“Luxury Condos. . . Marinas. . . Medical Doctor Type Things” these are the buzz words that imply that money will be pouring into a developer’s proposed project, and mayors everywhere just seem to swoon. The latest proposal for the city’s waterfront is a non-starter. For one thing, Allens Avenue is not an empty lot, not yet anyway (see picture — that’s the Luxury Condo Tower at OneTen Westminster, a company so solid it now has its domain name up for sale). The Providence Journal correctly asks us to consider a truly mixed-use for our waterfront, complete with the industry that is already there. The Sunday editorial also illuminates the questionable background of the man behind this medical/marina/hotel aglomeration.
It is also somewhat worrisome that the development’s managing director, Stanton Shifman, is an ex-con who was convicted of racketeering charges. He was found guilty in 1996 of directing people to obtain illegal loans from mobsters who collected at annual interest rates of 153 to 260 percent.
Are you kidding me? According to an earlier article, Providence Mayor (and congressional candidate) David Cicilline says,
. . . the project has the potential to create 2,000 permanent health-care jobs. “Anytime a developer says that they are going to create 2,000 jobs, we sit and listen. When and if they make a formal proposal we’ll review it carefully.”
Anytime? Any developer? Jef Nickerson has the specs and background, with illustration of the proposal, over at Greater City: Providence.