2495 replies to this topic

[Cotuit]

If there's anything good about it being 24/7, it's that that place is lit up like a Christmas tree. That area of town has been very dark at night in the past, and the 7-Eleven lights have changed that.

I think the vagrancy problem is on the wane. J&W and RISD public safety both patrol there and there are some upscale projects coming, Grant's block will create a 24 hour residential high rent population, and Saki's is supposedly going upscale and building condos/apartments above the restaurant. The new residents will not put up with the vagrancy and PPD will act through tiring of the constant calls from the residents.

[provid]

Above Saki's? wow.  I was staying downtown once last year and when I awoke the next day the whole upper floors of Saki's had cought fire and burned out. I never thought it would be turned into an upscale living splace. The location is grand though.

[Cotuit]

Here's the thread about it. Another thing I forgot to add to the Project thread.  

[Cotuit]

Red Spa to open at Providence Biltmore
Published 02/28/2005

STAMFORD, Conn. – Red Door Spas, a luxury spa chain, is opening a new facility at the Providence Biltmore in March, the first step in what the company says is an “aggressive” expansion plan to open up to 15 new facilities and invest over $60 million in spa developments over the next five years.

The initiative comes in response to “increasing consumer demand” for hotels and resorts with spa amenities, Red Door said in a news release.

The hotel and resort market is now the fastest-growth division for Red Door. The company said its market strategy is to identify and partner with marquee developers/owners in the hospitality industry to bring Red Door Spas to existing and developing properties. The spas will be managed and staffed by Red Door employees.

“Introducing new Red Door Spas to high-end hotels and resorts is a win-win for both parties,” said John Richards, CEO for Red Door Spa Holdings. “With more than 29 Red Door Spas in the United States, the Red Door brand has substantial presence and value among consumers today. When they set about making vacation plans and see that their hotel options include a Red Door, they know they can expect excellent service without ever having visited. And with spa services now being the most requested amenity in hotels and resorts, the existence of a proven brand that consumers can relate to is sure to be an important addition to any property.”

Red Door now operates 100 branded spas and salos, including 29 Red Door locations across the United States and in London, 26 Mario Tricoci salons and spas in Chicago, and three resort-based Red Door spas.

The new expansion effort is beginning with the Providence Biltmore in March, followed by the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. The goal is to open up to three new spas each year, the company said.

Additional venues are still being explored with existing, as well as, new, independent hotel partners. These target markets include Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas; Miami Beach, Orlando and Naples, Fla.

From Providence Business News

[provid]

Would had been nice for Hotel Providence though i dont think they are big enough.

[Cotuit]

Hotel Providence is pretty packed. They'd have had to add on somehow, or lose some rooms.

[AriPVD]

Expect an announcement on the future of the Lord & Taylor space soon.  Now that Federated has acquired May, the Bloomingdale's prospect is looking closer to a done deal.

[Cotuit]

You think Filene's will become Macy's and L&T will become Bloomingdales? I wonder if the mall can support those two and Nordstrom.

[AriPVD]

That is the likely story.  We shall see.

[provid]

The mall has a ton of open space right now. It hard to tell though what has already been taken. I think Blooms would just help to attract even more downtown renters and owners ( living spaces )

Edited by mikepl, 01 March 2005 - 02:39 PM.

[Nyuszi]

Cotuit, on Jan 12 2005, 12:14 PM, said:

Andres Duany was letting a lot of information out (or perhaps starting a lot of rumours) when he did his design charrette last year. One was that a NYC grocery was scoping out Downcity and was 'very' interested in locating a store there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think I remember that being contingent on a lot of things.  I can't recall the details, but I think that was a case where there was some kind of three party swap/parking thing.  Like, the market could only move in if a second party got the lot and was able to expand parking by overtaking an adjoining property and that owner wanted something in return.

I have to say, more than even the principles of New Urbanism, that final meeting taught me so much about the weird dealing and politics involved in development!

[Cotuit]

Nyuszi, on Mar 1 2005, 03:43 PM, said:

I think I remember that being contingent on a lot of things.  I can't recall the details, but I think that was a case where there was some kind of three party swap/parking thing.  Like, the market could only move in if a second party got the lot and was able to expand parking by overtaking an adjoining property and that owner wanted something in return.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think there was a rumour about a grocery being interested, and he was proposing his own plan to make it work on the space that he thought was most suited. It was the parcels where the Weybosset hill parking lots are. The one at the corner of Snow and Weybosset is owned by one guy, the parking deck at Weybosset and Empire is owned by someone else. I seem to remember him advocating the city taking one lot by emminent domain and forcing the other owner to sell that way. They're managed as one but owned by two parties and are only profitable together... it was all quite confusing!

Nyuszi, on Mar 1 2005, 03:43 PM, said:

I have to say, more than even the principles of New Urbanism, that final meeting taught me so much about the weird dealing and politics involved in development!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Indeed!  

