EDITORIAL: Why Providence Should Embrace Fane’s Tower
Monday, April 30, 2018
New York developer Jason Fane has come to Providence and proposed investing upwards of $300 million. The last time anyone came to Providence, saw a mammoth opportunity, and was willing to make a significant private investment was when it was the developers of Providence Place Mall.
Providence Place was a game changer, and there were lots of critics. It was too big. It ruined the skyline. One reality, however, was that it fueled reinvestment in the city. It drove the redevelopment of the Masonic Temple, IGT tower, Blue Cross HQ, the two Waterplace towers, downtown expansion, and in part the rehab of two vacant mill buildings at the Foundry — now the Promenade Apartments and the Sharpe Building.
Providence Place sparked billions in investment into Providence. Glimmering new towers were erected and vacant embarrassments were transformed.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIt bolstered tourism. When 3,000 cheerleaders and their families invade Providence’s hotels and restaurants for an event at the Convention Center — the event comes to Providence because, in part, of Providence Place.
Cities are living and breathing or they are dying. They expand and grow or they become historic sites - think Pompeii or Plimouth Plantation.
Fane’s proposed tower is a giant step for Providence, one in which the state’s decision makers seem to be paralyzed. Election year fear? Likely. Dynamic leadership, no.
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s office offered the following, “The administration is excited for future development of the land and surrounding parcels. The mayor is awaiting a refined design concept for the building to ensure that it fits in within the context of the surrounding urban landscape and neighborhood.”
Fane’s new design is bold. It is different. In the Boston Seaport that is now exploding in new development, cranes are everywhere. Every inch of open space is being built for companies like Amazon and GE.
In Providence, our tallest building — the Superman Building — has been vacant for five years and there is no realistic likelihood of redevelopment without tens of millions of public in cash subsidies beyond the historic tax credits and tax stabilizations. The building, which needs upward of $100 million to rehab, has been shown to hundreds of companies. The reality is — no one is interested.
Meanwhile, Sunday’s Boston Globe chides the Boston for its lack of real skyscrapers. “For a big city, Boston is kind of short. Yes, we’ve got our elegant blue-glass John Hancock Tower — or 200 Clarendon, since the insurance giant moved out — which soars 790 feet above Copley Square. When it was built 40 years ago, the Hancock became the tallest building in New England. Indeed, Boston is even bested by places like Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Oklahoma City. Yes, Oklahoma City, where the Devon Energy Center has 50 feet on the Hancock.”
Fane’s project can be tweaked — but its vision should not be destroyed. Many of world’s most cherished expressions of architecture were roundly criticized when unveiled. Philip Johnson’s Glass House was deemed “clumsily detailed — especially disconcerting in a work of such purity.” The Eiffel Tower was deemed a “truly tragic street lamp.”
The Old Executive Office Building next to the White House was also derided when it was built and for decades following. The OEOB was referred to by Mark Twain as "the ugliest building in America." President Harry S. Truman called it "the greatest monstrosity in America." Historian Henry Adams called it Mullett's “architectural infant asylum.”
Today, it is celebrated
Providence has not seen a new, significant building built in a decade. Providence can be "cool," historic and growing -- all simultaneously.
Related Slideshow: The 10 Buildings that Need to Be Torn Down
The ten buildings that need to be torn down as of November 9th, 2014 as listed by David Brussat in Dr. Downtown.
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