Chico's got its makeover after its upper floor was damaged by the House of Scrimshaw fire.

PS: Would you mind taking photos of the Long Wharf changes?

If you actually go down 684 in the Greenwich section, it looks and feels like a New York road, except for a small green sign saying entering and leaving Greenwich, Connecticut at the state line. (It looks similar to the signs you'd see entering a village on a state road, one with the outline of Connecticut and the city name inside.)

The road has no connection to anything in Connecticut, not even an access road for emergency vehicles.

But still nothing for Blackstone Blvd, huh?

A dedicated bike lane will be striped on Blackstone Boulevard, which will leave one lane of traffic in each direction. The six-foot-wide bike lane will lie between the motorist lane and the parking lane.

“We’re going to reduce it to a parking lane, a bike lane and a travel lane,” said John Nickelson, director of public works.

I had been afraid that the replacement would be something inappropriately suburban or utilitarian, and part of me hoped for something daring and unique. Instead I expect that this building should fit into the streetscape pleasantly, if unspectacularly.

On a slightly off-topic note, notice that the upper floor of Chico's has received a traditional face-lift since the pictures I took last spring. I'm not sure when exactly this was done (Honestly, I just noticed today), but there has been a recent trend of such renovations to modern buildings on and near upper Thames. Brick Market Place across the street was repainted in colonial-inspired colors not long ago, and the 70's vintage Long Wharf Mall is currently having "ye olde" dormers installed.

dredging is definitely needed, especially on the other side of the mall. even during high tide, there are sand bars.

God I hate the ONA, they cast such a bad image of our residents.. Worst community mouthpiece ever.. I'm literally embarrased by them like when an alcoholic uncle starts blurting out stuff at a holiday party... Same feeling..

A dedicated bike lane will be striped on Blackstone Boulevard, which will leave one lane of traffic in each direction. The six-foot-wide bike lane will lie between the motorist lane and the parking lane.

Ank, I think you misread the article.

I'd love to just see a render of what the rivers would look like with that blue pool liner on the bottom and some night lighting!!

dredging is definitely needed, especially on the other side of the mall. even during high tide, there are sand bars.

The District is finally starting to look for a master developer to help transform the former DC General Hospital campus and 50 acres of land into a new waterfront neighborhood in Southeast.

The Hill East Waterfront comprises land along the western shore of the Anacostia River and at the eastern gateway to Capitol Hill. The area, formerly known as Reservation 13, is in a great location but we are just not so sure about people wanting to live right next to the congressional cemetery which is right there. A little spooky if you ask us!

The demolition of the current buildings on the property should begin later this year and prep work should start in 2009.

They've done that in the past for waterfire. I think I good cleaning and dredging might be in order though.
I want to be able to dock my boat and go to the mall. I'm only half kidding.

(and if you guessed the half about actually going to the mall, you are correct)

i wonder if they could open the barrier during high tide and close part of it when the tide goes out.

I posted on chowhounds.com that Sally's closed and was told by someone else there that it did not close and that this is just a rumor. I just called Sally's and while no one answered, the message on their answering machine did not say they were closed. It said to just leave a message. This seems a bit odd for the middle of the afternoon but then again this is a bit of an odd restaurant. Jay

Well, others have brought up before that something should be done about the water height of Waterplace. Maybe close the hurricane barrier a bit. Something to make it feel like less of a ditch. That may allow for the fountain to be turned back on in the basin as well.

- Garris

just curious, and i don't mean to offend... but do you seek out the negatives in everything? if the rendering didn't show water in the river, it'd look like the place was next to a ditch.

Too bad about Sally's. Great location. The few times I was there, I was not impressed by the food. It was just OK. Pastis was much better.

The next person to occupy that location should think about opening it up more....those windows should open, since there is no room for outdoor dining. The folks in that area should approach the city about widening the sidewalks on Allyn Street. Parking is banned on one side anyway.

Downtown needs a seafood restaurant, one that is clearly seafood. This is New England and conventioneers and visitors expect to see one. It also needs a 7 day a week diner, along the lines of an AC Petersen. Something where you can get quick good reasonably priced food.

