-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 0
/
Copy pathindex.html
973 lines (885 loc) · 38 KB
/
index.html
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>
How Brown’s campus and property holdings have changed, from 1770 to today
</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://use.typekit.net/mxr8glf.css" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
<script src="./jquery-3.6.1.min.js"></script>
<script type="module" src="js/script.js"></script>
</head>
<body id="body">
<!-- <div id="debug-overlay"></div> -->
<div id="year-1" class="year"></div>
<div id="year-2" class="year"></div>
<div id="header">
<div>
<a href="https://browndailyherald.com" style="align-self: center">
<img
id="logo"
src="https://d35jcxe8no8yhr.cloudfront.net/bd1083f144117cb1524cb7fc30c4765d/dist/img/logo-black.png"
style="max-width: 32em; align-self: center"
/>
</a>
</div>
<div id="intro-section1" class="body-text">
<div id="intro-graf1" class="over-map">
<p>
Today, Brown owns over
<a
href="https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Facilities_Management/maps/#type/BUILDINGS"
>230</a
>
buildings in Providence. Recent acquisitions have been concentrated
in the Jewelry District, representing a new era of growth for the
University off College Hill and into downtown.
</p>
<p>But the campus wasn’t always so expansive.</p>
<p
style="
text-align: center;
font-weight: bold;
margin-bottom: 0;
margin-top: 2em;
"
class="js-only"
>
↓ SCROLL ↓
</p>
</div>
<p id="enableJS">
Please enable JavaScript and reload this page for the best experience.
</p>
<script>
enableJS.remove();
const userAgent = navigator.userAgent;
if (
userAgent.indexOf("Safari") > -1 &&
userAgent.indexOf("Chrome") === -1
) {
if (userAgent.indexOf("Version/") > -1) {
const safariVersion = parseInt(
userAgent.split("Version/")[1].split(" ")[0].split(".")[0]
);
if (safariVersion <= 14) {
document.write(/* HTML */ `
<div
class="over-map"
style="background: #7e0101; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 10vh !important; margin-bottom: 10vh;"
>
<p>
Unfortunately, this interactive does not work on Safari 14
or older. Please update your version of Safari or use a
different browser.
</p>
</div>
`);
}
}
}
</script>
</div>
</div>
<div id="hed">
<div id="headline-wrapper">
<h1>
How Brown’s campus and property holdings have changed, from 1770 to
today
</h1>
</div>
<div class="byline">
<p>
Reporting by
<a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/willkubzansky"
>Will Kubzansky</a
>,
<a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/katy-pickens"
>Katy Pickens</a
>, and
<a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/rhea-rasquinha"
>Rhea Rasquinha</a
>
</p>
<p>
Web design & layout by
<a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/ashley-cai"
>Ashley Cai</a
>,
<a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/jed-fox"
>Jed Fox</a
>
and <a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/neil-mehta"
>Neil Mehta</a
>
</p>
<p>
Additional reporting by
<a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/stella-chen"
>Stella Chen</a
>
</p>
<p style="font-weight: bold">
<time datetime="2022-12-13">
December 13<sup style="margin-right: -0.1em">th</sup>, 2022
</time>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="content">
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf2">
<p>
Below, The Herald has mapped the University’s property purchases and
some of its sales from its founding in 1764 to its present-day
footprint. Brown first purchased property in 1770.
</p>
<p>
Information comes from the Brown Real Estate Office archives; the
Brown Office of Facilities Management; the Encyclopedia Brunoniana;
Herald archives; the John Hay Library's special collections; the
Providence Journal archives; the Providence Preservation Society's
Most Endangered Properties lists; the Providence Public Library's
atlas collection; and the Rhode Island State Archives at the office of
the Department of State.
</p>
<p>
The information below is imperfect, especially predating 2002, which
was the first year Providence began publishing its complete
<a href="https://data.providenceri.gov/browse?q=property+tax+roll"
>property tax rolls</a
>
online. The maps from 1770 to 2000 include confirmed purchase years of
many specific properties. Other properties that appear on the map do
not match the exact boundaries of land the University purchased, but
we know Brown must have acquired those parcels because University
buildings stand there today.
</p>
<p>
These maps almost assuredly miss a few buildings and properties
without records in the archives. Still, they show the breadth of the
University’s expansion to new blocks and corners of the city over the
past centuries.
</p>
<p>
If you have a correction, addition or knowledge of when Brown acquired
certain properties, please email
<a href="mailto:[email protected]"
>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf3">
<p>
Brown’s original campus spanned two adjacent lots including what is
now the Quiet Green, Main Green and Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle. At
this time, there were no paved roads, so the true boundaries of campus
may have not aligned exactly with its contemporary confines.
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf4">
<p>
Between 1770 and 1900, the outline of Brown beyond its original campus
began to take shape. The University bought the land for its first
building on what is now the Pembroke campus in 1895. In this era, it
also acquired Pembroke Field, land on Thayer Street and land that
would become the Brown Stadium. Between 1770 and 1900, the University
sold some properties that were on its original campus. While they
bought some back, others remain independently owned to this day.
