filed under Development | Economics
Waterplace might go rental
7:51AM ON
01/18/2008
BY
Dave Segal
Not quite shocking, given the market. (And, ahem… those concerns that the buildings might be a. little. bit. ugly.)
Only 14 of the 193 units have sold. In some respects this is bad, as it’s indicative of the fact that the market has tanked, which means less development, which means fewer jobs and less growth of the tax base and such. But insofar as we have a glut of units on the market, it means that housing costs for renters and potential buyers might relax a bit — in the bigger developments, and beyond.
I was actually pretty into some of the sketches of the project, like the one above. And I still think it looks okay from the south and west — which is the view shown in most of the sketches. But, over in the real world, the materials appear kind of shoddy and the views from the north are especially bland.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:59PM
Eric Smith Says:
I’m interested in seeing what the ground level stuff looks like when it’s done, the walkways and whatever businesses go in there. I actually like these buildings, I like the staggered terraces, and they’re an interesting color. But If I could afford something like this, I’d buy something with a little more history, more character.
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January 18th, 2008 at 6:13PM
Pass Says:
Are you kidding!! No one is buying these because they are the worse designed building in the state! The materials,windows & design are like some cheap looking 1970’s industrial building. It might be OK in some big city context squeezed into someplace like NYC, but it doesn’t fit into the landscape of Historic Providence. Where the hell was the design commission on this?!! Look what they did to Providence Place Mall, say what you want about it but it is the best looking Mall Design around. Even Buddy said upon arriving back in Prov. that would never have happened on his watch!! But then again that’s Buddy!!
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January 19th, 2008 at 3:24PM
Matthew Lawrence Says:
I think you’re the first person I’ve met in the last nine years who’s actually liked the mall.
I’m not kidding.
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