PROVIDENCE – Fane tower developers are proposing new changes to the building’s design, the latest development in a lengthy journey for the controversial project.
The Fane Organization has submitted design modifications to the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission that would alter the façade of the $300 million luxury tower, proposed on former Interstate 195 land at 250 Dyer St.
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New York developer Jason Fane said in a statement that the changes to the design were made to reduce costs and “maintain project feasibility.”
“After seven years of design work and legal battles, our team has created a spectacular building plan,” said Fane. “The latest round of design changes preserves our core vision of an iconic modern residential tower with best-of-class amenities, a state-of-the-art gym and outdoor gardens atop the podium and breathtaking unobstructed panoramic views from almost every apartment, while dealing with a different economy than last year.
“The current economy of inflation, recession and supply chain issues, increased construction costs and higher financing costs required cost reduction by more efficient design to maintain project feasibility,” Fane added. “We now have an elegant design that can get built.”
The newly proposed design changes the building’s façade, adding “curvilinear lines and rounded corners” and reducing the number and size of balconies. The podium will be reduced in height, going from six to four stories, which will allow the tower to have three additional floors of residential units.
While the building’s height will remain the same, at 550 feet, the total number of stories increased from 46 to 47. With the new changes, the building will now have a first floor with a retail space, a lobby and spaces for building functions; parking space spanning three stories; and 43 stories of residential units.
The revised concept “provides greater stability in a more efficient structure, as well as better interior apartment layouts,” the organization said in a statement.
Fane spokesperson Jim Malachowski said the developers are anticipating to present the plan at a hearing before the I-195 Commission in January.
Fane’s journey to bring the luxury complex to Providence has not been without hurdles, with the project running into repeated delays and extensions of deadlines since it was first unveiled in 2016.
In July, Fane signed a commitment letter, giving him seven months to finalize construction documents, select a contractor and secure final financing for the construction for the tower.
In late June, the R.I. Supreme Court struck down a lawsuit, filed by Peter Scotti & Associates, Inc. and Building Bridges Providence, claiming that the tower’s proposed height, which required a zoning amendment, was inconsistent with goals the city had outlined in its “Providence Tomorrow” comprehensive plan.
With the R.I. Supreme Court’s go-ahead, the project received a significant boost after years of setbacks.
The project has received mixed support over the years. Mayor Jorge O. Elorza vetoed the zoning change needed to surpass height limits to build the controversial tower in 2018, but the Providence City Council later voted to override Elorza’s veto. State officials, including Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio and House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, have expressed their support for the project.
Opponents, such as Scotti and Building Bridges Providence, say that the proposed building, which would stand at around 530 feet tall, would dramatically alter Providence’s skyline.
The tower would be about 100 feet taller than the city’s current tallest building, the 428-feet Industrial Trust Co., or Superman building.
(Update: Support for project clarified in 14th paragraph)
Horrible! They made an already ugly but interesting design and made it more look duller, less interesting and more corporate.
Providence deserves better.
Thankfully the renovated Superman Building will outshine this monstrosity!
Bad deal for taxpayers. Also, way too few parking spaces.
Very unfortunate for our City that this out of scale building doesn’t go away! The opportunity to expand the park into a meeting
place for all of our citizens, much as the Michael Van Leesten bridge has become, with an
Appropriately scaled building that reads Providence rather than this proposed structure that looks eerily like an air purifier or a HVAC
Unit