I-195 panel to vote on 11-story apartment project Wednesday

An aerial view of the proposed 11-story apartment building a developer is seeking to build on former highway land along the Providence riverfront. (Courtesy of CV Properties)

The Boston-based developer behind the IGT building, the Aloft Hotel and South Street Landing is slated to add another Providence development project to its resume.

Assuming, that is, that the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission selects CV Properties as its preferred developer for a section of vacant highway land along the Providence River. The commission is expected to vote at its meeting on Wednesday, and the choice should not be a hard one, given that CV Properties was the only developer to respond to a request for proposals, according to Cara Cromwell, a commission spokesperson.

The prominent development company wants to build an 11-story apartment building on a pair of properties in the northwest corner of the district, just north of where the now-dead Fane Tower proposal would have been built. The developer in announcing its proposal last month also touted a tentative partnership with Brown University to turn an adjacent university administration building into laboratory and office space.

The commission’s Wednesday vote centers only on the first phase of the project, however, since the acquisition of the university land has not been finalized, according to commission documents.

Granting CV Properties “preferred developer” status does not guarantee the project will happen but instead allows the seven-member, appointed panel to start negotiations for the property sale, Cromwell said in an email on Tuesday. It also starts the design review process, which will entail several public meetings, with opportunity for input, on design, according to Cromwell.

A rendering of the development project CV Properties has proposed for Parcels 14 and 15, seen from the Providence pedestrian bridge. (Courtesy CV Properties)

The company has pitched a 149-unit apartment building, 15 units of which would be reserved as workforce housing.” The remaining 134 apartments, a mix of studio and 1 and 2-bedroom units, would be rented at market rate. There would also be 56 below-ground parking spaces, plus first-floor retail and restaurant space.

A later development phase calls for adding 500,000 square feet of office and laboratory space, incorporating Brown’s existing administrative office building.

Analysis from consultant Real Estate Solutions Group noted the benefits of the project for addressing the housing crunch, including the “community benefit” of workforce housing which is scarce in downtown.

Data included in the consultant’s report shows strong demand for the limited housing options in downtown, with less than 3% vacancy at nearby residential buildings including the Nightingale Apartments, Regency Plaza Apartments and Westminster Lofts.

However, the report also noted that the rents proposed for CV Properties’ project are at or above the existing market prices, and that with many new housing options slated to become available in the near future, vacancy rates may rise slightly to 5%.

Also under consideration: the finances. The company plans to ask for a 20-year tax stabilization agreement (which shaves off a portion of the increase in property taxes from new development) to help offset project costs, which include a $600,000 purchase price for the land. While the company stated this is the only financial support it needs, it hasn’t factored in the costs to buy land from Brown, which RESGroup estimated at another $600,000. These additional costs as well as projected refinancing rates “may result in a financing gap,” according to RES Group.

CV Properties did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment.

Separate analysis of the project’s aesthetics and design included a few suggestions for areas for improvement, but overall suggested a positive recommendation of the proposal as-is.

“This master plan concept unlocks greater development potential at the block scale whan would be possible when the parcels are considered individually, which is very much in-line with the District mission,” Tim Love, principal for design consulting firm Utile wrote in a May 12 memo to the commission.

The proposal has also generated some public reaction, with two letters submitted to the commission, one for and one against the project.

The meeting Wednesday will include an opportunity for public comment on the project.

If approved, construction would start in May 2024.

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