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First, Thom, thank you for the tremendous information and your contribution to our little fanatic Providence UP community. On a day when David Brussat depresses me with yet another nearly incomprehensible and headache inducing Ask Dr. Downtown column, this update brought a smile to my face :).

I thought it might help everyone to compare the height info in Thom's post with a list of current Providence heights (from Emporis.com):

175 ft Sister Dominica Manor

220 ft Biltmore

285 ft 50 Kennedy

311 ft Textron

329 ft Westin

410 ft One Financial

428 ft BOA/Superman

In my opinion, depending upon geography and placement, it'll take anything 220 or over to dent the modern skyline...

1. Hilton condos on hold until market impact of all the projects under consturction is understood.

As Cotuit said, unfortunate and understandable... This had the potential to be a defining part (perhaps even more so than OTW) of the new Providence skyline... This, plus the following info...

2. Proposed tower at the former Gulf Station is a dream at the moment.

... leads the conspiracy buff in me to be almost sure now that the whole "Power Block" announcement at the 11th hour of the Westin negotiation was a ploy to push that sale over the finish line... What survives from that original proposal now? A shame...

3.  Metro Lofts - west side of the city between Washington and Westminster along the service road, not at Broadway.  210' to 230' in present design.  Application to Zoning Board in the next 30 to 60 days.

Huh... Wow. Biltmore height. You know, I drive by this every day and I can't for the life of me picture what currently is (or isn't) there. I looked at a map... Aren't there roads there? This will be interesting...

4.  former public safety - expect two announcements in the coming weeks.  First about the developer second about a project.  Expect two towers in the 150 to 250 range.  This could change.

Given the location and losing the Hilton tower, I really hope closer to 250...

5.  Grants Block - 239' going to zoning board in the next two months.

As Cotuit said, Ari had given us hints about this. Much more substantial than previously proposed, and might give the modern Weybosset street a defining landmark other than PPAC...

6.  190 Dyer Street - proposal for 210' to 230' office tower.  Expect plans to go public in the new year.

The 200 Dyer images we had (I'm assuming this is the same building) look short for a building of that height. Still, this is shorter than what I had hoped would go there (something closer to 300 ft). Interesting. I'll need to look at a map again... Does this undo the Ship St park idea Sasaki had as Cotuit suggests? Bring back the Ship St canal!!!

7.  Fogarty Building announcment in the next few days.  Expect a change in plans.

I guess it could be worse... Shorter and with outdoor lot parking... But I'm hoping someone has realized that what goes there should be a little more special than a suburban style Hilton Garden Inn plopped in the middle of downtown...

8.  Preliminary plans for a 180 to 200 foot building next to the Majestic Garage at the location of the old McDonald's. 

I can't recall for the life of me what's here either. Sounds good, though, as, save for the Strand condo conversions, Washington St has been left out of the current round of development.

That's all I know at the moment.

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Again, thanks a ton. We all appreciate it enormously.

- Garris

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Updated:

520ft. OneTen Westminster

428ft. Bank of America ("Superman") Building

410ft. One Financial Plaza ("Hospital Trust Tower")

360ft. Second Westin Tower

330ft. Hilton Residences at current Holiday Inn On-Hold

329ft. Westin Providence

311ft. Textron Tower

310ft. Power Block Condo (Gulf Station) Indefinitely Delayed

285ft. 50 Kennedy Plaza

239ft. Grant's Block

235ft. WaterPlace Tower

210-230ft. 190 Dyer Street

205ft. Old Public Safety Complex Tower [1]

223ft. The State House

220ft. The Biltmore

210-230ft. Metro Lofts (West Service Road and Washington) [2]

216ft. The County Courthouse

213ft. WaterPlace Tower

200ft. Grant's Block

180-200ft. Old McDonald's Location on Fountain Street Preliminary Proposal

190ft. YMCA (Crossroads) Building

185ft. First Baptist Church

180ft. Brown Sciences Library

175ft. Dominica Manor Federal Hill

150ft. Old Public Safety Complex Tower [1] [3]

145ft. Belmonte Castello (Federal Hill)

[1] Possible proposal of 2 towers in the 150 to 250 range.

[2] West Side Route 195 Service Road between Washington and Westminster.

[3] I know there are buildings that rank between Dominica Manor and the 150ft. possible tower at the Old Public Safety Complex, I just don't have a comprehensive list of building heights below 175ft. If anyone does, let me know.

