Allens Ave waterfront development plan faces new scrutiny from mayor-elect

A vision nurtured by Mayor David N. Cicilline to redevelop the Providence waterfront along Allens Avenue could face rough waters as a new mayor prepares to take over.
As a candidate, and again as mayor-elect, Angel Taveras has expressed trepidation about allowing developments such as hotels and offices to coexist with the strip clubs, ship repairers and oil distributors that dot the area squeezed between Interstate 95 and Narragansett Bay.
Business owners in the corridor have long argued that the addition of nonindustrial uses would push them out as the new neighbors complain about their gritty looks and potent smells. Their message may have resonated with Taveras, a private lawyer and the city’s former Housing Court judge.
“Our working waterfront is an extremely valuable economic asset and as mayor I will work to protect it from development that could endanger the industrial productivity of the area,” Taveras said in a Nov. 5 statement.
As a candidate, Taveras was more overt, telling WJAR-TV NBC 10 in May that “I don’t support” proposed changes to zoning ordinances that govern the Allens Avenue area. The Democrat went further, saying he was “not convinced” mixed use would deliver the economic growth and jobs the city so desperately needs.
City councilors have been slow to advance the proposal delivered to them in May by the City Plan Commission after a 3-2 vote. And the proposal will remain in a sort of City Council purgatory until Taveras takes his seat, predicted Councilman Michael Solomon, whose committee has held hearings on the zoning changes.
Solomon, who after winning re-election is in line to become the council president next year, said he wants to speak with Taveras before moving ahead. “I have to sit down with the incoming mayor and get his thoughts and what he sees and that will definitely play into this,” Solomon said.
Solomon could not predict whether the zoning changes would pass under a new mayor and City Council. Without Cicilline – who won a bid for Congress – the proposal loses one of its most vocal and powerful champions.
Other backers remain, however, including Councilman Luis Aponte, who won re-election this month and introduced the zoning amendments before the council. Aponte, who represents most of the Allens Avenue area, continues to believe the corridor remains underdeveloped.
He said the latest tweaks to the proposal protect existing businesses by expressly prohibiting – through deed restrictions – new businesses from complaining about their existing neighbors.
And as for Taveras and his potential opposition: “I think that he’s a reasoned man and when he looks at what we’ve done and what’s proposed I think the merits of the argument will carry the day,” Aponte said.
Along Allens Avenue, the mood remains tense despite the Taveras win.
“We’re still keeping our guard up,” said John Everson, president of asphalt manufacturer Narragansett Improvement. “We’re hopefully optimistic but we’ll have to see what happens.”
Promet Marine Services Corp. co-owner Joel Cohen said Taveras’ statements as a candidate appeared reassuring, but he said Cicilline, while running for his first term, also appeared sympathetic.
“We’re always nervous until we see the change effected but I would say we’re very cautiously optimistic,” Cohen said.
Cohen wants to see the city reach finality with the debate that has dragged on for years in spurts dating back to the administration of Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr. The discussions, Cohen argues, leave business owners like him uneasy about the area’s future and unlikely to invest in upgrades that could spark economic development. “There has to be a sign,” Cohen said. “We’re not waiting for God to give us a sign that he exists, we’re just waiting for an endorsement and a little encouragement from the city fathers.”
Waiting for a very different sign is developer Stanton Shifman. The managing director of Rhode Island Medical Arts LLC unveiled a plan last summer to construct a long-term acute-care hospital, a hotel, offices and a private marina on the site of Providence Piers, next to Promet.
The proposal drew sharp criticism from local business owners, who complained the complex would not mesh with the surrounding industrial uses.
Cicilline and some elected officials called the medical facility a chance to create jobs and grow a health care-centered economy. Shifman says the project would create 2,000 jobs and revitalize the area better known for its brightly colored strip clubs than medical research.
Earlier this month, he told Providence Business News the project remains on the table, though much depends on if the city approves the zoning changes necessary to allow the facility.
“I’d stick with it if there were logical people who could prevail within the city and the state,” he said. “We’re not ready to walk away at this point and I wouldn’t declare any deadlines.”
Shifman said he also needs Providence Piers owner Patrick Conley to work out his own financial problems. Conley entered into bankruptcy this year after banks came close to foreclosing on his property multiple times.
Conley, through his assistant, declined to comment for this article. •