Providence Place

src: www.becker.edu

Providence Place is an urban shopping mall, currently owned by GGP Inc. It is located in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, near the Rhode Island State House and Providence Station, and by the interchange of I-95, I-195, U.S. 1 and U.S. 6.

The mall became the largest shopping mall in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations with its opening in 1999, with a total of 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m²) gross leasable area. It was originally anchored by Lord & Taylor, Filene's, and Nordstrom; Lord & Taylor was later replaced by JCPenney, which itself was replaced with an expanded parking garage following the latter store's closure in 2015. Filene's was converted to Macy's in 2006.

Video Providence Place

Structure

The mall was built on land previously occupied by a dirt parking lot called "Ray's Park & Lock." The proposed design was met by opposition from residents on the city's East Side; developers changed the initial design to fit better into the neighborhood. The new design included more red and yellow brick and turrets on the roof, to reflect Providence's industrial past.

The design of the mall was partly done by the architect Friedrich St. Florian. He also built the skybridge that connected the mall with the Omni Hotel (formerly the Westin Hotel).

In total, Providence Place consists of fifteen levels. The lowest three are labeled C-A (P1-P3). Level C consists of Parking-Only Stateside, and Street Level Restaurants Cityside. There is also a level D on the Stateside garage. Level B consists of DSW shoes and Restaurants, Old Navy stateside, Bed Bath & Beyond cityside and The Skybrige to the Westin. Level A consists of parking only, both cityside and stateside. Cityside is the mall's southern end, facing Downtown. Stateside is the mall's northern end, facing state office buildings including the State Capitol.

The fifth through ninth levels are labeled 1, 1M (1.5), 2, 2M (2.5) and 3, which features the indoor galleria. There is a Dave & Buster's, an IMAX theatre, and a 16-screen cinema on the seventh level. The mall also hosts two large parking garages, one cityside and the other stateside, anchored to its back end. Bridges connect the two sides over the Woonasquatucket River.

The mall's Winter Garden is a noticeable architectural feature. The four-level structure in the center of the mall spans the Woonasquatucket River and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line. The area features large expanses of glass providing views of the city. The third level of the Winter Garden contains the food court and access to its fourth level, serving as the entrance to Dave and Buster's, the IMAX theater, and the cinema. Although not directly connected to the mall, Amtrak's Providence Station is located approximately 200 yards east of the mall, providing Acela Express and Northeast Regional service to Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C.. The tracks seem to go through the City Side parking lot.

As of early 2017, the garages are being renovated. Some of the renovation's features are a light system that tells a driver where a place to park is. If the light is green, open spots are in that area, red signifies no spots available, and blue is for notice of handicapped spots. Another big change is that the garage floors are color code, each floor is represented by a different color. Floor P1, the bottom most floor, is Brown, P2 is Blue, P3 is Red, L1 is Purple, L1.5 is Yellow, L2 is Green, L2.5 is Orange, and L3 is Pink. There will also be signs alerting shoppers how many spaces on each level are empty. The last additions to the renovations are redone entrance designs and turning the first two floors of the former JCPenney into more parking. The renovation should be finished before the end of 2017.

Maps Providence Place

Unauthorized residence

Michael Townsend, Adriana Yoto and six other artists covertly built an apartment in a 750-square-foot (70 m²) loft in one of the mall's parking garages in 2004 and lived there for up to three weeks at a time while documenting mall life. After the fully furnished apartment was discovered by mall security, Townsend was sentenced to probation on October 2, 2007.