East Side Sees Flood of Teardowns as Average House Price Tops $560,000

East Side Sees Flood of Teardowns as Average House Price Tops $560,000

Providence’s East Side and Fox Point are seeing a rash of buildings being demolished for new homes.

The median single-family house price on the East Side of Providence now tops $560,000 — 250% higher than the rest of Providence. 

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Now, developers are tearing down existing homes and building new structures on every available stitch on land.

"The East Side of Providence is one of the most highly sought after locations in Rhode Island and it is a relatively new phenomenon to see buildings being razed at such a regularity," said Sally Lapides, who heads Residential Properties.

"This happens in communities where there is a scarcity of land to build on," she continued. "Both single-family homeowners and developers are tearing down existing buildings to make way for either their dream house or a multi-unit development."

The demolition of existing older buildings and the construction of new structures have hit nearly every neighborhood on the East Side — Wayland, Hope, College Hill, Blackstone Boulevard, as well as Fox Point.

 “The demand on the East Side over the last several years has been and remains strong — and that’s all sorts of price points. And all types of properties, single families of multi-families — these are all different projects,” said Kevin Fox, a top realtor at Residential Properties.

“For the first time [ever], I’d say in the last 24 months, I’ve had some Boston people that have  said ‘if you find us the right place, we’ll tear down.' I’d never heard that before,” said Fox.

One small unbuilt lot that Brown University-owned for decades was sold to a Massachusetts developer Paragon Investments for $225,000 in July of 2018. A new home is now being built on the site.

"So who’s coming here? People from New York -- I had a house in New York Times real estate section a couple of years ago, the 'What you get for $900K,' and most of those calls were from Brooklyn. Any quality properties that have been [re]done, in that someone’s come in and done the major renovations — the roof, the kitchen, and if those things are done — they’re all over them. People like the idea that it’s been [re] done and they can move right in," said Fox.

“I worked with clients who have torn down. The one off of President, for instance, the house there was so neglected, it made no sense [to upgrade] it,” said Fox.

At 377 Wayland, the home built in 1930 was torn down over the summer and a new home in under construction -- the former house was assessed by the city at $465,000.

In other cases, single-family homes are being demoed and replaced with multi-unit structures. On Wickenden Street, a single-family house was torn down and replaced with a multi-unit structure by the owner Stonehedge Partners -- a Boston-based company.

Benefit to City

Lapides says that Providence will benefit from the newer structures.

"What it says about the area is that it is highly desirable, there is a demand for new construction, people want to invest in Providence and there are people with money who are investing in our city. The new structures will bring in more tax revenue because the assessments will be higher on the new architecture," says Lapides.

Another teardown is 871 Hope Street - a home built-in 1900. The home is being replaced by multiple new structures on the site and extended lot.