WEST BROADWAY NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

2016 Board of Directors



President: Matthew Gabor, Hammond Street Vice President: Amahl Harik, Brighton Street Vice President: Nicole Pollock, Theresa Court Secretary: Matthew Murphy, University Ave Treasurer: Jason Tavares, Vernon Street Caleb Borchers, Chapin Avenue Jason Bouchard Harding Street, Fall River Jane Driver, Broadway Caitlin Jamison, Hudson Street Peter Landry, Hammond Street Sean Larkin, Mt. Pleasant Ave Patrick McEvoy, Parade Street Jim Nellis, Hudson Street Amanda Poirier, Brighton Street Joseph Roch, Hammond Street Terry Snook, Tobey Street David Stuebe, Ellery Street

STAFF Kari Lang Executive Director Willow Street Rodrick Mortier Program Manager Sycamore Street Jessica Jennings Communications Consultant Knight Street

17 October 2016 Bill Anderson and Team Best Western Glo Hotel 322 Washington Street Dear Mr. Anderson and Best Western Team, Thank you for presenting your plans for 322 Washington Street to the WBNA’s Community Development Committee (CDC) on September 14, 2016. We appreciate your willingness to share your plans and seek input from the community. Our neighborhood is keenly protective of its heritage and character and as such we advocate aggressively for the highest quality in every development brought before us, and support projects that are consistent with our development guidelines. Clearly, the site in question needs to be put to more productive use than it is presently – and we welcome proposals. Given the prominence of the site (both in terms of geographic height and significance as a gateway to our community), our neighborhood and the city as a whole have the expectation that a project at this location will contribute architecturally, and complement the surroundings, both built and natural. Unfortunately, your design does not do this. The opinion of this committee is that your current design represents standard office-park hotel design sensibilities, indistinguishable from any number of other hotels, and makes little to no effort to relate to its surroundings. Because you are still in the planning stage and because we are confident that a revised design approach will create a more attractive and popular hotel that is more financially lucrative for you, we appeal to you and your team to consider the following: • Hire a local architect to play a major role in adjusting your prototype to truly fit an urban location, the Providence (not highway) context and the millennial clientele you seek to attract (urban boutique hotels are the trend) • Reconsider the relief from the street frontage on Washington, and re-site the building so that it faces both Washington Street and the Service Road • Re-apportion the massing on the site to spread the building out over a larger footprint of the parcel and to fit the decked parking under the back portion of the building (this could provide an added benefit of more rooms or a reduced height) We also encourage some relatively simple improvements. If, as you presented, your hotel is meant to appeal to the urban-minded millennial business traveler, one would expect less demand for parking as many guests will arrive via public transit, Uber or Lyft, etc. By leasing space in the under-utilized parking garage adjacent to your project you could significantly reduce your parking footprint, which would allow for greater design flexibility. Additionally, your current parking plan relies on access via Lyman Street, which will create tremendous strain on an already inadequate street. Further, Dean Street at Washington and Westminster Streets are already significantly overburdened by vehicular traffic, particularly at the precise time you propose check-out for hotel guests. Re-thinking your parking strategy could facilitate access for your guests as well as free up space for additional rooms, landscaping, or other amenities. We reiterate that the CDC also has concern that the variance obtained to reduce frontage on Washington Street seems misguided. To achieve an urban design that “belongs,” one would expect full or near full frontage on the major streets of Washington and the Service Road. Further, that block of Washington Street is difficult and dangerous to pedestrians and bicycles due to the lack of sidewalk, as well as the activity of emergency vehicles, on the north side of the street. Adding your parking lot access to the streetscape further reduces the safety and ability to traverse the street for pedestrians and bicyclists. Fuller frontage on both major streets will give the building more of a sense of place and connection with the neighborhood.

TO PROTECT AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE WEST BROADWAY / ARMORY DISTRICT NEIGHBORHOOD PARA PROTEGER Y MEJORAR LA CALIDAD DE VIDA DE LA COMUNIDAD EN EL DISTRITPO WEST BROADWAY / ARMORY 1560 Westminster Street, Providence RI 02909 Tel: 401-831-9344 Fax: 401-831-0388 www.wbna.org e-mail: [email protected]

WEST BROADWAY NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION



In terms of materials, we urge you to avoid cheap materials like Dryvit, and to think outside the box with forward-thinking, modern materials, rather than attempting to mimic neighboring buildings with brick. Modern adventurous design can integrate with – and complement – traditional design, and can be more noteworthy and enduring than designs which attempt merely to blend in. We also urge serious consideration of landscaping as a primary component of the building’s presentation, and not merely a pro forma afterthought. Creative landscaping will be a cost-effective way to help the building complement the neighborhood. We applaud your increase in transparency on the first floor and the addition of an entryway on the southeast exposure. We also appreciate your commitment to – and strongly reaffirm the necessity of – reorienting the large, lighted signage towards the highway and away from the neighborhood. These are the kinds of steps that bring the building closer to being an integrated, urban design, and will help guests engage with the surrounding business community. While we appreciate your interest in our neighborhood and your recognition of it as a promising place to invest and do business, we don’t feel your design is at the level of quality we would expect for this site, and therefore cannot support the development at this time. We hope you will consider our recommendations and perhaps be willing to give us another presentation as your design evolves. Thank you for your time, and your openness to making this an addition to the community that we can all be proud of. Sincerely,

Amahl Harik Chair, CDC cc:

Kari Lang Executive Director

Jorge Elorza, Mayor of Providence Bonnie Nickerson, Director of Providence Planning Bryan Principe, Providence City Council, Ward 13 Barry Sullivan, Providence Director of Real Estate Christine Malecki West, Chair, Providence City Plan Commission



TO PROTECT AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE WEST BROADWAY / ARMORY DISTRICT NEIGHBORHOOD PARA PROTEGER Y MEJORAR LA CALIDAD DE VIDA DE LA COMUNIDAD EN EL DISTRITPO WEST BROADWAY / ARMORY 1560 Westminster Street, Providence RI 02909 Tel: 401-831-9344 Fax: 401-831-0388 www.wbna.org e-mail: [email protected]