Did Commerce RI Have Another Iceland Moment in Amazon Proposal?

It looks like the quality control group at the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation may have been out of the office when Rhode Island’s submission to recruit Amazon’s 50,000 employees and $5 billion investment was being prepared and submitted to win Amazon’s HQ2.

Renderings prepared for Rhode Island’s application -- including the Providence site -- just recently submitted to Amazon in some instances appear to eliminate two of Providence’s largest and newest buildings.

The Blue Cross tower and the IGT Building (formerly GTECH) in at least one photo appear to be missing; other renderings show the state government buildings behind the State House consumed by Amazon construction, along with other private properties directly adjacent. In contrast, other competing cities competing for the "economic development grand prize" created and submitted applications with detail and specifics as to how they would fund, incent and meet the needs of the new Amazon HQ2.

Rendering Response

When reached in his Cambridge office, Preston Scott Cohen, with the architectural firm that developed the rendering, responded to GoLocal’s questions by saying, “I am not supposed to get into details.”

Cohen is a professor of architecture at Harvard. When asked to explain why Providence's most prominent buildings appeared to be missing, he said, “ Oh..hmm. I don’t know. It is a visual expression.”

In 2016, Commerce made global news when it launched a tourism video that included file footage from Iceland. This time major buildings were eliminated.

Rhode Island became a national punchline for the miscue.

Rhode Island Tourism Iceland Video

In 2017, national media weighed in on "Iceland":

“The campaign’s rocky start marks a public setback for Governor Gina Raimondo, a Democrat and former venture capitalist who has basked in waves of positive press since taking office in early 2015,” wrote Jon Chesto for The Boston Globe on March 31 of the tourism debacle.

“A world-renowned designer was hired. Market research was conducted. A $5 million marketing campaign was set. What could go wrong?” quipped Katharine Seeyle for The New York Times in the post-mortem a week later on April 6. “Everything, it turns out.”

“The anatomy of a disastrous state branding campaign,” wrote Aarian Marshall for City Lab for The Atlantic Cities. “After Rhode Island’s epic screw-up, a five-step guide to doing better.”

Commerce’s Explanation for Renderings:

The Providence renderings prepared by the Massachusetts firm are near to scale and include a high level of detail.

“The goal was to create visions of an urban workspace for Amazon on some of the submitted sites, providing an interpretation of the specifics described in the company’s RFP. These renderings are preliminary and conceptual. They should not be interpreted as precise real estate determinations but should instead be understood as the designers' illustrative sketches of the possibilities in general,” said Matt Sheaff, spokesman for Commerce.

Related Slideshow: National Press Critique RI’s Embarrassing Tourism Campaign - 2016

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