PROVIDENCE — After hearing two impassioned proposals from Rhode Island's artistic, historical and neighborhood communities for alternative uses of a tiny parcel of land, the 195 Commission Monday night instead voted to proceed with a controversial hotel project on the property.

Before voting, commissioners Elizabeth "Beppie" Huidekoper and Sandra Smith emphasized concerns about the hotel design proposed by Massachusetts developer Gerald Fandetti on the former public helicopter landing area on the east bank of the Providence River. They said they want the developer to rework the design before the project would ultimately move forward on Parcel 1A.

The commission's Level 1 approval invites Fandetti to begin a detailed design review process and begin negotiations over a potential purchase of the property.

Plus, commissioners said they liked the other two proposals and hope to find ways to make them work elsewhere on nearly 26 acres of former highway land freed for development and public parks by the state's highway realignment.

Those other proposals:

Restaurateur Robert I. Burke, who developed the city's Independence Trail, said he has raised $750,000 toward an effort to move the Welcome Arnold House onto Parcel 1A. The house at 21 Planet St. recently landed on the Providence Preservation Society’s Most Endangered Properties list. Burke and others spoke of plans to create a visitor center and history museum in the building. Building Bridges Chairman Olin Thompson, who spoke of collaboration with Yarrow Thorne, a public-art advocate and founder of The Avenue Concept, wants to create a sculpture garden. Thompson told commissioners his group liked Burke's idea, believed they could work together and said the sculpture garden could likely be under way in three to five months.

"You have three proposals on the table ... What is the best thing for the public?" Thompson asked commissioners.

Azrack reviewed public testimony to the commission last month and invited the commission's architectural consultant Tim Love, founding principal of the Boston firm Utile, to talk about potential changes by Fandetti to make the hotel more visually appealing.

To Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor's question about whether he could envision making the hotel attractive, Love paused and talked about how the building's not "big, big" and will be smaller than traditional hotels, with rooms only on one side of corridors. "I think it's possible," he said, but will require work.

The commission's legal counsel, Charles Rogers, said the parcel was designed for development, and Davis made the motion to grant Level 1 approval, noting the commission's mission is to foster economic development and job creation.

Smith said it would be good to have a permanent building to bring people to the waterfront, beyond the current "episodic" and "seasonal" uses.

— kbramson@providencejournal.com

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