PROVIDENCE — A developer is planning to construct a six-story building on what is now a downtown parking lot with residences upstairs, a restaurant facing Fountain Street and a 5,000- to 10,000-square-foot grocery store fronting Washington Street.

The developer, Arnold "Buff" Chace Jr., said Friday that he hopes construction at the 17,000-square-foot lot formerly owned by the Providence Journal can begin in the fall after he secures the necessary government tax credits and financing.

Chace is also involved in redeveloping the Providence Journal Building, across Fountain Street from the parking lot.

The new building project, which would take about a year, is still too far from completion to begin the process of recruiting the kind of independent groceries that would be ideal for the location, Chace said.

It might be appropriate to set up an agreement where a market leases a smaller space and then is allowed to expand if the location proves successful, Chace said.

"We’ll take some risk, too," he said, emphasizing that he hasn’t yet entered into talks with any prospective tenants. That includes potential tenants for the intended grocery space, and for tenants who would take up other commercial spaces on the building's first floor.

The City Council received Chace’s application for a tax stabilization agreement Thursday night and referred it to its finance subcommittee, according to a recording of the session posted on the city's online information portal. The proposed agreement calls for a 146,493-square-foot building on a lot bordered by Washington, Matthewson, Fountain and Clemence streets.

Chace said this will be the first time that he has built a new building from scratch downtown. His past projects involved the revitalization of historic buildings.

And therein lies a challenge: creating "a modern building that’s harmonious with the downtown historic fabric," Chace said.

Chace is working on schematics with an architectural firm and he says the design will incorporate some window panels and lots of bricks.

The type of detailed masonry work that distinguishes many historic buildings downtown is harder to come by in the modern era and harder to afford.

"It has to be affordable, too," Chace said. "Otherwise it doesn’t happen."

mreynold@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7490

On Twitter: @mrkrynlds