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IN PROGRESS: Angell Way (K. Gibbs School site)


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Was someone just bragging about Brickyard pond??? Ick.

If that wasn't a lifelong resident of Barrington posting, I don't know who is!

Brickyard Pond and Haines Park. Those would probably be the last two places I'd show anyone in Barrington. Barrington's downtown is far better than it was, say, 10 years ago.

Westerly is interesting. Lots of beautiful architecture, great arts community, but unfortunately not very liveable. In fact, downtown Westerly is pretty dead. There is potential, though, especially with the possibility of commuter rail (though i'm not sure if commuter rail is projected to stop there specifically.

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here are some things i don't like about barrington. There seems to be a high level of teen drunk driving and accidents in barrington or involving kids from barrington. barrington is where everyone bailed with their kids when fleeing providence, and the school system promptly lost its accredition (in the late 80s i think). While i'm sure there are plenty of nice people from barrington who live in barrington still, my experience (since i've been in PVD since 84) has not been a very friendly vibe from either the town, nor the residents (some of whom i went to college with) and the idea that it was some sort of great white hope (emphasis on the white) for the middle class funning from the dark streets of providence always left a bad taste in my mouth.

now to be sure, plenty of folks fled PVD and moved to lincoln and cumberland, but for me--Barrington was just this place that represented what i really didn't like about Rhode Island during a time when i was figuring out my own place in the universe and establishing my own brand of "being part of the solution, not part of the problem." Misguided perhaps, but that would explain why barrington is one of the last places in RI i would live.

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I'm not seeing the walkability that exists in Barrington. It's little town center village thingy is no more than a strip mall with angled parking. There's no village feel like there is even in Warren and Riverside.

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Haines Park is in Barrington, on the border of Riverside (East Providence).

Barrington recently petitioned the state to change it from a State Park to a town park for Barrington, which the people and reps of Riverside fought because they (probably correctly) thought Barrington would limit access to only town residents and turn everything into soccer fields.

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Haines Park is in Barrington, on the border of Riverside (East Providence).

Barrington recently petitioned the state to change it from a State Park to a town park for Barrington, which the people and reps of Riverside fought because they (probably correctly) thought Barrington would limit access to only town residents and turn everything into soccer fields.

Actually Baseball fields. The Friends of Hains Park wanted more of a town sport complex like you can find in Riverside in Forbs Field.

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I'm not seeing the walkability that exists in Barrington. It's little town center village thingy is no more than a strip mall with angled parking. There's no village feel like there is even in Warren and Riverside.

I totally agree with Recchia. If their "town cwnter" was located in any urban area, it would be considered sprawl. While it may look better than maybe Rt. 2 and collectively serve the residents of Barrington, it is by no means a jewel. I also agree with Jen that the town has become the "second" home per se for many East Siders when their kids reach school age...very cliche

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Asbestos removal is well underway in the K.Gibbs building prepping for demolition.

- Garris

What, this thread is about K. Gibbs? :D

I've heard they have some fire code issues to work on. Hopefully they've got it worked through - the fire marshall's office is horrifically understaffed and things are backed up months and months and months.

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  • 4 weeks later...

As promised in a letter circulated by Armory earlier this week, comprehensive demolition has noisily and happily begun of the K.Gibbs building. I just briefly popped home and the building was already essentially 75% gone in just one day today, and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was gone by this evening.

It was cute to see one of our cats watching out the window fascinated by all the noise and activity while the more skittish, needy cat was terrified and emerged from hiding to basically wrap himself around my leg for the 15 minutes I was home :).

The Armory letter said that construction will begin in September and last for one year.

- Garris

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i think i never knew what the opposition was to the music school going into that spot. why did the residents rail against it?

It never really had anything to do with the building itself (although from the model and renders I saw of that early on, it was hardly inspirational, nothing more than a very mild upgrade of the existing Gibbs Building).

The problem really was traffic/parking. The expanded school was, by their own admission, about two times per week going to have, if I recall, over 300 kids there arriving and leaving simultaneously. The number of parking spaces for the entire school was something like 8.

The Philharmonic folks were never able to answer where the parents for 300 kids were going to drop their kids off, park, wait, etc at an intersection that is already choked during rush hour. Neighborhood residents feared parents would be parked in their driveways, streets, lawns, etc. In the best argument, businesspeople feared that valuable and already scarce Wayland Sq parking for customers would be clogged with people just sitting there idling and waiting, a quite valid concern in my opinion.

In the case of my condo, there was also the fear (also well founded in my opinion) by my condo neighbors that the "exit" lane from the property (which sits right under our rear windows) would be used by people to park and sit as well, with cars with idling exhaust hovering under our open windows potentially for hours. We asked the music school to promise they wouldn't allow autos to (illegally) park there, a promise they refused to make.

