Providence developer plans apartments at former bed and breakfast

PROVIDENCE LIVING is trying to turn the Old Court bed and breakfast building at 144 Benefit St. into 12 luxury apartments, but the project is facing opposition from a member of the City Council Ordinance Committee. / COURTESY CITY OF PROVIDENCE

PROVIDENCE – A proposal to turn a former bed and breakfast in Providence into luxury apartments recently received pushback at a City Council Ordinance Committee meeting.

The committee voted March 15 on a continuance after city councilors said they heard from neighborhood residents who oppose a plan to transform The Old Court bed and breakfast building at 144 Benefit St. into 12 luxury apartments.

Providence Living, the residential development and management firm, which is owned by real estate investor Dustin Dezube, was before the committee as it seeks City Council approval for a zoning change of the property from R-2 to C-2 that’s needed for the project to move forward.

No date has been set yet for the next Ordinance Committee meeting.

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Ward 2 City Councilwoman Helen Anthony said rezoning the former bed and breakfast could lead to “zoning creep” and that other properties in the area would seek to become C-2, citing approval of this potential zoning change should it be approved. C-2, she said, allows for a much more “intensive” use of the property.

“That is a significant intensive use that will have an adverse impact on that particular neighborhood,” Anthony said. “I think you’ve heard that from a number of the residents. … Our job is to protect the character of our neighborhoods. … I think this intensification of use is just unreasonable.”

Anthony recommended a denial of the zoning change, also claiming that the three-story property lacks enough parking for the apartment proposal, with only six lots behind the building. The developer said there were eight to nine spaces available for the building, she said.

“It’s a significant problem,” she said.

The bed and breakfast renovation proposal by Providence Living includes two “garden-level” units, two units at the street level, and four units each on levels three and four of the building.

“With the exception to minor in-kind improvements such as repainting and cleaning of the masonry and replacing windows, no material changes are proposed to the exterior of the building,” according to a project scope plan submitted by Providence Living to the city.

Dezube recently told Providence Business News that he hopes to gain approval from the City Council for the zoning change and then get the building renovated and occupied by the end of the year.

“My vision is to respect the historic architecture, using a very light touch to renovate the building, and for the most part leaving its current configuration in place,” Dezube said. “I’ve always admired that building. When I was attending Brown [University], I used to walk by it all the time and thought it was a beautiful building.”

Councilman Pedro Espinal said another public hearing on the rezoning proposal will have to be held as part of City Council procedure due to the continuance. Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris, the deputy majority leader of the City Council, said she wanted to hear more public input on the proposal.

“There has not been a robust community engagement,” Harris said. “That’s something very important to me, that the community understands exactly what’s going on.”

Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.

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