The Parkade. Photo by Jef Nickerson

I hate it when bloggers say this, and I do it all the time, but seriously, I really did hear about this the other day. Whatever though, PBN is first to the interwebs with it.

But PBN is behind a paywall, so here’s the scoop. Cornish Associates has purchased the Parkade Garage on Washington Street. Cornish of course has been responsible for much of the redevelopment on Westminster Street including the Peerless Lofts. Cornish plans to renovate the garage and keep it open for public parking as well as leasing spaces to some area businesses.

The garage is one of the properties that the Providence Journal’s parent company has been trying to sell in Providence.

There’s two things that could end up being quite interesting in relation to this property. First up is Cornish’s long term plans of putting retail in the ground floor along Washington Street (something that I dream about every time I walk by). Currently there is a small office/retail space at the Union Street corner of the garage. This was most recently occupied by Groundwork Providence, but has sat vacant for several years since the Journal ended Groundwork’s lease.

Most of the street level facade along Washington Street is well suited to fill in with usable retail space. There are no ramps in the way, the ceilings are high, it is on a busy street, and obviously, parking won’t be an issue.

The other potential development here is the Biltmore’s plan to move their driveway from Dorrance Street, to the ‘back’ of the building on Eddy Street, across from the garage.

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