Although Federal Hill resident Anne Tait likes the look of the 25-story Vista Della Torre condominium tower recently approved in her neighborhood, she’s not convinced that it belongs at the intersection of Federal and Bradford streets.
The 174-condominium tower will straddle a public road that will have a 40-foot high arch above it and glass-enclosed lobby space on either side, just west of Route 95.
“Sure, I think high-rises are cool, but there are plenty of empty lots downtown,” she said the day after the project was given unanimous approval by the Providence Zoning Board of Review.
Many other neighborhood residents seem to feel the same way, West Broadway Neighborhood Association Executive Director Kari Lang said.
“This is a mega structure,” she said. “It’s a structure that belongs downtown… It does not belong in a neighborhood that [has a height restriction of 45-feet] where most of the buildings are one and two and three stories. ”
Lang cited the city’s approval of variances for the project for a 2,000-percent increase in density and a 456-percent increase for allowable height. “This is basically a zoning change, not a zoning variance,” she said. “It’s really, really disappointing.”
Anthony J. Bucci Jr., a Providence lawyer representing developers Frank and Michael Zammiello, said the $120 million project will be a “gateway” that will bridge downtown and Federal Hill neighborhoods.
Newport Collaborative Architects Principal J. Michael Abbott designed the building. The neighborhood’s Italian background was taken into consideration, but “it’s obviously not a direct copy of anything – it can’t be because it’s a high rise – but we’re still trying to evoke a lot of those qualities and feelings,” he said.
The arch, which will cover about 80 feet of Federal Street, will be the building’s most “distinctive feature,” Abbot said.
“That’s really going to contribute to the sense of place. It’s really going to be something special because there’s nothing like that here in Rhode Island,” he said, adding that the Rowes Wharf building in Boston is one of the nearest examples. “But that’s a pedestrian view, not an actual arch that you can drive [under]. I think this will be very unique and significant with a street going right through the building.”
Originally, the building had been proposed as a 360-foot, 36-story structure that would have closed off portions of Bradford and Federal streets – that project would have cost $80 million. Last summer, the height was knocked down to 330 feet and the city suggested a five-story underground parking lot to further reduce the size, Bucci said.
In discussing whether the tower fit into the neighborhood, Bucci cited the height of Dominica Manor, the 186-foot senior complex that fronts on Atwells Avenue and will share about 4,200-square-feet of its parcel – in return for parking – with the new development.
“Nobody has testified, or even given a hint, that [Dominica Manor] has ruined the fabric of Federal Hill,” Bucci said. “And all of sudden our building – which is a little bit higher but not really out of scale – is going to ‘ruin Federal Hill.’ It’s just not true.
“I don’t see why there’s not room for both of them,” he said.
Tait, who is also a member of the neighborhood association, said she understands that the neighborhood will have to grow as Providence evolves. “I love the kind of tension that happens between the old and the new,” she said. “And that’s one of the interesting things about Providence, where you’ve got these things kind of butting up against each other.”
With this development, however, “the transition is not very graceful, I would say.”
The project will also have 4,100 square feet of retail space on the first floor, Bucci said. He said a start date hasn’t been decided yet. The project buildout will take about 18 months and require between 300 and 400 construction workers. •
