CENTRAL FALLS — Surrounded by chain link fencing, the three-story building on Central Street in Rhode Island’s smallest city smells of sawdust from the plywood flooring and wall frames that make up the structure.

But by mid-2026, the property’s developer promises 25 units with vinyl tile flooring and wide doorways that will be completely solar powered — all with rents starting as low as $800 for a one-bedroom apartment.

“Central Street is an innovative development — it’s really going to make a great impact on the community and the neighborhood,” Linda Weisinger, executive director for Pawtucket Central Falls Development, told reporters, housing advocates, and lawmakers gathered outside the building Thursday morning.

The project at 44 Central St. which broke ground in May, is part of the Pawtucket-based nonprofit’s plan to create a total of 62 affordable housing units in Pawtucket and Central Falls over the next two years. The property was most recently a parking lot.

Thursday’s tour was the fourth across the state this year hosted by the Housing Network of Rhode Island, which aims to show how affordable homes can be an attractive addition to any of the state’s 39 municipalities.“While this idea of affordable housing might seem one-size-fits all, it is really anything but,” Melina Lodge, the nonprofit advocacy organization’s executive director, told reporters assembled outside the building. “Every project that our members produce is attempting to respond to a local need by the people and match the feeling and aesthetic of its local community.”

Though he did not join the tour, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi commended the project during his brief remarks outside the Central Street property.

“This is exactly the type of development that we need more of in Rhode Island,” Shekarchi said. “In the last five years in Rhode Island, the prices of single-family homes have nearly doubled. The rents at 44 Central will be affordable, and that’s fantastic for the 30 new families who will live here.”

The Central Street property will include a mix of units from one to four bedrooms, with rents starting at $800 a month and up to $1,900 for the largest apartments. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Central Falls is $1,637 a month, according to the 2024 HousingWorks RI Fact Book.

On the tour, Weisinger highlighted grab bars, lever door handles, roll-in showers and other accessible design features that will be included in some of the apartments. 

“It’s really going to that next level of something we’ve been really mindful of in the work we do, in trying to make sure residents, if they are here for a long time, can age in place,” Weisinger said.

That note got the attention of Rep. Deborah Fellela, a Johnston Democrat who joined the tour.

“So many developments don’t think of that,” Fellela said in an interview.

The new building will also have two community commercial spaces, one of which will be a homeownership and financial education center on the ground floor run by PCF Development. 

Even in its initial stages of construction, the promise of an attractive building in the heart of the city was enough to captivate Rep. Joshua Giraldo, a Central Falls Democrat.

“I grew up in a small third-floor unit that was really cramped with not a lot of lighting,” Giraldo told Rhode Island Current after the tour. “To see the detail that has been put into the project makes me really proud.”

The Central Street rentals still have a ways to go until their planned 2026 opening, but Weisinger said applications are already open for those interested in getting on the ground floor — or the following two. For application information, visit PCF Development’s website or call (401) 941-2900.

PCF Development rentals predominantly go to low to moderate income families with single-parent female heads of households, its website states.