Providence Projects v2.1

[Recchia]

I wanna say that RIPTA has already begun moving the ferry to Conley Wharf, and that the parking lot got paved for them already. I'll try and find out for sure....

[gregw]

I would say that Grant's Block and The Plant (Puente) also belong in the first category. It's true that Grant's Block has been going through some design changes but Chace is totally committed to it.

Heritage Harbor should be upgraded to the second tier based on SBER's track record. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2006.

I would move One Ten down a notch based on the fact that the design is clearly in flux and groundbreaking is not imminent.

I also think the AS220 Dreyfuss Project is pretty definite. (Maybe second category).

Good question.  I was wondering the same thing.  Of the "proposed" projects, here's how I broke it down.  I invite others to feel free to reorder this:

VERY solid and awaiting groundbreaking:

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333 Atwells Avenue (Rialto Site)

Dunkin Donuts Center Renovations

One Ten Westminster

Providence Community Health Center

Waterford Residences (Westin 2nd Tower)

SOMEWHAT solid and likely to groundbreak:

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Brown University {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} Sidney E. Frank Hall (this isn't happening for a while)

Charles Street hotel

Fox Point Bath House library proposal

Johnson & Wales Harborside Campus

Katherine Gibbs School Condos

Power Block {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} Hilton Hotel & Residences

RISD {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} Chase Center (this isn't happening for a while)

Saki's Apartments

Up in the air:

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Conley Wharf

Fogarty Building Hotel

LaSalle Square Improvements

Olneyville Riverside

Power Block 55 Broadway (Paolino Site)

Power Block Atwells Parcel

WBNA 1577 Westminster St. housing

Who the hell knows:

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200 Dyer Street

AS220 Dreyfuss Hotel Building

Greene St/Churchill Banks

Imperial Place

Heritage Harbor/Mixed Use

Providence Fruit & Produce Warehouse

Richmond Square mixed-use

I don't know enough about this:

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Williams-Woods Place {sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}} South Providence

Emmett Square Improvements

6/10 Interchange Project

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[Cotuit]

I wanna say that RIPTA has already begun moving the ferry to Conley Wharf, and that the parking lot got paved for them already.  I'll try and find out for sure....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just happened to ride by there today, which is really totally random for me to be there. There is an area that has been paved over which one would assume to be a temporary parking lot. The area is just horrid though, it's not exactly the best 'welcome to Providence' especially when compared to Perrotti Park on the Newport end.

Also, I was amazed to see how far the 195 work has come along. Lots of of ramp support structures near the Hurricane Barrier on Allens Ave.

[Recchia]

I just happened to ride by there today, which is really totally random for me to be there. There is an area that has been paved over which one would assume to be a temporary parking lot. The area is just horrid though, it's not exactly the best 'welcome to Providence' especially when compared to Perrotti Park on the Newport end.

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Okay, yes, that paved area is where the ferry will now dock...I think starting sometime this summer.

[Garris]

I would say that Grant's Block and The Plant (Puente) also belong in the first category. It's true that Grant's Block has been going through some design changes but Chace is totally committed to it. 

I didn't include Grant's block in my breakdown since it's already actually in progress...

Heritage Harbor should be upgraded to the second tier based on SBER's track record. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2006. 

Where Heritage Harbor is concerned with its history, until it's done and opened, it's in the "Who the Hell Knows" category for me...

I would move One Ten down a notch based on the fact that the design is clearly in flux and groundbreaking is not imminent.

Really? They're actively looking for potential tenents and have funding, as far as I remember reading... I really think that one's pretty solid. Everyone wants it to happen badly.

I also think the AS220 Dreyfuss Project is pretty definite. (Maybe second category).

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I actually should have put it in the "I don't know enough" category... Where any non-profit is concerned, though, nothing is even done until its done...

- Garris

[Cotuit]

I did a new map of Providence Projects, check it out:

Click to enlarge

[Garris]

I did a new map of Providence Projects, check it out:

Click to enlarge

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Amazing map! That must have taken you forever. Which program did you use? Some initial impressions...

- The amount of space liberated by the 195 relocation is impressive...

- The Lifespan hospital complex (especially its parking) is as large as the entire Jewelry District and as large as the entire downtown...

- Development is scattered all over the city... Nice.

- Look at all that East Providence waterfront...