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The suspense is killing me!! I would really like to see something with " HEIGHT " built in this city. We need 1 or 2 more buildings other than 110 Westminster to give us a true metro feel to passerbys. Give them a reason to get out and explore..A 200' building will not grab the attention of Rt. 95 travelers..Providence is a much better city but lacks the skyline that Hartford and New Haven have...I'm sorry to say it, but it's true !! BTW...I am not instigating..I know the prov. vs. Hart. thread is over.

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Well, 110, the Westin addition, and the Waterplace condos will certainly alter the skyline. That's 3 buildings within 3 years, or about what New Haven's had built to alter their skyline in the last 30-40 years. Capital Cove will fill in density, the eventual Providence bridge will add a landmark...

That said, though, I feel your pain. The loss of the Hilton tower is a real blow... Talk about the potential for a visual "gateway" to 95 travelers, that would have been it... Check out the renderings from the Duany charette... Wow...

I'm consoling myself with the knowledge that if these other developments succeed (and I think they will, as everything else is doing well so far), it'll pave the way for more towers later.

Does anyone feel, though, that our binge of development announcements over the last year or so is finally about to take a breather?

For their fairly small sizes, Hartford, and even New Haven, actually have enviably dense skylines, amazing for CT, a state that generally doesn't care about its cities and tends to view them as Darwinian penalty zones for those who can't afford their suburbs. While Hartford has a good amount of exciting building now, I'm not aware of anything skyline altering for New Haven on the horizon, so don't worry. Remember, if we all succeed, it floats the boat.

- Garris

BTW: An editing addition... This, in my opinion, is the best ever photograph of the New Haven skyline. It's uncredited, from the Yale Dermatology page (go doctors, go doctors!). Whoever took this photo (probably from Yale's PR dept) must be a magician, as I have no idea where they painfully perched themselves in the city to make the skyline look this dense and urban (it's fairly spread out, in reality). Unlike most cities, NH's best buildings are by far and away the newer ones from the early 90's (the CT Financial Center on the right and One Century on the left). Many buildings in NH's top 10 (the Knights of Columbus, Yale's Biology Tower, Crown Towers) are considered some of the worst skyscrapers in New England by locals and architecture folks.

Skyline.gif

Edited by Garris
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Does anyone feel, though, that our binge of development announcements over the last year or so is finally about to take a breather?

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The Dyer Street office building gives hope that the condo boom will be joined by an office (boom is probably not the word).

The binge will have to slow, if it didn't we'd be built out in a decade or two. :o But if the office market makes any movement at all, there's hope that condo market will continue to be strong, if not booming.

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What was up with that anyway!?  :unsure:

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I'm not sure... Often, I at least think I know what he's trying to do, but some of the, ah, witty banter, for lack of a better term, had me outright frightened :ph34r: .

There might have been oh, what, 2-3 sentences of actual information or opinion in that entire flight of ideas?

- Garris

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Well, 110, the Westin addition, and the Waterplace condos will certainly alter the skyline.  That's 3 buildings within 3 years, or about what New Haven's had built to alter their skyline in the last 30-40 years.  Capital Cove will fill in density, the eventual Providence bridge will add a landmark...

That said, though, I feel your pain.  The loss of the Hilton tower is a real blow...  Talk about the potential for a visual "gateway" to 95 travelers, that would have been it...  Check out the renderings from the Duany charette... Wow...

I'm consoling myself with the knowledge that if these other developments succeed (and I think they will, as everything else is doing well so far), it'll pave the way for more towers later.

Does anyone feel, though, that our binge of development announcements over the last year or so is finally about to take a breather?

For their fairly small sizes, Hartford, and even New Haven, actually have enviably dense skylines, amazing for CT, a state that generally doesn't care about its cities and tends to view them as Darwinian penalty zones for those who can't afford their suburbs.  While Hartford has a good amount of exciting building now, I'm not aware of anything skyline altering for New Haven on the horizon, so don't worry.  Remember, if we all succeed, it floats the boat.

- Garris

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I think that developers and commercial lenders want to see the feasibility of these projects in a market like Providence before they go ahead with major financing of new mega projects. Hopefully, these projects will all succeed and spur new growth. These lenders and developers want to know that this boom is real and not someone trying to make a fast buck ..( like Vinny Mesolella )!When the groundbreaking for 110 and the new Westin take shape, people will gather an idea if the market will be able to sustain all this new growth..I don't think anyone should be concerned with a slowdown of progress. If these new projects in progress produce results, new development proposals will follow where other ones have died.It's a spinoff effect..BTW..Keep in mind that the majority of these developments are privately financed and not by the State or city.

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So this is where MetroLofts would be I believe:

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I'll have to pay close attention when I drive by there Monday, but that seems right. Nice location. It doesn't get any safer than being across the street from the Providence Safety Complex, and it'll give a further boost to the nascent upswing of that area of Westminster.

