Too many residential buildings?

[raypacia]

Hi everyone,

As a student who's away at school but still cares very much about Providence, I have to say this website is great. And the past couple of weeks have been great too; I've been glued to projo.com with all the news about OneTenProv, Chace's downcity development, and Procaccianti's plans. One thing I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on is whether you think this new Providence will have a future beyond retail and residences? At some point do we need to infuse the city with new white collar companies to diversify the tax base? Maybe it's a more a question of 'if you build the residences, the businesses will come.' I just thinking stepping back for a second and looking at long term development is important. GTech, as an info-tech company, is a great start? Do you think it will be an anomaly? ~Ray

[Cotuit]

'if you build the residences, the businesses will come.'

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I think in part yes. Just as people from Boston are tiring of the prices up there, so are businesses. Once Boston companies (and any companies for that matter) see that we have this large population of talented people leaving the state every morning to work, they'll put two and two together.

That said, I think we can't lose focus of the city's need for both white collar and blue collar jobs, any jobs!

Welcome to the forum ray!

[AriPVD]

You have to remember that development is a business that truly relies on the free market. With that said, no ones "neglecting" business, there is just little built-in or pent-up demand for commercial office space in Providence. Hopefully, by increasing the residential base downtown, CEOs and their businesses (that's how it usually works) will follow. You're right, G-Tech is a good start. The only way to attract business is to force the General Assembly and the Mayor's Office to make the business climate (i.e. taxes) more friendly to corporations. The Governor is hawkishly pro-economic development and Providence has a very advantageous physical location. As long as the US economy continues to prosper, the local/state tax system is addressed, and the tides of corruption recede, it is logical to expect jobs to follow these luxury residences.

P.S. While a good number of new buyers and renters are Boston residents, I think we're underestimating the wealth of a good number of Providence (and suburban) residents. Rhode Island is generally a wealthy state and there are a decent number of corporations, universities and hospitals. The Boston market is definitely impacting development but I don't think it is completely directing it.

P.P.S Where are you in school, Ray?

[raypacia]

I couldn't agree more with your comments re: the General Assembly. I think sound governance and development will go hand in hand.

I'm a sophomore at Yale and a graduate of La Salle Academy.

[Cotuit]

P.S.  While a good number of new buyers and renters are Boston residents, I think we're underestimating the wealth of a good number of Providence (and suburban) residents.  Rhode Island is generally a wealthy state and there are a decent number of corporations, universities and hospitals.  The Boston market is definitely impacting development but I don't think it is completely directing it.

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Oh, I agree. There are certainly people coming from Boston that are fueling this residential growth, but there are indeed many Rhode Islanders that will be living in these places. I know a handful of people living in Buff Chase's lofts and they are all hardly newcomers (I also know vanishly few people, so the fact that I know a number there says something).

There's also people coming from outside New England. I've met a number of people recently who have moved here from outside New England. I myself am here via New York, though I'm from Masschusetts originally.

[AriPVD]

That's great, Ray. Good to find other young people interested in the urban future of Providence. I'm a Moses Brown graduate and a senior at Cornell.

[billypc99]

Go to see you on the board Ray! Im Billy from Ballys in North Providence

[raypacia]

Go to see you on the board Ray!  Im Billy from Ballys in North Providence

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Wow small world. This really is a Rhode Island message board. Good to hear from you Billy!

[glassandsteel]

As a student who's away at school but still cares very much about Providence, I have to say this website is great.

Hello Ray, I'm David. I agree with you. This past fall and early winter I was in Salmon, Idaho and this site quickly became my major source of development news (ArtinRuins became stagnant). I had come here prior but didn't realize how valuable a source it was until all others failed me. Cotuit has a great deal to do with the success of this forum and for that I would like to say that I am eternally grateful. Anyway, this is probably the most up-to-date source of Providence development news (short of the developers themselves) thanks to the contributions of all involved and I hope you and all other new people to the forum join in the never-ending discussion of our home's evolution.

P.S. To everyone that frequents this forum, I'd like to say thank you for being part of a well educated (whether formally or not) group. It's nice to find reasonable thoughts on the subject, even if I can only read them.

[Cotuit]

Cotuit has a great deal to do with the success of this forum and for that I would like to say that I am eternally grateful.

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Awe shucks.

[Cotuit]

Incidentally, we were looking at stats in the Mod forum for February. The 24th, the day all the projects were announced for Providence was the highest post count day of the month for all of UP. I think we had a lot to do with that.

[Garris]

I had come here prior but didn't realize how valuable a source it was until all others failed me.  Cotuit has a great deal to do with the success of this forum and for that I would like to say that I am eternally grateful.  Anyway, this is probably the most up-to-date source of Providence development news (short of the developers themselves) thanks to the contributions of all involved and I hope you and all other new people to the forum join in the never-ending discussion of our home's evolution.

P.S. To everyone that frequents this forum, I'd like to say thank you for being part of a well educated (whether formally or not) group.  It's nice to find reasonable thoughts on the subject, even if I can only read them.