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf5">
<p>
The early 20th century saw campus expansion to make room for the
Women’s College, later
<a href="https://www.brown.edu/about/history/timeline/">renamed</a>
Pembroke College. Sayles Gym — now Smith-Buonanno Hall — and much of
the land that would become Andrews Hall were acquired by the
University in this time frame.
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf6">
<p>
President Henry Wriston, who held his position from 1937 to 1955, made
rapid and extensive campus expansion a key priority for the
University. Brown gradually bought the homes and buildings on the land
of what would soon become Wriston Quadrangle and Keeney Quadrangle.
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf7">
<p>
By 1960, the University’s two largest residential quads — Wriston and
Keeney — were complete.
</p>
<p>
Farview, Inc., a nonprofit corporation legal entity entirely owned by
the University, was incorporated in 1958. This subsidiary helped
facilitate the purchase of properties that either remained commercial
or taxable or were later demolished for future projects. The
University also acquired much of the land that would eventually become
the Life Sciences Quad and Barus and Holley.
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf8">
<p>
By the mid-1960s, Farview was listed as the owner of 15 to 20
properties in Providence. In the decades prior to 1980, Brown leased
out several properties on John Street. Students were increasingly
opting to live off-campus and spreading into Fox Point, contributing
to rising rents and displacement, The Herald previously
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/we-didnt-choose-to-be-neighbors-a-history-of-browns-property-impact-on-the-east-side"
>reported</a
>.
</p>
<p>
The University took on more non-educational and commercial properties,
looking ahead to bigger plans and future dorms.
</p>
<p>
“The issue,” President Barnaby Keeney told The Herald during a
<a href="https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:982475/"
>1962 dispute</a
>
about the construction of Barus and Holley, “is essentially whether
Brown goes up in the air, spreads out more or stands still. We are
quite prepared to operate under city policies that will permit us to
go up or spread out. If the pressure on the University is to stand
still, we shall have to resist.”
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf9">
<p>
In the 1980s, the University acquired the final buildings on the block
that would become the Vartan Gregorian Quadrangle, which opened in
1991.
</p>
<p>
In the 1990s, through purchases made by Farview, Brown also acquired
the strip mall on Brook Street, which included Bagel Gourmet, East
Side Mini-Mart and a police station. These structures were
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2021/10/demolition-for-brook-street-dorm-to-begin-mid-october"
>demolished</a
>
in fall 2021 to make way for the Brook Street Dormitories, indicating
the long-term lens the University has taken with acquiring and
developing property.
</p>
</div>
<div class="over-map" id="intro-graf10">
<p>
In the 2000s, Brown began a conscious effort to expand off College
Hill. In President Ruth J. Simmons’s
<a href="https://www.brown.edu/web/pae/plan.html"
>Plan for Academic Enrichment</a
>
— among the first public-facing University plans that explicitly
called for expansion beyond College Hill — the University set its
sights upon the Jewelry District, where it has expanded its research
facilities, medical school, office of admission and more.
</p>
<p>
In 2014, the administration of President Christina Paxson P’19
launched the
<a href="https://distinction.brown.edu/">Building on Distinction</a>
plan, a strategic initiative for campus development and growth in
pursuit of Brown’s academic mission.
</p>
<p>
In 2019, the University dissolved Farview. Since then, the University
has converted much of its once-commercial property into student
housing — tearing down houses and a strip mall on several distinct
blocks of Brook Street to create Sternlicht Commons and the Brown
University Health & Wellness Center.
</p>
<p>
Over the decades, the University has also sold many properties. The
information for some sales is readily available, but other records
were less accessible. While some sold properties disappear throughout
these maps, others that appeared consistently disappear in the 2002
map, indicating that they were sold by that point.
</p>
</div>
<div id="map-slider" style="height: 110vh">
<h3
style="
margin-top: 2em;
padding: 0.5em 0.5em 0.3em;
background: var(--offwhite);
border-radius: 0.5em;
border: 2px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
"
>
Drag the handle below to see Brown's property holdings from 2002 to
2022.
</h3>
<input
id="slider"
type="range"
min="2002"
max="2022"
value="2002"
step="2"
/>
<div id="slider-year" class="year">2002</div>
</div>
<div id="main-content">
{% separator 'top' %}
<p>
Today, acquisitions on College Hill are “less frequent, because
there's less available space,” said Executive Vice President for
Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91. The Jewelry District has seen
more University expansion because of land made available by the 2009
<a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/realestate/commercial/11iway.html"
>relocation</a
>
of the I-195 highway.
</p>
<p>
The Paxson administration has sought to build upon the Simmons
administration’s strategic plan, Carey explained, in an effort “to
fulfill our academic mission and (have) excellent and adequate
facilities in order to do that.”
</p>
<p>
“Being a residential university and a research-intensive university
comprises a significant need for space,” Carey said.
