2024 -- H 8101

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LC005797

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING JERRY ZARRELLA JR. ON WINNING THREE AWARDS FROM

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOMEBUILDERS AT THE PRESTIGIOUS 2024 BEST

IN AMERICAN LIVING (BALA) AWARDS CEREMONY

     Introduced By: Representatives Caldwell, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Shanley, Speakman,
Fenton-Fung, Ajello, Fogarty, Ackerman, and McGaw

     Date Introduced: March 26, 2024

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, Over the past forty years, the Best in American Living Awards has been the

building industry's preeminent residential design award program. The 2024 award ceremonies

were held in Las Vegas in February with Rhode Island's renowned builder, Jerry Zarrella Jr.,

being honored with three coveted awards; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Zarrella's awards were in recognition of the imaginative and striking

renovations and remodeling accomplishments at the Magnolia Cottage, an 1850s cottage that had

suffered from decades of neglect, and which is now a crown in the beautiful Rope Walk Hill

development area; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Zarrella, who grew up in East Greenwich, is a second-generation

builder, who possesses a keen eye for infill projects and historic renovations. After attending

college, he joined the family's business, and began plotting his future path. With expertise in

home energy efficiency, he studied the housing market and developed a plan to convert the

current building mode of sprawling neighborhood development into a building density design,

which eventually led to his award-winning "Pocket Neighborhoods"; and

     WHEREAS, With his ability to envision the potential of long-blighted, and often-

overlooked neighborhoods, Mr. Zarrella earned three of this year's BALA Awards by

transforming Rope Walk Hill, which was once known for dilapidated buildings and broken

windows, into one of the most desirable locations in the Hill and Harbour Historic District, as

well as in all of southern New England; and

     WHEREAS, In the Remodel Category at the BALA Awards, Mr. Zarrella took First

place, for his "Entire Home Remodel", First place, for his "Kitchen Remodel", and Second place,

in the category of "Historical Renovation" for his work in taking the abandoned Magnolia House

building, which was on an overgrown lot with a 12-unit mixed-income cottage cluster pocket

neighborhood, and metamorphosing it into a design so perfect that numerous communities now

use it as a model on which to base their own cottage cluster ordinances, and so successful that it is

consistently emulated by other developers; and

     WHEREAS, No stranger to recognition for his outstanding work throughout his career,

Mr. Zarrella has also been awarded six National Awards, having previously earned three BALA

awards, including two first-place honors, for the Castle Street condos in East Greenwich, and the

Silver Street Cottages, which were one of the first "pocket neighborhoods" in Rhode Island, and

were named the suburban infill community of the year; and

     WHEREAS, Jerry Zarrella Jr. has been beautifying our Ocean State and transforming our

neighborhoods, and he is eminently deserving of our recognition and gratitude; now, therefore be

it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

congratulates Jerry Zarrella Jr. on winning three prestigious awards from the National

Association Of Homebuilders at the 2024 Best In American Living (BALA) Awards Ceremony.

We moreover wish him and the Zarrella Development Corporation many more years of building

on their success; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Jerry Zarrella Jr.

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LC005797

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