In this video, see inside a new Atwells Avenue building looking to work with tenants to fill its spaces. Since the building is under construction, One Neighborhood Builders wants to get its commercial tenants signed up so they can use the crew that’s already on the site to reduce the total costs for a build-out.

“A view of 434 Atwells Ave., in October 2025, where construction is underway for a mixed-use 85-unit building for affordable housing and commercial tenants. One Neighborhood Builders is planning to name the five-story affordable housing building, “The Avenue”.

By the early spring of 2027, if all goes to plan, a formerly blighted stretch of one of East Providence’s most central, downtown corridors will open its doors as an example of the possibilities that exist when creative minds and altruistic organizations work together to combat the state’s significant affordable housing problem.

But the road to get to this point, and indeed the road left to be traveled, also underscores a troubling reality facing nonprofit developers; who make it their mission to build truly affordable housing at a rate that will make an actual difference in the lives of the thousands of people who need it, and without steamrolling residents in the process.