director of the Providence
Foundation. (Brian McDonald)
Sometimes names can be deceptive.
Ask Providence Foundation Executive Director Daniel A. Baudouin about the mission of the 27-year-old organization, and he is quick to point out that the revitalization of Rhode Island’s capital city is beneficial to more than just the city’s inhabitants.
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“Most recently, issues that are important to downtown are important to the state,” he said. “I think in the last 10 years or so it has become apparent that the future of Providence is going to affect the state, but it’s beyond that. It’s the whole region. When you look at the mall, it reaches into Connecticut and Massachusetts. The advantage of redeveloping downtown. It positions the city to be the center of a region of three or four million people as opposed to just the state.”
The Providence Foundation was formed in 1974 by the business and institutional community with the goal of revitalizing Downcity. The organization works with the state and federal government to obtain funding for development projects and conducts planning studies, such as “Illuminate Providence” which outlines a master lighting plan for the city.
Today, the foundation’s membership is representative of 100 companies and organizations, including CVS, Citizens Bank Rhode Island, Textron Financial Corporation, Verizon Rhode Island, Roger Williams Medical Center and Rhode Island College.
“It’s always been a fairly small organization,” said Baudouin, who is one of a staff of two. “Our administration is funded by contributions from those 100 companies. We’re more of a planning and advocacy foundation.”
Providence can count the opening of the Courtyard by Marriott and the commencement of the Kennedy Plaza reconstruction project among its successes of the past year. In the early days of the organization, the Providence Foundation placed its energies on a few specific landmark projects it felt would be instrumental to a vital downtown Providence: the Biltmore Hotel, the Arcade and the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Since then, Baudouin said “there’s been a dramatic shift in the makeup of downtown.” Elevated tracks and derelict buildings have made way for Capital Center and Providence Place.
Many of the Providence Foundation’s projects are long-ranging and tediously carried out. The relocation of Route 195, for example, is a project the group has worked on for 10 years – and is anticipated to continue for at least the next eight.
The highway, Baud-ouin said, serves 250,000 each day.
“The current road is falling down,” he said. “It was built in the 1950s before the interstate highway system was built.”
Another of the Providence Foundation’s current projects is the promenade along South Water Street.
So-called Contract 3 – on the west side of the river – will be fashioned into a linear park through which pedestrians will be able to walk from downtown to Heritage Harbor and the Jewelry District. Baudouin estimated the project’s completion to be late this fall or next spring. The east side of the river will be finished sometime this fall.
Baudouin admitted that when it comes to downtown Providence, “we still have a ways to go,” but “a lot of things have happened. If you look all through the Financial District, the Jewelry District, utilization is really very high.”
Ironically, many downtown business owners feel the same mall that draws shoppers into Providence from other states has also had damaging effects on the retail district in the city’s core – and downtown business owners have been vocal about the fact that Providence Place does not attract crowds into downtown Providence as had been hoped.
“People may be disappointed that it wasn’t the savior of downtown, but it’s put Providence on the map for all the regional retail chains,” Baudouin said. “They know we’re here. Now it’s up to everyone to take advantage of this regional attraction.”
Much has also been said about the relocation of Travelers’ Aid as being of utmost importance to downtown’s renewal, but Baudouin said the key to a successful, vital business district does not lie with any particular project, but in a “series of steps and strategies.”
Today, the target zone for downtown’s revitalization is its Downcity area at the city’s core, and he said that projects like the Conrad Building and the Alice Building (which is being converted into apartments, and should be ready by October, Baudouin said) are proof that progress is being made.
“I think the groundwork is there for that to happen,” he said. “Things are happening too slow for a lot of people, but it’s a manageable thing. I think in the next few years, we’re going to see a complete turnaround.”
The Providence Foundation is working with the various security forces downtown, including security at Downcity’s colleges and state and local police, to improve communications between the city’s security officers by using a common system. The security network is still in the planning phases, but it is modeled after similar systems in Hartford and Portland.
Baudouin said the foundation also has among its goals to help complete fundraising for the relocation of Travelers’ Aid and to work with the state on the Garrahy Courthouse garage.
As for obstacles along the way, “funding is always a challenge,” Baudouin said. “No matter what you do, it all comes down to money.”
Baudouin emphasized that the Providence Foundation is a non-partisan group, but has relied on teamwork – close relationships with city officials and the public at large – to be a success.
“Since we don’t run projects ourselves – we’re only two people – it all comes from working with the city, the state and the federal government,” he said. “People in the public and private sector really have a similar vision for revitalizing the city. We really want to take advantage of our environment and the resources we already have in place. It’s a tremendous partnership, a great cooperation of the public and private sectors.”
