Category Archives: Development

PawSox sock the Bucket

Posted on May 17, 2017 by David Brussat

GoLocalProv.com came out today with an editorial, “Pawsox Owners’ Ask Is Failed Community Leadership and Ultimate Greed.” It says: “Terry Murray and Tom Ryan asking Pawtucket to float a bond is like Daddy Warbucks shaking down Annie and Sandy for … Continue reading →

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Inside Drabble’s developer

Posted on May 3, 2017 by David Brussat

Margaret Drabble’s 1977 novel The Ice Age is supposedly about Britain and its existential angst during the ’60s and ’70s, but I just started reading it. For a few pages near the outset, at least, it concerns the career of … Continue reading →

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‘Transforming Providence’

Posted on March 25, 2017 by David Brussat

Yesterday’s announcement of the publication date of Lost Providence brings to mind that Transforming Providence, by Gene Bunnell, a professor of city planning at SUNY/Albany, has just been published. I am pleased that he has weighed in on the redevelopment … Continue reading →

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Chace plans downtown digs

Posted on February 7, 2017 by David Brussat

When it was announced several years ago that Providence developer Buff Chace would purchase the Journal Building and the parking lot across from it on Fountain Street, he expressed the hope of erecting a new building on the latter site. … Continue reading →

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Haussmann’s urban removal

Posted on February 2, 2017 by David Brussat

Preservationists and architects should be enemies: the preservation of any old building postpones work designing a new building to replace it. Baron Haussmann’s demolition and rebuilding of much of old Paris in the third quarter of the 19th century created … Continue reading →

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Joe Paolino buys a hospital

Posted on January 24, 2017 by David Brussat

A shout-out from this corner to former Mayor Joe Paolino for buying the moribund St. Joseph Hospital, on Broad Street in South Providence, as a combination – so I gather – homeless shelter and SRO hotel. I’m not sure exactly … Continue reading →

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Nostaglia in New Orleans?

Posted on January 6, 2017 by David Brussat

A decade has passed since New Orleans began to rebuild its flooded neighborhoods after Hurricane Katrina. About all anyone beyond the Crescent City has heard of are the goofy new houses of Make It Right, an organization formed by movie … Continue reading →

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Slowing Prov’s 6/10 Big Dig

Posted on July 11, 2016 by David Brussat

A state transportation agency used to routinely grabbing buckets of federal money was probably taken aback last week when the U.S. Department of Transportation rejected its bid for a $175 million FASTLANE grant to help it rebuild Providence’s 6/10 connector. … Continue reading →

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Downtown’s apt. bandwagon

Posted on June 21, 2016 by David Brussat

The Case-Mead Building, erected in 1859 and one of my favorite buildings downtown, is joining downtown’s microloft bandwagon. The building is still fondly known by some as Paolino World Headquarters, though the Paolino family’s property development company moved out to … Continue reading →

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Tinker at Providence Place

Posted on June 13, 2016 by David Brussat

Providence’s downtown mall is getting its first big renovations since it opened in 1999. So said the Providence Journal on Sunday in “Providence Place mall in line for first major overhaul .” J.C. Penney shut its doors last year, lasting … Continue reading →

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