178-unit income-restricted, mixed-use building gets green light near RI Hospital

PROVIDENCE − A proposed six-story apartment building with 178 income-restricted units and an additional two-story school building proposed for Upper South Providence sailed through the Providence City Plan Commission on Tuesday night.

The Copley Centre 1 project is proposed for a vacant lot at 220 Blackstone St., bordered by Gay Street and abutting parking lots on three sides and the Community College of Rhode Island Liston Campus to the south.

It is the third project to be proposed for the site that was once a school. After it was torn down, the plan was for a medical building complex. That fell through and was followed by a similar mixed-use development proposal, but with more parking. While that was approved by the city, it also fell through.

The City Plan Commission gave combined master plan and preliminary plan approval to the project, delegating the last approval stage, the final plan, to city staff.

The units will be restricted to people making 30% to 80% of the area median income.

City Plan Commission grants parking reduction amid sea of parking lots

The City Plan Commission granted the project a "dimensional adjustment" to reduce the amount of parking required on the site by 50%.

In an interview, City Councilor Mary Kay Harris said she is happy that the development is moving forward and her one ask was that they reduce the parking, because there is already too much in the area.

Under city zoning rules, 200 spaces would be required, 178 for each residential unit and the remainder for the day care and school building. The City Plan Commission approved the adjustment to reduce the parking to 101 spaces.

The developer, Boston-based Marathon Development LLC, was allowed to ask for the reduction in parking spaces because the six-story building is mixed use, with over 50% being devoted to housing.

The building is surrounded by parking lots, including for the nearby Rhode Island Hospital.

About 70% of the 178 units, an estimated 125, will have two or three bedrooms, something that Marathon CEO Harry Angevine said is needed and that is increasingly rare in new construction in Rhode Island.

"We're appealing to families," Angevine said.

City Plan Commissioner Noel Sanchez said he was "happy" to see two- and three-bedroom units, since "you hardly get to see them."

What is the Copley Centre project timeline?

Marathon Development has an application in with RIHousing for the development. If it gets approved, with a decision expected in May, the project would break ground this summer and be occupied by late 2025 or early 2026.

What will the project look like?

The proposed project is composed of one six-story, mixed-use building and a two-story building that will likely become a charter school. The underlying zone is a mixed-use light industrial district, which allows for taller buildings than in most of the city, capping out at 75 feet. The proposed building is 69 feet tall.

The six-story building would have an L shape, one long corridor with a turn at one end. The building would be mostly residential, with a day care and early childhood education program run by Children's Friend.

The day care will be 10,000 square feet on the first floor, along with a management office. Also on the ground floor would be 13 units.

The units will look like market rate apartments, Marathon Development CEO Harry Angevine said in an interview.

The day care center was a part of the project proposal from the state, but the need for it was reinforced when the developer met with community members.

Angevine said the city has been a "greater partner" in getting the housing project designed, and their cooperation is one of the reasons the company is focusing its building on the state.

In East Providence, One Neighborhood Builders removed a proposed daycare center and residential units from a similar mixed-use development after the planning board there denied them a variance to reduce the amount of parking, demanding they provide one space for every unit.

Parking, the only debate

Only two members of the public spoke about the project.

Aaron Hill, with the Providence Urban Network, applauded it and said the only thing he wished he saw was less parking, but that it is exactly what Providence, and Upper South Providence, need.

Tina Ledo, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House, across the street from the proposed project, said she is concerned about safety for the families staying in the housing she runs while a loved one is at the Rhode Island Hospital, and that she wanted the project to have more parking.

The project is surrounded by giant parking lots, including a lot on the opposite corner of Blackstone and Gay streets that is parking exclusively for the Ronald McDonald House. That parking lot was nearly empty on a recent Wednesday. Gay Street dead ends into a parking lot.

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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 178-unit apartment building gets approval near Rhode Island Hospital