Greater City Providence

The Commons at Providence Station breaks ground

Rendering of The Commons released in 2014

The Providence Journal: First project to earn RI tax credit will break ground in Providence Wednesday

The real-estate development firm Trilogy Development LLC, of Providence, and the residential-management firm John M. Corcoran & Co. LLC, of Braintree, Massachusetts, are working as partners to develop The Commons at Providence Station. They’ve created a real-estate entity for this project, Capital Cove Development LLC, of Braintree, Trilogy President Kevin Chase told The Providence Journal on Tuesday.

Their 169-unit building will be at 80 Smith St., east of the railroad tracks and the State House, and at the intersection of Smith and Canal streets. The firms expect the one- and two-bedroom apartments to be completed in summer 2018 – and to rent for $2,000 and $2,700 per month, respectively, Chase said. The smaller units will be about 710 square feet, and the larger ones will be slightly larger than 1,000 square feet.


Rhode Island Public Radio: Raimondo Marks Groundbreaking For First Development Using Rebuild RI Tax Credit

The developers of the The Commons project, John M. Corcoran and Company, based in Braintree, Massachusetts, and Providence-based Trilogy Development, said it would not happen without the Rebuild RI tax credit. Raimondo said the credit helps narrow a gap for how developers face similar building costs in Boston and New York, while rents are much higher there.

“In order to be able to compete with cities like that,” she said, “we had to provide a little bit of a subsidy so that they would be willing to invest their money, and also they could make the kind of return that they needed to make in order to be here.”

[alert type=”muted”]See also: Greater City Providence – The Commons at Providence Station – aka Capitol Cove Building B[/alert]

Greater City Providence

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5 comments

  • It’s not the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen, but … shovels in the ground, yeah?

    Apparently the Triangle Parcel broke ground recently also?

  • This spring is going to be super busy with construction downtown — very exciting!

    I do wish that this project and the bus hub covered the train tracks. This land can be used for a good purpose instead of just being exposed. Also, it would reduce noise as the trains approached the station, as well as make these apartments more desirable. Even if it was just a park area near the train station, it would be a huge aesthetic WIN.

    Building over the train tracks throughout Providence is a great idea, in my opinion. I’d rather see a “green corridor” over the train tracks than perfectly good developable land sacrificed for more parks. In more “sketchy” locations, covering the tracks with affordable housing buildings would eliminate areas that are aesthetically unpleasing (and unsafe) — i’m thinking areas of Olneyville, off Harris Ave, etc.

    Why not provide Amtrak/P&W/CSX with tax breaks for allowing 100 year leases *over* their rail ROWs. If the cost of the land is $0, developers could be expected to pass those savings on to the tenants. This seems like a far better way to facilitate affordable housing than to just throw money at it. There are 3 main segments north of the Providence station that could be decked over: Station to Smith, Smith to Orms, Orms to 95. That would make it so there is no exposed rail inside 95 in downtown Providence.

    Commuters of a future RI-Rail could actually walk *inside* underground between the Marriott, all State offices on Capitol Hill, Delta Dental, other offices, and Providence Station — and an extended underground tunnel next to the current rail could extend pedestrian underground traffic all the way to the Mall, Omni, Convention Center, and Dunk. Seems like a no-brainer for next-gen mass transit infrastructure.

  • So put the poor people in the less asthetically pleasing areas so as to segregate the unwanted population. Thankfully you don’t run HUD because that is not how it is done.

  • So segregate the low income into their own community in the less desirable areas?
    Thankfully you don’t run HUD. That is NOT how it is done. Frankly that’s a subversive comment.

    (This may be a duplicate post, I couldn’t find my first post and there was an issue when I submitted so I reposted.)

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