Arcade set to open after five-year hiatus

 / COURTESY 130 WESTMINSTER STREET ASSOCIATES
/ COURTESY 130 WESTMINSTER STREET ASSOCIATES

PROVIDENCE – The nation’s oldest indoor shopping mall will open to the public for the first time in five years Monday.
The Arcade Providence, which has undergone a $7 million renovation over the last two years, will host a “soft opening” at 10:15 a.m. Oct. 21, said Robin Dionne, spokesperson for the Arcade.
Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Arcade owner Evan Granoff will give speeches on the steps of the shopping center, which was built in 1828, then take a tour.
On Oct. 21, 11 of the 17 new shops in the Arcade will open and the atrium that connects Westminster and Weybosset Street will be open daily starting then, Dionne said.
The 48 micro-loft apartments fashioned out of former shops on the second and third floors of the Arcade will open in November, along with two restaurants, Dionne said.
Chafee’s weekend schedule describes the Oct. 21 event as a Grand Opening.

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