Yesterday's groundbreaking at Waterplace Park signaled the start of one of three downtown condominium projects intended to lure professionals and empty nesters.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2005

BY CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A condominium project that will turn Waterplace Park into a residential neighborhood began yesterday.

Calling it "Providence's most prestigious new address," the developers broke ground yesterday on a two-tower complex that will sit on the opposite side of the basin from the GTECH building.

Waterplace is the first, and the biggest, of three luxury condominiums projects planned for downtown.

The two towers will stand 19- and 17-stories tall and have 193 luxury condominiums with retail stores on the first floor. The condominium units will cost from $300,000 to more than $1 million and range in size from 750 to 2,500 square feet.

The developers said they hope to draw young professionals, students and Boston commuters, but their main market will be empty nesters.

"Across the country, many great cities are experiencing a renaissance where people are migrating out of the suburbs back to the cities," said Paul L. Palandjian, president of Intercontinental Real Estate, one of the companies developing the site.

"We've got this phenomenal rebirth of American cities, where empty nesters want to move out of the house. They don't want to cut the grass anymore. They don't want to be dependent on their cars," Palandjian said. "They want to be in environments where they can live and work and be close to their friends, where they can be close to shopping and entertainment and close to great restaurants and cultural attractions."

The $100-million Waterplace condominiums will fill that demand, he said.

The groundbreaking ceremony, held in a heated tent next to Waterplace Park, was attended by more than 50 politicians, local dignitaries, city workers and union representatives.

"It's a very exciting time in the city where we are seeing the downtown transformed into a neighborhood and seeing residential development in the downtown as never before," said Mayor David N. Cicilline.

Cicilline said there is $1.8 billion in construction projects under way or in the pipeline in Providence.

Two of those projects are high-end condominiums in the downtown area. One is the Providence Westin hotel addition, which includes a tower with its top floors dedicated to 105 condominiums. The other project is One Ten Westminster, a 33-story, 130-unit condominium tower proposed for the site between the Turk's Head Building and the Arcade.

Palandjian predicted that the nearby Westin condos will complement, not compete with, the Waterplace condominiums.

Three other projects had been proposed for the site next to the Waterplace Park basin, but this is the first to make it to a groundbreaking.

Construction is expected to take 28 months, said Nicholas J. Iselin, Intercontinental's director of development and construction. A section of the riverwalk will be closed during that period. The first 10 months of construction will focus on the 475-space underground parking garage.

Across from the site, the GTECH headquarters is under construction. The 12-story glass tower is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Designers from GTECH and Intercontinental attended each other's design meetings in hopes of creating modern buildings that would complement each other.

The Waterplace condominium towers, at 235-feet and 213-feet high, will stand taller than any buildings in the Capital Center area, including GTECH.

The exterior will be framed by precast concrete and covered in part with synthetic limestone panels in shades of buff, cream and gray. Balconies will dot the side of the building, which will a have a whitish tone that resembles that of the State House.

Intercontinental is developing the project with New England Property Holdings. The structure was designed by ADD Inc., and the contractor is Providence's Gilbane Building Co.

The city gave Intercontinental a tax break that saves the developer $20.9 million in taxes over 20 years. Over the same period, the city will collect $23.8 million. The tax plan is based on Intercontinental's original proposal to build apartments. If the company builds condominiums -- as it says it will -- the city will collect more tax money because the units will not be part of the tax stabilization plan.

Waterplace is the first residential project to break ground in the Capital Center District since the apartments at Center Place opened 15 years ago.

It will be a union-friendly project.

In addition to its real-estate development interests, Intercontinental is an investment firm whose primary clients are unions. Several invested directly in the Waterplace project, said Palandjian, who mentioned some of the supporters: the Ironworkers Union, Teamsters Local 251, the Laborers Union, Painters District Council #35, the Pipefitters Union, and Roofers Local 33.

Palandjian also thanked Providence city officials for their help.

"We've never felt this welcome in a development context," he said. "It's been totally refreshing."

Intercontinental has offered to help the city landscape and maintain Waterplace Park, Cicilline said.

The mayor also asked the developers to share their experience in Providence with investors across the country.

Staff writer Cathleen F. Crowley can be reached at (401) 277-7376 or ccrowley [at] projo.com