PROPOSED: Parcel 12 (Triangle Parcel)

[Garris]

Excellent news, of course. It is interesting that the city will be pushing this along, and can even take the property back if there is no movement. I've long wondered why municipalities don't put this kind of clause in all the contracts of land they sell.

I thought this was interesting: "The condos, which would be pre-sold, would be used as a revenue stream to finance the project, said Kokot."

Gotta hope the condo market stays afloat! We don't know the price yet, but I would think that between 110, Westin, and Waterplace, these would probably be somewhat less desirable. If you want access to downtown, you always have to go through the Burnside Park area or Kennedy Plaza, not the two most desirable walks in the world.

Maybe this will give the city an excuse to clean up Burnside now...

- Garris

[Mij]

I really like the approach the city has been taken on newer developments. The fogerty building was one example were the city had deadlines in place for Messola. Even though those deadlines were pushed back a little i think its the best thing for the city, if only for presedent sake. I would hate to see a "Masonic Temple" like situation.

[spanishboy]

Im glad that we're still getting proposals. after the comments made for hilton condo's i felt like all our proposals were going down the sink and after katrina, i just thought another sept 11. but i guess not, and i hope this goes in the works and the market can support it.

[EPBOY]

My artwork won't rival anyone's here, but I was inspired by Cotuit and others to give this a try.

From the illustration you can see why this site has been such a challenge. It sits directly over the old confluence before the rivers were moved.

[Garris]

Good diagram.

I was looking at Emporis, and I'm guessing that this will be taller than Citizen's (11 floors), but not as tall as the Biltmore (18 floors). So maybe 200ft? Somewhere in the middle... So, it won't alter the skyline profile but, given its location, it will be very prominent from several major viewpoints (Prospect Park, College Hill, Waterplace, etc...).

- Garris

[CtownMikey]

i dont understand the height.. 200 rooms.. plus condos and parking. How does that equal 15 stories on such a small piece of land?!?!

The westin II is 200 rooms plus 100+ condos and parking i thought.. and that land is pretty much the same size... and the westin II is over 350 feet. Maybe the Projo is just making another stupid math mistake?

[Frankie811]

Excellent news, of course.  It is interesting that the city will be pushing this along, and can even take the property back if there is no movement.  I've long wondered why municipalities don't put this kind of clause in all the contracts of land they sell. 

- Garris

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I find it disturbing that the Capital Center Commission allowed a Quebec, Canada Company to hold an option on parcel 4 for over 11 years without building anything. I hope we don't see this happening ever again.

[Gusterfell]

Build it! That parcel is long overdue for development, and this sounds like just the right project.

i dont understand the height.. 200 rooms.. plus condos and parking. How does that equal 15 stories on such a small piece of land?!?!

The westin II is 200 rooms plus 100+ condos and parking i thought.. and that land is pretty much the same size... and the westin II is over 350 feet. Maybe the Projo is just making another stupid math mistake?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had the same thought, though this early on everyone is probably just throwing numbers around. Until more concrete plans are released I'd take all these figures with a grain of salt.

[Cotuit]

Gotta hope the condo market stays afloat!  We don't know the price yet, but I would think that between 110, Westin, and Waterplace, these would probably be somewhat less desirable.  If you want access to downtown, you always have to go through the Burnside Park area or Kennedy Plaza, not the two most desirable walks in the world. 

Maybe this will give the city an excuse to clean up Burnside now...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And pedestrianize Memorial Blvd. Mem. Blvd. is a huge barrier between Downcity and the East Side. With RISD putting pressure on the city, and condo residents at Waterplace, the Westin, and Parcel 12, something has to give on Memorial Blvd. It's the city's most recent planning tragedy.

[Recchia]

And pedestrianize Memorial Blvd. Mem. Blvd. is a huge barrier between Downcity and the East Side. With RISD putting pressure on the city, and condo residents at Waterplace, the Westin, and Parcel 12, something has to give on Memorial Blvd. It's the city's most recent planning tragedy.

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Yup, can you say "America's Cup Blvd".... It's too damn wide, and it gets all backed up anyway, so they might as well do something with it useful to pedestrians. The section between the financial district (or should I say financial block) and the East Side is the worst, too wide and a crappy median that people PARK on (ever noticed that?)

The only easy way to cross over there is at Steeple Street cause at least you have that tiny little median to wait in...

[Garris]

Yup, can you say "America's Cup Blvd"....  It's too damn wide, and it gets all backed up anyway, so they might as well do something with it useful to pedestrians.  The section between the financial district (or should I say financial block) and the East Side is the worst, too wide and a crappy median that people PARK on (ever noticed that?)

The only easy way to cross over there is at Steeple Street cause at least you have that tiny little median to wait in...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I usually cross at Steeple. What can be done about this? What kind of upgrade would make this area better?

- Garris

[Cotuit]

What can be done about this?  What kind of upgrade would make this area better?

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Well, maybe some lane markings and properly marked crosswalks would be a good start. RISD did get the city to repaint the crosswalks at College Street, but the rest of the lane markings are missing. I find that the Zebra Crossings are more effective, and visible to drivers than parallel lines are (The area around the river had Zebra Crossings when it was first rebuilt, but the crossings have not been repainted as such).

