Pace may be slow, but luxury condos are selling

Peter S. Mancini, president of the Providence City Council, has represented Ward 14 for 18 years. He is also chairman of the Committee on Claims and Pending Suits, and a member of the Committee on Finance and the Board of Park Commissioners. He recently spoke with PBN about the city budget, development, tax-exempt land and the new Providence public-schools superintendent.

Terrence M. Hassett’s Smith Hill neighborhood, where many of Providence’s multi-family homes are, has been one of the worst hit by foreclosures in the past year, the City Council majority leader said recently.

Despite the challenges that the state’s economy is facing buildings keep going up in downtown Providence, and at least one of them is starting a domino effect in the real estate marketplace. Specifically, when Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) gives up its current office locations for the new high-rise headquarters it is building, the spaces it has been occupying for years will see some changes themselves.

You could never say Providence lacks for hospitals. Within its 18.5 square miles, the city has Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital; Women & Infants Hospital; St. Joseph Hospital for Specialty Care; The Miriam Hospital and Butler Hospital on the East Side; and Roger Williams Medical Center and the Providence Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Elmhurst.

Despite the downdraft created by the weakening in the economy and the increase in transportation costs, it appears that the recent investments in the city’s hotels and the improvements to its meeting spaces are buoying the local hospitality industry. Specifically, the city is competing as never before as a vacation destination, a “stay-cation” spot and as a host for business meetings, according to those in the field.

In the fall, the Rhode Island School of Design will open the Chace Center. On its face, the multi-purpose building will add gallery space, an auditorium, offices and create a new home for one of the school’s most prized collections. But it is more than that.

The Providence Public School District is facing its usual budget crunch, but this year is tighter than ever with massive increases in transportation costs, utilities and health insurance, plus a brand new superintendent from out of state.

As work proceeds with the relocation of Interstate 195, planning for how to develop the 19.2 acres that are being freed up is well under way as well.

Despite drawing more than 1 million people to the city’s riverfront last year, “WaterFire Providence” finds itself buffeted by the same economic challenges as any other public event, and the effects are making themselves known.

It’s a long way from the posh East Side to Olneyville – figuratively, at least. But for Hank Sennott, director of public relations for the United Way of Rhode Island, the organization’s recent move from the Wayland Square neighborhood to a 22,000-square-foot office in the rehabbed Calendar Mills complex was worth the trek.

It seems there are too many soccer teams and not enough fields for them to play on in Providence. With little vacant land left, it’s hard to imagine where the city could come up with enough land to build the needed three to four more soccer fields that Robert McMahon, superintendent of the Providence Parks Department, says are needed to accommodate the growing number of applicants vying for permits to play on the city’s fields.

Members of Local 1033 of the Laborers International Union of North America, the city’s largest labor union, with close to 900 public service employees, recently agreed on a new four-year contract. Changes to the contract reflect a struggling economy.

Providence emergency officials took to Kennedy Plaza earlier this month, exhorting residents and businesses to prepare themselves for the 2008 hurricane season.

The health and education sector, which employs more than 35,000 people in Providence, is one of the most important foundations of the city economy. Between 2002 and 2007, this sector created 3,500 new jobs – while the rest of the city economy lost more than 6,000.