Downtown apartments top list of 2004’s big stories

Just noticed a card tucked deep inside my wallet. It’s a reminder that I am due back to the doctor soon after the first of the year. Let’s just say that at my last appointment this past January I tipped the scales a bit heavy and subsequently made some promises it doesn’t look like I can keep.

Leave it to a doctor’s appointment to remind you of just how fast a year has flown.

This is traditionally a time when we look back on what made big business news in 2004. It’s a subjective exercise, with plenty of room for disagreement. But for what it’s worth, here are my top five business stories of 2005.

1. The onslaught of residential apartments and condominiums downtown: Just a few weeks ago I toured several of the old Foundry buildings off Promenade Street. It’s where 77-year-old architect and developer Antonio Guerra has finished off a completely remodeled Foundry Corporate Office Center and is in the process of completing The Promenade at The Foundry, a 220-unit upscale apartment complex. Guerra’s development sits across the street from The Jefferson apartments.

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Throughout the capital city, in places like Downcity, along Westminster Street and on the outskirts – from Valley Street to the East Side – upscale urban living is returning to Providence. It is, in my opinion, the biggest story of 2004 because it is that next step in the Providence renaissance that so many people have talked about for so long.

2. Bank of America buys Fleet: The red, white and blue logo of the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank started popping up on old Fleet buildings this month as the brand was officially unveiled in Rhode Island. It’s not the only changes we’ve seen.

Since Bank of America completed its $48-billion acquisition of Fleet in April, several Rhode Island executives have left, including Neil D. Steinberg, chairman and CEO of Fleet Rhode Island. Steinberg took a job at Brown University. His replacement is William F. Hatfield, most recently FleetBoston Financial’s vice chairman for Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, who now serves as president of Bank of America Rhode Island.

3. Construction begins at the Masonic Temple: They stopped building the Masonic Temple in 1928. Thankfully, as 2004 drew to a close, they started up again. Plans for the immense building across from the State House have come and gone over the years.

In recent years, an unstable economy seemed the root cause in disrupting those plans. But now, work is under way to transform the long-dormant structure into a 272-room Marriott Renaissance Hotel.

4. Casino removed from November ballot: After all the talk, all the hype – all the television commercials and radio ads – all it took was a ruling by a Superior Court judge and the casino question was off the November ballot.

Ruled unconstitutional, the question of whether the Narragansett Indian Tribe, in conjunction with Harrah’s Entertainment, could build a gambling casino in West Warwick never did come before voters. Most political pundits predicted a close call, had it gone to a vote.

5. GTECH breaks ground: On Dec. 3, West Greenwich-based lottery giant GTECH broke ground on its new world headquarters, to be located in the heart of Capital Center, across from Providence Place. The
$80-million construction project will result in a 10-
story, 210,000-square-foot structure with a parking garage and restaurant and retail space on the ground floor.

That construction has officially begun on the first office building to be built in Providence in 16 years certainly qualifies as one of the top stories of 2004.

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