Contentious debate can be expected this Monday, September 17, when Feldco Development's revised proposal for developing Providence's Eagle Square will be considered by the plan commission during a 4:30 p.m. meeting in council chambers at City Hall.

Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr., and Patricia McLaughlin, his director of administration, who nurtured the deal during months of meetings with Feldco, describe the revision as an appealing, historically compatible compromise that will bring a supermarket and other forms of economic development while preserving most of Uncas, Crawford Seed, and two of the other major 19th-century mill buildings at the site.

"I think that the project has been escalated to an acceptance level that will bring all those interested parties into consensus," says Cianci. "This went from a $7 million investment all the way to, approximately, a $32 million investment," and the project -- which will include two floors of studio space at below-market rates and a higher level of retail than the big box stores of Feldco's original plan -- will help, says the mayor, to jumpstart other mill projects in the city.

But there's still ample skepticism among the coalition of artists, preservationists, and neighbors that started a debate last year about the future of Eagle Square -- and provided a wake-up call about the need for more efforts to protect endangered mill buildings. "It would be dishonest for me not to say that this project has come a long way," says mill activist Raphael Lyon. [But] it's not acceptable yet," in part since about 70 percent of the buildings at the site would still be demolished. More public discussion and a greater degree of preservation are needed, Lyon and others say, to win widespread acceptance for Feldco's new plan.

Critics also rap the process. Although the September 17 meeting was advertised on Labor Day, copies of Feldco's final plan were not publicly available until earlier this week (McLaughlin counters that the plan is essentially identical to the one shown a few weeks ago to Lyon, the Providence Preservation Society, and other interested parties.) The imminent meeting will also combine "master plan review" and "preliminary plan review" -- an effort, in the eyes of some activists, to rush the project's approval with a minimum of public input.

Another big concern is whether Feldco will complete the development, which would be made with $3 million to $4 million in tax incremental financing (TIF) from the city, exactly as proposed. But McLaughlin says the Long Island, New York-based developer will remain financially liable, through the TIF and the plan commission process, to honor its commitment. "There's no way they can come back and pull a bait-and-switch," she says.

Feldco's revision "is something from where we started, to where we got today, that is like night and day," says Cianci, who's seen as having the votes necessary to win approval of the project from the plan commission. But if this story were to take an unexpected turn, it wouldn't be the first time.

Issue Date: September 14 - 20, 2001