Walk by the Hartford 21 at night. There is no way in heck 70% of the places are accounted for. Judging by the lights on around, say, 9pm...I'd say the figure is closer to 25-30%. Unless all of his tenants go to bed really early...

In the project rendering, the developer of Capital Cove makes it look like you can see the water in the canal from accross the park but in actuallity you have to be at the side of the canal to see the normally 2-3ft of water flowing by. The only time the water is at the height of the rendering is when a hurricane is crossing into southern conn.or after five inches of rain and there is a flood warning.

Thanks for doing the math.

I am picking up what you are putting down. It seems he is being a little optomistic. He of course does have the inside info, and I am sure he is hoping for things to pick up as soon as the market opens. In fact I would not be suprised if he does a major marketing push with the market opening, but 50 units? Also if his recent acertations that commercial space has seen a flurry of activity he may have several new commercial tenants to help draw in residents.

That being said I have a hard time seeing 50 two bed room units go in the next four months.

Do you know if that 90% figure that we have all seen before includes the office and retail space? I would suspect not, but that office and commercial space represents a major portion of the financial picture of this project.

I recall reading that he was losing a potential $2M a year in commercial leases and that it was dissapointing.

that has to be 20% of the buildings revenue.

I certainly hope the positive improvements outweigh the negative effects of a year and a half of road construction on one of downtown's most important streets.

soooooo

any info?

“$10 million would do somewhere between 40 and 60 homes,” and then the pot of money would be gone, he said. Using the money to get new owners into foreclosed properties could reach more people, he said.

I don't know where he gets this math from.. If an avg forec house needs 20k worth of work to become available for conventional funding (ball park figure based on ones I have seen, just my opinion) and these are going to be owner occ using FHA loans (3% down) and the price as is is 150k (a generous figure for these forecs)..

Thats $24,500 to get a person into a house, owner occ FHA PMI funded owner occ house.. Thats around 400 houses.. I'd say thats a pretty HUGE DENT in the 1500 forecs in Providence..

But since this is government, they will screw it up.. There is no accountability, so what I can do for $25k will cost them $50k.. There will be contractors stealing and skimming, and general malfeasance all over the place.. So I guess when you factor in government inadequacy and largesse, 40-60 is accurate..

UUUGGGGHHHHH

The H21 goal was 90% by September 2008. 70% rented would mean over 180+ units are occupied. He needs to rent 50 more units in the next four months to reach his goal.

He stated earlier only two rooms remain at this point, those are harder to move.

don't knock yun nan. it's some of the best cheap americanized chinese food i've had around here.

I'm proud to say that TheAnk was the person who called 911 for this.. Driving by, fire spewing from the exhaust fan.. Smelled delicious though, I think is was Ganeral Tsao's chicken.. I thought about stopping and looting Yun Nan in the commotion, but opted to just keep driving.. I think this place might be a front for The Tiny/Little/Microscopic/Mini Asian Rascal gang of Smith Hill..

Providence firefighters extinguish a fire last night at the Yun Nan restaurant at Smith and Orms streets in Providence yesterday. The restaurant received heavy damage. No injuries were reported.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

The project looks great. I still wonder how all of these condos are going to be filled in a declining market.

"Wow, what a cool little city. Those waterplace towers are gorgeous IMO (wish those were going up at FP!)

Thanks for the pics!"


a quote from archboston.com

Despite what might have been implied by United Way, it is a private entity (though a very community-oriented one and one dependent on public support) and has no obligation to effectively devalue its property in the interest of the public good.

and if you visualize seven more you easily see that this building will be taller than the condo towers already there.

You also see how the gap of nothing at Parcel 12 sticks out.

This seems like an exciting development
Baltimore Business Journal

Canton Crossing PDF on the project

and here is one rendering of it. I like the look especially for a shopping center:

Of course, Cranston isn't necessarily thinking beyond its own borders, nor in the best interests of the citizens of metro Providence, but strictly in terms of what might be best for its own coffers. It would be easier to redevelop the Park Ave site than the Garfield Ave/HuntingtonAve/Cranston St area, which is all the city of Cranston will care about.

