PROVIDENCE − A single-story row of small businesses on Reservoir Avenue in Providence could soon give way to a four-story mixed-use building with 21 apartments now that the City Plan Commission approved the preliminary plans on Tuesday night.
Currently, 106 Reservoir Ave., in the Reservoir neighborhood, is a line of six small businesses, including an auto repair shop, a hookah supply store, a men’s wear store and a clothing store specializing in shapewear.
Owner and developer Bryan Michie said the plan is to add three stories on top of the current businesses, demolish two small buildings in the rear and add 21 apartments on the newly constructed floors. The building would be 40 feet tall.
City Planner Choyon Manjrekar said the proposed addition conforms to the city’s zoning ordinances.
Plans show there would be a total of 12 two-bedroom apartments and nine one-bedroom apartments, with four two-bedroom units on each floor and three one-bedroom units on each floor. Units would range in size from 451 to 882 square feet.
Parking was the only issue
The one variance Michie requested, and received, from the City Plan Commission was to reduce the number of parking spaces required from 23 to 12 spaces. Reservoir Avenue affords ample street parking, Michie said.
In a staff report, Manjrekar had written that under the city’s zoning rules the complex would be required to have 21 parking spaces for the residences and one for the businesses, which total 3,172 square feet.
Plans for the building show the new addition will extend above a parking lot at the rear of the building, allowing for seven vehicles to park beneath it. Spaces for eight bicycles would be in the rear.
Most of the building’s roof would be devoted to a terrace for residents, with a quarter blocked off for heating and cooling systems.
The area is zoned C-2, or Commercial 2, which includes mixed-use buildings under the city’s zoning ordinances.
City Plan Commission Chairman Michael Gazdacko said the development is what he wants to see more of in the city, as it is on a commercial and transit corridor.
“I think this is great,” he said.
No one from the public has advocated for or against the project and no one from the public was in the audience.
The City Plan Commission voted to approve the reduced parking and the preliminary project plans, delegating the final sign-off to city planning staff.
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
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