Old Mill Becomes Artists' Hub — Could Boston Learn From It?

A huge old factory in Providence, Rhode Island, has been turned into something unexpected. Instead of becoming a warehouse, the 113,000-square-foot building on Sims Avenue is now called 50 Sims, and it is home to artists, small businesses, and job training programs. City planners in Boston are paying attention, because they have thousands of empty lab and office spaces that nobody is using.

Inside 50 Sims, you might walk past a studio where an artist is finishing a ceramic tile mural for a local park. Around the corner, a young entrepreneur is turning discarded oyster and clam shells into bowls and building materials. Elsewhere in the building, a nonprofit group is teaching students how to weld and work in manufacturing. There is even a brewery inside the building.

The company behind this project is Scout, a design and development firm based in Philadelphia. Scout has been working with the Providence Redevelopment Agency to fix up the building since 2021. Everett Abitbol, Scout's development director, says the project could be a model for other cities struggling with empty spaces.

Boston's leaders have noticed what Scout is doing in Providence. The Boston Planning Department reached out informally to talk about ways to support creative businesses and artists. They are even looking at empty upper floors in the famous Faneuil Hall marketplace as a possible location for something similar.

Abitbol believes that investing in arts and culture is smart for any city. 'Arts is infrastructure, and the infrastructure of the arts creates a huge economic benefit to cities,' he said. He added that cities that support creative work get back ten times what they put in, and that Providence's talent runs much deeper than most people expect.

Scout is well known for a similar project in South Philadelphia, where the company turned an old school called the Bok Building into a busy space for artists, small businesses, and nonprofits. The Bok Building has a rooftop bar that draws 75,000 visitors every season and a restaurant named one of the ten best new restaurants in America. That success helped Scout feel confident about trying something similar in Providence.

At 50 Sims, Scout chose to work alongside nearby businesses rather than compete with them. A local food hub called Farm Fresh is nearby, so Scout focused on offering things Farm Fresh does not — including free job training programs in manufacturing and career skills. Having these training programs in the building also helps keep rents affordable for artists and small businesses.

One of the most unique things about 50 Sims is how flexible it is for renters. Most commercial landlords want large tenants who sign long leases, but 50 Sims rents spaces as small as 80 square feet and offers month-to-month leases. Abitbol says some artists pay as little as $150 or $200 a month, which gives them a professional home without a big financial risk.

Tenants say the setup has made a real difference in their work and lives. David Allyn, who made ceramic tiles for the Providence Riverwalk, said he could not have finished that project without his studio at 50 Sims. Felicia Neuhof, founder of Shellf Life, said 50 Sims was the perfect place for her unusual business of recycling shells into furniture and bowls.

Scout has big plans to keep growing 50 Sims. The building currently has 38 tenants, but Scout wants to add 24 to 30 more, and plans to convert an old whiskey barrel storage space into studios for 60 more creative workers. Construction is expected to start in December, and a graffiti-decorated courtyard will soon be opened to the public.

A 22,000-square-foot building on the property, called 'The Shed,' still does not have a set purpose, and Scout is asking the community what it should become. Ideas include an indoor recreation center and a market for salvaged building materials. Scout also says it hopes to work with Rhode Island's incoming governor to bring a similar project to the historic Cranston Street Armory, which locals call 'the people's castle.'