Fox Point already has East Side Marketplace and the Waterman Street Whole Foods.

This overlooks the fact that many in the surrounding neighborhood do not have off-street parking.

I’ve only ever gotten croissants and their Americano. The croissants (huge, amazing) are $5.50, the Americano is around $3.20. The croissant may seem pricey, but IMO it’s worth it for what it is.

I was on the corner or Traverse and Sheldon. People park there to go to everything on Wickenden. I’m just speaking to the fact that yes the uptick in local parking due to inadequate parking at TJ’s will indeed be felt by the neighbors. However if I was still there I’d be really happy to be such a short walk so 🤷🏻‍♂️

I would argue the former is actually a very large reason and it shouldn't be disregarded. It's fairly obvious how the East end is completely blocked off from poorer neighborhoods via the highway.

The density definitely got lower. Providence metro has increased population while Providence city limits has gone down. That said even the metro hasn't grown at anywhere near the rates of cities in the south and west.

On my phone so it's annoying to share links but you can look on macro trends and other places to see what I mean. Bear in mind most data lacks granularity since the census is every ten years.

Exactly this, there are probably many reasons why the highway was built where it was, but its no accident that 195 and 95 went around the wealthiest areas of the East End, essentially cutting through and cutting off already disenfranchised neighborhoods.

I’ve never had to park further than 50 feet from my house… were you on this side of Wickenden, llke Corliss landing near the Hot Club?

I would add, and I’m sure it’s no consolation: taking 20+ mins to park is normal in most dense east coast cities, though I know it’s not what’s expected in Providence.

If it's Point/Wickenden, the shoulder becomes a bike lane between (approximately) the end of the bridge to the gas station.

It is, just across the street from the entry.

Slower growth

Yes, another high five for Fox Point. The undergrad and grad students also make it about the most diverse neighborhood in the city.

And at least on my block, most of the residences have at least one dog, and often two.

>You really need to make your way over to the dog park at the end of Broadway by the church

Oh that's awesome to hear! When I first moved to Prov (decades ago) I lived on Broadway and always took my dog to just where you're describing: delighted to learn they've made it a dog park 😍

The sad part about this thread is that it just proves guys like Procianti right when they say there is no point in doing urban development in Providence without acres of parking since RIers are so addicted to their cars you would think the state was the size of Montana and therefore it's nearly impossible to have a successful business without easy parking.

Of course there is also a good point here, by locating it within the miasma of that gigantic oversized for a million cars intersection that it is also not really well made for pedestrians or cyclists (the designed route for a cyclist coming from wickenden would be to take a right on south main then u turn onto South water then come back across point for instance), and with only the 92 bus stop anywhere close that it's also not a great urban design.

I'm definitely for it happy it is finally here, and will shop here and I actually don't have a lot of better ideas for where it could have been located other than other 195 parcels or maybe in the mall at street level where borders was long ago (also absorbing the restaurant space next door)

I used to rent about a block from there and my apartment had no off street parking. Some days were awful circling a few block radius after work for 20 minutes just so I could park and go home for the night. I can’t see this helping

Walkability in Feb when its 5 degrees. Hell yeah.

Haven't actually been to Madrid -- what's the price point? Generally, the number of dollar signs a place has is commensurately proportional to its assholicity.

Thank you for this comprehensive reply: so interesting! I didn't grow up here so my knowledge about both RI and Providence is woefully lacking. This bit:

> Providence was still a large city in the US (in 1950 it was the same population as Miami for instance)

is totally new to me. Was Providence once much bigger / densely populated, or is it that it stopped growing at the rate that other comparably-sized cities did?

The S curve, the reason it goes through south Providence...

Notice it doesn't go through the east side?

The government would have to put up more of a fight taking land from wealthy land owners to put up the highway. Putting it through lower socioeconomic zones means there was less of a legal fight. The S curve isn't just not to knock down building for nothing - connected businesses made sure the highway went around them.

Joe will be a grandpa by then lol

Aren't they all?

It's been reported a few places, but here's one:

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/lifestyle/2016/02/12/author-in-providence-it-can-be-tough-to-find-college-educated-mate/32519882007/

Part of his advice was literally to move haha. Just bringing it up since OP asked. Things may have shifted a bit with remote work, but probably not that much the East Coast is pretty tough for women seeking men.

Improvised dramas are actually a really spectacular format if done well

I don't like how providence is getting this whole zero car make over as quickly as it is happening

I'm sure you do have saddlebags