Revised Parcel 2 proposals going before Providence I-195 commission

THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. Eden Properties' revised proposal includes two-story townhouses. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION
THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. Eden Properties' revised proposal includes two-story townhouses. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION

PROVIDENCE – After first pitching their plans for the property in September last year, three development firms are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday with some aesthetic alterations to their visions for a six-story, mixed-use apartment building Parcel 2 next to the Providence River on South Water St.

One of the three proposals now calls for two-story townhomes, and a small “pocket park,” in addition to the six-story apartment building.

Presentations by Eden Properties, Urbanica Inc., and Diamond + Parent Real Estate Development together with Urban Spaces LLC are at the top of the agenda for the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission meeting set to start at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The public meeting is being held via a Zoom video conference call, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to presentations by the development firms, and analysis offered by staff for the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, the meeting includes time for public comment on the proposals, according to the agenda for the meeting.

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The revised proposal with the most significant changes was submitted by Eden Properties, which in addition to a slimmed down building connector between two major sections of the six-story apartment building, now includes a row of two-story townhomes containing apartment units on the South Main Street side of the building. Public documents on the commission’s website show pictures of the new structures, which also come with a new “pocket park” with benches, a little boardwalk-style path, and some landscaping at the corner of South Main and Dollar streets.

THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. Eden Properties' revised proposal includes two-story townhouses. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION
THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. Eden Properties’ revised proposal includes two-story townhouses. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION

Each proposal for the 1.08-acre property at the base of College Hill, next to the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge, contains the same amount of total apartment units. Eden Properties’ proposal includes 163 units, the Parent+Diamond/Urban Spaces proposal includes 120 and the Urbanica proposal includes 194.

But there are some changes in the breakdown of the kinds of apartments, with Eden Properties’ proposal decreasing its amount of market-rate units from 163 to 156, and increasing its affordable units from zero to seven, while keeping unchanged its breakdown of 41 studios, 68 one-bedroom units and 54 two-bedroom units.

Urbanica changed its proposal to include 120 studio apartments, instead of the originally planned 147, while increasing one-bedrooms from five to 40, and decreasing two-bedrooms from 42 to 34, and keeping level its breakdown of 182 market rate and 12 affordable units.

THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION
THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 19, with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION

The proposal by Parent+Diamond and Urban Spaces, together known as Providence Partnership for Community Reinvestment LLC, didn’t change its breakdown of units, keeping 108 market rate units, and 12 affordable units, with 26 studios, 25 one-bedrooms, 57 two-bedrooms and 12 three-bedrooms.

Eden also decreased its parking from 52 enclosed spaces to 48, while enclosed parking remained unchanged in the other proposals, with Providence Partnership for Community Reinvestment maintaining 140 spaces and Urbanica sticking with 90.

Urbanica made some aesthetic changes in its renderings, ditching images of a bold red terracotta surface, now featuring a more toned down pale reddish color. The new plans break up the facade massing, making the proposal appear more angular and blocky, and less round and wavy as the original.

The Parent+Diamond/Urban Spaces proposal now features a more pushed back façade from James Street, with some other minor changes to the top of the structure, and a trellis added to provide a screen between a patio area and the garage entry.

THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION
THREE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS are coming back before the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, with revised proposals for Parcel 2 on South Water Street in Providence. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION

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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