- Garris

Edited July 24, 2005 by Garris

[Cotuit]

Amazing map!  That must have taken you forever.  Which program did you use?

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It didn't take too long, a little over an hour. The biggest issue was trying to figure out exactly where everything is, I hope I didn't screw any locations up too much. I did it in Photoshop, a program that I am very much an amateur on, and there's probably a much easy and quicker way I could have done it.

I was thinking of painting the East Providence parcels yellow, only a few of them have very solid proposals that someone is actually going to build something on them, maybe I should do them in green like the 195 land, to indicate that it is future development.

[Recchia]

Amazing map!  That must have taken you forever.  Which program did you use?  Some initial impressions...

- The Lifespan hospital complex (especially its parking) is as large as the entire Jewelry District and as large as the entire downtown...

- Garris

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If light rail/BRT is ever seriously considered for Eddy St or even Allens Ave, the hospital area would be prime for Transit oriented redevelopment with all those surface lots. It already is a HUGE employment center, so imagine if dense housing/retail were thrown into the mix too...

[Garris]

If light rail/BRT is ever seriously considered for Eddy St or even Allens Ave, the hospital area would be prime for Transit oriented redevelopment with all those surface lots.

Edited July 25, 2005 by Garris

[CtownMikey]

I would love for that green shaded 195 land to be used as a continuation of the downcity business/resedential district with skyskrapers full of Condos and Businesses.

[Recchia]

I don't know...  I work there, but I certainly wouldn't want to live there...  A transit nexus maybe, but I don't know about a residential one unless Connally Wharf really improves that area... 

I've never understood why areas around hospitals tend to be so miserable...  I don't know if hospitals buy land in bad areas because its cheaper, there are fewer NIMBY's to tick off, or if the neighborhoods around hospitals become bad after the hospitals arrive...  You students of urban planning, which is it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think it is a combination of both actually. The hospitals move into areas where there is little opposition (usually poorer neighborhoods, just like incinerators, landfills, etc.) and then once they are there, the neighborhoods they are in are considered undesirable because there is a big, loud hospital there. It's a vicious cycle. Nobody wants to live next to a siren blaring, 24-hour noise making complex of sick and dying people, to put it bluntly.

However, maybe if the whole area wasn't 50% parking lots, it would be more desirable to live around.

And as far as pedestrian connections go, you're absolutely right, they suck around the hospitals. Imagine if every road in and around there just had a nice sidewalk and crosswalks, I bet a ton of people would walk there instead of the hellish drive/park situation that currently exists.

[Cotuit]

Look at a lot of major hospitals...  John's Hopkins, Yale, Temple, Columbia, Mount Sinai (kinda), U Maryland, U Minnesota, BU, U Penn, etc are either smack in the middle of or border miserable areas.  Some of the hospitals I can think of in good areas tend to be private or ended up there as an accident of history.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You have to wait for the markets to change to increase the demand in the area. Look at Longwood Medical Area in Boston, as little as 10 years ago that was a pretty undesirable area, and nearby Mission Hill was a litteral combat zone. Today Mission Hill is becoming one of Boston's hot neighbourhoods, and the the Longwood area is booming.

[Garris]

You have to wait for the markets to change to increase the demand in the area. Look at Longwood Medical Area in Boston, as little as 10 years ago that was a pretty undesirable area, and nearby Mission Hill was a litteral combat zone. Today Mission Hill is becoming one of Boston's hot neighbourhoods, and the the Longwood area is booming.

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I was going to ask how the areas around the Harvard hospitals were... I remember it being pretty bad, but as you point out, that was years ago (Harvard hasn't shown much interest in me lately ). I'm glad to hear it's getting better.

Question, though: Will that make it harder for the institutions in the Longwood area to improve and expand?

- Garris

[Cotuit]

Question, though: Will that make it harder for the institutions in the Longwood area to improve and expand?

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Longwood is almost built out now. They are developing every last available parcel there at this point, with buildings right on top of each other. Physical space is the problem, not vocal neighbourhood groups.

Check out this latest project.

You can see, the Longwood area is about full, they'll have to start tearing down smaller buildings to expand soon.

[Garris]

And as far as pedestrian connections go, you're absolutely right, they suck around the hospitals.  Imagine if every road in and around there just had a nice sidewalk and crosswalks, I bet a ton of people would walk there instead of the hellish drive/park situation that currently exists.

