Opponents persuade commission to put off vote until their next meeting on Oct. 16.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Opponents of a planned boutique hotel on the east bank of the Providence River convinced the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission on Tuesday to put off a scheduled vote to move the project forward.

Massachusetts developer Gerald Fandetti is seeking to build a 52-room hotel, including a restaurant and first-floor art gallery, on the site of a former South Water Street helicopter pad.

Initial renderings for the 60-foot-high building, wedged into a quarter-acre lot along the riverfront boardwalk, featured a tapered, glass and concrete contemporary design that the developer has offered to change into something more "historical."

He's promised to maintain full public access to the boardwalk, and on Tuesday Fandetti offered, if the hotel is built, to maintain and manage the larger riverfront park to the south of the project.

The "level 1" approval being considered by the commission, which oversees Providence's former interstate highway lands, would have invited Fandetti to enter a detailed design review process on the hotel and begin negotiations over a potential purchase of the property.

But a combination of arts enthusiasts, current users of the former helipad lot and the owner of a nearby office building objected to the proposed planned hotel's size and convinced commissioners to delay a vote until their next meeting on Oct. 16.

"Because of its size we object in every way," said Robert Stolzman, an attorney representing Evan Granoff, who controls the Heritage Building on the other side of South Water Street from the hotel site. He called the project a "procedural nightmare" in language that hinted at possible lawsuits.

Also speaking for Heritage Building Associates, real estate broker Peter Scotti said the hotel would "block light and air" from the 70-foot red brick office building and reduce its value by 15 to 20 percent.

Stolzman said his client had submitted a proposal to the commission last week, along with partners, to build and maintain a sculpture garden on the decommissioned helipad property.

Also speaking out against the proposal was Robert Burke, owner of the Pot Au Feu restaurant, who said he wants to build a history visitors center on the site.

And Maria Tocco, founder of the Providence Flea, a once-a-week public market hosted on the site, which does not want to be evicted.

Support for the project came from Phoebe Blake of the Jewelry District Association. Also, a majority of respondents to a Downtown Neighborhood Association online poll supported it, according to commission Chairman Joe Azrack.

Fandetti, a Providence native and Rhode Island School of Design graduate, moved to Cambridge and developed the Kendall Hotel near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among other Bay State projects.

His hotel plan was first released last spring, but commissioners had questions about whether it would work on the small site and delayed the hearing on it until Tuesday.

Wallace Gernt, a lawyer representing Fandetti, said he was "disappointed" the commission didn't vote on the hotel, but didn't consider it a setback.

— panderson@providencejournal.com

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