Mixed-use, $4M project to pump up Douglas Ave.
Architect Donald Powers says an outsider could look at the vacant lot on Douglas Avenue in Providence and think, in that area, any development would be a good fit.
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But the groundbreaking last month for a project designed by his firm, Donald Powers Architects, and developed by the Smith Hill Community Development Corporation, kicked off construction for what Powers is hoping will be the perfect fit.
The $4 million mixed-use, mixed-income project – dubbed Capitol Square at Smith Hill – is going up at the intersection of Douglas Avenue and Candace Street. Its two buildings are slated to include 13 upstairs residential units, to be priced at $169,000 to $229,000, above nearly 5,500 square feet of retail space.
For Francis Smith, director of the nonprofit development corporation, and for Powers, the project is an opportunity to aid in the neighborhood’s resurgence and bring life to an area often viewed as stagnant and unsafe.
“[The site has] been a vacant lot for as long as anyone can remember,” Powers said. “To locate these retail units with the residential units above is really helping to the give the street life and repair the street where it’s been pretty much abandoned for a long time.”
Smith said the multiple units and mixed uese will help the corporation achieve its goals: affordable housing, homeownership and economic development.
“It’s really a microcosm for what the entire city should be, where you have both folks that fit into the affordable category and … people who have the means to pay full-market rates really living side by side,” Smith said.
While the configuration of the retail spaces will be determined by the property’s commercial tenants, Powers said there will be as few as two or as many as six units.
Generally, he said, developers shy away from mixed-use projects that don’t include large commercial lots because they are difficult to lease.
With Capitol Square, the corporation is looking to attract smaller companies that would be a good match for the neighborhood. They may include a deli, a dry cleaner or a branch of a financial institution, Powers said.
“Making spaces that are as little as 1,000 square feet means that some mom-and-pop deli, small financial institution or a pizza joint can go in there,” he said. “That is important, because one of the problems with the retail in our neighborhoods is that it’s all been taken over by national chains that all work at a much bigger scale and have huge parking requirements. All of that sort of ruins the fabric of the neighborhood.”
One of the more exciting components of the project is its use of “semi-public space,” Powers said. Plans include about 40,000 square feet of green space, which will be available to the residents and to patrons of the development’s businesses.
All this fits into the tenets of “new urbanism,” a philosophy that favors compact development, mixed uses and public space – which Powers said could be exciting at this scale. “So much can be done to help the community and the life of people in the community at the scope of a single lot at a time,” he said.
Once completed, Capitol Square will be a key linking point from the downtown to other parts of the city, Smith said. Abutting the Chad Brown public housing complex, as well as a portion of the city largely occupied by college students, the project will provide a safe connection to the heart of the city, he said.
To a certain extent, the community has already begun its upswing, Smith said. The Times Squared Academy opened its doors just over a year ago, in a new facility adjacent to Capitol Square’s planned site. Tim Horton’s is also preparing to open a coffee shop nearby.
But Smith Hill Development also has played a role since its creation nearly 10 years ago, the nonprofit has been responsible for nearly 70 units of housing. Most recently, it has completed Smith Hill Visions, a 26-unit “scattered-site” project built on lots on Lydia and Goddard Streets, among others.
With Capitol Square, Smith said, the corporation looks to add much-needed affordable housing in the neighborhood.
“These families that are constantly in a struggle to find affordable housing oftentimes find themselves moving, within a 12-month period, three or four times,” Smith said. “That can be terrible for people and especially children. … By providing affordable housing, we’re allowing for the stability to take place.”
