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PROPOSED: Grant's Block

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jencoleslaw Town

jencoleslaw

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not all the buildings held by the universities are strictly "tax exempt." my understand is that any building that it is not directly serving university students (like office space for researchers) does, in fact, get taxed. I think that the Ship Street building (old spiedel, maybe?) that brown owns is actually taxed as a commercial property. There is most certainly a move to tax buildings that are outside the I zone. If Thom was reading, he could probably tell us the exact deal, but i do remember that some Brown buildings are being taxed as per usual.

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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I don't know for sure, but I believe the schools agree, out of the goodness of thier hearts, to pay taxes on those non-academic buildings. I.E. Brown agreed that it would continue to pay tax on the Rubix Cube building even as it starts to change offices over to University use.

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jencoleslaw Town

jencoleslaw

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I don't know for sure, but I believe the schools agree, out of the goodness of thier hearts, to pay taxes on those non-academic buildings. I.E. Brown agreed that it would continue to pay tax on the Rubix Cube building even as it starts to change offices over to University use.

i think it is partially out of the goodness of their hearts, and partially to get the I zone expanded out of traditional areas...I think but not sure, that the city could have blocked the sale of that building to brown because it was a defacto expansion of the I zone without it being in the IZone master plan. But, i could be talking out of my hat.

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Carter711 Whistle-Stop

Carter711

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I don't know for sure, but I believe the schools agree, out of the goodness of thier hearts, to pay taxes on those non-academic buildings. I.E. Brown agreed that it would continue to pay tax on the Rubix Cube building even as it starts to change offices over to University use.

Those kind of agreements are relatively common. Yale, for instance, is the biggest taxpayer in New Haven

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Mij Whistle-Stop

Mij

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Sent a letter to the president of JWU Providence asking about plans for those properties.

J&W has major plans for the down city area. Starting with a signage campaign that will better identify the building(s), witch are many, they currently use. Sometime soon you will see a student center built in (believe it or not) a surface parking lot. Across from the complex, in the same lot as "Merit Bar" (I think that is what it called). The development plans for down city are very far reaching and will have many of you in awh. The university is less then 10 years old, as a university, and the strides it is making go above and beyond what is called for.

Also

I'm very sad to see such critical post about Cornish. Buff Chase happens to be my personal hero. The man and his family have done so much for the city and the other areas. For instance, the entire grounds for Gordon Elementary, witch was little better then a waste land off of the Veterans memorial parkway, is now a gleaming example of what philanthropist are capable of. Thank you Buff

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Statesman Unincorporated Area

Statesman

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Merit Bar = Mirabar, a local gay club.

The fact that JWU plans a Student Center next to one of the most well-known gay clubs in the city, for some reason, strikes me as hilarious.

Then again, most of my friends from JWU say that the university has almost as many queer students as Brown University (No small number) so......

Excellent to hear.

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CtownMikey Burg

CtownMikey

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I work at mirabar boys and gals :)

anyways.. the city and JWU are pressuring Mirabar to move out of that building so they can build on the entire lot. Funny enough, they wont give Mirabar money (as far as I know) or "enough" money to help relocate.

Last year they made the parking lot private.. which was once used by Mirabar's customers, but now we cant park in that lot on any given club night.

Now the city is giving us a hard time with opening up the newly renovated 3rd floor of the club.

I obviously dont have every fact straight about this issue.., but either the city or JWU are just trying to wear us out with all of these stupid issues and are hoping that we give up soon.

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CtownMikey Burg

CtownMikey

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I dont want Mirabar to move... to some people it might just be a gay club, but it has been there for years and it means a lot to the older community, and is one of the safer clubs for the younger gay community.... in state and college kids.

But if they DID happen to move... I would want the city and JWU to compensate them with enough cash to buy or build an equivalent building.. maybe somewhere on washington street near Diesel (The Roxy) or something :)

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Frankie811 City

Frankie811

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I work at mirabar boys and gals :)

anyways.. the city and JWU are pressuring Mirabar to move out of that building so they can build on the entire lot. Funny enough, they wont give Mirabar money (as far as I know) or "enough" money to help relocate.

Last year they made the parking lot private.. which was once used by Mirabar's customers, but now we cant park in that lot on any given club night.

Now the city is giving us a hard time with opening up the newly renovated 3rd floor of the club.

I obviously dont have every fact straight about this issue.., but either the city or JWU are just trying to wear us out with all of these stupid issues and are hoping that we give up soon.

J&W has been trying to buy out the Mirabar for YEARS!!! But John Dorr won't sell it because his asking price hasen't been met. I don't think he wants to sell it anyways.

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Mij Whistle-Stop

Mij

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J&W has been trying to buy out the Mirabar for YEARS!!! But John Dorr won't sell it because his asking price hasen't been met. I don't think he wants to sell it anyways.

Want may not be an option when it comes to bully politics and a progressing university.

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Recchia Town

Recchia

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Good to hear there are atleast some plans for that massive parking lot. I always wondered what the hell it was for, given its the only empty lot on weekend nights.

Mirabar has a third floor? I wish they'd open it so you could get away from the locker room stench on the first floor...

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chaz200 Unincorporated Area

chaz200

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I dont want Mirabar to move... to some people it might just be a gay club, but it has been there for years and it means a lot to the older community, and is one of the safer clubs for the younger gay community.... in state and college kids.

But if they DID happen to move... I would want the city and JWU to compensate them with enough cash to buy or build an equivalent building.. maybe somewhere on washington street near Diesel (The Roxy) or something :)

I like Mirabar too but the argument that it has been there for years is a misnomer, it was on Allens Ave before it moved to Richmond street and I believe it was somewhere else before then, all in the past 20 years or so. I think that huge parking lot is an ideal place for a parking garage with street level retail on Richmond to extend the area down what is now an empty street. I think a large mixed-use building would be great. They could even build space for Mirabar.

Anyway the huge empty parking lot needs to be developed and it shouldn't be this large building with one entrance that basically perpetuates Richmond St as a ghost town. Mirabar has survived moves before and more than likely would survive another one.

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Mij Whistle-Stop

Mij

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J&W just wants Mirabar out, there is plenty of room for J&W to develop around them.

Kindof like Cornish wanted Lupo's out when they were redoing The Pearless. If the following for this spot is as strong as I've heard, they will not miss a beat when relocting, if that is what happens. If I were building a large state of the art stucture, I would not want the building (mirabar) there.

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mental757 Burg

mental757

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why not incorporate Mirabar into the garage itself and use the 'signed' tenant as a way to obtain stronger financial backing. You could phase construction so the 'old' building remains in use until the new integrated building is ready for them to move in. The 'new' building could also house so other small retail space and J&W could use the rent/lease income as revenue to pay off a percentage of the garage debt instead of raising tuition as much...

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