CITYWATCH Is a more restrictive Arcade good for downtown? BY IAN DONNIS

The Arcade, the circa-1820s downtown Providence landmark well known for its distinctive neo-classical exterior columns, has long been a popular spot to grab a quick bite or pause during the workday. Considering the casual ambiance associated with the historic mall, some downtown denizens were concerned when a new management team implemented a series of changes in early February, including restrictions on access to public restrooms, the removal of distribution racks bearing such publications as the Phoenix, and an effort to discourage loitering in the building.

The differences included the posting of entrance signs announcing, "No public restrooms" and "No loitering." For some observers, the historic Arcade has changed from a cozy gathering spot into a less welcoming place casting its lot with a more upscale crowd.

The changes came after oversight of the indoor mall reverted from Johnson & Wales University to 130 Westminster Street Associates LLC, which owns the land where the Arcade is located. Merlin DeConti, J&W’s senior vice president for facilities management, recently told Providence Business News that the university had lost between $100,000 and $250,000 on the Arcade each year, depending on occupancy levels, after buying it from Gilbane Building Co. for $76,000 in 1995.

Lisa Marrocco of Greater Providence Properties, who is managing the property for 130 Westminster Street Associates, described the changes as part of a successful effort to reduce problems with drug-dealing and homeless people bothering other visitors at the Arcade. "You can tell the public feels safer in the building," Marrocco says. "They’re not being harassed." The overriding goal, she says, is creating "a high-end retail historic establishment," while maintaining eateries on the first floor of the three-story building.

Marrocco says Arcade patrons can still gain access to the now-locked public restrooms by borrowing a key from one of the shops in the mall. "It’s not that it’s closed to the customers per se, it’s just that it’s locked and you have to be a customer," she says. Although gumball machines and the metal racks bearing free publications at both entrances were removed as part of an initial cleanup, Marrocco says, management plans to install a historic-style rack for distributing publications in about two months.

While Marrocco says she does not know who owns 130 Westminster Street Associates, it is thought to be linked to Granoff Associates, whose family members own the Turk’s Head Building and other downtown properties. Lawyer Thomas V. Moses, who represents 130 Westminster Street Associates, and Lloyd Granoff did not return calls seeking comment. Last year, when former Mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr.’s court victory over his demolition of a distinctive Atwells Avenue Gulf station heightened the possibility of other downtown demolitions, Granoff Associates sought to raze a 75-year-old building at 90 Westminster Street and another structure at 110 Westminster St. The demolitions were blocked by another court decision.

Although critics see the changes at the Arcade as elitist, Noreen Shawcross, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, views them in the context of the scheduled implementation later this month of the downtown Business Improvement District. Funded by businesses, the BID is described by proponents as an effort to make downtown cleaner and safer. So far, Shawcross says, she has been pleased by the inclusion of the homeless in discussions and training related to the BID, but the situation bears watching. "It’s something of concern," she says, "because we want to make sure that being homeless doesn’t become a criminal offense."