Blog Posts - Historic Jewelry District

195 Commission Design Review Session on Parcel 28

1/13/2015

Providence Journal photograph

The development partners working on the student housing project for Parcel 28 have entered into an agreement to purchase the Richmond Street block-front building between Clifford and Friendship Streets.

The north end of the building still carries signage for the ill-fated Club Karma, the most recent in a years-long succession of notorious clubs whose licenses were revoked for multiple infractions of license regulations. The south end of the building currently houses The Spot, the popular music venue.

Purchase of the building will allow for an expansion of the planned 400-person complex to 500 spaces. Typical of development projects, there are contingencies, as Kate Bramson explained in detail in this article in Tuesday's Providence Journal.

Several members of the JDA attended yesterday's Design Review Committee meeting at which the developers and architect's presented the first design concepts for the project. Following today's JDA monthly meeting, we'll provide further reactions to the proposal and the design.

Meanwhile, if you'd like to get one man's opinion on the subject, in a wide-ranging discussion, David Brussat takes a look at the pros, the cons and the stylistic niceties (or lack of same) of the proposal. As usual, Brussat pulls no punches. He even has some nice-ish thing to say about the Karma building (opinions not necessarily shared by people who live near the structure and have less than fond memories). Click here for his latest post in Architecture Here and There.

Another Opening... Another Show! Third Time's the Charm.

12/18/2014

On Monday, the latest plans for the South Street Power Plant were put into action with a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site on Point Street. This will in some ways be the biggest idea for bringing the handsome structure back to meaningful life. The significance of the project for the Jewelry District is enormous.

It will bring residents, additional office workers, and educators into the District. Pedestrian traffic will increase, and with that traffic may come new retail businesses. Restaurant traffic will increase. And, perhaps as the project begins to take shape, developers who have been eying I-195 parcels will realize the moment for decisive action has come.

The project has three distinct components:

1. Two residential buildings (shown in the architect's concept below) for 220 upper level nursing and graduate students. The buildings will sit behind the river-edge park on the north side of Point Street (where the Davol Square parking lot is currently).

2. Conversion of the power plant into academic and administrative spaces. Teaching facilities for the joint Rhode Island College & University of Rhode Island nursing schools and offices for Brown University administration.

3. A 650-car parking garage along side the power plant on Eddy Street.

For a look at the CV Properties South Street Landing Project Summary presentation, click here.

Read Jef Nickerson's GCPVD take on the news here.

Rendering and site plan reproduced from the CV Properties South Street Landing Project Summary presentation.

Our Sculpture Garden Continues to Flourish

10/18/2014

In recent weeks, we've seen the 195 Redevelopment Commission's display of sculpture expand in two ways.

A new piece appeared the other day at the corner of Clifford and Richmond St. As yet, the Commission hasn't put a title plaque up, so we don't know the artist or the name of the piece. We'll ask.

And the piece that appeared a few weeks ago up the hill between Bassett and Clifford Sts. has grown horizontally with the addition of two end pieces.

Color Run Runs through the District, Turns It Blue.

10/5/2014

On the morning of Sunday, October 5th, something called the Color Run passed through the District. Its arrival sort of slipped by us, but we caught up with the clean-up crew after the multi-colored runners were already gone. The Color Run describes itself this way:

The Color Run, also known as the Happiest 5k on the Planet, is a unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness and individuality.

Now the single largest event series in the United States, The Color Run has exploded since our debut event. We have more than tripled our growth, hosting more than 170 events in 30+ countries in 2013.

There you have it.

For something so happy, it left the Jewelry District (briefly) kind of blue.

Pedestrian Bridge 90% Plans Revealed

10/3/2014

Artist's conception: facing west

At a presentation on Monday, September 29, the City Planning Department detailed the latest revisions to the design for the Providence River pedestrian bridge as it moves toward a construction start in the Spring of 2015.

Director of Long Range Planning Bonnie Nickerson said the current plans adhere closely to the original concept. The number of seating elements which contain lighting elements has been increased. Stairs have been added to provide access to the two east-side piers. To keep overall costs under control, the event space on the lower level has been eliminated, and the square footage of the bridge deck has been trimmed.

