PROVIDENCE – An armory building that had been a focal point of developmental controversy in recent years, the state’s tallest skyscraper and an old mill building under contract to be acquired where tenants have recently unionized are among properties around the city noted in the Providence Preservation Society’s 2025 Most Endangered Places list.
The society’s new list, released Wednesday, highlights places of architectural, historic or cultural significance to their respective communities that are at risk of being lost. The list also offers solutions on how to protect the properties so they remain part of the city’s fabric.
- The Elmhurst, Smith Hill and Wanskuck neighborhoods under pressure from student housing gentrification. The society says rapid redevelopment in these neighborhoods abutting Providence College over the last two decades has turned the area into a “hotbed” of investor-owned housing that caters to college students.
- Atlantic Mills Complex, 100 Manton Ave. The 1880s-era mill building is set to be purchased by Atlantic Mills RI LLC, a group of buyers that includes Eric Edelman, a managing partner of Bespin Capital who splits his time between Rhode Island and New York. However, the building’s tenants recently formed the state’s first commercial tenant union as tensions have been brewing between them and their future landlord.
- Cranston Street Armory, the structure on the city’s West End built in 1907. The society says the building has sat vacant since Gov. Daniel J. McKee terminated a development contract with Scout Ltd. in July 2023 and “no new plans” for the armory have been introduced.
- Privately owned public spaces within Collier Point Park and Upper South Providence. The society says that when the park closed down temporarily last year, Starwood Energy, the Connecticut-based private equity firm that owns the park, neither alerted the Washington Park Neighborhood Association nor responded to the society's requests for comment about the closure or any future plans.
- John Hope Settlement House property. JHSH owns the Queen Anne-style home built in 1893 at 11 Higgins St. and once operated it as a shelter for at-risk male youths. But the property closed approximately a decade ago and JHSH “hasn’t established a plan” for future use, according to the society.
- Industrial Trust Co. Building, also known as the “Superman” building at 111 Westminster St. A renovation of the building, which calls for 300 residential apartments, with 20% deed restricted; 8,000 square feet of commercial office space; and 26,000 square feet of retail and event space, began in late 2023. However, the society says improvements to the structure have “come along in baby steps, not leaps and bounds.”
(CORRECTION: Eric Edelman is a managing partner of Bespin Capital.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette. The Associated Press has contributed to this story.