Housing was never expected to be at the forefront of development in Providence’s I-195 Redevelopment District.
Back in 2011, then-Mayor Angel Taveras called the newly created district a ”once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to bring jobs and commercial investment to the city.
But success, he said, would depend heavily on fiscal recovery for Providence, which was then facing a $110 million budget deficit.
The city would need to get back on “firm financial footing,” the mayor said, to attract the hoped-for investment.
Fast forward to 2025, and the city in many ways is still seeking the firm financial footing that Mr. Taveras and many others have envisioned since 19 acres of former highway land was made available for development.
That reality, exacerbated by a multiyear pandemic that soured investment in urban areas across the nation, has limited job creation in the district.
Housing, meanwhile, is prominent among the 13 projects completed or in the works in the district.
That doesn’t mean the commission marketing the land has given up on the initial vision. There has been some commercial development and land is being reserved for more.
But, as this week’s cover story reports, developers have increasingly focused on much-needed housing. That’s left the commission to rightly respond to the demand.
Want to see more job-spurring investment in and out of the district? It will take an improved economy and a fiscally healthier city, just as the former mayor presaged 14 years ago.