In the past year, Providence Living has bought prominent properties throughout the city, including the Hotel Dolce Villa on Federal Hill, the former Club Karma in the Jewelry District and the bed-and-breakfast called The Old Court on College Hill.
But owner Dustin Dezube, whose company now owns 68 buildings with 217 apartment units throughout the city, said he doesn’t consider himself a major player in the Providence real estate scene even as he’s turning all these newly acquired properties into luxury apartments.
“I don’t necessarily,” Dezube said. “But I do view myself as someone who cares deeply about the city of Providence, who is passionate about adaptive reuse. I look forward to continuing to work in and with the city to create peaceful places for people to live.”
However, the growth for his company, which previously operated under the name Providence Student Living and started off by renting primarily to undergraduates, accelerated rapidly over the past couple years, Dezube said. It did so while broadening its demographics. Dezube said his portfolio now only includes 15% student housing.
“We’re very busy,” Dezube said. “We’ve grown substantially over the last several years.”
Last year, the company took another step by adding an architecture division, Providence Architecture, led by Kevin Diamond, who has three employees working under him. And the company’s construction wing now has three senior project managers supervising 16 construction workers.
But the rise of Dezube’s company hasn’t come without controversy, with claims made by tenants in the press that he and his business have neglected the needs of renters and provided subpar living conditions, allegations he vigorously defends himself against.
In news reports earlier this year, several tenants complained about heating problems, mold growth in a basement, water damage to a bedroom ceiling, exposed wires and other prolonged maintenance issues.
Dezube, who described the reports as painting an unfair picture of him as a slumlord by “leaving out critical pieces of information,” said his company’s maintenance team faced staffing problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic but has since scaled up to respond to maintenance issues.
“It’s really important for me to make my tenants comfortable,” Dezube said. “It hurt to see a lot of what we’re doing portrayed in a negative light by omitting key information. … The people I’ve worked with know my values and know what I stand for and they know that’s not an accurate portrayal of my company, myself and my team members.”
Dezube, who grew up in Newton, Mass., says he received an associate degree in restaurant management from Johnson & Wales University and graduated from Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School in 2013 before ultimately pursuing real estate, said he’s now pushing ahead to provide new “high-end” products, including town homes that he renovated and is now selling.
“It’s exciting,” Dezube said. “I think the key has been trying to keep an open mind to investments and look for opportunities that are not necessarily the most obvious thing … keeping in mind all the stakeholders and trying to work with all of them to come up with agreements and deals where everyone feels like they’re winning.”
OWNER: Dustin Dezube
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Real estate development and rental agency
LOCATION: 269 Wickendon St., Providence
EMPLOYEES: 25
YEAR FOUNDED: 2016
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.
