Six years ago the Rhode Island Department of Transportation used millions in federal money to buy a mammoth former printing plant in Warwick for a new materials testing lab. But DOT Director Peter Alviti put the renovation on hold in 2015 – saying the $14 million price tag for renovation was too steep. Now, as the federal government wants to know what happened to the money it invested with nothing to show for it, another high-profile state agency wants the building for its own new headquarters. This week Jim Hummel finds the plan might solve the problem for two state agencies.
