PROVIDENCE – The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission voted Monday evening to allow the R.I. Public Transit Authority to assess the possibility of relocating its transit center to Parcel 35 amid disruptions from concerned transit riders.
The panel agreed not to issue any request for proposals or negotiate with any other party until Oct. 1 regarding the selling of Parcel 35, a 2.15-acre lot between Clifford and Friendship streets.
Members of RI Transit Riders held signs and spoke out in protest of the measure throughout the meeting.
“You are not entitled to just speak,” said Marc Crisafulli, commission chairman, to advocates who continued to interrupt RIPTA’s presentation on its new transit center.
Crisafulli said no public comment was scheduled to be heard on RIPTA’s proposal during Monday’s meeting. Panel members and RIPTA representatives emphasized that there will be more opportunities for public comment throughout the project’s planning process.
City and state leaders, including McKee and Mayor Brett P. Smiley, have supported moving the transit center into the I-195 Redevelopment District, but advocates have expressed concerns about such a move since December when McKee revealed that state leaders were considering district land for the project.
“From a transit perspective, this site is far from many of the most frequented downtown destinations, unlike the current hub location at Kennedy Plaza,” RI Transit Riders and the Kennedy Plaza Resilience Coalition said in a Dec. 16 joint statement responding to McKee’s announcement that leaders were considering I-195 district land. “RI Transit Riders has concerns about whether this location will be safe, central, and rider-friendly enough to be worth the expense.”
Asked in January if the McKee administration had reconsidered support for that location, spokesperson Olivia DaRocha said the administration is “vetting and considering multiple locations, including a parcel of land” in the I-195 district.
RIPTA representatives noted during the meeting that Parcel 35 is just one of the locations under consideration for the new transit hub. Not all of the potential sites have been made public because they are located on private property, said RIPTA CEO Scott Avedisian.
Regardless of where a new hub is located, RIPTA plans to continue to have bus stops at Kennedy Plaza.
Before McKee announced his administration was considering a parcel in the I-195 district, RIPTA was previously considering a five-story indoor bus depot on Dorrance Street. That project was going to include RIPTA administrative offices, a retail space, as well as residential units and parking.
Nevertheless, the panel’s vote marks a key step in getting the process back on track after it had been riddled with delays for years.
On Jan. 30, RIPTA’s board of directors approved a $16.9 million contract with Next Wave Partners to begin the first phase of designing and building the new transit center. Next Wave Partners is a private consortium that includes Gilbane Development Co., Marsella Development, Plenary Americas, CUBE 3 and Jacobs.
RIPTA and Next Wave have said they plan to consider a mixed-use development for the hub, with a first-floor retail space, residential units on upper floors and amenities such as temperature-controlled passenger areas and bike storage.
During the first phase, RIPTA and Next Wave Partners plan to conduct site studies and assessments, get public feedback and develop cost estimates. It was not immediately clear when the project will again be presented.
Along with voting to allow RIPTA time to explore Parcel 35 as a potential site, the panel gave its final stamp of approval for a proposed six-story mixed-use building in the Jewelry District. The project, proposed by Pebb Capital, consists of 191 residential units and one first-floor commercial unit on a portion of Parcel 34 in the district.
Pebb has entered into a land swap agreement with the I-195 commission because the proposed site is located on district land. The project has also gone through the Providence Downtown Design Review Committee’s approval process, earning final plan
approval from committee members on Feb. 12.
(UPDATE recasts the lead, plus additional changes throughout the story.)
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
