PROVIDENCE – State officials are eyeing the Statehouse lawn as a development site.
It is one of two public spaces newly identified as the state’s preferred location for the long-anticipated transit hub, which would provide a central spot for train, bus and bicycle transit in Providence.
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A Request for Qualifications for firms interested in developing the transit hub and accompanying commercial development proposes two locations.
Identified as “Gaspee North” and “Gaspee South” in the documents, they consist of portions of the Statehouse lawn and of a public greenspace known as the Station Park.
The documents, posted by the R.I. Department of Transportation, envision a realignment of Gaspee Street to accommodate the new development, as well as an extension of Exchange Street over the Amtrak tunnel. Firms interested in qualifying for the work have to respond by July 31.
The project would use the $35 million authorized by state voters in 2014 when they approved the creation of a transit hub, to move the bus operations out of Kennedy Plaza, as well as an unspecified amount of public funds, including through the extension of state and city tax incentives.
Overall, the state anticipates the cost to design and build the hub – called the Providence Intermodal Transportation Center – at $55 million to $80 million, including the street realignment. The private development, to include potentially office or retail or housing options, would likely be in excess of $100 million to $125 million, according to the documents.
The state argues that the architect of the Statehouse, the renowned firm of McKim Mead & White, had initially contemplated maintaining symmetry in the two roads that flank the Statehouse, and that its new plan would restore that vision by moving the road closer to the Statehouse building.
To move forward, it will need authorization from the Capital Center Commission, a quasi-state commission that has design and development regulations which specifically designate the two project sites as public spaces. Its authority over the land stems to the creation of the district, after the movement of the railroad, in the early 1980s.
Deming Sherman, the commission’s chairman, in a lengthy letter to RIDOT Director Peter Alviti Jr., said the public space should be kept open, to maintain the historical integrity and public views of the Statehouse.
The commission, even if it was inclined to do so, cannot change its design regulations itself, he noted. The director of the R.I. Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, and potentially the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Railroad Administration, would have to approve the plan as well, Sherman indicated.
“I urge you to rethink the PITC project, which otherwise has merit, so that it does not involve building on the Statehouse Lawn or Statehouse Park. We suggest that the possibility of an underground terminal be explored and that the state sponsor a charette to seek other creative solutions.”
The state in the past had developed a portion of the Statehouse lawn for state legislator parking, he noted, “over our strong objections,” Sherman said Thursday, in a telephone interview.
This time, he said the state has acknowledged the Capital Center Commission would have to change its design regulations. “We have jurisdiction over this property,” Sherman said.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com. Follow on Twitter at MaryF_MacDonald.
