When it comes to new construction, the I-195 Redevelopment District in Providence has been quiet for a while.
It’s been about a year since work was completed on the three buildings on what is known as Parcel 6 – which includes a Trader Joe’s grocery store, 60 apartments and other storefronts – on the east side of the Providence River.
Now construction workers and equipment have gathered again, this time for two long-awaited projects on either side of the river, with more projects quickly approaching start dates.
“This is a really exciting time in the 195 district,” said Caroline Skuncik, executive director of the I-195 Redevelopment District. “We have several active construction sites, and we are pleased with what’s in the pipeline as well. We made some big steps forward in 2023 to increase housing, lab space and recreation spaces and we have a lot of good work ahead of us.”
One of these sites is Parcel 25. In August, developers broke ground on a highly anticipated life sciences building at Richmond and Clifford streets. The approximately 210,000-square-foot facility is set to house a new laboratory for the R.I. Department of Health, as well as space for commercial and institutional tenants. Brown University has signed a letter of intent to anchor a lab in the building.
As of Oct. 18, below-grade construction work has been completed and foundations are in the process of being framed, according to Peter Calkins, vice president of project developer Ancora L&G LLC.
Construction on the building and preparations for the state’s lab facility are expected to be completed in the summer of 2025. Plans call for Brown to occupy its space shortly after, but the buildout of the remaining commercial space will depend on the pace of leasing, Calkins says.
Across the river on a 1-acre, crescent-shaped lot between Our Lady of The Rosary Church and Interstate 195, construction has started on a 127-unit apartment building that will offer homes to people with various incomes, affordable housing that many say the city desperately needs.
The first phase of construction on a building that will contain 66 apartments, retail space and a child care facility began in August and is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, says Charlie Adams, regional vice president of Pennrose LLC, the Philadelphia-based project developer.
Applications for tenants will open about a month or two before the construction is complete, and phase two will include an additional 61 market-rate, workforce, and affordable apartments. Adams says there is no definitive timeline for phase two’s construction.
Pennrose is still generating funding, but under the best-case scenario, construction would start in the first quarter of 2025, Adams says.
Across South Main Street, another project is in the works on parcels 8 and 8A. It’s a 55,000-square-foot building that will be anchored by the headquarters for Bank Rhode Island and will include 114 market-rate and workforce residential units. It’s being developed by D+P Real Estate Advisors LLC and Truth Box Inc.
Construction is expected to begin in 2024, but Jordan Durham, principal of D+P Real Estate, says the project is facing some delays because of economic headwinds.
After the groundbreaking, Durham says construction will take about two years to complete.
“We’re wrestling with sudden changes in the economy and with interest rates,” Durham said. “We’re continuing to move forward and are hoping to get under construction soon.”
The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission has issued a request for proposals for the development of Parcel 1A, a one-quarter-acre sliver of land nestled between South Water Street and the river.
Previously, a plan for a 52-room boutique hotel was abandoned when it appeared it wouldn’t get the approvals of state coastal regulators.
Now the commission is seeking proposals that “foster development that is pedestrian-friendly and mixed-use, activates the park, and creates a continuous urban fabric linking the Fox Point neighborhood to the Providence River,” the RFP said.