Greater City Providence

ProJo: Major development proposed for ‘premier’ waterfront property in Pawtucket

peregrine-pawtucket

Peregrine Group LLC and city officials expect to announce Tuesday a proposal for a commercial and residential development on nearly 11 acres of prime waterfront property along the Seekonk River and bounded by Division, Water and School streets.

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Kane and his business partner, Samuel Bradner, another principal at Peregrine who is the lead on the project, expect the medical office and residential apartments to cost about $40 million to $45 million to build. Plus, Kane said, they expect the project needs as much as $8 million more in other costs, including parking, walkways and public access to the riverfront.

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See also:

[/alert] [alert type=”success”] Project information released by the City of Pawtucket – Includes plans and renderings.[/alert]

Project Summary (from the above linked document)

(All information provided is preliminary and subject to change)

Review of the site conditions, neighborhood context and market opportunities allowed the project team to evaluate a series of options that focused on the commercial and retail uses oriented towards the main frontage of the property located on Division and Water streets. This enabled the balance of the property to orient towards the residential component, parking, open space and public access to the waterfront and through the property to the surrounding amenities.

The design objectives included the following:

  • Create an urban edge along Division and Water Streets
  • Small flexible footprints that can adapt to the changing market Hybrid
  • Parking Solution – surface and structure
  • Minimize surface parking adjacent to public streets
  • Adapt buildings and improvements to site conditions
  • Provide access to waterfront
  • Interconnection

Based on the Based on the criteria stated by the City of Pawtucket and internal density and economic objectives a design solution with only surface parking is not feasible; therefore a parking structure became a core component of the project.

The following table and images represent a summary and final synthesis of the project objectives and design criteria. Given timing to market and broader negotiations, this plan is not meant to be definitive; rather a starting point for the team and the City of Pawtucket to begin a more informed dialogue and detailed conversation around the opportunity.

Preliminary Program Summary

Program/Use Area
Commercial 8,000 sq. ft. (medical office)
Residential 26,000 sq. ft.
Total 34,000 sq. ft.
Residential Apartments 214
Parking 279 Surface Spaces
230 Garage Spaces
Total 509 Spaces

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10 comments

  • Pawtucket to Providence water shuttle via the Seekonk River? Please.

  • I do not approve. It’s way too car-centric. It’s unacceptable! Why is there surface parking if there’s already a parking garage in the proposal?

  • Mark’s question is a good one. Parking garage AND surface parking? Really?

    Could be better. Could be a lot worse, though. Could be nothing at all.

    Obvious question. Why not put both of the condo buildings along the riverfront and kick the parking garage over to abut Water/School streets? That would eliminate the need to cut the commercial space in half with a driveway. In fact, it should eliminate the need for any driveways at all, which should free up a lot of room in the center of the development for a nice outdoor park-type area.

    Really not a very imaginative use of the space. But there’s that whole thing about beggars not being choosers ….

  • I always thought this space, once developed, would feature a big boardwalk with retail directly on the river, and outdoor seating/dining — with residential units with balconies overlooking the boardwalk and river. Maybe even small watercraft slips to tie the development into the greater Narragansett Bay.

    This is totally unimaginative. There is an opportunity here to make Pawtucket relevant with a hip development, but sadly this doesn’t even get me 1/4 of the way to being excited.

    Fail.

  • I’m sure there’s plenty of constraints and set backs that’s were not aware of, that said, it’s still a good development for this city and should boost the economy.

  • In part this is a suburban response to an urban condition. Thought the proposal creates a defined streetwall along Division Street, as does one of the residential buildings on Water/School Street, the proposal is heavily auto-centric.

    RIPTA’s 78 bus goes right by the site. The 80 is two blocks away. (Do people really use buses?) The site is a short walk to downtown. Granted the nearest part of downtown Pawtucket to the site is fairly devoid of buildings and is dominated by massive parking lots presently.

    Regarding the parking, They are proposing a garage for what I assume is for the commercial. I know it would add costs and the claim would be that it would make the project unfeasible, but the site is on a steep hill and some of the parking could be put under residential buildings. Keep in mind that the developer may be trying to comply with the city’s parking minimums.

    The proposed parking lot that fronts School Street would be a good candidate for a fourth residential building that could directly align with the School Street sidewalk and the adjacent residential building.

    The residents of the development will have tremendous views and will have great amenities with adjacent retail and the river walk. The missed opportunity is that there’s minimal pedestrian relationship to adjacent existing streets and there’s no internal sense of street between the residential buildings.

    Due to the small size of the site plan posted in Jef’s comment, I couldn’t make out from whether there’s 70 or 100 parking spaces between and wrapping around the residential buildings, if some of the parking were shifted to under buildings and internal street/plaza could be created, which would better unify the new community.

  • I’m suspicious of the “proposed commercial” building along Division Street. The south side faces the parking lot, and the north side faces an internal roadway. That suggests people on Division Street are going to get to look at loading docks and dumpsters. All pedestrian activity is centered on the parking lot.

    As far as Peter’s comment about “that part of Pawtucket” being devoid of buildings, it’s only 1700 feet from Main & Roosevelt via the old route of Water Street through the Apex parking lot. If that street were restored, the Apex site could be appropriately redeveloped as downtown, with buildings. Unfortunately the site is being shopped as a “new regional big box opportunity” – http://atlanticretail.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/PawtucketRI_RiverfrontCommons.pdf

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