The Design Review Committee (DRC) met on November 13 to address two requests for demolition permits by the Procaccianti Group: one for the Fogarty Building (111 Fountain Street) and one for the Old Police and Fire Building in LaSalle Square. Though neither project hinges on the other, both are in Downtown Providence and came before the DRC at the same time. About 25 individuals attended the public hearing.
The Art Deco-style Police and Fire Building is sixty years old, while the Brutalist-style Fogarty Building is thirty-eight years old. In 2000, the Providence Police and Fire Departments moved from the old building at LaSalle Square to the new Public Safety Complex (325 Washington Street, alongside Route 95). In 2002, the Fogarty Building’s last occupant, the Providence Academy of International Studies (PAIS), left due to a leaking roof and mold accumulation, which posed potential respiratory problems for students and staff.
Procaccianti has designed a multi-level parking garage for the Fogarty Building site, complete with 20,000 square feet of retail at ground level. At the DRC meeting, Procaccianti’s Executive Vice President of Development Thomas Niles cited the building’s elevated first floor as a “physical and psychological impediment” to prospective retail tenants, and a barrier to pedestrians.
Procaccianti sought to raze the Old Police and Fire Building and use the site as a surface parking lot while they navigate the final design decision process. The Group would eventually build a 300-foot 22-story office building with ground-level retail and a six-story parking garage. Niles indicated that the Police and Fire Building was dangerous, difficult to secure, and subject to vandalism. The demolition permit was withheld pending more developed designs for both sites.
The Cranston-based Procaccianti Group owns forty-seven hotels in seventeen states. Their seven hotels in Rhode Island include the Radisson (on Providence’s East Side), the Westin (about a block away from the Fogarty Building) and the Hilton (across the street from the Police and Fire Building).
Though Procaccianti owns eight restaurants in various hotels from their current holdings, the office building for LaSalle Square, and the parking garage and retail structure slated for the Fogarty Building would be their first ventures outside the service industry.
The Providence Journal ran an article [“Wrecking Balls Coming Downtown?” Gregory Smith, 11/14/06] the day after the November public hearing. The Agenda followed up with further questions to get a better understanding of the public comment. Lucie Searle and Wil Yoder, who issued public comment at the meeting, spoke with us about their perspectives. Karen Jessup provided her public letter, and Friedrich St. Florian offered his understanding as an architect in Providence.
On December 11th, two days before press time, the DRC held another meeting. This meeting was not open to public comment. Generally, the members of the DRC receive designs ten days prior to a meeting, however this new design was presented without the formality. The Procaccianti Group again sought preliminary approval for demolition of the LaSalle Square property, this time based on a brand new conceptual plan. Mr. Niles stated that this more recent design “took into account the public hearing from last month” and “addressed concerns.” Duncan Pendlebury, from Jung Brannen Architects, discussed some of the concepts and intentions of the new plan. The building’s height has been lowered to 180 feet, the size “respects massing” and “stays in the scope of current zoning,” a retail space is planned to “open up the middle of the building,” and certain details of the Old Police and Fire Building will be salvaged and “built into the wall as a ghost of the building.” These ‘ghosts’ will provide “historical display for the retail façade.” A public plaza and outdoor dining is put forward for the area that faces La Salle Square, and a rooftop garden above the parking garage for employees. Mr. Pendlebury also suggested “perhaps an ethnic food court.”
Based on the amended design, preliminary approval for demolition was granted. This preliminary approval does not grant immediate demolition but as Reverend Bob Brooks, the Chair of the DRC stated, it does signify “a passive recognition from the committee” based on the conceptual design. Approvals will be required for design, along with related public hearings, and building permits have to be granted before an actual demolition permit can be issued. When the final plans are approved the developers will expect to demolish the existing building.
