It’s not even 200 feet long, but the Westin’s new skybridge has the potential to create new job opportunities and enhance downtown shopping even beyond Providence Placesomeday. The May 12 opening of the pedestrian skybridge, which spans Memorial Boulevard and links the mall to the Westin Hotel (and in turn to the Convention Center), raises little question about potential benefits for Providence Place, but what impact will it have beyond the boulevard?
”We don’t envision a huge change,” said Tim Kirwan, the Westin’s general manager. “But it will be a nice amenity for our guests.”
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“It opens up a lot of retail space that’s basically dead right now,” said James Bennett, chairman of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority.
What about the proposed steak house and retail outlets in the Convention Center, both of which have been mentioned as possible development moves in recent years?
A real estate development company has been hired to brainstorm possible uses of the space, Bennett said, but he admitted that on the development issue, right now things are in a “holding pattern.”
James S. Bennett
“We also have a new management company that has come in the middle of this,” he said.
Effective this Wednesday (May 24), the Westin will be managed by Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood is a Fortune 500 company that owns or manages more than 700 hotels in 80 countries.
This means changes for Kirwan, who will be leaving the Westin. Kirwan plans to remain with Carnival, the company which has managed the hotel under a Westin franchise agreement since 1994.
In the 1999 calendar year, Providence hotels had an 84 percent occupancy rate; the Convention Center Complex itself attracted more than 1,200 events.
“We’re desperately in need of more hotels in the downtown area,” Bennett said, adding that he hoped someone in the private sector would express an interest in further downtown development. The Rhode Island Convention Authority owns the Rhode Island Convention Center Complex, which includes the Rhode Island Convention Center, the 364-room Westin and a 2,500 space parking garage.
Response to the skybridge in its opening days has been positive, Bennett said, adding that pedestrian traffic patterns would be surveyed to determine future development efforts.
“We’ll see what’s going to happen once the novelty wears off,” he said. “We’re hoping it’s a two-way street.”
