James J. Karam is CEO and president of First Bristol Corp., which in March completed renovating the former St. Francis Chapel into the Hampton Inn & Suites Providence Downtown. Last week Preserve Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission recognized the multimillion dollar renovation with a Historic Rehab Tax Credit Project Award..
PBN: Can you tell us a little about the historical significance of the Hampton Inn project?
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KARAM: This project represented a $15 million investment into an 80-year-old historically significant structure in a prime location of the Financial District. Typical of the commercial buildings in its day during the 1920s, it not only housed the Old Colony Bank, but had been used for a number of business applications including commercial banking and professional office space. Finally, in the 1980s it became the home of St. James Chapel, which provided religious and social services to many people in the Downcity area on the lower floors.
Preserving the architectural features of its day, both on the exterior and within the main lobby, provided an opportunity to preserve a great historic structure for many years to come.
PBN: Is there a particular element that you were especially pleased to save and restore?
KARAM: Certainly preserving the exterior of the building with its distinctive traditional red brick design outlined with elements of white marble columns and parapets along the perimeter was of particular importance. However, the area that we were most pleased with was the interior two-story lobby, with its ornate plastered ceilings, the palladium windows, and marble columns that provided a natural impression of a very high-end classic hotel lobby.
PBN: Would it not have been easier to simply tear down the old structure?
KARAM: If it were not for the historic tax credits, both on a federal and state level, involved in the rehabilitation of the building, it would not have been economically feasible to rehabilitate this structure. Although in many ways it would have been easier to tear down the old structure, it would have been a great loss to the city of Providence in terms of the historic significance and the architecture it has provided over the last 80 years. Weybosset Street has been a commercial connector to the East Side of Providence for centuries, as business was conducted along this street, and people traveled back to their residences on the hill.
Providing a high-end first-class hotel experience at a reasonable price by using the Historic Tax Credit program to lower the overall development cost was a win-win situation for both the community and our guests who visit the city of Providence.
PBN: Will the elimination of the state historic tax credit limit your ability to undertake similar projects in the future?
KARAM: Yes. Obviously, historic rehabilitation work will drop off dramatically in Providence and other communities without the advantage of the tax credit program going forward. This is clearly one of those incentives designed to direct investment into reuse and preserving historically significant structures in a community, and therefore without this added benefit it is simply not economically feasible to undertake such developments.
We were pleased that we were able to build during this time frame, as the tax credit support was able to preserve one of Providence’s outstanding buildings, while at the same time enhancing other economic opportunities in the city as a result of the synergy between the hotel and those we are trying to attract to the city for business, leisure and convention travel. In terms of the environment, there is obviously nothing greener than reusing an existing structure, as opposed to demolition and then using new materials
We were thrilled to recently learn that our Hampton Inn & Suites was selected as one of the outstanding historic rehabilitation projects in the state of Rhode Island for 2009, by the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission and it was also nominated for the outstanding conversion of the year award in 2009 nationally by Hilton Hotels.
PBN: Any other similar projects in the pipeline?
KARAM: At this point of the recession and absent the Historic Rehab Credit program, we currently do not have similar projects in the pipeline. However, as we anticipate coming out of this recession in the next year or two, we are examining other opportunities that may present themselves for 2010 construction starts with 2011 openings.
