PROVIDENCE – Neighbors and historic preservation advocates have raised concerns over Brown University's plans to demolish four Brook Street homes to clear space for a new economics building.
Area residents have come together with concerns about sustainability, neighborhood character, economic impact, and Brown's "institutional creep" into surrounding neighborhoods, city and preservation leaders say.
However, Brown officials hold that the university's economics program sorely needs a central location, and that the Brook Street site provides an ideal fit for the department's needs. Currently, economics offices and classrooms are spread across five buildings.
While the fate of the four residential buildings has yet to be finalized, demolition seems all but certain if Brown moves forward with its plans. Brown did not identify property addresses but Providence Preservation Society said the four homes are located at 277, 281-283, 287, and 291 Brook Street.
Marisa Angell Brown, executive director of the Providence Preservation Society, says that the nonprofit has "strong concerns about the Brook Street project."
The four homes slated for demolition were built in the 1870s and 1880s and contribute to the College Hill Historic District's listing on the National Register of Historic Places, Angell Brown said. Additionally, two of the houses were built by Alexander Gorham, a Black real estate developer and local philanthropist who supported organizations that cared for older Black women and children of color.
"From what we know so far, we are not convinced that Brown thoroughly explored the possibility of rehabilitating these homes and adding onto them to create a new academic department," Angell Brown said on Tuesday.
Additionally, "demolition and new construction are carbon-intensive activities as construction of new buildings accounts for 10-15% of all carbon emissions worldwide," she noted, "making adaptive reuse the more sustainable choice."
In a Wednesday news release from Brown, university architect Craig Barton says that Brown has considered numerous uses for the site over the years and previously studied potential adaptive reuse of the houses. But the size and internal dimensions of the buildings make them "poor candidates for a modern academic program," according to Barton.
"But part of the work the design team will undertake is to thoroughly explore all options for this site," Barton said.
Brown owns the residential building parcels, which are situated within an I-2 Educational Institutional zone. Due to this designation, the university does not anticipate that it will need additional municipal approvals to move forward with demolition and new construction.
However, the university needs to secure an amendment to its own Institutional Master Plan in order to move forward with construction, and anticipates that it will submit the revision to the Providence City Plan Commission later this year.
Ward 1 Providence City Councilor John Goncalves has also spoken out against the planned demolition. In a letter to Brown University leadership, including President Christina H. Paxson, Goncalves said that abutters have come together with numerous concerns about the planned economics building.
"Over time, we have seen a gradual expansion of institutional presence into what has historically been a residential neighborhood on the periphery of campus," Goncalves wrote. "This proposal feels like a continuation of that pattern.
"In prior periods of growth, significant properties were acquired, removed from the tax rolls and in some cases left underutilized," he continued. "Today, those accumulated holdings position the university to reshape the neighborhood in ways that do not seem to reflect the needs, character or voices of long-standing Providence residents."
Russell Carey, executive vice president for planning and policy at Brown, says the university has over the years increased its efforts to factor neighbors' considerations into development plans.
“We have worked diligently in recent decades to carry out the design and construction of new and renovated academic buildings in a manner that embraces and positively impacts both the campus and the neighborhoods in which we are located,” Carey said. “We’re confident that we will do so again with this project.”
Brown says will hold "a rigorous period of internal and external reviews and a robust community engagement process" as the project progresses, and that university personnel began to communicate details to neighbors and community leaders in March and early April.
(SUBS the fourth paragraph to add property addresses.)
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
