EAST PROVIDENCE — City planners were given the okay last week to purchase two abandoned buildings on Bullocks Point Avenue near Riverside Square and redevelop the area to bring affordable housing and continuity to the neighborhood.

Just as the last City Council did in May 2007, the current council unanimously agreed Tuesday night to continue with the project. Officials said it is a great opportunity for the city, particularly since federal grants and private funds are paying for the proposed changes instead of local tax money.

“It is important because it is a gateway project,” City Manager Richard Brown said. “It’s also in Riverside Square, a very vibrant and eclectic commercial area that I think has the ability to rival Wickenden Street and some of the things we see on the East Side of Providence.”

Much of Bullocks Point Avenue is residential, sprinkled with small mom-and-pop businesses. The vacant, boarded-up buildings the city will buy are a house and a factory across Oak Avenue and next to Fenner Avenue. Both structures have the East Bay Bike Path in their backyard and are neighbors of small shops and an antique store.

Three environmental studies have focused on the site since the project was first proposed because of concerns that the old factory may have significantly contaminated the soil. City officials say there may be as much as $200,000 in cleanup costs before construction can begin. For those reasons, the city was able to get property owners to cut the selling price in half, from $550,000 to $275,000.

The Planning Department proposes demolishing the structures on the nearly 20,000-square-foot parcel — which is divided into four lots — and erect two two-story buildings in their place.

Although the city plans to recruit a development partner, it plans to have one building house two commercial units totaling 3,600 square feet on the first floor and four residential units on the second floor. The other building would have eight residential units, four on each floor. A parking lot with 42 spaces is also planned.

David Bachrach, the city’s community-development coordinator, said at least half of the residences would be affordable housing — condominiums or apartments — which is “difficult to find and needed in East Providence.”

He said another plus was that Riverside Square could now have a “sense of place” when people drive through it because the city plans to have a continued street façade along the entire avenue.

Prior to the reduced purchase price, the city estimated that the entire project could cost a little more than $3 million. Bachrach also said in 2007 that an estimated $1.29 million could potentially come from various grants from Rhode Island Housing, Rhode Island Resource Recovery, local Community Development Block Grant money and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He said city officials have also identified other sources of financing and grants.

Bachrach did not go through the project’s financing sources last week. He only emphasized it did not include local tax money. He also did not give an estimated timeline for the demolition and construction.

Said Councilman Robert Cusack, “That location is right into the heart of Riverside Square. It will be great to see that revitalized with attractive buildings there.”

apina@projo.com