PROVIDENCE – Two proposals that would place apartment buildings on a prominent East Side parcel of the Interstate-195 Redevelopment District will be evaluated in public session Wednesday, following presentations by the two development teams.
The projects for Parcel 6 are put forward by DMG Investments LLC and D+P Real Estate and Truth Box Inc. The site is on Wickenden Street, bounded by the exit from I-195 west.
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DMG Investments, founded in 2013 in New York, has concentrated on development of luxury condominium and student housing projects in several states, including Texas and New York, according to its summary. It is partnering on the Providence proposal with Bergmeyer, a Boston architecture firm that has worked on several Rhode Island projects, including the renovation of Corliss Landing.
On the East Side, DMG Investments and Bergmeyer propose a mixed-use building featuring six-stories of apartments over a one-story pedestal. The building would be marketed as a student housing community, with a grocery in the commercial space.
“The project will improve and provide college students an [innovative] place to live and collaborate by building not only a student housing, but a community just for them,” the description states. “DMG is committed to provide students a protected environment for them to live, study and play.”
D+P Real Estate and Truth Box are a Providence-based team, whose previous work includes the Box Office, a commercial center made of recycled shipping containers, and the new Urban Greens food market in Providence.
On Parcel 6, they propose to build two mixed-use buildings and a standalone grocery. The two buildings would include space for micro-offices, offices, retail and apartments. The housing would be aimed at the workforce market – with rentals between $800 and $2,500 a month for the various units.
The I-195 commission’s agenda indicates that in addition to the project presentations, analysts will weigh in on the design and financial feasibility of the two proposals. A public comment session also is planned.
The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
The I-195 District Commission must act faster because their performance in moving projects quickly to implementation has been quite disappointing. Many of their concerns are weak and lack a broad perspective For example, early on the Carpinato group proposed a project that extended the entire length of the east side of the I-195 District. The project had a distinctive design,d had much diversity in use and involved sizable investment dollars. Then a consulting firm used by the Commission opined that they were concerned over one developer involved in many buildings and that the sameness of one developer was objectionable. Yikes, not an astute observation. Carpinato eventually withdrew their proposal. Well, I have a news flash for that consulting firm; those parcels to date have a sameness, the sameness of nothing.