Colleges eye chunks of prize land

Since work began moving the old Interstate 195 from the path it cut through the city, conversations about the area’s future have often started with speculation about how much of the land the city’s main hospitals and universities will eventually fill. Over the last decade, Brown University, Johnson & Wales University and Rhode Island Hospital owner Lifespan have invested hundreds of millions of dollars on development projects in that part of the city, known as the Knowledge District.
While some would prefer to entice the next hot Internet company to move to the area, luring those kinds of companies is difficult, as is identifying them.
Still, from the beginning, the idea of an academic-research hub creating and drawing in entrepreneurial activity was at the core of the Knowledge District concept.
But teasing out the role of Providence’s colleges and hospitals in building out both the I-195 land and the larger Knowledge District has been slow going so far.
Johnson & Wales recently agreed to triple its voluntary payments to the city in order to buy two I-195 parcels it has long wanted for campus expansion and were reserved for the school in the law that created the I-195 District Commission.
However, Johnson & Wales is scaling back, at least initially, the 2008 master plan that called for a second campus quad in the district and 10 new buildings utilizing about 4 acres of I-195 land, in addition to property the school already owns. The two I-195 properties Johnson & Wales has reserved cover just more than 1.7 acres.
The deal with the city includes an additional payment in lieu of taxes that would kick in should Johnson & Wales buy a third and yet-undetermined I-195 parcel, but the school at this point has not decided whether it wants to pursue more land. Unlike the first two properties, a third would be subject to I-195 Redevelopment Commission approval.
Johnson & Wales spokeswoman Lisa Pelosi said the university is “revising” its master plan following the agreement with the city and expects to announce some changes in March.
Brown’s interest in the district has been even more closely followed and more complicated, since negotiations with Providence Mayor Angel Taveras over increased payments in lieu of taxes that the mayor tied to the university’s interest in I-195 land fell through this winter. A tentative agreement between the city and school would have allowed Brown to purchase up to 7.5 acres of land for a minimum payment of $1.6 million, plus an additional $214,285 for each acre of land after that.
But the deal broke down and Taveras refused to accept an interim deal that didn’t include any money or agreement over the I-195 land.
Since then Brown has said it is still investigating various options for new teaching and research facilities on the former I-195 land.
“Regardless of Brown’s direct involvement in the I-195 area, our hope is that it will be developed over time in a way that encourages the growth of the knowledge economy and supports a thriving mixed-use environment,” Vice President of Public Affairs Marisa Quinn said in an e-mail statement.
If Brown did use 7.5 acres of the I-195 land, it would represent more than one-third of the total 19.2 acres available west of the Providence River.
Aside from Brown and Johnson & Wales, the other major academic proposal for the I-195 land is the joint University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College advanced nursing center, which school and state officials are hoping to secure $6 million to build.
The I-195 commission has not started looking at specific development proposals for academic or commercial projects, but Chairman Colin Kane has emphasized that job creation takes priority over college growth.
“Our mission is not to support campus expansion, but to energize the city and create jobs for the state,” Kane said.
Not every large nonprofit is interested in grabbing a piece of the I-195 land.
Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island President Dan Egan said Rhode Island School of Design and Providence College have no interest in expanding their campuses to the Knowledge District right now.
And so far Providence’s major hospitals have not sought any former I-195 land.
Lifespan, which owns Rhode Island Hospital, bought the Coro Center at 1 Hoppin St. in 2001 and has moved its 850 research-related employees there, but the building is still not full.
“We still have space to fill at the Coro Center and also have additional capacity within the footprint of the land,” said Lifespan Senior Public Affairs Director Stacy Paterno. •

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