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4.6.2001 00:05
Providence development: It'll weather the storm
 While observers say the mayor's role cannot be overestimated, most feel the city will continue to soar.
By
D. MORGAN McVICAR
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- When the principals of Beacon Companies, of Boston, began entertaining thoughts of a high-end residential project here, a visit to the office of Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. was the first order of business.
Their reception, says company president Howard Cohen, proved critical to the decision to move forward with the $35-million project, Beacon's first in the city.
"The mayor was terrific; we were able to tell him our vision, and he was able to say whether it was consistent with his vision and that of the city's leadership," Cohen says. "It sounds basic, but it's irreplaceable.
"To walk into a mayor's office and have him understand where the city wants to go is very important. We go to a lot of cities, talk to a lot of leaders, and leave the city without any sense of a partner.
"Cianci had a sense about what he and what the city wanted."
Over the past decade, Cianci has pretty much gotten what he wanted for his city, playing roles ranging from cheerleader to facilitator to architect in the transformation of the city's aesthetic and economic infrastructure. As the good times rolled, Cianci basked in the glow of the national attention paid to the city's rebirth.
But much remains to be done: reviving a decrepit downtown core, nurturing a nascent tourism industry, and closing the deal on a host of proposed office, residential, retail, and entertainment proposals.
And with this week's corruption charges putting the mayor in a different sort of limelight, the questions arise: How fragile -- or solid -- is the so-called Providence renaissance, and what, if anything, will happen to development projects now in the pipeline that could total in the hundreds of millions of dollars?
Will the new Providence turn into a house of cards, or will it continue to surge forward, even with its hard-charging, deal-brokering leader distracted at best, behind bars at worst?
Observers of the local business and development scene and would-be investors in the city say that the mayor's role in its remarkable turnaround cannot be overestimated. But the consensus is that Providence today is like a young eagle, ready to spread its wings and soar off all on its own.
About six months ago, the Rhode Island Foundation announced the biggest undertaking in its 85-year history: the commitment of $10 million to revive the core of downtown Providence. The heart of the latest in a long string of endeavors to breathe new life into the long-abandoned former retail district is a $9-million revolving-loan fund and the Downcity Partnership created to administer it.
The foundation hopes to emulate a similar undertaking in St. Paul, Minn., where a $9-million revolving-loan fund has generated almost half-a-billion dollars in private investment in the city's former warehouse district.
As was the case there, say foundation officials, Downcity's revival will depend heavily on the skills of the person they select to head the Downcity Partnership.
One of the first things Ronald Gallo, the Rhode Island Foundation's president and chief executive, did Tuesday morning, the day after Cianci's indictment, was to call the finalists for the job.
"They understand this will present additional challenges," Gallo says. "They're willing to take them up."
"I'm not naive," Gallo says. "I know this kind of cloud can give people pause. What we're hoping is that this isn't true, because Buddy Cianci has been a great booster for the city, a great supporter of Downcity efforts, and very cooperative with the foundation in the creation of the DownCity Partnership.
"And it just stands to reason, a mayor knowing he has to face having to fight the indictment, that any loss of focus as a result of that cannot be positive for any effort in the city, particularly a fledgling one like this one."
That said, Gallo says that the city has made such strides in redefining its image and has enlisted so many players in continuing the good work that the demise of one person, no matter his influence, will not derail the progress.
"Providence has reached a critical mass," Gallo says. "The renaissance is well on its way and doesn't hinge on one person. On the other hand, you shouldn't underestimate the importance, the advantage of having a dynamic mayor."
After all, at his first swearing-in, in 1975, Cianci watched from the inauguration stand as a piano was wheeled out of the soon-to-be-shuttered Biltmore. The city's rivers had concrete atop them, not the pyres of WaterFire
. There was no place to shop, few places to eat, and downtown's only visitors fled at workday's end.
Twenty years later, Cianci presided over commemoration of the $100-million, decade-long Capital Center project, crowing, "We have moved more than railroad tracks and rivers. We have moved the heart and soul of an entire city."
Cianci was equally ebullient last December when he introduced a $150-million residential-office-retail-hotel proposal for a site adjacent to Waterplace Park that had been carved by the Capital Center project.
"This is one of the best, if not the best, proposal I've ever seen," the mayor said.
Morgan Helies, a principal of Eastman Pierce, the lead partner for the project, says that Cianci's criminal indictment "is not an issue for us right now.
"We're proceeding. We believe in the project. We believe in Providence. We still think it's a great opportunity for everybody involved, and the political situation is what it is."
As for Cianci's role in the evolution of the project, Helies says: "We had a couple of meetings with him explaining the project early on, and he's been a supporter of it. Not that we were aware of behind-the-scenes arm-twisting."
Ten years ago, a tourist in Providence was a rare sight. Then the Convention Center arrived, the nation's travel writers discovered the new Providence and the first couple, map and camera in tow, were spotted.
George Donnelly, executive director of the Providence Tourism Council, says Cianci, "in my opinion, has made tourism for the city of Providence. He had a city that, like so many other cities in the Northeast, had lost its competitive edge in the world.
"He made everybody feel proud again. When people talk about the renaissance in the city, it's not just in buildings. It's in the attitude that we've got something worth celebrating. He's done a phenomenal job at that."
But, Donnelly says, the burgeoning number of visitors to the city do not come to see the mayor, and the venues that draw them here will survive hurricances, northeasters -- and mayoral indictments
"There's a critical mass for tourism. They're not building hotels because the mayor wants them, but because they think they can make money in the city of Providence.
"It all comes down to a vibrant and healthy city," Donnelly says.
James Bennett, chairman of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority, says that the mayor has been "very aggressive trying to help us attract business to the city. He hosted prospective groups. He always made himself available if we called about a group in town."
"The driving force for convention groups, however, is the bottom line
. They're interested in what we can save them in room rates and the cost of getting in and out of the airport. People don't make decisions on whether a politician is going to be in office."
It has been Cianci over the years who has often galvanized the city's business community to action, whether it was the rescue of the rubble-bound Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) in 1977 or creation of the Fleet Skating Center three years ago.
"It's controlled terrorism, but in a nice way," PPAC's executive director, J. Lynn Singleton, once said of Cianci's knack for loosening the city's corporate purse strings.
James G. Hagan, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, says that "no one individual created Providence and no one individual will destroy Providence."
"We think the strength and economic vitality of this city has been built by a legion of business and community leaders," Hagan says. "It's earned its reputation through the colleges and universities that make Providence their home. It's earned its reputation by the highly regarded health-care facilities here. We have a new, creative industrial cluster just beginning to grow.
"If [potential investors and developers] take the time to talk to the business and community leaders who really create jobs and wealth in this community, [Cianci's indictment] will have no impact on them."
Cohen, of Beacon Companies, seconds the sentiment and says plans remain on track for its $35-million apartment tower in Capital Center.
"The type of business we're in, people are making a judgment on the city for the next 20 to 30 years," Cohen says. "We're betting on the long-term leadership of the city.
"I have to say, whatever went on in the city, it was never an issue with us," Cohen says. "We processed this at the most professional level of any city I've operated in.
"The city officials we dealt with were responsible and careful, and the Capital Center Commission has been a model for how to build design consensus."
Digital extra:
Find out more about Providence's resurgence with a collection of stories, links and audio clips at:
http://projo.com/aboutprovidence/boomtown/
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