The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission turns 12 years old this year, and its leaders agree: it’s time for a change of direction.
After contributing to the development of several projects – many of which are residential – the commission will focus on more commercial developments, says Marc Crisafulli, newly appointed chairman of the commission.
“I really want to try and get back to the roots of the mission of the commission, focus on economic and commercial development,” said Crisafulli, who retired last fall as president of Bally's Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort and Bally's Tiverton Casino & Hotel. “When you look at the residential buildings, we’ve got a good base. Now we want to try and focus as much as we can on getting more commercial activity in the 195 district.”
Crisafulli has been a commission member since 2019.
Since its creation, the commission has paved the way for several developments in the 195 district, many of which have been residential – the Parcel 6 mixed-use building featuring a Trader Joe’s store and 62 residential units at 425 South Main St.; the Chestnut Commons at 180 Friendship St., which includes 92 residential units; and Emblem 125 at 125 Clifford St., which includes 248 residential units.
Three more residential projects are in the pipeline: the Fane tower on Parcel 42, a mixed-income project by Pennrose on Parcel 9, and one by Urbanica on Parcel 2. For many, the focus on residential developments has been a clear diversion from the commission’s original purpose.
At this point, seven of the original 24 parcels that are part of the 195 district have been sold, eight are under contract and nine remain available to purchase.
“There are some exciting things that are happening, but also things that folks would like to see done differently,” said Ward 1 Providence City Councilman John Goncalves. “What we’ve seen has been a lot of residential developments, which many feel like is a diversion from what was originally supposed to go there in terms of economic development and growth in many sectors.”
Sharon Steele, president of the Jewelry District Association, said the commission was built to “create jobs in innovation and design,” not to build more housing.
“There are other parcels here that are not 195 development parcels,” she said. “If there are other developers, they may or may not choose to try to build housing in the Jewelry District. That is not happening at this moment.”
But this is likely to change soon. Crisafulli, who was most recently commission vice chairman, says the group is committed to prioritizing commercial developments and to fulfilling its original mission.
“I think there’s always been the hope that this will lead to greater economic development impact for Providence and Rhode Island,” Crisafulli said. “And residential projects don’t create the same multiplier effect for the economy as commercial does, that’s bringing jobs with it.”
But that does not mean residential developments don’t play their part in stimulating the economy; quite the opposite, Crisafulli says.
One of the commercial projects making its way through the approval process is a new 55,000-square-foot headquarters for Bank Rhode Island on Parcel 8. That project also includes a 95-unit mixed-income apartment complex.
“When you think about how you create economic development, one element is the construction of buildings, but the other element is bringing people into the area so they can support the local businesses,” he said. “We will continue to have some residential developments because it helps make the neighborhood work.”
Caroline Skuncik, executive director of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, agrees that the commission is trying to move away from residential in favor of commercial developments. But it’s all about finding the right balance.
“It’s always a balancing act,” Skuncik said. “The market has been far more in residential space for a long time, and they get higher land value.”
For years the market has favored residential developments. Rents for commercial and office spaces in Providence have not increased enough to justify rising construction costs, unlike residential rent. This means that currently, land value is higher when building residential projects. But sometimes there is a “trade-off,” Crisafulli said, between receiving the maximum value for residential use and receiving less for commercial use.
What the district needs to see more commercial developments, he says, is for someone to be willing to invest in them.
“We require a partner that’s willing to invest their own capital to build something,” Crisafulli said. “All we can do is provide the land.”
What you see here is incredibly naive and superficial comments bordering on mush. One of the problems with downtown Providence is the huge numbers of empty lots that symbolizes the lack of investment in the city. Developers buying office buildings and then turning around and selling them at a loss does not bode well for Providence’s reputation as a healthy or desirable place for commercial investment. The gauge of this health will always be the size of outside money coming into the area.
If you divide downtown Providence into three segments, original down city core, the Capital District and the I-195 district you see a similar pattern to all three. The Capital District, some 25 years laster, still has empty lots. Name the commercial developments that have risen in the the down city core, etc. RI has a housing shortage, the city needs to focus on building its population to better position for federal grants, so what is the reaction of RIers – dump on residential development and favor the folklore of commercial development ignoring the fact that not much in that area has come through the door in three decades. But, oh let’s try harder!! Sorry, Providence needs to deal with the reality of its situation and not some simple minded fantasy. If you haven’t noticed, not much has happened in new developments in recent months and putting a lid on residential developments will now insure that will continue.
The reason why so many projects focused on residential development was because there was so little interest in building commercial developments.
Post-pandemic more and more people are working from home so these giant business buildings are increasingly seen as dinosaurs of the past.
Follow the money, or in this case follow the ROI, (return on investment). There is a demand for housing but not for commercial. Proof? Look at all the empty commercial space typically due to covid. If there is no demand, no ROI and there for no investment
I agree with these comments. There is no change in focus. The 195 Commission has always tried to attract commercial development. Always tried to get corporations and the life sciences to build there. But until recently, there has been zero interest. Only interest has been in residential. Build commercial space? Why would a developer do that when the top two floors of the Wexford building have been empty for 5 years. Good news is that is changing now as those floors are about to be occupied, Bank RI HQ is moving there, state is moving its health lab to 195 and the commission is finally getting substantial sums for the land. But this has nothing to do with focus and everything to do with market demand.
Market analysis anyone? Plenty of office space in PVD, question is what kind do we need? If PVD office space is 1/2 the cost of Boston and still there is plenty what does that say? Citizens would have been great but that did not pan out under Raimondo. Surely someone smarter than me can read the tea leaves; but sticking to a plan developed 20 years ago does not seem like the best plan. Especially when people are trying to figure out how to turn office space into residential space. Boston has gone from 6.8% vacancy rate 2020 to 12.7% 2022.
Not sure why it has to be one of the other? Let the market determine who will build. With the RI Lab and Brown acquiring 10 lots and future lab build, more companies will be attracted to the area, but that takes time. It seems residential is taking off in other areas of the city (e.g superman building. Once new neighborhoods are established a level of commercial activity will occur) We just need to to not pick winners and lossers but promote those that want to invest.
The last question – Fane Tower, will it get built? There are pros and cons.
One aspect lacking in Providence is a vision of what the downtown population should be. Cities over the country have such views. For example, San Diego years ago defined the boundaries of their downtown, did a census of the population, knew exactly the number of rental apartments and the number of condos. Based on this info they established a target on the best population size besides defining the best mix of rentals and condos, preferring condos because that gives stability to the population not afforded by rentals. You never hear such thinking in Providence.