Celtics co-owner’s Wayland Square project proposal limits car spaces, favors bicycles

A Wayland Square mixed use residential project is favoring bicycles instead of parking spaces. But the Providence Planning Commission, during its meeting on Tuesday, put a pause approving the master plan, posting deliberations at the applicant’s request until a Sept 28 meeting. The commission has lingering questions about parking and the height of the building. / COURTESY PROVIDENCE CITY PLAN COMMISSION
A PROPOSED WAYLAND SQURE mixed use residential project is favoring bicycles instead of parking spaces. But the Providence City Plan Commission, during its meeting on Tuesday, put a pause approving the master plan, postponing deliberations at the applicant’s request until a Sept 28 meeting. The commission has lingering questions about parking and the height of the building. / COURTESY PROVIDENCE CITY PLAN COMMISSION

PROVIDENCE – The Providence City Plan Commission is calling a timeout in the approval process for a new mixed-use development in Wayland Square, asking for additional information from the design team representing Boston Celtics co-owner and local real estate investor Stephen Lewinstein, whose bicycle-friendly proposal involves a five-story building with zero parking spots for ground-floor retail.

The developers behind the project, which would be located at 230 Waterman Street, said they qualify for an exemption from city parking space requirements for the proposed first floor retail units, by including plans for showers, locker facilities and other accommodations for bicyclists. The 38 residential units on the upper floors of the building will be supported by just 20 parking spaces, the developers said.

The commission heard from residents of the neighborhood during a public information meeting on Tuesday at the Joseph Doorley Municipal Building on a proposed master plan submitted by Myles Standish Associates, a partnership between Celtics co-owner Stephen R. Lewinstein and Capstone Properties, to construct a new five-story, mixed-use building in the place of the Monahan Drabble Sherman Funeral Home in a C-2 commercial district. Ultimately, the commission’s review of the master plan was continued to a Sept. 28 public meeting, at the applicant’s request, amid lingering concerns about the parking capacity and building height.

The developers requested approval for dimensional adjustments for the proposed 64-foot-tall building, since the city only allows four stories and 50 feet by right. Myles Standish Associates also sought a dimensional adjustment for its 20 spaces of reduced parking, when typically 39 parking spaces are required for a project of this magnitude. Zuena said a city zoning provision related to bicycle accommodations allows for the reduction of the required 39 parking spaces by up to 50 percent.

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Opponents of the project at the corner of Waterman Street and Wayland Avenue said it needs to be scaled down, and that the parking would not be adequate, including one man who likened the proposal to a “Godzilla monster” coming to a quaint neighborhood, where many of the neighboring building are two stories tall. One of the neighboring properties is McBride’s Pub.

“This new building will loom over our neighborhood,” said Barry Preston, a resident of Medway Street. “We urge this planning board to send them back to the drawing board to come forward with a building that does not require any adjustments and that has parking as required by the city ordinances, that we all would love.”

Eric Zuena, managing principal and founder of ZDS, which is designing the building, said the building fits in with the pedestrian commercial corridor and would add much needed retail opportunities to the neighborhood. Zuena said the front street-facing section of the structure stands at four stories tall, while the section in the back is five stories.

Zuena also said the idea of incorporating the existing funeral building as part of the project was scrapped because renters don’t want to live in a former funeral home. Myles Standish Associates bought the historic building earlier this year for $1 million and plans to demolish it. An organization called the Providence Preservation Society has been urging the project developers to incorporate the existing structure built in 1892.

THE PROPOSED project would be located at 230 Waterman Street in Providence. / COURTESY GOOGLE

From our client’s perspective, a building that is used for a funeral would be a tough market proposition,” Zuena said.

Providence City Plan Commission Chairperson Christine West said she wanted to hear more of a justification for why the height requirements of the building should be altered, based on a comparison to the existing structures in the neighborhood.

I think a more robust presentation of height analysis would be useful,” West said. “The burden of proof is always on the applicant. … It’s a very heterogeneous neighborhood and I think casting a wider net in terms of the neighborhood context would be very helpful.”

Lewinstein, who has been a property owner in Wayland Square since 1971, spoke briefly about his passion for the neighborhood and his confidence in how this project could make it a better place.

“I had a vision for Wayland Square and I have a tremendous amount of my net worth in Wayland Square,” Lewinstein said. “I think this is going to be a beautiful building. I would never obviously build anything that was not a huge plus for Wayland Square because it would affect my other properties and my own personal wellbeing.”

Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. The politics of “no” abounds in Providence. This is a welcome modern look to a neighborhood that has many apartment buildings, many of which are visually undistinguished and dated. Some of the groups protesting have far more in common with the Taliban than the forces of progress and modernity.

  2. 20 parking spots for 38 units and no parking for the first floor retail units, what could possibly be wrong with that? Another plus is that the building is reminiscent of Soviet housing.