The permit is basically your application to get inspected. You're right, plenty of people skip them.

I don't have an opinion on the design either way, and we definitely do need more housing but, I just wish it was going on one of the nearby parking lots or something. I really like that park, it's one of the few bits of big open green space in downtown, and a lot of people hang out down there in the warmer months. For the record, I don't really care about the sun flowers getting torn up to become apartments because nobody really used that green space for anything.

Please explain to me how these luxury units will help low and middle income families.

The move to remote work for many has lead people to spread out from HCOL areas to Mid and Lower COL. There's already people with money coming into RI from Boston, New York, and elsewhere competing for limited housing stock. Maybe this tower will serve as a magnet for those with the dough and allow others to more easily find places to rent. Idk, I haven't seen the data. But I'm not about to oppose it for vague NIMBYist reasons.

How much are we paying for it?

How much income will it generate?

Are there any contractual stipulations involved which would offer a massive payout (paid by ri taxpayers) to developers and/or organizers if the project fails for an unforseen reason?

PS: I lol'd at the photoshop job making the canal look like clear water.

We need more housing supply, luxury or otherwise, a bigger tax base, and more construction jobs are good.

But it’s a hell of a lot nicer to walk around DC or Paris with their height/zoning restrictions than it is Houston - and we paid planners to advise us of this obvious fact, we adopted those guidelines before we even removed the highway, then made all developers (so far) abide by them.

Moreover, its present location is going to be surrounded by the new RIPTA hub, and the Brown Medical school-hardly a desirable set up for luxury condos.

The wise answer which NO ONE WILL DO - is trade this parcel for the one behind Turks Head, or the parking lot at Weybosset and Union, or Westminster and Snow (you know, where all the high rises, restaurants and other urban amenities already exist) and have him build it there.🤷🏼‍♂️

More housing is good, even if it's luxury housing. Would it be better if it was for the average person? Sure, but it's still better than nothing at all. I live in one of those "luxury" mill apartments, and the place is packed full, not sitting with empty units. I tried to move to a cheaper unit in the building, and there was only one unit open, out of hundreds of units. We need more housing, especially if you want things to get cheaper. Literally anything that isn't more single-family housing.

If the rich-ass renters want to move into a $4k/mo apartment, let them. It means they are moving out of a $2k/mo apartment which could be filled by someone with a lower income.

Can you provide a little insight as to how building a large tower full of luxury housing is considered progress for the city? I think I’m missing something here.

preach

If you build your incentive system around garbage projects like this you will only end up with garbage. The 195 committee and the state can both get fucked for running roughshod over the city's provenance here.

I am not against projects. I am against this specific one. One problem in this forum is that anyone who says no to this piece of ugly tribute to ego bullshit tower is that we are "anti development" but that's a bunch of shit. There are plenty of better developments and better use for this space that integrates the neighborhood and there are better sites in the city for a project of this scale.

If your attitude is "we have to take what we can get" you end up with a lot of shit. I know a lot of people weren't aware of things during the last boom cycle but a bunch of projects that had high hopes and destroyed city blocks went basically nowhere and left a patchwork of useless parking lots that we are still struggling to infill 15 years later. Our enforcement is typically lagging. There is very little stopping Fane from digging a hole in the ground the saying "oops market conditions" and we are left with a hole in the ground or more surface parking.

Hit us with the analysis on that, ill standby

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Can’t change the channel fast enough when that commercial comes on

She was the voice of Scott Elder Dream Cars back in Austin, TX before I moved here in 2018. I associate her voice with red flags.

Move to eastern CT asap

Right now we don’t have rentals available (it’s my personal mission to change that) but, sometimes veterans have extra pairs they’ll loan out for practice, if they fit.

Otherwise there are fb groups like roller derby recyclables that you can buy and sell gear.

It's funny, because Morelli isn't licensed in Massachusetts so they have a slightly different one with him in CT, but it's exactly the same otherwise lol

One would hope but when you go to pull permits on our house predating us, there's basically nothing. And most of our stuff isn't online either, even stuff we know we've pulled. I know city records are a mess (rumors of a "fire" back in the day) but I've also been in negotiations with contractors who are less than enthused to pull a permit - baffling and we don't hire them because isn't permitting included in the price we pay anyway? In Boston you can see permits going back decades so it's always weird to me that permitting seems "optional" around here. I'm assuming that state would have to inspect like the state had to inspect our solar system but maybe it's just a permit.

I think the arguments against it come down to generic opposition to any sort of tax breaks to encourage development and the location. That and some generic opposition because it won't be affordable units, ergo it must not help

Prior to the redesign, the building was uglier too. So there's probably a lingering view on that.

>We need more housing in the state. This tower Housing isn’t really the answer.

The absolute mental gymnastics NIMBYs will go through.

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Is there a way to rent skates for someone totally new to try it out or do you need to have your own?

I dunno, I think Mr. Aluminum is just someone who recognizes the scope of the problem and that path to a solution. Demand has far outpaced supply for housing.

Opposing things like this will only work to make housing continue to cost more.

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Providence could use the tax dollars being allocated for this for so much more, like actually building affordable housing. We need to stop allowing luxury developers to change the entire fabric of our cities because of their own personal desire for growth and power.