On the West Side of Providence, you can now buy artisan breads and pastries, dine on French cuisine in an art nouveau-inspired atmosphere, or have a drink at one of the most popular new bars in town.
And the three new businesses, which have cropped up in the past three months, have gotten local residents and business owners talking about a new momentum, an omen of good things to come for the West Side.
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“The neighborhood is ready,” said Mark Van Noppen, partner of Armory Properties, which owns the building at 342 Broadway where Seven Stars Bakery opened its second store last month (the other is on Hope Street). “It could certainly be more of a destination.”
Armory Properties purchased the property last year in hopes that something very much like Seven Stars would move into it, Van Noppen said.
Though Broadway is already home to several independent specialty stores and restaurants, most of them scattered between the street’s historic houses, Armory Properties wanted to develop the Seven Stars storefront to draw more foot traffic to the area.
For Lynn and Jim Williams, owners of the bakery, the building’s high ceilings and size were a perfect fit. And they “had a feeling we would have a lot of customers over there,” Lynn Williams said, adding she had gotten suggestions from people in the area to locate there.
“The [Hope Street] location is so successful,” she said. “We definitely wanted to be in a neighborhood where we could do the same thing again.”
Laura Hirsch, owner of a specialty gift store called Relish at 377 Broadway, said she has noticed more foot traffic not just since Seven Stars moved nearby, but in general for the past nine months.
“A lot of people are moving here,” she said. “Our business has seen a large amount of new clients from other parts of the state and Boston and New York. There are quite a few visitors and people looking at Providence as a prospective new home.”
Hirsch and her husband, Stephen Pancerev, co-owner of Relish, moved to Providence from Portland, Ore. They decided to open Relish on the West Side, where they were living, about two and a half years ago partly because they “had heard it was an up-and-coming neighborhood,” Hirsch said.
Jonathan Dannenfelser, who opened E&O, a small, eclectic bar at 289 Knight St., three months ago with his brother, Timothy, and business partner Mike Kelly, said for them, it was a matter of timing and familiarity with the neighborhood rather than the area’s reputation.
He and his family “talked about opening a bar for years,” he said, adding that his brother had been a part-owner of Decatur Lounge, a neighborhood bar that closed in March around the corner from E&O.
In addition, when the Knight Street property became available to rent, Dannenfelser had just sold a property in Johnston, so he had enough money to invest.
“[The space] was small enough that we thought we could make it into something comfortable that people would come to,” he said. “As far as how it turned out inside, it just kind of fell together.”
The bar top at E&O is made out of a bowling lane given to the owners by a friend who was redeveloping a bowling alley into a funeral home. And some of the eclectic furniture, such as a hand-shaped wooden chair, was dropped off by a patron.
The bar also features a pool table, a pinball machine and a Pac-Man video game.
For Mark Sears, owner of Loie Fuller’s, a restaurant that opened at 1455 Westminster St. two months ago, the West Side location appealed because it was an opportunity to create a moderately priced gourmet dining option in an area where few exist.
Westminster Street has fewer stores and restaurants than Broadway, though it boasts hip coffee shops such as White Electric and restaurants such as Classic Cafe. Farther down, past gas stations, corner stores and seemingly abandoned industrial space, Loie Fuller’s offers more of a nightlife option.
The restaurant’s decor – inspired by art nouveau in Paris circa 1900 – includes hand-painted murals of nymph-like nature goddesses above a hand-carved wooden bar that serves Belgian beers such as La Chouffe and Mort Subite Framboise on tap.
The menu is adventurous, with options such as green onion and pistachio ravioli in a brown butter and balsamic reduction, and pan-seared sea scallops served atop br?l?ed grapefruit with mixed greens drizzled in a honey citrus vinaigrette.
Asked if he thinks Loie Fuller’s could be an anchor for future businesses to open along the street, Sears said he hopes so, because there are a lot of young professionals buying condos in the area, and not enough access to services they need.
Amahl Harik, owner of Method Fitness, a high-end personal training studio at 755 Westminster St., said he sees the same need.
“The housing stock is gorgeous … and it’s attracting people, but they are asking: Where do we go to eat?” he said.
Harik moved to the West Side from Boston about six years ago. Since then he’s seen that the area has a “really cool, eclectic, funky vibe that attracts that type of business and consumer.”
The addition of Loie Fuller’s and Seven Stars, he said, continues the evolution of that area into a destination – the way that Wickenden Street and Thayer Street are on the East Side.
But the area still has challenges to overcome. Westminster Street needs an improved streetscape, for instance, said Kari Nel Lang, executive director of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association.
Eight years ago, the association was granted $785,000 in federal funding for street improvements, including new decorative lighting. But that project has yet to begin, she said, because of bureaucratic delays in the city and the R.I. Department of Transportation.
The West Side also needs a business association that brings together business owners to market jointly, Nel Lang said, because “a lot of times, when you look at [promotional] maps of Providence, they forget the West Side.” Harik recently began trying to organize such a group.
“It’s such a great area,” Williams said. “There are so many gems … hopefully more [businesses] will open up, because the more businesses … the more people will come … I think Broadway is on that track.”
