PROVIDENCE – The City of Providence Zoning Board of Review last night unanimously granted approval for a 250-foot, 174-condominium residential tower that will straddle a public road on Federal Hill, just west of Interstate 95.

Anthony J. Bucci Jr., a Providence lawyer representing developers Frank and Michael Zammiello, said today that the approved project – dubbed Vista Della Torre – will have a 40-foot arch that crosses Federal Street near the intersection of Bradford Street. It will have a five-floor, underground parking garage.

Originally, the building had been proposed as a 360-foot structure that would have closed off portions of Bradford and Federal streets – that project would have cost $80 million (READ MORE). Last summer, the height was knocked down to 330 feet and the city suggested an underground parking lot to further reduce the size, Bucci said.

With the changes made, the project’s new projected cost – which includes extras like staffing the sales office – is $120 million, Bucci said.

Newport Collaborative Architects Principal J. Michael Abbott designed the building.

At a meeting last night that carried on later than 11 p.m., members of neighborhood groups brought experts to testify against the building. West Broadway Neighborhood Association Executive Director Kari Lang said, “This is a mega structure. It’s a structure that belongs Downtown. … It does not belong in a neighborhood that’s zoned 45-feet high where most of the buildings are one and two and three stories.”

Lang cited the city’s approval of variances for 2,000-percent increase in density and a 456-percent increase for allowable height.

“This is basically a zoning change, not a zoning variance,” she said. “It’s really, really disappointing.”

But Bucci said the project will be a “gateway” to bridging Providence’s Downtown and Federal Hill neighborhoods.

And he cited the height of Dominica Manor, the 186-feet senior complex that fronts on Atwells Avenue and will share about 4,200-square-feet of its parcel – in return for parking – with the new development.

“Nobody has testified, or even given a hint, that [Dominica Manor] has ruined the fabric of Federal Hill,” Bucci said. “And all of sudden our building – which is a little bit higher but not really out of scale – is going to ‘ruin Federal Hill.’ It’s just not true.

“I don’t see why there’s not room for both of them.”

The project will have 4,100 square feet of retail space on the first floor, Bucci said.

He said project buildout will take about 18 months and require between 300 and 400 construction workers.

“And we think it’s a gorgeous building,” Bucci said.