East Providence Benefits

Need a reason to relocate or expand to East Providence? Consider the following.

Proximity to Providence/Warwick and Boston

  • Five minutes from Downtown Providence
  • Forty minutes from Boston
  • Fifteen minutes from Warwick/TF Green Airport
  • Ninety minutes from Hartford

 

Excellent Transportation Network

  • Interstate 195 access
  • Amtrak/Acela access to Providence
  • P&W freight rail access
  • Deep water port access at Exxon-Mobil Terminal and Wilkes-Barre Pier
  • Extensive RIPTA public transit routes
  • Access to East Bay Bike Path

 

Diversity of Business Types and Locations

  • Office parks
  • Industrial parks
  • Regional retail
  • Small-scale neighborhood business districts
  • Emerging concentration of “advanced manufacturing” businesses such as Aspen Aerogels, Moo.com, Parmatech-Proform, EFD, and Eaton Aerospace Corp.

 

Quality and Availability of Workforce

  • Stable labor pool in East Providence with experience in skilled manufacturing
  • Ready access to wider labor pool of skilled manufacturing workforce in Providence, East Bay and Southeast Massachusetts
  • Access to Brown University/ Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)/Univ. of RI/Johnson and Wales graduate workforce
  • Proximity to Boston area and access to Boston area labor force
  • Reasonable rents and costs relative to Providence and Boston

 

Modern, Extensive Infrastructure

  • Good-quality, low-cost water available without restriction
  • Fiber optic cable available throughout the City. System robust enough to meet data needs of back office users such as Bank of America and Sovereign Bank
  • Upgraded wastewater treatment facilities (no reliance on septic or excessive sewer use or hook-up fees)

 

Safe Community

  • One of the lowest crime rates in Rhode Island
  • Neighborhoods are safe to live in and walk through
  • Businesses do not need to be concerned about security or safety of employees

 

Diversity of Housing Choices

  • Mix of housing types including single family, apartments, condominiums and mixed-use
  • Range of prices from high-end single family, affordable single family to subsidized apartments
  • Diversity of neighborhoods including low-density suburban, waterfront coastal cottages, converted mill lofts, traditional suburbs and urban higher-density development

 

Professional and Responsive Municipal Government

  • City staff are available to address business needs and concerns through full-time trained professional staff in Building, Fire, Planning and Economic Development Departments
  • Low-interest loans, Tax Stabilization, façade improvement grants, job fair assistance and Enterprise Zone Tax credits are available to expanding and relocating businesses
  • City Staff have well-established working relationships with economic development partners on the State and Federal level including the RI Commerce Corp., US Small Business Administration and US Economic Development Administration
  • Waterfront District Commission provides “one-stop shopping” and aggressive timeframe for review of development and projects in the East Providence Waterfront District

Quality of Life

  • Extensive system of parks, playgrounds, athletic complexes, greenways and bicycle paths
  • Three private golf courses
  • Marinas, mooring fields and boat ramps offer opportunities for boating and fishing
  • Close-knit community, made up of defined neighborhoods with a strong sense of place
  • Culturally and ethnically diverse with a sense of pride in its history and heritage
  • Proximity to Providence offers the ability to easily take advantage of all cultural activities of Capitol City
  • Good public school system (with private schools also available)
  • Median family income: $66,615 (2012, RI DLT website)