It also gives another huge reason to get rid of Cathedral Square and open up the street!!, not that I feel strongly about that or anything :whistling: .

- Garris

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So this is where MetroLofts would be I believe:

MetroLoftsMap001.jpg

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Thats definitely gotta be it. Its had a for sale sign on it for quite a while. I've been thinking its ripe for development for months. (and if the rumours I've heard are right, I think I know who's doing it...)

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1. Hilton condos on hold until market impact of all the projects under consturction is understood.

2. Proposed tower at the former Gulf Station is a dream at the moment.

3.  Metro Lofts - west side of the city between Washington and Westminster along the service road, not at Broadway.  210' to 230' in present design.  Application to Zoning Board in the next 30 to 60 days.

4.  former public safety - expect two announcements in the coming weeks.  First about the developer second about a project.  Expect two towers in the 150 to 250 range.  This could change.

5.  Grants Block - 239' going to zoning board in the next two months.

6.  190 Dyer Street - proposal for 210' to 230' office tower.  Expect plans to go public in the new year.

7.  Fogarty Building announcment in the next few days.  Expect a change in plans.

8.  Preliminary plans for a 180 to 200 foot building next to the Majestic Garage at the location of the old McDonald's. 

That's all I know at the moment.

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Great summary of information...

I am optimistic regarding the Hilton tower once things settle in...

Very disappointed that the proposed buildings are not taller - they do not add to the skyline - I was looking for all in the 250-300 range. I am hopeful that the city will push for taller as they did with the OTW.

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You have the right location for the Metro Lofts, however, the Merritt building comes down and is part of the project. Concerning height, there are a number of groups and individuals fighting the city's efforts to allow more height in the city. They have filed an op ed piece with the Journal in opposition of the revised zoning ordinance, calling the draft ordinance too developer friendly.

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Concerning height, there are a number of groups and individuals fighting the city's efforts to allow more height in the city.  They have filed an op ed piece with the Journal in opposition of the revised zoning ordinance, calling the draft ordinance too developer friendly.

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That is really depressing. Perhaps it's time to come out as a UP community and file an op ed piece of our own?

- Garris

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QUOTE(Thom @ Aug 19 2005, 10:17 PM)

Concerning height, there are a number of groups and individuals fighting the city's efforts to allow more height in the city. They have filed an op ed piece with the Journal in opposition of the revised zoning ordinance, calling the draft ordinance too developer friendly.

you guys.. if you havent noticed.. I am pretty immature.

I'll go around the state and put all of those people in the hospital so there wont be any opposition.

i'll serve jail time just like cianci.. and all will be good!

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A few months ago I spoke with someone in the Planning Dept who said that this will happen. It's just a question of when not if.

It also gives another huge reason to get rid of Cathedral Square and open up the street!!, not that I feel strongly about that or anything  :whistling: .

- Garris

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A few months ago I spoke with someone in the Planning Dept who said that this will happen. It's just a question of when not if.

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Cathedral Square should be the number one priority of the planning department. There should be no 'when', it should be now. This is going to happen with public funds, so get the funds and let's get moving.

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Cathedral Square should be the number one priority of the planning department. There should be no 'when', it should be now. This is going to happen with public funds, so get the funds and let's get moving.

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Seriously... Save for the 195 relocation ongoing, I can't think of any public works project that would have a bigger impact on the city than this one... The fact that Sasaki, at the first Prov 2020 session, didn't even mention this and when someone asked a question about it, they just shrugged it off, made me wonder if they really "got it" about Providence.

- Garris

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It should be the number one priority. I think the hold up is largely due to the fact that the Catholic diocese would need replacement space since the McVinney Auditorium will have to come down.

Seriously...  Save for the 195 relocation ongoing, I can't think of any public works project that would have a bigger impact on the city than this one...  The fact that Sasaki, at the first Prov 2020 session, didn't even mention this and when someone asked a question about it, they just shrugged it off, made me wonder if they really "got it" about Providence. 

- Garris

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I think the hold up is largely due to the fact that the Catholic diocese would need replacement space since the McVinney Auditorium will have to come down.

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This was supposedly settled over a year ago. The diocese said they were all for removing the Auditorium, supposedly the city had some land for the swap.... Let's get moving.

We don't even need Duany's Ponte Vecchio right now, just tear down that Auditorium and reopen the street.

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Let the bulldozing begin!

This was supposedly settled over a year ago. The diocese said they were all for removing the Auditorium, supposedly the city had some land for the swap.... Let's get moving.

We don't even need Duany's Ponte Vecchio right now, just tear down that Auditorium and reopen the street.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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