Downtown on a Roll

"[I'm] in the middle of a major plan right now that I think will add greatly to the skyline of Providence." - Providence developer Joe Paolino

I'm sure that quote will send a pleasant shiver down the spine of URBlog regulars. The line appears in this week's Providence Phoenix, though the former mayor declined to elaborate on the plan. The article "Downtown on a roll" is a nice update on the Downcity residential scene. Anyone who's walked down Westminster Street downtown lately has surely been aware of the progress, and there's more on the horizon.

Ian Donnis covers the transformation well, with some history and peeks ahead (and, in true Phoenix fashion, reminds us how the artists and the needy are unable to participate). New to me, the piece says that Sasaki Associates was recently awarded a six-figure contact to create a new vision for more closely linking Downcity with the Jewelry District, Capital Center and the West Side (They were the team that sketched out Mayor Cianci's Narragansett Landing "New City").

Excited yet? I am.

BONUS: Here's a (very unpolished) photo gallery of the area in question, from last December. Art In Ruins has related (and better designed) galleries here and here.