Cole Morehead, 8, and his brother Mason, 9, of Cranston, explore for crabs and other living creatures under the rocks at Narragansett Town Beach. Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl

Native Rhode Islanders are famous for giving directions involving landmarks that “used to be.” In Narragansett’s Pier neighborhood, what used to be comprises much of the former Pier Village commercial area, lost to a failed urban renewal project that began in 1969. But community leaders hope that this new century will see a rebirth of the once vital commercial district.

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A first step in that process occurred last month when the Belmont Market grocery store opened in the Pier as part of a redevelopment project by Gilbane Development Co. Early last year, Gilbane’s plans for a condominium project in the Pier sparked some controversy, because of Gilbane’s past role in the town-sponsored urban renewal project. Town Council members urged Gilbane last year to focus more on bringing retail and commercial elements to its new development.

In addition to the Belmont Market, a new liquor store has opened, and there are plans for an upscale restaurant to locate in the Pier in about a year. “It’s been sorely needed,” said John Hodnett, a longtime Pier resident and an agent with Lila Delman Real Estate. “… People love to stroll and shop and get a coffee.”

Gilbane is now building 99 luxury oceanfront condominiums that will be priced from the $500,000s to a little more than $1 million. These prices are compatible with other real estate in Narragansett. Asking prices for Pier houses in the state’s Multiple Listing Service last week range from $369,900 for a raised ranch built in 1973, with four bedrooms and two baths, to $2.9 million for an oceanfront, contemporary Victorian, built in 1994, with four bedrooms and four baths.

According to Jim Cavanaugh, a longtime Pier resident, the protests that greeted Gilbane early last year — in which he was an active participant — have died away. He said the process was helpful because it allowed people to air their grievances about mistakes made in the past. He said he still wishes Gilbane had agreed to “lose one building” so that Narragansett Avenue could once again extend all the way to Ocean Road near the beach. But he said many residents are pleased with the Belmont Market, and hope that it leads to more commercial activity. “I have to give (Belmont Market owner Jack) Siravo his due,” Cavanaugh said. “He did a fabulous job. He could have done a lot less.”

In most senses, the Pier area is the center of Narragansett. The Town Hall, all three public schools and the town library are here, in addition to the attractive Town Beach, which is less crowded than Scarborough State Beach, two miles south of the Pier. Cavanaugh joked that the Town Beach is “the only Roman Catholic beach in the country — there are two collections,” referring to the fact that the town charges for both parking and walk-in admittance to the beach. Cavanaugh once led a failed court fight of this practice, and said he still refuses to pay to walk on the beach, instead handing a printed copy of a section of the Constitution to the young people who collect fees.

Hodnett is married to a Pier native, and they have six children. He said he prizes the village character of the neighborhood, and the fact that his children can walk or ride their bikes to school, the beach, and to a Little League field to play baseball, and watch their friends’ games. “It’s a great place to live,” he said.

Hodnett recently sold one of the neighborhood’s prized properties, Sunnymead, a 7,000-square-foot Victorian at 106 Central St., for $985,000. He said Ocean Road and Central, Taylor, Mathewson and Exchange streets are home to many period houses and buildings that survived the 1970s. There are no local historic districts in town, but there is renewed interest in possibly creating one to protect the remaining historic buildings, according to Narragansett Community Development Director Michael DeLuca.

Cavanaugh said he is concerned that native Rhode Islanders are being priced out of the real estate market in their own state, especially in desirable oceanfront communities like Narragansett. “Rhode Islanders can’t afford them,” he said of the new Gilbane condominiums. “We don’t have enough jobs here that pay good money.”

Town Manager Jeffrey Ceasrine said it is true that high real estate prices may be a factor in the declining enrollment in the town’s public schools. The loss could be attributed to private school enrollment by year-round residents, and home ownership by summer residents, he said.

Still, Cavanaugh, who continues to sell real estate in town with Remax Flagship — he said he tried to retire, but couldn’t stand it — has no plans to leave the Pier, his home since 1972. He is from Providence, and moved to Narragansett after serving with the Air Force for 32 years. “I always wanted to live near the water,” he said.

cdunn@projo.com