I just came back from a trip to Seattle, Victoria BC, and Vancouver, with lots of bus-taking to get around. All three cities had excellent, regular service, and the fares were all equal or more than RIPTA.

In Seattle, anywhere within the downtown core is a free ride during non-peak hours, so that was convenient for us as visitors.

And here is where I have an issue with what you are saying. If the United Way during community meetings said they would do something, then they have an obligation to live up to what they said.

The interest of public good should be something the United Way is concerned about. Especially when that entity relies on the public good for their existence.

Yeah, for a retail main street in a town that has the reputation as being RI's "exhaulted suburb," there are areas there that feel majorly sketchy.

- Garris

I see the need for this proposed hotel. What I don't understand is why the high high end hotels such as the W are not "in progress". You would think that the last hotel customer to be affected in an economy such as this would be the customer who can afford to travel in """luxury""""

Maybe the City does not regret the Broad Street CVS, but I sure hope it does.

I don't recall that restriction specifically, but I was not in attendance at any community meetings with United Way. Nonetheless, your analogy is problematic to me -- the produce warehouse was owned by the State of RI and had a written historic easement in the purchase contract that mysteriously got removed at the closing table. The State is a public entity of and by the taxpayers, and it was derelict in its duty to act in the public interest. Despite what might have been implied by United Way, it is a private entity (though a very community-oriented one and one dependent on public support) and has no obligation to effectively devalue its property in the interest of the public good.

PBN: "Court extends FM Global stop-work order"

http://www.pbn.com/stories/32165.html

I love how the city always regrets the sins of the past, but generally does nothing to keep from repeating them.

I was under the impression that the United Way was going to put some sort of restriction into the purchase and sale to keep the building from being torn down, specifically torn down for a gigantic CVS parking lot and drive through. Did they get bit by the same bug that kept the state from putting in the protections for the Produce Warehouse?

Come on down to EG! It's plenty quiet, and we've got more diversity than Little Compton! There's a couple seedy bars, we can hang out, toss back a few high lifes, and twirl our mustaches as we laugh about all the money our tenants are sending us. Good times!

I was listening to This American Life on NPR today and they did an excellent overview how people got caught up in the housing crisis. Basically, it's a story about greed on both the lending and borrowing side. I think they typically rebroadcast their episodes throughout the weekend - worth a listen.

And your not kidding. I've seen these bars, just a block or two down from Post Rd./Main St, through the center of town.

that sucks. the wife was interested in trying that place out. I wonder if the new fish place in Glastonbuy hurt it.

Bus fare increase denounced

Disappointed that the public hearings have gotten very little coverage. However, this article does offer a lot of insight into the funding challenges that RIPTA faces.

Consider eliminating trolley routes serving the State House and Atwells Avenue in Providence, which he said aren’t heavily used and duplicate regular bus routes.

According to HBJ, they have three of the four floors, the branch on the ground and two floors above it.

In Wayland Square, the looming demolition of the United Way headquarters building has aroused preservationists and the area’s councilman to preserve the 42,000 square-foot office building.

Harris-Teeter and Target come to Canton!!
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-c...0,2286679.story

Too small.

Come on down to EG! It's plenty quiet, and we've got more diversity than Little Compton! There's a couple seedy bars, we can hang out, toss back a few high lifes.

I'd like to grab a single family house soon.. The way prices are, its gonna make sense soon.. Still though, it doesn't make sense yet, which is crazy... Getting old, getting tired of the ignorance in PVD.. Its a nice place to landlord, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to live here anymore.. Providence is a special place, with great stuff, and a wicked, dispicable crop of ignorant people.. Not all, of course, but a critical mass enough to be very, very, annoying..

Grab a nice place with a fence and no sirens.. Fade off into Bolivian.. Close enough to frequent the city, but far enough to not deal with its people on a day to day basis..