Soren

ProvPlan is an amazing resource. Great post on the crime stats, Yossarian. One thing about the neighborhood stats that was brought up in the last Forum was that the owner occupancy stats are misleading. Because they are done on units, not buildings, the are skewed high. For example, a single owner-occupied three family would come up as 33% owner-occupied, where most of us would think of the building as 100% owner-occupied, as the owner can only live in one unit but does live in the building.

I've heard a couple of people say this, but I've lived in Wayland Square for five years and haven't heard of a single event where the neighborhood attracted crime. Based on this there should be crime all over Blackstone but again, I haven't heard of any actual events. One of our employees is dating a Providence policeman who works on the east side and it sounds mostly like college student issues (noise, etc.). Any insight anyone?

My wife and I were eating outside at Rira this weekend and discussing how the Gtech reflections would work. We decided that it would be almost impossible to see Waterfire reflected in the windows (Waterplace condos being the possible exception). I think the best potential is actually on the north side, getting a reflection of the capitol and then on the east possible reflections of the Waterplace condos back into the basin. It might also get some nice early morning sunrise reflections of college hill, or even better, sunset-lit reflections of the top of the hill catching last light.

I commuted to Boston for three years and if you have to do it, the train is far and away the best way to go. The few times I had to drive in rush hour it took me over two hours to get to the Back Bay, vs. a pretty darn consistent 55 minutes by train. Also, because Providence is the first stop you can usually get the coveted table seats on the double-decker trains, but be prepared to socialize. Now, I had a pretty perfect setup, since I could walk to Providence station and my office was a block from Back Bay station so that definitely contributed to making the train work for me. Just the same, I was very glad to stop commuting and get those hours back, but for a while the train was my third place (and if you don't get the reference from "The Great Good Place", well, that's for a different post).

On the subject of wind power, this week's Narragansett Electric (aka National Grid) bill includes a postcard to allow you to opt in to purchasing renewable energy. Of the two supplier selections, one is RI-based People's Power and Light who are selling power from the Hull, MA wind turbine. The cost to opt-in is $.015/kwh, or about $7-8/mo for a normal household. I'd love to see more wind power development. In fact, that might provide some karmic redemption for Bald Hill.

Emily, Others may know more about the rental market, but that's not far from where I live and seems like a very good price for a large apartment that close to Brown. I also love Governor Street but can't picture that block.

Beautiful shots, Garris!

tlp76, if you work Downtown/Back Bay seriously consider taking the commuter rail from Prov. I did it for two years and I'll tell you, an hour on the train is a better commute than 1/2 hour in a car. I made good friends, read, wrote, worked. And the best thing is, because Providence is the first stop, you *always* get the seat you want!

Eltron, you summed up so much of what I do like about Providence. Great post.

We've recently been pricing 2 bedroom condos in Manhattan vs. Beacon Hill/Back Bay/Downtown Boston as we evaluate what we're doing. NYC is *much* more expensive. If you look outside of Manhattan the picture changes dramatically. Funny enough, for everything other than housing/parking NYC is cheaper than either Boston or Providence. Of course, either place means selling the 2-family house and a 3/4 reduction in square footage...

Call me optimistic, but I don't think there is a real estate bubble in Providence. I don't think that prices will drop dramatically, if at all, in the foreseeable future. Even with recent price increases, most of Providence is incredibly undervalued compared to almost anywhere else in the region. High-end homes and new development will continue to draw New Yorkers and Bostonians who rightly see a deal compared to what they can get in either of those cities. I think the reason the market looks inflated is because of the huge disparity between the normal market and the luxury market, and because the small size of the city makes this disparity seem even larger. But to put it in perspective, in NYC not many think it strange that a penthouse on Central Park West is 25x more expensive than a small condo three blocks in from the park. But a 6x disparity from College Hill to Camp Street elicits talk of a bubble. Assuming the city keeps doing the good things it is doing, I don't think we'll see a slowdown until prices are around 2/3 of Boston or 1/2 of NYC and I think we've got a ways to go yet.

Beautiful photo, Garris. I've always liked the church and that is a unique shot.