Hope Point Towers project advances before I-195 commission

THE HOPE POINT TOWERS project has gotten the go-ahead from the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission to move to the next stage of development, which will include more detailed design and financial plans. The commission voted 4-1 to allow the Fane Organization to proceed with planning for the first phase of the project, a 43-floor high-rise condominium tower. / COURTESY THE FANE ORGANIZATION
THE HOPE POINT TOWERS project has gotten the go-ahead from the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission to move to the next stage of development, which will include more detailed design and financial plans. The commission voted 4-1 to allow the Fane Organization to proceed with planning for the first phase of the project, a 43-floor high-rise condominium tower. / COURTESY THE FANE ORGANIZATION

PROVIDENCE — A proposal to build a soaring residential tower on a parcel of Interstate 195 Redevelopment District land moved forward on Wednesday, but under several conditions that will require the developer to meet additional design, financial feasibility and site compatibility requirements.

In a 4-1 vote, the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission agreed to move The Fane Organization’s Hope Point Towers project to a second phase of consideration. This would require a second application containing an updated design that is confined to a northern portion of Parcel 42, which a consultant hired by the commission said would limit the impact of the building’s shadow on an adjoining parcel that will become a public park.

Jason Fane, president of The Fane Organization, introduced in November 2016 what originally was to be a three-tower development. He later scaled the project back to its first phase, a 43-floor high-rise that would sit on a multi-story, solid base that would house parking for the occupants. On Wednesday, he emphasized that people who live in luxury apartments want accessible parking. In his comments, he referred to the units in the proposed $150 million development as condos.

“What has amazed me, and what I hope will command your attention, is how quickly the proposal has captured the imagination of so many people here and changed their view of what Providence can be and what Providence should be,” he said, addressing the commission before its deliberation. “It’s a change of a self-image.”

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The building now proposed would be about 484 feet tall, significantly higher than Providence’s tallest skyscraper, the 428-foot Industrial Trust building.

But in a public hearing that preceded the vote, many opponents pushed back against his statements, saying Providence shouldn’t try to be what it is not, a smaller version of Boston or New York. The Fane tower as initially designed, the critics say, will shut off access to the park and views of the park and river from much of the downtown, including the Wexford Science & Technology development envisioned across Dyer Street.

The commission, in its vote, attached three broad conditions on further consideration of the proposal. Before voting, several commission members said they had concerns about the depth of public subsidies that could be required for the project to be feasible.

In statements made before the vote, Commission Vice Chairman Robert C. Davis said a financial consultant hired by the commission, who reviewed the Fane Organization’s project pro forma, questioned whether the proposed apartment rents were overly high and its vacancy projections and projected rates of return too low.

According to Davis, a retired attorney, the Fane proposal for the original three-tower design had projected the need for $47 million in public incentives for the project to be viable. The first tower, now before the I-195 commission as a revised proposal, will require a subsidy of at least $15 million, according to a document he prepared and read aloud prior to the public vote. The commission’s consultant, Real Estate Solutions Group of Princeton,N.J., “believes that Fane’s projection may be too low,” Davis said.

“Under the Rebuild Rhode Island tax credit program, and taking into account existing commitments, the total subsidy available for the entire project is in the range of $15 million. Simply put, based on the Fane Organization’s own numbers, towers 2 and 3 are not currently financially feasible on their own without significant subsidy.”

For the commission to determine whether even a single residential tower is financially feasible, the Fane Organization will have to submit additional information and other state agencies, including the R.I. Commerce Corp., will have to review the project, he said.
Davis, as well as commission Chairman Joseph F. Azrack and members Elizabeth Huidekoper and Sandra Smith voted to move the project forward to additional consideration. Voting against was member Melissa Husband, executive director of the nonprofit Community Action Partnership of Providence, who said she was not comfortable with moving it ahead. “I feel strongly there are way too many concerns with the proposal that was given to us. Especially hearing the RES pro forma presentation, I do not feel comfortable at all moving forward with the Level 2 approval,” she said.

