Providence Revitalization

Selling the high life
Who's going to pay $400,000 to $2.5 million to live in downtown Providence?

Condos on top and music below is the right mix
PROVIDENCE -- Over the years music club proprietor Rich Lupo has been drummed out of the Conrad Building and then the Peerless Building.

Construction cacophony
PROVIDENCE -- Stephen DiGianfilippo stood in his law office along Exchange Street as the floor trembled and the day's clamor -- a discordant medley of vibrating clatter and clang -- penetrated the walls.

View a animated graphic of a vibrating hammer at work and listen to the noise it makes

Capital Center Development: Another sign of the building boom
PROVIDENCE -- Capital Center literally vibrates with construction activity and, this week, yet another developer begins scraping, digging and preparing the ground for a new building.

Comprehensive city plan comes with 2020 vision
PROVIDENCE -- What will the city look like in 15 years? Taller buildings, more green space, pedestrian bridges, a trolley system and new industries, maybe?

Conley hopes S. Providence project will be his legacy
PROVIDENCE -- Patrick T. Conley tramps through the mud toward a 754-foot wharf jutting into Providence Harbor. Splotches of bird droppings bleach the wood planks. Cold air blows off the water, though Conley wears only a suit and tie. He strides...

Providence Place mall, where sales top estimates, draws shoppers and development
It's like the gap-toothed smile of a 6-year-old girl -- endearing and jarring at the same time.

Square deal for Providence
PROVIDENCE -- A couple hesitates at the precipice, leaning forward. Looking up and down the street, they calculate whether it is safe to cross the busy boulevard.

Procaccianti Group unveils its design
PROVIDENCE -- At 356 feet tall, or about 31 stories, the proposed hotel tower next to The Westin Providence is being designed to make a statement.

Riverwalk marching toward finish line
PROVIDENCE -- Contractors for the state Department of Transportation are inching toward completion of a project creating a riverwalk and park along the west bank of the Providence River, begining at the Crawford Street Bridge.

Mesolella revives hotel plan
PROVIDENCE -- Developer Vincent J. Mesolella Jr. and the city have reached agreement on his longstanding proposal to acquire and raze the vacant Fogarty Building and build a hotel.
Interact: What’s your take on recent development plans for downcity Providence?

Towering changes in the air
PROVIDENCE -- In mid-April a Boston developer backed by pension funds expects to begin construction of two residential towers that will challenge the State House for preeminence on the skyline.
Graphic: High-end residencies downtown

Buff Chace has Downcity jumping
After the doctor called with the bad news, Arnold "Buff" Chace Jr. was baffled. Just 50 years old, and active, the downtown developer had a serious health problem.
Digital extra: View an interactive map of planned developments and existing buildings in downtown Providence

Chace is restoring the fabric of Westminster Street
PROVIDENCE -- In the years following the Civil War, a muscular kind of commerce flexed itself on the west side of the Moshassuck River.

32-story condo tower would hold R.I.'s highest homes
PROVIDENCE -- A joint venture of Providence and Boston developers plans to build a $90-million, luxury condominium tower on Westminster Street in the city's business center.

27-story condo complex proposed near Holiday Inn
While it's not a done deal, condos could rise from the site of the former City Gulf Station, off Broadway in downtown Providence.

Skeleton key to saving Temple
PROVIDENCE -- That building that seems to be going up around the Masonic Temple, across from the State House, is really a temporary structure to hold the old building up.

Piece by piece the new Providence River bridge takes shape
PLAINVILLE, Conn. -- In an unassuming cluster of industrial buildings, a few dozen skilled craftsmen are slicing slabs of steel into the parts of a giant's Erector set, one big enough to assemble a new bridge to carry Route 195 across the Providence ...

A diamond on the still-rough streets downtown
PROVIDENCE -- Stanley Weiss caressed the mahogany and tiger-maple armoire, extolling its made-to-order birth in a Virginia furniture factory. He gestured toward the pedimented top.

The big bang
That's a hydraulic hammer, and it's being used to pound 450 piles 70 feet to 80 feet into the ground.