The presentation included renderings of the interconnections with the east and west side parks and plan and elevation views of the bridge. See the complete update here.

The new bridge will be the key link between the East Side and the Jewelry District for CiTY WALK on its route between India Point Park and Roger Williams Park. For a look at how the new bridge fits into CiTY WALK's plan for connecting Providence, click here.

One Day, a Parking Lot, Give It a Year, a Transformation

9/3/2014

The Johnson & Wales parking garage grew to its full height in what seemed like minutes. And now Johnson & Wales University has announced the construction of a new $40-million academic building just up the street on an irregular-shaped piece of former I-195 land.

Designed by Edward Rowse Architects of Providence and Architectural Resources Cambridge of Cambridge, Mass., the new building will house the School of Engineering and Design, and the Alan Shawn Feinstein Technology and Design Center. Ground breaking is scheduled for Spring 2015, completion Fall, 2016.

Full details appear in the article from Providence Business News that you can read here.

Full details appear in the article from the Providence Journal that you can read here.

A Garden Grows and Another Construction Joins the Exhibition

8/29/2014

The Gazing Garden has grown its own garden to reflect on. The Providence Downtown Improvement District planted the corner of Pine and E. Franklin Streets a while back. Now, thanks to the care, feeding and watering by the team in Yellow Shirts you see around DownCity, the garden is flourishing grandly.

Just the other day, a new sculptural piece appeared between Bassett and Clifford Streets. Shown from two sides in the pictures below is RIB Sequence by Kurt Snell. Placed temporarily at the moment, RIB Sequence will be re-assembled on parcel 35 across Clifford Street when the big dirt pile there gets broken down by RIDoT later this month.

Jan Brodie, Executive Director of the 195 Redevelopment Commission, notes that: Seven new pieces are going up at the end of this month/beginning of October. Three on the west side (including Snell’s piece) and two others near the Brown Medical School. Four new pieces will join the original pieces already in place on the east side of the river.

All these sculptures, including the original five that went up in May, will remain on display for up to a year. In the late fall, the Commission will post for new submissions to replace the five original installations. The idea is to keep generating new visual interest in the vacant 195 land as well as providing a highly visible showcase for new creations from Rhode Island's artistic community.

To see the other works already in place in the Jewelry District in this 195 Redevelopment Commission interim-use art project, click here.

Catching up on Old News: Water Feature Ideas for River Park

8/10/2014

Photo: WaterPics

A recent meeting of the 195 Redevelopment Commission reviewed ideas for a water feature in the new park on the west end of the new pedestrian bridge over the Providence River.

As the Providence Journal reported in its August 5, 2014, edition, the emphasis in the ideas varied from the fanciful to the practical. Read Kate Bramson's article here.

195 Commission Mulls Five Proposed Projects, Rejects Three

8/10/2014

Writing in the Providence Journal, Kate Bramson details the proposals currently on the table for land parcels in the 195 Redevelopment District.

"PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The developer preparing to renovate the old South Street Power Station near Davol Square into nursing schools, university offices and apartments proposed buying a nearby parcel of former Route 195 land for as much as $2.25 million to build a 150-room hotel, potentially a Starwood Hotels property.

But the bid by CV Properties, which has offices in Southport, Conn., and Boston, is among three proposals rejected by the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, which released the proposals to The Providence Journal in response to a request for records." Read her article here.

Our Abandoned Power Plant Starts Back to Life in September

8/9/2014

After years of sitting forlornly on the Providence River's west shore, the old Narragansett Electric power plant is about to get an exciting and very different new life.

With the lease arrangements approved by the legislature, work can now begin on converting the shell of the power plant into offices for Brown University, nursing school(s) for the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.

Along with the re-purposing of the power plant will come new construction for a parking garage and graduate students housing.

For a complete look at a project that will transform the south end of the Jewelry District, see the Developers Report.

Photo: Two If By Land Surveys