The pro forma presentation, which was not made in public session, is not publicly available, Davis said after the meeting. He did not disclose the proposed rents cited in the report.
After the vote, Azrack emphasized that the commission’s decision to move to a second application phase was not “in any way an approval of the project. This is an invitation to go forward and develop out the one-tower scheme architecturally, planning-wise, financially, cost estimates, things of that nature.”

The project would occupy a critical location in the district, he emphasized, and its final design must be compelling. “If all the numbers come together … we really want a project that is architecturally distinctive and that Providence and the state can be very proud of.”
After the divided vote, Fane, in an interview outside the meeting room, said he wasn’t sure what to make of the decision. He cited the differing opinions expressed by commission members before they voted. “Are they really trying to move it forward [or] are they killing it in stages?” he said. Referencing the written motion, he said: “I’ll have to study it.”
Of the incentives cited by Davis in his statements, Fane said he has not requested specific public incentives, but expected that his project would be considered for the typical development incentives available in that location, specifically Rebuild Rhode Island and the city’s tax stabilization agreement.
After the vote, Azrack said the commission is not trying to scuttle the project, as its vote indicated. “I think it’s very self-explanatory,” he said.
Under the vote, the conditions for the project now include:

  • A requirement that the project — a now-single tower — be confined to less than 40 percent of the northern portion of Parcel 42
  • The commission retains “full architectural review” of the project with discretion to require modifications, or reject, it
  • The commission also will continue to review whether the tower and its several-story base in a reconfigured position on the site is appropriate.
  • The commission will require additional financial accounting for the project, including a detailed project budget that reflects market conditions, specific information about the sources of equity and debt involved in the development, and credible evidence that they are available as of the property closing, as well as a specific citation of public incentives that will be needed.
  • A final condition notes that although the commission “is not adverse” to a height that exceeds current city zoning for the site, the applicant will be required to get city permission for the tower’s proposed height.

The commission’s vote followed an unusual, two-hour public hearing. Azrack said he scheduled the public comment section because he understood feelings were strong about the tower proposal, and wanted to hear the feedback.

In the public session, opinions were divided.

Many residents of Providence, who said they live near the proposed site, questioned the suitability of the design, the scale of the development and the justification for luxury housing on land that the state has set aside for economic development.

Several representatives of organized labor spoke at the meeting, all uniformly in favor of a project that they said will bring essential and needed jobs to carpenters, painters and other people employed in building trades.

Dominick J. Ruggerio, the state Senate majority leader, attended the hearing but left without commenting. Outside the meeting room, he said he supported the project and thought the design issues could be resolved and that there was sufficient demand for the housing. “Every single report I see on housing says that there is deficient housing in the state of Rhode Island. There is going to be a need for housing.”

Several developers who have put projects before the I-195 Commission in recent months appeared at the public hearing to listen and watch the proceedings, but did not speak. One was Richard Baccari II, principal of Royal Oaks Realty LLC, which has received approval to develop a parcel east of the Providence River. He declined to comment on the residential tower project.

Arnold “Buff” Chace Jr., managing partner of Cornish Associates, spoke in opposition to the project, criticizing the proposed height of the structure, which would require a city variance, and the necessity for the luxury housing. Although the city needs more housing, the market demand is at the workforce and middle-income levels, not at the high end. “The logic or rationale granting this project a variance, satisfying a community need, therefore does not exist.”

Many residents said they thought the city and state should welcome the development.

Mike Lusi, a Johnston resident who is educated in landscape design, said he thought the original design of the buildings was striking, inspiring and beautiful. “Entirely appropriate for Providence.”

The podium base, he said, is a bad idea and should be adjusted. “It’s not just corruption that’s holding Rhode Island back. Its the inability to see the future and to see new ideas. I don’t understand how a tall building like this would ruin the park.”

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1 COMMENT

  1. Financial feasibility! Should it not be the responsibility of the Lenders who will ultimately fund this project after doing their due diligence? Not a bunch of neophytes who sit on the 195 Board.