VIDEO: “They Wouldn’t Do This on Blackstone Boulevard” - South Providence Residents Blast “Greed of Developers”
Kate Nagle, News Editor
VIDEO: “They Wouldn’t Do This on Blackstone Boulevard” - South Providence Residents Blast “Greed of Developers”
A group of South Providence residents on Wednesday decried plans by a housing developer to build a seven-story parking garage on a surface lot owned by Brown University Health, and accused Providence Mayor Brett Smiley of “enabling” the process.
Currently, Brown Health is negotiating a lease agreement with Marathon, a Boston-based development firm.
“Let’s be clear - this is not about a garage. This is what keeps happening in South Providence - over and over again,” said group organizer Yaimaini Rivera. “Our voices dismissed. Our people were pushed aside to make room for someone else’s priorities. South Providence has carried the weight of institutional expansion for too long."
Several community members spoke at the event, including Ron Crosson, who lives on Dudley Street, next to the parking lot at the corner of Prairie Avenue.
“Growing up, I watched this neighborhood be knocked down, paved over, and built around - not by us, but despite us,” said Crosson. “This is part of the same pattern of callousness and carelessness, driven by the greed of developers, disguised as progress for residents, with grave indifference to the community, and enabled by an Administration that shows that time and time again that it supports developers over residents when it comes to our neighborhoods.”
“What they see as acceptable on Blackstone Street in South Providence, they would never think of doing near Blackstone Boulevard on the East Side,” said Crosson.
Developer in Focus - Backing Off 7-Stories
Following GoLocal’s article on Tuesday, Marathon released a statement saying it was backing off its plan for a seven-story parking lot at 140 Prairie Avenue as part of its 158-unit housing development at 251 Blackstone Street - but that it would release new plans soon.
“The refined design retains 158 units while introducing an underground garage and two floors of integrated structured parking — a more efficient configuration that unlocks the opportunity to bring additional housing to a parcel previously committed to a standalone garage,” said Frank Angevine of Marathon.
Further, Angevine said, “By consolidating parking beneath and within the residential building, Marathon eliminated the need for the previously planned seven-story standalone parking structure at 140 Prairie Avenue.”
“The refined design moves the building from six stories to four stories and aligns the project with the principles of the Congress for the New Urbanism’s (CNU) plan for the Hospital District,” added Angevine.
On Wednesday, community opponents blasted the role of the "Congress for the New Urbanism" - which was held in July 2025 - in the process.
“The CNU four-day charette the Mayor keeps pointing to? That process was driven by the City, the developers, and the hospital - not the community,” said Crosson. “Their proposed garage even contradicts what the process recommended. And the developer himself, in a meeting with us, called the CNU’s recommendations unrealistic.”
“That is not community engagement - that is manipulation,” said Crosson. “And we, the people of South Providence, are not fooled.”
“I believe an institution as large and as resourced as Brown University Health and Rhode Island Hospital has a moral obligation to the neighborhood it displaced - not just a legal one,” Crosson added. “I believe that a city government exists to protect its most vulnerable residents first, not its most powerful partners - developers and institutions.”
Angevine defends the process they have followed and said in a statement to GoLocal, "We don't believe ‘unrealistic’ accurately captures Marathon's position. Marathon supports the CNU plan's broader vision for the Hospital District -- specifically consolidated parking, walkable streets, active ground-floor uses, and significantly more housing in an area currently dominated by surface parking lots. We have engaged seriously with the plan's recommendations throughout 2025 and into 2026, and our refined design is consistent with its principles."
Brown University Health on Record
On Wednesday, Brown University Health provided the following statement regarding the process.
"Marathon Development is working with the City of Providence on a housing initiative in the Hospital District, which includes structured parking. Brown University Health is in negotiations to lease land, currently used for surface parking at Rhode Island Hospital, to the developers with the guarantee that they provide the hospital with the equivalent number of spaces displaced by the development for our employees, and the plan receives City approval through their process. It is our understanding that the developer is currently modifying their proposal,” said Kelly Brennan, Rhode Island Hospital spokesperson.
“We look forward to seeing their revised plan that meets both the community and Rhode Island Hospital needs," said Brennan.