After squatting like a beautiful but bereft vestige from the Jazz Age for almost a decade, the Industrial Trust Building in Providence — better known as the “Superman Building” — will be revitalized with 285 residential apartments, state and city officials announced Tuesday.
The announcement during a Statehouse news conference came exactly nine years after the last Bank of America worker left the 26-story building.
A series of efforts to attract a new tenant or otherwise bring the building back to life eluded a string of governors.
The resolution came Sunday, following a six-month negotiation, according to the owner of the Superman Building, David Sweetser of Massachusetts-based High Rock Development, He said Rhode Island Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor made an overture that won his support.
“Hundreds of new residents brought to our downtown, hundreds of construction jobs,” Pryor said. “and restoring our skyline, lighting up that iconic building and it means so much to our state. It’s also a signal that we’re back — we are in the process of re-emerging from the pandemic.”
Governor Dan McKee was among those hailing the news. He said 20 percent of the apartments will be designated for affordable housing. Like Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, McKee said the project will inject fresh life into Rhode Island’s capital city.
With the state’s economy improving after the pandemic, “this project will help to maintain that momentum by reinvigorating downtown Providence, creating good-paying construction jobs, increasing our state’s market-rate and affordable housing supply and generating further opportunities for the residents and businesses of our capital city,” McKee said.
The development looms as a political win for McKee, part of a five-way Democratic field for governor this year, and Pryor, who is expected to leave Commerce RI soon to launch a campaign for state general treasurer.
Here’s how state officials describe the financing for the $220 million project: Sweeter’s firm will provide up to $32 million in cash equity; $26.2 million will come from existing state economic and housing programs, with the biggest part of that ($15 million) from the Rebuild RI tax credit); $22 million in federal historic tax credits; $10 million in a low-interest loan and a $5 million direct contribution from Providence; and $2.1 million from the federal New Markets Tax Credit.
Reaction was mixed.
Some, like Arnold “Buff” Chace, who has worked for decades to bring more residents to downtown Providence, was excited by the news.
“The addition of hundreds of housing units at differing price levels and more commerce into this architectural gem will create a high pulse on Westminster and Fulton streets and breathe new life into our city’s central plaza,” Chace said in a statement. “This dynamic shift will make a direct impact that all Providence and Rhode Island residents will experience. I look forward to working together on the next steps.”
But others, including state Sen. Sam Bell (D-Providence), said the project is oriented for the wealthy, without enough of a commitment to housing for low-income residents. On Twitter, Bell argued the building would be better utilized as office space.
Sweetser bought the Superman Building for about $33 million in 2008, just as the U.S. was heading into the Great Recession.
At the same time, the collapse of 38 Studios — attracted to Rhode Island with a $75 million state loan guarantee — undercut public support for big tax incentives, and the structure of the Superman Building, with one HVAC system for the entire edifice, posed another challenge.
Sweetser said he told his mother, a fan of Italian food, that they would dine out at Federal Hill when the project is complete, and he said he can now follow through on that with his 88-year-old parent.
Interior demolition is expected to take six months, with the construction of apartments requiring about 30 months after that. No plans were announced for the street-level parts of the building.
The Industrial Trust Building was erected in the 1920s. It is widely referred to as the Superman Building due to its resemblance to the offices of the Daily Planet from a television show in the 1950s.
This story has been updated.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. Follow him on Twitter @IanDon. Sign up here for his free weekly RI politics newsletter.
