After six months of workshops and meetings, GTECH and its architects are one
step closer to starting construction on the company’s new world headquarters
in Providence’s Capital Center.
The Capital Center Commission’s Design Review Committee voted unanimously Nov. 9 to approve the plans for parcel 9, located at the corner of Memorial Boulevard and Francis Street, across the street from Providence Place mall, bordering Waterplace Park.
Al Spagnolo, principal architect of Spagnolo Gisness & Associates in Boston, presented a polished, detailed rendering of the 210,000-square-foot, 10-story headquarters. GTECH will occupy the first four office floors – five through eight – leaving the top two for office tenants. Almost the entire ground level will be devoted to retail – 91 percent, according to Spagnolo – and the next three levels will be a 250-space parking garage.
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“We’ve come a long way to create a building that we think will come to be known as the gateway of Providence,” Spagnolo said. “The site is easily inspired by Waterplace itself. We took a minimalist approach to the building façade and materials.” Spagnolo added that he thought the building would be a “great contribution to the city of Providence.”
Along the park, restaurants and retail are expected to encourage pedestrian traffic, along with a walkway and outdoor seating. A 28-foot, one-lane entrance to the parking garage will be located on Francis Street, creating a bridge over the pedestrian walkway.
The culmination of the GTECH presence, the 13-story glass tower at the corner of the front façade, will be transparent, a tower within a tower, to allow for nighttime illumination. The very top will be slightly set back from the rest of the façade, with an interior grid-like metal core, in which the GTECH logo will float. The entrance pavilion will also feature the logo.
In addition to metal screens that will be placed over the parking garage to minimize its impact, Spagnolo said the glass used on the retail spaces will be transparent, while the office space glass will have a darker blue tint and be a little more reflective.
The glass, metal screening and light-hued cement colors are designed to coordinate with the concrete and metal used in the building’s construction. Landscaping and a pedestrian sidewalk going from the park down Francis and to Memorial will be designed to be a continuation of the building’s design, said landscape architect William D. Warner, who also designed Waterplace Park.
“It celebrates a site that’s around the building, instead of serving as a barrier,” he said.
David Dixon, a design consultant for the committee, said in a letter that because of the location of the building and its significance that the GTECH design should be scrutinized, but praised the design efforts of the firm.
While members of the committee reserved their comments for the motion to approve the plans, other officials and members of the public were vocal in their endorsement of the project.
“The Providence Foundation wholeheartedly endorses this project,” said Executive Director Dan Baudouin, adding that the building will enhance the park and the river walk.
“This is the building that catapults us into the 21st century. This will set the stage for all of the things to come in the city of Providence,” said Charles T. Francis, president of CB Richard Ellis Whittier Partners New England.
Peter Borgemeister, a Providence architect, said he was concerned with the degree to which the GTECH building deviated from the others in the Capital Center.
“The beauty of the Capital Center now is that there is a consistency – mostly all of the buildings are brick, and low,” he said. “I’m concerned that this will damage the integrity of the Capital Center.” And although GTECH’s building will stand out from the others, in time, there will be more contemporary buildings, Borgemeister said. A Providence resident echoed his comments, adding that the boxy building would only detract from the area.
In a letter sent to the committee, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Michael McMahon expressed the EDC’s support of the project.
“The new headquarters represents an investment of approximately $70 million within the city,” he said. “GTECH has also committed to an additional $10 million of improvements at their manufacturing facility in West Greenwich.”
McMahon cited that GTECH has agreed to employ an average of 1,000 full-time active employees beginning Jan.1, 2008, through a 20-year term. The company also anticipates that employment will increase to 1,200 by 2008, with 100 jobs added at the downtown headquarters and 175 jobs at the West Greenwich facility.
GTECH and the architects must still get final approval from the Capital Center Commission. The public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18.
