Joe Paolino has had a distinguished career. A former Providence mayor and city councilor, he also served as U.S. Ambassador to Malta under President Bill Clinton. Since retiring from politics, Paolino has become one of the most recognized real estate developers in Rhode Island.
Paolino is part of a group that recently purchased the Providence Place mall in an effort to revitalize the massive downtown property. He sat down with Ocean State Media’s Ian Donnis to discuss his plans for the aging mall, his suggestions for revitalizing Kennedy Plaza and how to address Providence’s housing shortage.
Interview highlights
On how to revitalize Kennedy Plaza
Joe Paolino: I think (for) Kennedy Plaza, moving the bus hub is going to be very important, but they got to do more than that. We have a mental illness problem in society today, and I think it’s important that you just don’t move a problem, but you have to also treat a problem.
I would like to see social workers involved wherever that bus hub goes to try to help these people, transport them, give them the help that they need. Then take Kennedy Plaza (and) make that a family-oriented place where people can have celebrations. Now, we just saw the soccer tournaments take place. That would be a great venue to have that. Having concerts in the heart of downtown – the Philharmonic, the Pops – in Kennedy Plaza would be good…
I don’t blame the city as much as I blame the state. RIPTA controls Kennedy Plaza and they don’t give it the security or the social service help that that community needs. The whole mental illness problem is real. You know, if you break an arm, you put a cast on it and then it gets fixed. You can’t do that with somebody with mental illness. People should not be sleeping on sidewalks. People should not be doing drugs in front of the Matthewson Street Church. That area looks (like) it is from a “third world country.”
On how to convert more Providence office space into housing
Paolino: Well, unfortunately, the state legislature just did away with historic tax credits, and that was a big incentive for people with historic buildings to rehab them and to put residential (housing) there. So you need to get some programs like that back.
With the “Amica building,” (a historic high-rise on Weybosset Street in Providence) I’m looking at interest rates right now, and so I have put a pause on what I wanted to do there. My initial intention was to expand The Beatrice (hotel) and have additional rooms of the Beatrice and then put (in) residential...
What I’m concerned about now is what’s going to happen in the (Providence mayoral) election. If rent control comes into Providence, you’re going to see all residential apartment development come to a halt. Banks aren’t going to give mortgages. You’re not going to get developers wanting to take the chance knowing that rent control is going to control them. I want to see who the next mayor’s going to be and who the next city council’s going to be before I take any more steps. I mean, if the government officials want to do something, lower the taxes.
On how to create more housing in Providence
Paolino: The problem is supply, and how are you going to build more supply? Right now you have people that have mortgages of 3 or 4%. Once you sell your house with a 3 or 4% mortgage, (if) you want to buy another house, you’re going to have a 7 or 8% mortgage. So that’s why there’s not a lot of housing for sale. Now, the state has a $125 million (housing development) bond issue (on the November ballot). Where is that money being spent? To me, you don’t spend $1 for a dollar. You take that $125 million and you try to parlay it so you can get a half a billion dollars to a billion dollars of help to be able to create more housing, maybe to reduce interest rates for people – maybe for a two- or three-year period – and try to help subsidize that. But politicians aren’t the right people to come up with those ideas. Home builders are.
On his vision for Providence Place
Paolino: Having local ownership, I think, is critical. Having the original developer Pyramid come in, I think, is going to be very helpful. Getting better retail there and more retail, I think, is going to be important and having security over there.
Now, I have a long-shot dream. I’d love to see Costco go there. I don’t know if that can happen because Costco normally doesn’t go to malls. They want open air. They want suburban areas. But I want to wait and see (in) the next few months, once we take control of it, if we can do a special urban concept of a Costco there. If it can happen, great. If it can’t, I understand the realities of it, but there are other major retailers that we are talking (to). And having good security there is good. If you go to Providence Place, you want to feel safe. If you don’t feel safe, you’re not going to go there. So I have a very good understanding of what I think needs to happen over there, and we’ll be going down that road shortly.
