By the time I had pulled up a photo of the Superman Building to discuss the upcoming tours, the tickets had all been snapped up. (Info at Save Superman RI.) I do hope someone can save this building.
According to the ProJo,
The tours will begin with a brief video presentation. They will also include visits to the vault, the banking hall and the 25th floor — the second-highest floor, but offering what is considered the best views from the building. Each tour will include 40 participants and four tour guides from the Providence Preservation Society. Participants will receive a free T-shirt and a pair of binoculars.
High Rock’s David Sweetser says he wants Rhode Islanders to be able to enjoy the views from the 26-story building, as well as appreciate its architecture and history.
Free T-shirts notwithstanding, the tours are clearly an effort to soften opposition to the $75-million in state assistance and tax breaks requested by developer High Rock (which, I’m sorry, sounds like the name of an alcohol treatment center).
In the vanguard of the fight against corporate welfare we find, of course, the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats.
Rhode Islanders should not be held responsible for bad business decisions. And we should subsidize affordable housing, not luxury apartments that further segregate the rich from the poor. With the massive expansion of the agency that did 38 Studios, more and more Rhode Island corporations are coming to expect big checks from the state for any developments they do. And more and more developers are holding development hostage to bargain for public bailouts.
Everybody loves this building. It is the Providence skyline — just watch any episode of ‘Family Guy.’ But these tax credits do promote development of luxury* units. (Some sanity has been brought to the city’s pattern of extending these tax breaks way past the time the buildings have become profitable for the owners.)
While it’s always great to see another old building brought back to life — and this one is special — we need to develop more affordable housing in the city. And those efforts can pay off. Looks like there is still a waiting list for the micro-lofts in the Arcade.
*To say that the word “luxury” has lost all meaning is putting it mildly. My favorite sign for “luxury apartments” was above an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant off of Thayer Street.
Affordable being the operative word. I would love to see the Superman building saved, and I’d live in it, given the opportunity.