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Agreed. Thanks to everyone here (especially Cotuit) for such a fantastic forum. I had been searching for ages for a group of people (in person or online) interested in architecture, development, and urban issues in general. All of you, and this group, are great.

I'm a sophomore at Yale and a graduate of La Salle Academy.

Go Bulldogs!! I'm a Yale graduate, Trumbull College to be exact, from a time when New Haven wasn't a fraction as nice as it is today :-). What college are you in?

- Garris

[raypacia]

Great to hear, Garris!

I'm in Timothy Dwight. It's actually kind of funny that I read this now. I just walked home from the Yale Daily News, where I was writing a story on renovations to Trumbull next year. Yale is a great place, as I'm sure you know.

Ray

[Garris]

Great to hear, Garris!

I'm in Timothy Dwight.  It's actually kind of funny that I read this now.  I just walked home from the Yale Daily News, where I was writing a story on renovations to Trumbull next year.  Yale is a great place, as I'm sure you know. 

Ray

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Thanks for the news :-). I was at Yale as the whole residential college building project began. Some eyebrows were raised then in Trumbull when it was annouced that Trumbull would be among the last colleges to be renovated, since it had for some time been considered one of the 2 or 3 colleges most in need of repairs. The Trumbull basement had been a disaster forever and they'd been doing many little projects all over the college to plug fingers in the holes in the dam. But as with all things at Yale, donations rule, and many of the larger colleges (Calhoun, Branford) had larger alumni groups with bigger pockets and went first.

Yale is, in my opinion, one of the most unique communities in the world. It's just remarkable. My four years there were, looking back, almost magical. Hard, challenging, and occasionally frustrating, but always an intellectual, artistic, spiritual, and inspirational adventure. I remember one night in Autumn as a senior walking down College Street after a Yale-Harvard game with a group of friends, next to Woosley Hall with someone playing the organ, looking at the lit Sterling Memorial Library in the distance, the water from the Woman's Table burbling in the distance with leaves blowing all around me and thinking, "burn this memory into your mind. In a few months, you'll be gone forever and it doesn't get better than this" And I did. What a great place.

- Garris

[eltron]

Count me in as appreciative for the little Providence community that is coming together here... I personally really look forward to getting all your input in helping to improve the quality of life in Providence's neighborhoods.

All the Yale love is all and good, but a couple of us here I'm sure know that Cornell will always kick ass !

[AriPVD]

GO BIG RED

[Cotuit]

An atmosphere for growth

The Rhode Island Economic Policy Council is focusing on the state's "quality of place" -- from water quality in Narragansett Bay to advancing the capital city's arts community -- to attract businesses and workers.

BY ANDREA L. STAPE Journal Staff Writer | March 12, 2005

PAWTUCKET -- Rhode Island's forests, rivers and coastlines are a key part of the state's economic success, according to the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council.

Adult literacy and college attainment levels are important measures of the state's economic progress, but if there aren't clean water and pleasant neighborhoods, workers won't want to stay in the state, according to the council, a group of Rhode Island's business, government and academic leaders.

One of the economic issues the council and its members are working on is improving the way the state looks and feels -- from improving water quality in Narragansett Bay to encouraging waterfront development in Pawtucket, according to reports presented at the group's quarterly meeting yesterday at the Slater Mill in Pawtucket.

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In 2003, the group laid out a number of such goals based on "quality of place," including improving Narragansett Bay's water quality significantly by 2010, continuing to monitor and improve diversity in cities and towns statewide, decreasing the rate of land consumption and increasing the number of historic properties on the state's national historic register to 20,000 by 2010.

Yesterday, members evaluated how the council is working to attain those goals. Roger Mandle, president of the Rhode Island School of Design, detailed how the state's artists and designers are working to make Providence a design capital. Other cities -- such as Montreal -- have declared themselves design capitals, and Mandle said he didn't see why Providence couldn't do the same.

Working toward that goal, the school, along with the council and the Rhode Island Foundation, are holding a symposium in June that will discuss how Providence and Liverpool, England, worked to re-create themselves. The three-day event will highlight some of the things -- such as architecture and urban design -- that brought about changes in both cities, said Mandle.

In addition, Jack Partridge, with the law firm of Partridge, Snow and Hahn, discussed the One River Vision project, which is trying to clean up the Blackstone, Pawtucket, Seekonk and Providence Rivers and developing housing and office space along the combined river as it winds through the Blackstone Valley from Pawtucket to Providence.

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"I think the next decades, economically, will favor the Northeast," (Carcieri) said. "Our challenge is to make sure we play in that game."

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At the same time, a recent survey of colleges in Rhode Island by the council shows that only 29 percent of working Rhode Islanders have a four-year degree. The survey also indicates that the state is doing a better job of hanging on to college graduates from outside the state than it is on college graduates who were raised in Rhode Island.

"Rhode Island kids are going to college somewhere else and not coming back," said Bergstrom.

Continue reading at: ProJo.