For years the building at the corner of Washington and Empire streets has been the neighborhood misfit. Its large windows had to be boarded up to protect the downtown traffic from viewing the goings-on inside.
Named the Packard Building for the cars it once showcased, the building has recently been known instead for the naked women and video porn on display there.
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It’s not exactly the history investors desire in a new development, particularly a restaurant. But like many people behind the entire downcity revitalization, Eric Moshier and Ann-loren Falsone don’t really care about the past.
The husband and wife, former chefs at the acclaimed Alforno Restaurant, are tearing the plywood shell off and bringing the 87-year-old building into the light again with a high-scale Italian restaurant called Empire. Investors in the restaurant, expected to open in the spring, include the owners of Alforno as well as Arnold “Buff” Chace, new owner of the Packard Building and an active player in downcity development. Others with financial interest include Malcolm and Liz Chace as well as relatives of Falsone’s.
Upon completion of major renovations inside, the owners say the building will become a jewel that will sparkle with the likes of the neighboring Trinity Repertory Co. building.
The transformation of the eyesore has put a smile on the faces of area business owners tired of staring at the signs of its former occupants over the last 20 years, including an adult video store, a strip club – Foxy Lady’s original location — and a string of bars.
“It has been a hangout not conducive to people feeling comfortable. Whether they were hustlers, prostitutes or people leaving the place intoxicated, the crowd wasn’t desirable,” said Robert Whitney of Trinity.
For the last 20 years, Whitney has been the house/operations manager at Trinity, directly across the street from the Packard Building. During that time he has witnessed the ever-changing merchants of the building, its always attention-grabbing clientele and the occasional gun fight.
“It was 20 minutes after our Sunday matinee – 10 to 15 years ago — when these two guys leaving a bar there became involved in an altercation and one pulled a gun and fired. He missed the individual, but the shot went through a lobby window and lodged itself in a poster in our wall,” Whitney said. “Luckily, the audience had left already or it could have been a tragedy.”
Whitney called the restaurant project a godsend that will “make a world of difference” in the arts and entertainment district.
Falsone and Moshier said it will be their pleasure to bring the building to life again.
“You look around this building and you can tell that it was built with a great sense of pride. We want to take everything that happened since the early 1980s and dig it all out and bring that pride back,” said Moshier.
Standing on the first floor, a plywood skeleton of what will be the main bar area behind them, Mosh-ier, 30, and Falsone, 28, described their vision.
“There are those people who will say ‘What, another Italian restaurant in Providence?'” Falsone said. “People have to remember that there is a universe of Italian dishes that are not made locally. We will bring part of that universe to them as well as a beautiful dining area and outside seating.”
The idea of a restaurant was first pitched to Johanne Killeen and George Germon, owners of Alforno’s. Buff Chace of Cornish Associates purchased the building last year for close to $250,000 from the city, which had condemned the building, and wondered if Killeen and Germon were interested. Instead they gave Chace the names of two of their former chefs. After much discussion, Moshier and Falsone not only received investments from Alforno’s owners, but Chace and members of his family.
Chace, who serves as chairman of the board for Trinity, had an interest in finding good neighbors.
“When people come out of Trinity Rep they shouldn’t walk out and stare at a mess that houses an adult video store, among other things,” said Douglas Storrs, vice president of Cornish Associates.
He said when completed the building will not only have a worthwhile use for the public, but its terra cotta design when showcased will complement the similar architecture of Trinity.
Storrs said the project stays in line with Cornish Associates’ attempts to revamp downcity. The company is currently renovating the Alice Building and Smith Building to be used for loft apartments. Also in the works is the construction of a movie theater in downcity.
At the Packard Building, along with scraping the purple wood covering windows and cleaning up the granite, the biggest changes will be inside.
The two-story structure was gutted and rebuilt to suit a restaurant. During the renovation, there were reminders of the building’s seedier past.
“At one point they had peep shows in there. We know that because when we were gutting the place we found the areas used for that type of activity,” Storrs said.
“We were not worrying about what was there, but what will be there,” he added.
When Moshier and Falsone open Empire’s doors as the executive chefs, they will use the building’s unique attributes that have been wasted in the past.
They will use the giant walls of glass once used to display the shiny, new Packards as doors that will open to an outside seating area during warm weather. They will also use its location opposite Trinity to their advantage.
“It’s an incredible location,” Falsone said. “Dinner and theater go hand in hand.”
The couple plan on building a relationship with Trinity, which could include the marketing of each other’s services.
“Yes, instead of having audience members in the second floor lobby of Trinity viewing let’s say various items in the window of the adult book store across the street, they will see a beautiful restaurant,” Whitney said.
While the unsavory relics of the Packard Building were stripped from the building, a couple of items believed to be from its earliest days will play prominently in the restaurant.
A ten-foot mirror with elaborate gold-colored frame will be placed on the wall nearest the stairway leading to the second-floor dining room.
The other remnant, a ceramic molding of cherubs, found in a rear hallway – out of sight for most patrons visiting the former establishments – will be moved in front to serve as a welcoming to patrons entering the restaurant.