After seeing dueling traffic analyses, the zoning board rightly concluded that 300 students and 8 parking spaces in that congested traffic grid wasn't smart and refused the variences.

It was really a bad idea from the get go... It was also my first introduction to How Things Work in Rhode Island. Connected people told me (all of the following in the category of totally unconfirmed rumor) there was a lot of "back room" action involved in this financial deal between individuals with overlapping interests in the major players (Philharmonic, Archdioses, etc) and that a good many board members from both groups (especially the Philharmonic) were very angry at this deal and the rapid and secret way it all came down. Some Philharmonic folks in particular seemed to think that, because of these "back room" dealings, they grossly overpaid for the land and were putting the future of the chronically financially strapped group at great risk. The zoning board defeat just gave these individuals even more ammunition to kill this deal when the only way to proceed otherwise would have been to go to court and fight .

How Armory and local real estate interests eventually came into play I don't know (probably because they were the only ones who could afford to pay the large amount that the Philharmonic overspent for the land).

- Garris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Driving by the site last weekend, I noticed that the building is completly gone. :)

Oh, yeah, it's been gone for almost a week now. The building was down in 1 and 1/2 days and most of the rubble was cleared out by this Monday or Tuesday...

Construction starts in September and will continue for a year...

- Garris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well Cotuit, you can officially change the name of this forum.

All two or three people here besides myself following this project will be excited to hear it has a formal name: Angell Way. My condo got a look at their landscaping plans and architectural drawings, and it looks quite nice.

According to the Armory folks, despite the supposed condo slowdown, interest in the Wayland Sq neighborhood is "very high" and they've already sold "a few" of the 12 units (at $750K+) before the building has been built. Completion is still set for September '07, more or less.

Seemingly backing this up is that one of my neighbor's condos just sold for a decent price and two of the 5 units in the Victorian condo conversion across the street have sold at $445K+ (while still under renovation). Supposedly, the realtors selling the townhouse condos at Butler and Waterman have raised their prices recently they are so confident (it was about 450-650, now ads show them at nearly 600-850).

All fourth hand. Take it all with a grain of salt.

- Garris

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i believe there should be moratorium on stupid names for developments. Hope Artiste Village? Angell Way? WTF? People can't come up with anything more interesting? at least that stupid Belmonte Castello had some history (albeit idiotic) behind it.

sheesh.

I'm moving out to the centre of new england, coddamn it.

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See what a Starbucks can do for a neighborhood. :whistling:

Actually, the Armory folks seemed to indicate that it was the proximity to all of the restaurants here that had people impressed...

And they again indicated that their buyers and their market thus far hasn't been the feared Boston commuter, but Boomer homeowners from all over Providence looking to downsize and sell their homes without leaving the city (or "their neighborhood," indicating that some buyers are already Wayland/Blackstone residents).

Is this "IN-PROGRESS"?

Well, the old building is absolutely gone and utility work has already begun. They said that building construction will start in 3 to 4 weeks, so if we want to go by that standard (as we do for things like 110, Capitol Cove, etc), then we should wait a bit.

However, from all of our conversations, this one is a lock to happen. They're ready to go.

i believe there should be moratorium on stupid names for developments... Angell Way? WTF?

I have to admit that for a building selling units from between 750K to well over 1+mil and given Armory's reputation for knowing Providence and its history well, I too was a little disappointed by the "[street Name]+Way" naming strategy.

- Garris

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i believe there should be moratorium on stupid names for developments. Hope Artiste Village? Angell Way? WTF? People can't come up with anything more interesting? at least that stupid Belmonte Castello had some history (albeit idiotic) behind it.

Totally agree. Those are really, really dumb names. If they can't come up with a decent name, why can't they just use the building's address as the name?

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I've never loved the "Angell" name. I'm sure this has to correspond to an early 17th century settler of Providence, but to the rest of the world, this name applied to anything (Angell Nails, Angell Way, etc) sounds somewhat precious, especially given the recent angel craze nationwide...

Also, Angell Way really sounds like a street or an alley, something municipal, not luxury. I agree that the "[street Number]+Street Name" approach (like 333 Atwells) sounds far more sophisticated. Especially since the real address of that property is "178 Butler," they might have gone with that (unless some numerologist warned them that 178 was a "bad" number, or such nonsense...).

...do they pick names via the good old "what's your porn name?" game?

Ok, I'll be the one to bite... What is that?

- Garris

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Ok, I'll be the one to bite... What is that?

- Garris

Haha, stupidest thing ever. Last time I heard it was your middle name + the name of the street you grew up on. Or your first pet's name plus the street you grew up on.

E.g., mine would be Joseph Stagecoach, or Kelly Stagecoach. Whichever one sounds better...

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