On Monday, April 10, the Downtown Design Review Committee recommended approval for two buildings in the $158 million first phase of an innovation center and hotel planned for key parcels of the former Interstate 195 land in Providence. The plan now goes to the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission for approval.
Good news? Hardly. This project was first proposed nearly two years ago.
The business community long has complained about the red tape associated with bringing any project to completion in Rhode Island, especially in Providence. This project is just one more example of why many developers and companies shy away from coming here.
Of course, projects such as these need to be reviewed, especially for real estate with as high a profile as the I-195 land. But more than two years in and nary a shovel to be seen is not the way development should work.
It’s not just the frustration involved, but the price tag. Time inevitably brings escalating construction costs, and right now Ocean State contractors are saying that prices for all projects are going up.
Delays are not just the result of bureaucratic hurdles – oftentimes projects themselves are only half-baked when proposed. So as a solution on both ends of the equation, government should set some ground rules – all significant projects should be proposed and approved or rejected in a given, reasonable time frame. That way time will be spent on moving the state forward and not on digging spinning wheels out of the mud.