Every intersection should have islands at it to act as pedestrian refuges. Double Barelling the street could lead to faster speeds, but the pedestrian refuge is important, and there are other ways to calm traffic.

One way to calm traffic is to raise the intersections, or at least key ones. I think this would be especially effective at Memorial and Westminster/College, where RISD has concerns about students crossing. If you raise the entire intersection 6-10 inches you in effect create a giant speed bump, even on a green, traffic must slow to navagate (think of the giant ass speed bump on Smith Street at the State House).

The sidewalks need to be widended. How they decided to basically not have any sidewalk on the river side of Memorial is beyond me (at least the last time I was at WaterFire I noticed that someone had headed my advice written here, and closed the outside lane of Memorial to allow for more pedestrian space). I'm not sure how wide the lanes are now, but we may be able to get away with shaving them down a touch to give real estate to the sidewalks. Narrower lanes would also be a good traffic calming method.

Sometimes the pedestrians are the problem, in some areas there should be fencing along the sidewalks to keep people from crossing where they shouldn't (this will be used at the new Westin Tower, to keep people from crossing across the ramps to/from 95). In some places (many places actually, throughout the city) there are superfluous sign posts that blcok the sidewalks. Clutter needs to be cleard to give pedestrians a proper path and proper site lines. Reflective posts should be installed to identify where pedestians wait to corss, and alert drivers to their presense.

WALK SIGNALS SHOULD WORK! This city is littered with malfunctioning, or totally non-existanct walk signals. If pedestrians learn that they can rely on walk signals, they will. As it is now, pedestrians pay no mind to walk signals, as even when they do work, they don't work correctly.

[Baines]

i dont understand the height.. 200 rooms.. plus condos and parking. How does that equal 15 stories on such a small piece of land?!?!

The westin II is 200 rooms plus 100+ condos and parking i thought.. and that land is pretty much the same size... and the westin II is over 350 feet. Maybe the Projo is just making another stupid math mistake?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same here...does not make sense in terms of footprint, interior parking, an 200 rooms, etc. We need to look for a website, contacts, and sources of info on this. They throw the numbers out without any concept of math logic. We'll see.

In any event- great news for the city.

[Cotuit]

The Westin site is actually a bit smaller than Parcel 12, and the Westin tower will be only a little more than half of it's site.

[Recchia]

Raised crosswalks are great. The one between the State House and the DOT building is the most effective crosswalk I've ever used, and it doesn't back up traffic at all. It looks so ominous when you're about to drive over it that almost everyone slows down and yields. Plus it was great to sit out during lunch breaks and watch aholes who didn't yield try to fly over it bottom out and scrape their mufflers on them

[Baines]

The Westin site is actually a bit smaller than Parcel 12, and the Westin tower will be only a little more than half of it's site.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just checked the Carpionato website and it states "The City of Providence recently selected Carpionato Properties, Inc. as the designated developer for a 17-story hotel/retail/condominium project in Downtown Providence. A 200-room Intercontinental hotel will anchor this multi-use development."

Select the Properties, then Hotels, then take a close look at the rendering.

So now it is 17...I have a contact checking this out as he sees it at closer to 20.

[CtownMikey]

well that is one ugly lot.. so either way

THANK GOD

[Garris]

Select the Properties, then Hotels, then take a close look at the rendering.

So now it is 17...I have a contact checking this out as he sees it at closer to 20.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If I recall, that's quite an old rendering, from way before all this happened. I bet no one knows any details quite yet...

Looking at the map, that's one huge site! Significantly bigger than the footprint of the Citizen's Building.

- Garris

[Cotuit]

As we know, there can be lots of confusion regarding building height, it all depends which meeting was the last the reporter attended and at what point in the meeting the reporter decided to pay attention, see GTECH.

I.E. 15 floors could be the hotel and condos, the garage could be 7 floors in addition to that, who knows? Weren't we getting floor counts for 110West for a while that didn't include the garage?

[Cotuit]

If I recall, that's quite an old rendering, from way before all this happened.  I bet no one knows any details quite yet...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This page on Carpionato's site says they are to begin construction in 2006. Could be they've resurrected this old rendering. I would assume they are part way through the approval process with it, so why not? Also saves the costs of paying someone to redesign.

Though trying to count the floors here, it looks to be about 12. We could be seeing a similar building with slightly more height. I wouldn't mind seeing this building being a bit taller being the building they go with.

[Magellan98]

I'd much rather see something with a sloping roof - maybe terraces down the upper floors (eminating from the right angle portion of the lot) for the condominuiums on the upper floors... I think for that shape and size lot a flat roof structure will be too imposing. Just imagine how long the wall is going to be on the hypotenuse of the triangle.

[Frankie811]

This page on Carpionato's site says they are to begin construction in 2006. Co

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The construction date of 2006 was directed towards the Hampton Inn in Pawtucket

[Cotuit]

The construction date of 2006 was directed towards the Hampton Inn in Pawtucket

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's what I get for skimming.

[CtownMikey]

The next Hotel for Providence should be a 5 star Versace Hotel... since Allegra lives here in Prov

[mvince03]

Looks good to me!