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You're probably the perfect person to ask, Recchia...

When I was here briefly in '99 for an visiting elective at RIH while I was in medical school, they were talking about the upgrades to Eddy St (new wide sidewalks, trees in the center median, etc.) as if it was about to break ground... The folks at the hospital were saying it was a big deal, how it was supposed to be a "jewel" of a connector for walkers, bikers, and cars...

I was very disappointed to move here 5 years later and find nothing had changed.

Was that put on hold due to the 195 relocation?

- Garris

[brandon401]

I dont know but they really need to do something with that hole area. Add some parking garages and build something around the area, im not sure what, but do something with it.

[Recchia]

You're probably the perfect person to ask, Recchia...

When I was here briefly in '99 for an visiting elective at RIH while I was in medical school, they were talking about the upgrades to Eddy St (new wide sidewalks, trees in the center median, etc.) as if it was about to break ground...  The folks at the hospital were saying it was a big deal, how it was supposed to be a "jewel" of a connector for walkers, bikers, and cars...

I was very disappointed to move here 5 years later and find nothing had changed.

Was that put on hold due to the 195 relocation?

- Garris

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmm, well in 1999 I was 15 years old, but I'll ask around and see if anyone remembers tomorrow....I know there aren't any enhancement projects for Eddy St. at all, cause I would have seen them. I'll check around tomorrow though, I seem to remember a pedestrian study involving the hospital areas, not sure though, I'll get back to ya.

[eltron]

Hmmm, well in 1999 I was 15 years old, but I'll ask around and see if anyone remembers tomorrow....I know there aren't any enhancement projects for Eddy St. at all, cause I would have seen them. I'll check around tomorrow though, I seem to remember a pedestrian study involving the hospital areas, not sure though, I'll get back to ya.

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Recchia,

Are you specifically working on RIDOT Enhancement projects?

I've got a question for ya...

[Cotuit]

When I was here briefly in '99 for an visiting elective at RIH while I was in medical school, they were talking about the upgrades to Eddy St (new wide sidewalks, trees in the center median, etc.) as if it was about to break ground...  The folks at the hospital were saying it was a big deal, how it was supposed to be a "jewel" of a connector for walkers, bikers, and cars...

I was very disappointed to move here 5 years later and find nothing had changed.

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The Jewelry District Urban Design Plan called for an Eddy Street Parkway (see page 10 and other parts of this PDF). That was back in 1999. Probably what the people at RIH were talking about.

[Garris]

Hmmm, well in 1999 I was 15 years old...

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Oh, just rub it in, why don't ya...

I think the plan Cotuit referred to, though, is probably exactly what they were excited about. Yet another one of the dozens of plans and studies that never happened...

- Garris

[Mij]

I no property has been getting grabbed by one of the school that will be going down off eddy. My father works on eddy at RE Sturdy, and all of the naiboring buildings have been offered/bought out by RIH & Meeting strret school. B/C his companey is so much bigger then the other around his, no offer has been made on that property. With that said the feeling is that it's only a metter of time.

[Recchia]

A random thing I noticed:

The always coveted "view of the State House", which seems to have contributed to the large open spaces lingering in Capital Center over the years, will still be visible with GTECH and Waterplace. Francis Street and Exchange Street are both positioned perfectly so that if you look straight up them, the center of the State House is quite visible, and is the street's focal point. In fact, the view of the State House thanks to both projects will be nicely framed on both sides.

Edited August 5, 2005 by Recchia

[Cotuit]

I noticed that the upper floors of Saki's have been gutted. Has this been like this for a while and I just hadn't noticed, or is this a sign of work starting on the residential units there?

[Mij]

In case anyone care to know, I have finally got a desent site up for folks to look at. My Webpage While this page is not nerely as finished as i would have hoped for up until this point, i have some time coming up and updates and construction will continue on a regular basis. The site is not intended to rival or call out any one else. i would hope that one day it could be helf as informative of artinruins.... but for now the site will remain mostly a portal were you can find information and links to everything providence. I didnt put any pictures ont this site, yet, but i choose not to unless i have legal rights to do so.... but.... i will gladly link anyone to it. I just want every person to have an oppurtunity to see what we as members UP get. Im sure not every one likes posting and digging up old post as much as I do. So i just tryed to put all the information together.... Please feel free to pass along any suggestion of comments

Mij