[Nyuszi]

I'm going to be lazy about my response by ignoring what's already there and what isn't and just listing my total, ideal package:

+ Full Service Banks, ATMs
+ Pharmacy
+ take-away coffee shops
+ coffee shops/cafes that serve breakfast/lunch and have pleasant seating
+ inexpensive take-away lunch places
+ a range of lunch/dinner restaurants, including something like a Bertuccis that's a smaller chain and would lure in families and college kids
+ self-service laundromats, dry cleaners
+ sporting goods store
+ Bookstore
+ some specialty/gift stores like stationary, tech gadgets, etc.
+ 24 hour convenience (I saw this was controversial, but I think it's important)

Of course, as Duany pointed out, the presence of the mall makes all this a lot harder.  So I actually think some high-end/elite/niche stuff needs to move in early as well.  I think that pragmatically speaking, it would be much easier to start there and then attract businesses that would normally locate in a strip mall or shopping center than to try to convince someone like CVS or TJ Maxx that it's currently worth their while to be a pioneer.

[provid]

Sporting goods store is moving onto Thayer as we speak. "City Sports" maybe?  I forget the na,e

[Garris]

Wow, lots of stuff here...  Random thoughts...

1) The Mall: The Federated merger sucks.  I hate Macy's, hate all their brands.  I'll be sorry to see Filene's go...  This seems like a lose-lose to everyone except the company, who gets a lot of back room savings and the ability to consolidate their advertising behind the Macy's brand.  As a NJ Nets player once famously uttered, "Whoopee damn doo."  Retail must be pretty brutal right now.

2) City Sports: They'll do well there is my prediction...

3) Duany: I like that list for a neighborhood.  Works well...

4) Red Spa: They're behind schedule.  I was going to buy my girlfriend a holiday gift there, and they said they were opening the first week of January.  Oops!  They've got to be thrilled to invest in the Biltmore when the Biltmore folks have been telling everyone who'll listen that they'll close shop if even one more hotel room opens in Providence...

- Garris

[Cotuit]

Garris, on Mar 1 2005, 08:44 PM, said:

2) City Sports: They'll do well there is my prediction...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I second that. And I like that even though they are a chain, they are based in New England (Massachusetts).

Garris, on Mar 1 2005, 08:44 PM, said:

4) Red Spa: They're behind schedule.  I was going to buy my girlfriend a holiday gift there, and they said they were opening the first week of January.  Oops!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a big ass sign on the side of the Biltmore saying they are opening in February 2005.

[Garris]

On the downside of Biltmore news, the Garrison Chocolates outlet there closed, did it not?  They still have their (excellent) Hope Village storefront, on the side of the CVS.  

- Garris

[Cotuit]

Garris, on Mar 1 2005, 11:42 PM, said:

On the downside of Biltmore news, the Garrison Chocolates outlet there closed, did it not?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know what they were thinking about with that spot. Sure it's in the Biltmore, if you leave the building and walk around to the back alley. Not that Downcity is thriving with retail, but could they find a spot where they would have had fewer retail neighbours? Who were their neighbours on Washington, City Hall, a parking garage and a bunch of city and state social service agencies? Their closest retail neighbour was the liquor store in the narrow building.

They would have been better off with a storefront on Dorrance or in the 50 Kennedy Plaza building where the Watch Hospital is. Even the Arcade would have been better.

Maybe they'll come back Downcity in a few years when Westminster's hopping.

[billypc99]

people usually dont go out of their way to get chocolates as would be needed to be sucessful in the Biltmore.

[pdxstreetcar]

Now that we know a grocery store is coming to downtown Providence, do we know anymore as to who this retailer could be?

I think downtown needs more variety and they need to be open weekends and nights.  There are too many sandwich, coffee, doughnut and cafe places and not much else in the way of food downtown. But I am amazed that Quiznos is open on Sundays.  For retail downtown, there is only Dress Barn, CVS and that new Westminster St bookstore, oh and Design within Reach (but thats also new).  Downtown needs at least one large retailer (besides that future grocery at 110), this would also attract smaller retailers to open nearby.

Downtown needs to make sure that pedestrians feel comfortable downtown.  People should not feel hostility when they walk around, by that I mean streets need to be easy to cross and store fronts need to be occupied and empty lots need to filled.  In Portland there are strict ordinances regarding blank walls fronting the sidewalk and also surface parking lots must have a low, punctured and decorative wall which gives the sidewalk an edge and reduces the expansive open space feeling that parking lots have.  Some would say these are restrictive but they have done miracles to Portland and revived the city's core.

I have always wondered what downtown Providence could have been if instead of the mall the stores scattered around downtown on the ground floor of existing buildings with the department stores possibly building their own buildings on the site of parking lots since they need large stores.  It would never have happened but wow downtown would have been awesome.