Greater City Providence
210 West Exchange

New proposal for 210 West Exchange Street

Rendering of proposed 5-story addition to 210 West Exhcange Street

I don’t really have any information on this one, other than the Historic District Commission reviewed it at their meeting on March 25th .

You may remember 210 West Exchange from late 2014 when the City Council spot zoned the parcel. When the City last rezoned the Downtown ahead of development in the 195 District, this parcel, west of the highway was included in the D-1-200 Downtown zone. A clear example of spot zoning that the City Council quickly walked back on. As a result, the 17 story proposed Aloft Hotel was never built on this site.

Back in 2014 I liked the idea of height at this location, but wasn’t crazy about the spot zoning. I actually think Downtown zoning should extend west across the highway a bit (thoughtfully to the surrounding build environment). One of the comments on the proposal at the Old Fruit and Produce Warehouse site was that us should be taller, since it is against an elevated highway ramp. I agree, height along the highway mitigates some of the negative of developing space along it.

View from Fox Place looking toward West Exhange and the 6/95 Interchange – Image from Google Streetview

As it is now, the new part of this building will sit just above the ramp from Route 6 to Route 95.

A better thing about this proposal over the 2014 one, it appears the warehouse building remains and gets an addition growing out of it, the 2014 proposal would have entirely demolished the warehouse building.

If/when, this gets HDC approval, it would then go before the City Plan Commission.

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.

4 comments

  • Maybe I’m just not getting this… I drive this street twice a day, 5 to 6 days a week. Every time some event comes and goes from The Dunk or the Convention Center, this street is chock-full of trucks, boats, trailers, etc., and cars for the events. It can be a total nightmare. The light at the top of the street is horrific when it comes to getting people out to the highways. On top of this, it couldn’t be a more unattractive spot. It’s nothing more than an oversized loading zone.

  • A tower in this location would have been the only way to get above all the traffic. I thought the other proposal made better use of a marginal site like this.

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