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Downtown Design Review Committee Special Meeting – January 22, 2018

[alert type=”muted” heading=”Downtown Design Review Committee – Notice of Special Meeting”]Monday, January 22, 2018 – 4:45pm
Doorley Municipal Building
444 Westminster Street, 1st Floor Conference Room Providence, RI 02903[/alert]
drc-roundAgenda
  • Call to Order
  • Roll Call
  • Meeting Minutes of October 2, 2017 and November 6, 2017
  • DDRC 2018 Meeting Schedule
  • Annual Election of Vice Chair
New Business

1. DRC Application No. 17.46: 131 Canal Street (parking lot) – Public Hearing and Conceptual Design Review – The subject of the hearing will be an application by Steeple Street RI, LLC requesting a development incentive in the form of a transfer of development rights, and requesting waivers from Providence Zoning Ordinance Section 606, Design Standards for New Construction, for a new 15?story mixed?use building to be constructed at 131 Canal Street, Providence, RI. The transfer of development rights requested is from Section 603.G, Incentives/Transfer of Development Rights. The waivers requested are from Sections 606.A.4, Building Height and Massing/Recess line, 606.D.1, Building Height and Massing/Façade Design, 606.E.1, Façade Design/Ground Floor Transparency, and 606.E.3, Building Facades/Upper Level Transparency. The DDRC will be reviewing the building design at the conceptual design stage. At the conclusion of the hearing, the DDRC will take action with respect to the requested items. (Continued from the January 8, 2018 DDRC meeting).

Adjournment
[alert type=”muted”]Agenda [/alert] [alert type=”info”]This item was continued from the January 8th meeting and is in regards to the proposed Edge College Hill Two project.[/alert]

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9 comments

  • I’m gonna assume nobody here went. I was hoping PBN would have maybe written about it, but I didn’t see anything.
    I guess we’re gonna have to wait until something more final comes out, but I was curious about the conceptual design, to see what direction they were leaning towards.

  • I was there but didn’t get a chance to write sooner. I didn’t take any pics though.

    Some basics: 15 stories with 227 apartments – 67 studio and 160 1 beds. 3 retail spots on the North Main St side. Roof deck. 1 entrance on Canal Street.

    The corner of North Main and Steeple – that part of the building was 3 stories tall with red brick and it’s pulled back 8 feet on the corner. Coming down from Thomas Street you still had a good view of the New Rivers bldg. They said there is room for some outside seating at that corner. There is some space between the building and New Rivers. Then the building moves up to 5 stories as you move more north on North Main. And then it moves to 15 stories on Canal. That portion is a combination of light and dark gray. It’s a square building. A little blocky looking coming down from Thomas. On the Canal St. side there is a 20ft wide alley between it and the “fat belly’s” building.

    Most of the public comment was negative. The concerns where the height, any blocking of the First Baptist Church, the project taking up needed parking spots, where are the residents going to park as the project provides none, the historic area, and that an empty parking lot is better. I personally liked it a lot overall. They didn’t talk materials and other specific things as it was a conceptual design request.

    The committee spoke a little bit but no decisions were made that night as one member had to leave early and another 1or 2 weren’t there. I left early so don’t know when the next meeting will be.

    The public commenters were all 60+. I am not. I would maybe say it might look better if it were a couple of stories shorter.

  • Hi, I wasn’t able to go but posted a story today on my real estate newsletter. It’s on the site now. I included two of the photos of the renderings. I listened to the audio feed after city gave it to me via public records request. Mary MacDonald (PBN)

  • I just passed by and googled it to see what it was, I wasnt aware of the project. I think it looks nice, I think it fits right in and I like it. Not obtrusive at all and we really need apartments like this in Prov. We are severely lacking. Downtown was made in its inception a walking city. Residential buildings would be a great asset.

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