flea market will remain operational, existing leases will be honored, improvements will be made to the property and there are no plans to convert the building into residential use,” she added.
The new potential owners “envision Atlantic Mills as a hub for small business and job creation,” Edelman wrote, explaining they are eager to invest in repairs “to maintain the structure and keep it as thriving commercial space,” he added.
“It cannot be overstated how important this building is,” Bressner said. “We hope everybody gets to stay.”
Maya Kelly is a metro editor from Providence who covers community, crime and activism as well as business and development. A concentrator in urban studies and data fluency, she is passionate about intersecting storytelling with data analysis. When Maya's not at The Herald, you can find her hanging from an aerial silk, bullet journaling or in the middle of a forest.
