Rewrite this title New 11-story apartment building proposed for Prov. riverfront on former 195 land

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A new 11-story apartment building has been proposed for a parcel of former Interstate 195 land on the Providence River.

The proposed development by CV Properties would include ground-floor retail and/or restaurant space topped by ten stories of 149 residential units. It’s planned for Parcels 14 and 15, a small section of land on the river behind a Brown University building at 200 Dyer Street.

The proposal will be considered at Wednesday’s meeting of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission.

If constructed, the residential building could be part of a larger development to include two new commercial buildings with lab space on the adjacent property owned by Brown. (Only the apartment building is going before the 195 Commission.)

Through a spokesperson, CV Properties CEO Dick Galvin said the rent prices would be market rate, with 10% of the apartments set aside for workforce housing, a designation for tenants with middle-incomes. No affordable units for lower incomes are currently proposed.

About 30-60 parking spots would be available underground for the 149 units, Galvin said.

The developer is proposing to pay the state $600,000 for the land. It was not immediately clear if any other developers submitted proposals for the parcel.

According to a presentation on the agenda for next week’s meeting, the rental units would be a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and some three-bedroom apartments.

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CV Properties has already developed one project on the former 195 land — the Aloft Hotel — and has also developed other projects in Providence including South Street Landing and the IGT building.

The former 195 land, dubbed the “innovation and design district,” has been ramping up development with a majority of the projects being residential so far. Marc Crisafulli, the new 195 Commission Chair, said on Newsmakers last month he hopes to get more commercial development, though he acknowledged it will be more difficult than attracting residential uses.

Currently pending on the land is a new R.I. Department of Health lab, which has not yet broken ground, along with three other mixed-use projects in the works. Those include a Bank RI headquarters with residential units, an apartment building with a childcare center, and another apartment building with ground-floor retail and live-work artist lofts.