Thousands of people form their first impression of Providence by looking up at the service roads from Interstate 95. Imagine what kinds of stunning places could draw passers-by into our city and make them want to stop, stay and explore downtown or our west and south sides?
We have an opportunity this very moment to make that kind of an impact, to set a precedent of high-quality ,urban design for our city’s most visible buildings, and to stand up for development that is worthy of our capital city and the investment so many of us have made here.
On March 21, Providence’s City Plan Commission approved plans for a Best Western Glo and a Holiday Inn Express proposed to be built along the west side of the service road. The architectural renderings for these hotels show nondescript, suburban-style designs that do nothing to fit, complement, or make better the existing urban-built environment.
While Best Western Glo and Holiday Inn Express hotels may seem to preclude higher-end building and design, examples of these very same hotel chains built in other cities make it clear that better and more urban-fitting designs are often employed with higher-quality materials than what is currently being proposed in Providence.
Why does Providence get less? From many outside accounts, Providence has “arrived,” is a desirable place to live and visit, and is attracting new residents from other, usually more expensive cities, who value our great architecture and sense of place. Why can’t we own this identity ourselves? We can start right now, and insist that these hotels, which will be among the most visible in the city, are great new buildings and that their developers step up their designs to match or exceed those in cities such as New York, Bangkok and London.
Or, we can give in to our low self-esteem and settle for the cheapest of these brands’ prototype designs in our desperation for development. Recently, we appealed to the mayor to ask the developers to build better buildings for Providence. Shouldn’t we all insist on better for our great city?
Kari N. Lang is executive director of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association.
