Greater City Providence

ProJo: Providence City Council OKs tax deal for hotel on Fountain Street

tpg-fogarty-dec-2015

Rendering of proposed extended stay hotel which would replace the Fogarty Building on Fountain Street.

On an 10-1 vote Thursday night, the City Council gave final approval for a tax-reduction agreement that will clear the way for the demolition of the vacant Fogarty Building on Fountain Street and its replacement with a $40-million high-rise hotel.

Once the mayor’s office signs off on the agreement with the hotel developer, Cranston-based Procaccianti Group, the company plans to apply for the needed permits to demolish the building, company spokesman Ralph V. Izzi Jr. said.

The company expects to begin tearing down the old social services office building within six to nine months of getting the permits, Izzi said, with hotel construction taking 12 to 18 months after that, he said.


I much prefered the ‘general hospital from the eighties‘ design they were proposing back in May of last year.

Also, how lame are we that we’re giving permission to someone who owns two surface parking lots a block away to tear down yet another building in our city?

Jef Nickerson

Jef is Greater City Providence's co-founder, editor, and publisher. He grew up on Cape Cod and lived in Boston; Portland, Maine; and New York before settling in Providence. In addition to urbanism, Jef is interested in art, design, and ice cream. Please feel free to contact Jef if you have any question or comments about Greater City Providence.

6 comments

  • Even a parking lot for 6-12 months us better than the current site. It is ugly and is not in any way an asset to the streetscape.

  • The building could be an asset if the owners were not working on demolishing it through neglect.

    TPG owns the Old Public Safety Building Parking lot which has been a “temporary” surface parking lot for not 6 months, but 8 years.

  • Once again, I really don’t mid-rises being predominantly brick. It’s a warm tone that supports the general theme of the cityscape, allowing more inventive high-rises to truly stand out. That being said, I hope they eventually do something really unique at the former public safety complex.

  • The Procc Group? And did the City secure itself with any clauses to guarantee that something, anything, will actually get built after the demolition?

    Sad that we should have to be so cynical about these proposals. But hey, fool me once …

  • “The Procaccianti Group is expected to announce plans Tuesday to “build a premium-branded upscale extended-stay hotel” in Providence, right across the street from the Rhode Island Convention Center and the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, on the site of what is now the John E. Fogarty Memorial Building.”

    The final plans show a Residence Inn… not exactly a premium branded upscale extended stay hotel. That is, if you assume that most extended stay hotels are disgusting and poorly kept.

    No skybridge to the Convention Center and Dunk? Would have been a nice addition.

    Overall, I don’t mind the building — it is an improvement over what exists. Too bad it probably will never be built. Once I heard “six to nine months to take down the existing structure”… kind of just see these people operating another surface parking lot (based on their track record of all talk and no action, at least in the City of Providence). I only hope that the 2,000+ garage parking spaces on their way to Providence will put these slumlord surface parking lot operators out of business, or at least make them operate with a higher standard of dignity and not lie to the taxpayers of Providence.

  • I think the render looks fine, the idea is fine, the location is fine, and it will never ever be built and will still be a surface lot 10 years from now. Ugh.

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