Urban Planning and Transportation Issues in Biggest Little State in the Union
Urban Planning and Transportation Issues in Biggest Little State in the Union
I went to last week's Capital Center Commission meeting. On the docket was a presentation by Intercontinental on their development of parcel 2 in Capital Center, so I wanted to check that out. Before that, though, a couple items brought up:
Upscale housing on Parcel 6, along Canal St, between the Mosshasuck and the train station, is moving forward. They have a financial commitment and are now seeking tax stabilization agreements, and progress is being made slowly but surely.
The GTECH building will be presented at the Design Review Committee on August 31st. Will it still be bad? Probably. At least the landscaping is looking up.
The Westin escalator, to keep the riff-raff and other mall patrons out of the hotel lobby while allowing access to the skybridge, is all set to be built, perhaps beginning this October.
Parcel 2 will be developed as two residential/ ground floor retail and restaurant buildings, with further development of perhaps a hotel being a possibility in the future. There will be about 275 apartments, mostly 1- and 2-bedrooms ranging in rents from $1,350-$2,500 per month. There will also be a 500 car garage below street level and screened by retail space. At river-level there will be retail and restaurant space allowing for a lively riverwalk area, and one level up there would be a large glass-walled restaurant as a focal point for the corner on Waterplace.
Urbanistically, the design is very good. There's an internal plaza, a passageway through one building down to Waterplace Park and a good pedestrian environment between buildings.
Architecturally... still a dog. From what I can tell, there's not too much change from this image from Providence Business News. The towers are about 17 stories tall, which makes them by far the largest buildings in Capital Center, taller than the Citizens Bank Building and absolutely dwarfing the train station and the Boston Financial building. Materially, there's no continuity with the rest of the Capital Center or even Waterplace.
The developers are shooting for a late-'04, early-'05 start on construction. Are we stuck with this sore thumb sticking out of the centerpiece of the Renaissance City? We moved rivers for this!?
TrackBackWhat can we do to try to change these designs? Who do we e-mail?
Garris
August 17, 2004 11:28 PMI haven't seen a really good rendering of parcel 2, but what I have seen I don't hate. It's not parcel 2's fault that the train station is rinky dink and that Boston Financial was transplanted from an office park in East Bumfuck. And 17 stories shouldn't dwarf Citizens, Citzens should have been higher. We shouldn't be holding back new developments to pay for the shortcomings (pun intended) of older ones.
On parcel 6 (Capital Cove), thank Maude! I hadn't heard anything about this in months and was worried it had vapourized.
The Westin work is well under way. They've been doing preliminary work for months. Frankly, I don't know what's taking them so long. State highed labour I suppose.
I keep saying I'm going to attend one of those Capital Centre meetings, but keep forgetting when they are. Doh!
August 19, 2004 05:50 PM