Living downtown…really

This summer, he plans to renew his lease for another year.

That’s big news.

It’s big news because it is so important to downtown’s economic landscape that professionals, along with students, retirees and others, begin to commit to living downtown on a permanent basis.

Alexander’s is a success story for downtown, adding credence to what was not too long ago an outlandish and impractical concept; that of establishing a real residential component to our downtown – more specifically, to Downcity, in the city’s old core.

But this important step in the city wasn’t going to happen without changes downtown. Thankfully, those changes are happening.

A community policing effort is underway throughout the city, including downtown. That means a much stronger police presence. A business improvement district is being established.

The Downcity Partnership, an arm of the Rhode Island Foundation, is working with a consultant to solicit information and advice from property owners to help create the right mix of commercial tenants to complement residences.

There is a real sense that much is happening downtown. No where is that more evident than in the historic buildings that have been – and are being – rehabilitated by Cornish Associates.

The developers are currently rehabbing the Burgess, O’Gorman and Lerner buildings on Westminster Street. When completed, those buildings will add to the residential presence at the Smith and Alice buildings.

Those properties are mostly occupied.

That Alexander has had such a positive experience living downtown is a good sign.

He likes to walk down the street for pastry and a paper in the morning. And he’s had no trouble finding late-night eats. And even with Lupo’s, the rock ’n’ roll nightclub located across the street, he says he’s never been awakened in the middle of the night.

“I sleep with the windows open,” he said.

Alexander would like to see more people move into his neighborhood. It appears he’ll get his wish – and more. Now developers are talking about a grocery store, a video store, a liquor store and other retail outlets like a home furnishing store and maybe a bookstore.

None of this seemed possible a short time ago. Now it does.

We hope whether it is through the Downcity Partnership, or independently, members of the Providence City Council, city officials and prospective business owners reach out and make contact with those individuals who are living in these rehabilitated buildings. Ask them what’s working – and what isn’t. Learn from them.

And recognize that building a residential component is no longer the unthinkable, but a realistic and practical goal.