PROVIDENCE – The Downtown Design Review Committee on Monday granted a third six-month extension for a 10-story apartment project to start construction at 151-155 Chestnut St. in the Jewelry District of Providence. The committee voted unanimously to give the developers more time due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Representing the developer Providence Chestnut I LLC, attorney Robert Stolzman said the project involving a 10-story apartment building at 151-155 Chestnut St. will be ready to break ground in April 2022.
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“We’re on course,” Stolzman said. “There are no substantial changes of design. It’s now all inside-the-box stuff. We’re just slightly delayed. We apologize for the need to come to you. … We’re only months away from permitting and just a few more months away from groundbreaking.”
Kristi Gelnett, chairperson of the Downtown Design Review Committee, was sympathetic to the request, calling it “merely” a continuance due to the pandemic, “which of course we understand.”
Previously, the project was proposed to be 12 stories tall, but that changed late last year when Providence Chestnut I LLC submitted a revised proposal to the committee. The project originally received approval in December 2019 from the committee, along with waivers related to the height of the building and the demolition of two existing structures on the property. The change in height came after a successful legal challenge filed by a neighbor related to zoning bylaws governing building size in a D-1 zone, and the extent of additional height allowed by the Downtown Design Review Committee through a height bonus incentive bylaw.
A neighborhood activist spoke out during a public hearing held Monday night, challenging the Downtown Design Review Committee to deny the extension, claiming that Chestnut I LLC failed to conduct it’s required ongoing work on the project needed for such an extension.
Sharon Steele, president of the Jewelry District Association, said that the pandemic has not halted construction for other nearby projects, pointing to a recent ribbon cutting at the Aloft Providence Downtown hotel as an example.
“Construction is booming in Rhode Island,” Steele said. “We don’t seem to be having problems with COVID.”
Steele also faulted Providence Chestnut I LLC for another one of its buildings at 33 Bassett St., where part of the structure fell off and “nearly killed someone,” and has since been fenced off for 18 months.
Stolzman said the developer has kept that site safe and will remediate problems when construction starts at that location.
Stolzman said that Providence Chestnut I LLC didn’t ask for an excessive amount of time with its extension requests.
“This project is on course,” he said. “It’s taken more time than anticipated, but this isn’t an absurd amount of time we’re talking about, one year, and we’ll be ready to go in months.”
As evidence of continued progress on the project, which is a requirement for the extension, Stolzman claimed the developer has spent $1 million in soft costs such as architecture and legal consulting before the planned groundbreaking, since initially receiving approval in December 2020, with plans to spend millions of dollars more on construction.
In defense of the apartment project, Stolzman said other projects have also been delayed due to the pandemic, including the proposed Fane Tower project and the redevelopment of the Industrial Trust Co. building, also known as the “Superman” building.
(Update: Adds last paragraph with comment from attorney Robert Stolzman.)
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.
