PROVIDENCE – Urbanica Inc. was selected Wednesday from a group of three competing firms as the preferred developer for a mixed-use apartment building along the Providence River on an undeveloped one-acre site known as Parcel 2.
The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission announced its decision around 6 p.m. after a nearly one-hour, closed-door session, discussing the conditions for Urbanica to move forward with its planned six-story, 134,750-square-foot building with 194 apartments at the Parcel 2 site sandwiched between South Water and South Main streets, across the street from the Michael Van Leesten Memorial Pedestrian Bridge.
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The Boston-based development firm has proposed a purchase price of $2.04 million for the site, according to Robert Davis, the I-195 commission chairman. Additional terms of the proposal “will be made public when disclosure will no longer jeopardize the commission’s negotiating position,” Davis said.
Urbanica’s proposal for a curvy, long, red terracotta building includes 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, in addition to roughly 119,000 square feet of residential space. The types of units include 120 studio apartments, 40 one-bedroom apartments, and 34 two-bedroom apartments, with an average size of 613 square feet.
The other competing proposals were submitted by Eden Properties, which is also based in Boston, which called for a 164,595-square-foot building with 163 apartment units; and the Cambridge-based Parent + Diamond Real Estate Development in concert with Urban Spaces LLC, which proposed a 160,078-square-foot property with 120 condo units that would be owned instead of rented.
According to a previous presentation from the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, Eden’s proposed acquisition price was $500,000; and Parent + Diamond/Urban Spaces was offering $3.5 million.
A resolution passed unanimously by the commission to move forward with Urbanica as the preferred developer stated that a parking study would be conducted as part of the planning, review and approval process, Davis said.
The Urbanica proposal calls for 90 parking spaces, amounting to 39,000 square feet. The Eden Properties proposal included 48 parking spaces, totaling 18,355 square feet, while the Parent + Diamond proposal included 140 parking spaces, totaling 38,250 square feet.
The I-195 Redevelopment District commission chairperson said the process will include a preliminary design approval review and a final plan approval. Each step, Davis said, will include opportunities for public input and the participation of a recently announced Parcel 2 design review panel, which includes Craig Barton, an architect and professor at Brown University; Emily Vogler, a landscape architect and professor at Rhode Island School of Design; and Jack Ryan, a Rhode Island architect.
“This is the beginning of the process,” Davis said, “not anywhere near the completion of it.”
Commission member Marc Crisafulli, who is also an executive vice president for strategy and operations for casino operator Bally’s Corp., said part of what persuaded him and others to select Urbanica was the inclusion of more “affordable housing.” The Urbanica proposal includes 12 units deemed affordable, with rents that can be paid using a 60% median income.
“That kind of pushed them over the edge for me,” said Crisafulli, who acknowledged that the other proposals also contained some affordable housing, with the Parent + Diamond also containing 12 units but at a higher cost. “[Ubanica’s] workforce housing was the most affordable.”
Crisafulli also credited Urbanica for showing a willingness to work with members of the community and neighboring groups to refine its proposal. Community members previously expressed concern about the size of the building looming over the nearby College Hill and Fox Point neighborhoods, and others were concerned about the project containing too much parking space.
Conditions that Urbanica work with the community on concerns over the size of the building and other issues were negotiated with the help of R.I. Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor, who is an ex-officio, nonvoting member of the commission.
“Among the respondents, Urbanica embraced those conditions,” Pryor said. “The proof is in the implementation. But we’re very pleased with that expression back from Urbanica.”
Prior to the meeting, the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission received letters from each of the developers giving some of their final pleas for consideration, along with comments regarding conditions that will be put in place by the commission governing the development of the site.
Kamran Zahedi, president of Urbanica, wrote that his company wants to “affirm our commitment to working collaboratively with the community.” Zahedi said he is committed to “balancing the interests of multiple stakeholders,” including neighborhood groups.
“We would like nothing more than to create a thriving mixed-use development that will make us all proud,” Zahedi wrote. “Moreover, we have also demonstrated our willingness to respond to questions and concerns of our Parcel 2 proposal and have already begun to generate advancements both to the design as well as a development program in an effort to address these concerns.”
During its Jan. 19 meeting of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, each of the three competing firms presented revisions to their original plans for six-story apartment buildings that were originally presented last year.
Urbanica made some aesthetic changes in its plans, breaking down the face of its building with “deeper cuts,” according to the project’s architect, meant to create the effect of a “railroad car” that allows people to see through the property more and “alleviate the perception of it as a monolith.” The revised Urbanica plans also ditched renderings showing a bold red surface, now featuring a more toned down pale reddish color. One corner of the building was also pulled back to respect a city easement, making the total square footage of the building 10% smaller, the architect said. Urbanica also raised its entire site by 2 feet above the ground to reduce its subsurface parking construction costs.
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.
Of the three proposals, Urbanica’s seemed to be the best. My only question is the mix of apartment sizes, it seems 120 studios out of 194 total units is high and caters to a highly transitory segment of renters. Good planning favors condos versus rental units because ownership provides the roots for a more stable and vested community.
I don’t know if Urbanica’s proposal is the best, but given the price they are paying, it is certainly a good deal for Urbanica. Other than that, I agree with Mr. Rendine’s comments, something I almost never do.
This is another Providence Arcade in the making. This is prime real estate and, instead of wasting it on affordable housing which will only eventually be turned into Brown dorms anyway (which is probably Urbanica’s exit plan), it should used to build high end condos to attract well paid professionals from Boston. HOPEfully, the presence of these commuters would spur economic development. Low income housing dwellers sure as hell won’t. They’ll do just the opposite, in fact. RI needs high paying jobs not, low income housing.
When is RI going to realize that they have potential gold mines in Boston / Cambridge waiting to be tapped?
The smartest thing RI voters could do is to vote to merge RI into MA.