PROVIDENCE – Brown University purchased this week an office building at 198 Dyer St. for $6 million and plans to move its continuing education program there, the university said.
Located in the Jewelry District, the 41,000 square-foot building presently has one tenant, the city of Providence’s Department of Licensing and Standards. The university said it planned to honor the lease that covers 12,500 square feet of the building.
The purchase marks the continuing expansion of Brown outside its traditional College Hill campus and into the area surrounding its planned new medical school building. City and education officials have termed the area, once a hub of jewelry manufacturing, the Knowledge District.
“The purchase of this largely vacant building supports broader efforts to enhance the growing Knowledge District,” the university said in a statement.
The two-acre property includes 130 parking spaces and 75 spaces on adjacent land leased from the state of Rhode Island.
The Ivy League school purchased the building from New York City-based Extell Development Corp. The deal closed Monday. The school said it plans to keep the building on the city’s tax rolls.
