Bret Ancowitz

Retail Update: Mall CVS Open

June 10, 2009

As I’m sure many walking or driving by have noticed, the sidewalk fronting mall CVS has opened at the Francis St/Memorial Blvd intersection. All of the J&W students who will be living at Capitol Cove will now have all of their pharmaceutical needs met. Also, while not directly Providence related, I thought I’d mention that [...]

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Some *Positive* PVD Press!

June 9, 2009

We’ve been getting really pummeled in the national media of late. It seems every state (well, except for California) has had a newpaper write an article with the tone of, “You think our economy is bad, take a look at Rhode Island’s! Just look at their unemployment rate! They have no industries at all. Just [...]

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It’s Official: Universities Target 195 Land

June 5, 2009

We all knew this was coming eventually, but Brown and Johnson and Wales have now officially made their play for their piece of the coming 195 land. The Projo has the details about House Majority Whip Peter F. Kilmartin’s (D-Pawtucket) legislation authorizing the state DOT to sell the two universities 6 of the 19 acres [...]

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Rethinking the Mall

June 4, 2009

The above is a title of an article by the always interesting Allison Arieff in her NY Times blog in which Arieff attends the 2009 International Council on Shopping Centers Convention in Las Vegas to judge a competition examining future concepts for the shopping mall. She writes that most of the discussion and focus, however, [...]

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AP Picks Up Capitol Cove Story

May 29, 2009

As found on a Pennsylvania TV station’s website, it looks like the Associated Press has picked up on the condos-to-dorm tale of Capitol Cove. They have in the article some similar examples from around the country as well. My favorite quote from the article comes from a J&W resident advisor, herself a student: “We want [...]

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FAA Preliminarily Approves TF Green Runway

May 27, 2009

As Ted Nesi reports in the PBN, the FAA has given its preliminary blessing to a TF Green runway expansion plan that involves lengthening its main runway southward. The final decision comes in about a year and construction, which would hopefully be done by 2013, could allow non-stop West Coast and European flights. It’s funny [...]

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Retail Update: Snookers & More…

May 26, 2009

Snookers: I’m not sure how “old news” this is, but Snookers sports bar is listed to be “coming soon” at about 44 Ashburton Street on the other side of the 95 overpass from Kelly’s Car Wash. It’ll be right next to the, um, antique store and near the, um, Subway, and the, um, Marriott hotel [...]

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Brown Medical School to Relocate to Jewelry District

May 25, 2009

View Larger Map Brown University seems to have finally chosen the future location of its Medical School. Currently shoehorned into its BioMed Building, the University initially decided that despite the 100 million dollar gift from Warren Alpert, our Great Recession made building a new structure adjacent to Rhode Island Hospital impossible and the call was [...]

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Happy Memorial Day from Greater City: PVD

May 25, 2009

Image of the WWII Memorial downtown by Mr Ducke on Flickr

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Watch and Learn? New Haven’s Renaissance, Reviewed

May 19, 2009

An absolute must read article for anyone who cares about rebuilding our cities can be found in this month’s Yale Alumni Magazine. The balanced piece reviews the birth, agonizing death, and then the recent rebirth of an urban New Haven, CT. While we all often focus deservedly on Providence’s downtown renaissance, many here don’t realize [...]

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Opinion: Hopefully Recession Kills “Signless Retail” Trend

May 12, 2009

Look hard… Can you tell what’s in the building in the photo to the left? What it’s used for? Well, if you’re a regular reader to this blog, you actually probably do know, in fact, that it houses Louie Fuller, one of the most popular new restaurants to open in the city in years. But [...]

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European Suburbs Grow Smart, US Snoozes…

May 11, 2009

Well, that’s essentially the theme of this NY Times article titled “Europe Imagines Suburbs Without a Car.” While trying to make the content “fair and balanced” in a Fox News-ish sort of way, it’s impossible to escape the tone and tenor of the article suggesting that the Europeans are waaay ahead of us on this. [...]

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Retail Update: Asian Palace Opens on North Main

May 10, 2009

View Larger Map Speaking of the “Retail to Restaurant” trend we were all debating, the newest example is located nearby on North Main Street (1184, across from East Side Urgent Care). This is where the long closed (and cutely named) Off Track Bedding outlet (whose empty storefront was captured by Google Streetview above) has been [...]

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Oh TF Green, How I Miss Thee…

May 5, 2009

Photo from the RI Secretary of State’s website I just returned from a brief trip this past weekend and noticed with a bit of sadness that this was the fourth straight flight I’ve taken from Boston’s Logan and not from TF Green. The last Green flight I did was December of 2007. Now, granted, two [...]

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Angell Street has Lanes!?!?

April 28, 2009

Much to my shock, newly painted lane markers have popped up around the East Side, most notably on Waterman and Angell Streets. In many areas, actual lanes and parking areas of the streets are now clearly demarcated. This has the potential to end the fun but often dangerous third-world style driving game of “create your [...]

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