</p>
<p>
The University currently holds a mix of institutional and commercial
properties. Its “primary mission is not commercial activity,” Carey
said, adding that there are “a mix of reasons” for the University’s
ownership of commercial entities. “We’re not running large commercial
enterprises or seeking to do so.”
</p>
<p>
On Thayer Street, the University is the landlord for shops such as
Insomnia Cookies, Berk’s and Warby Parker. According to Carey, Brown
has been “actively involved for decades” with the Thayer Street
District Management Association and has representatives on the board.
</p>
<p>
Over the last 20 years, the University has sold as much or more
property compared to its acquisitions, Carey said, as part of a
“conscious effort … to identify properties that are not critical to
the (University’s) mission and can be better utilized in other ways.”
That includes the
<a
href="https://www.brown.edu/offices/real-estate/brown-brown-home-ownership"
>Brown to Brown</a
>
program — which renovates and sells homes to Brown community members —
and the 2019 sale of former University property that is now
Narragansett Brewery.
</p>
{% separator 'tax-footprint' %}
<h2>Brown’s tax footprint</h2>
<p>
Institutional properties — including dormitories, academic buildings
and dining halls — are property tax-exempt because of their academic
use. Commercial properties owned by Brown — such as the Brown
Bookstore and Hemenway’s restaurant — are taxed.
</p>
<p>
Carey explained that while Brown’s institutional tax-exempt status is
crucial to its nonprofit mission, the University is “extraordinarily
aware and sensitive” of the importance of property tax revenue for
Providence. Brown would generate close to $50 million for Providence
if taxed at the commercial rate, according to a January 2022 report
from the
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/02/payments-for-tax-exempt-properties-reconsidered"
>Providence Financial Department</a
>.
</p>
<p>
In fiscal year 2021, Brown paid over $4.3 million in transition and
voluntary payments and $1.9 million in property taxes for commercial
buildings, The Herald
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/02/payments-for-tax-exempt-properties-reconsidered"
>previously reported</a
>.
</p>
<p>
The University is “very committed to the financial sustainability and
success of the city of Providence,” he said. Currently, Brown has two
agreements addressing tax-exemption in place with the city: the 2003
<a href="https://www.brown.edu/gcr/sites/gcr/files/2003_MOU.pdf"
>Memorandum of Understanding</a
>
and the 2012
<a href="https://www.brown.edu/gcr/sites/gcr/files/2012_MOA.pdf"
>Memorandum of Agreement</a
>, which both expire next January, The Herald
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/02/payments-for-tax-exempt-properties-reconsidered"
>previously reported</a
>.
</p>
<p>
The 2003 agreement, which includes all private nonprofit institutions
in Providence, effectively allows nonprofits to hold taxable
commercial property under their own name and still pay taxes. The
agreement binds the nonprofits to a 15-year phase-out period “when
properties are acquired that were tax-generating … become tax-exempt,”
Carey said.
</p>
<p>
By introducing this phase-out process, the need for Farview — which
kept properties on the tax roll that were not transferred to the
University and made tax-exempt — became “less and less pressing,”
Carey said.
</p>
<p>
The 2003 MOU included 20 years of cash payments “directly to the city
from Brown,” Carey explained. The 2012 MOA also required “cash
payments to the city every year.” Renegotiations for the agreements in
January are a “high priority for the institutions and the incoming
mayor,” Carey said.
</p>
<p>
With these agreements, Farview “had less utility and wasn’t
necessary,” leading to its 2019 dissolution, Carey explained.
Properties previously owned by Farview that the University has not
sold are still owned by the University, and commercial properties
continue to be taxed.
</p>
<figure>
<img src="images/pilotprotest.jpg" />
<figcaption>
In 2012, Providence firefighters and police officers protested
outside Hemenway’s to call upon the University to increase its
voluntary payments to the city.
<cite
><a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/staff/danalexander"
>Dan Alexander</a
>
/ Herald</cite
>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
To secure financing to renovate the building that is now the Warren
Alpert Medical School, build a park and create a police substation,
the University established another subsidiary in 2010, Karing, Inc.,
University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
It was also dissolved in 2019.
</p>
<p>
When the University acquired River House in 2021, Carey said it
created a specific subsidiary: River House Holdings 1, LLC. Since the
property had a
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2021/07/brown-purchases-river-house-to-turn-into-graduate-student-housing"
>pre-existing</a
>
tax-stabilization agreement which Brown assumed, establishing the
subsidiary made it “very clear that we were going to honor” the TSA,
he added.
</p>
<p>
Apart from River House Holdings 1, LLC, the University does not see
any need for “having a standing separate but wholly owned entity just
for” commercial holdings and expansion, Carey explained. “That’s why
we closed (Farview) down.”
</p>
{% separator 'community-impact' %}
<h2>Community impact</h2>
<p>
“It appears to us that Brown views the properties it owns as” part of
Brown’s campus, said Brent Runyon, executive director of the
Providence Preservation Society. “I think many people would agree that
one of the most attractive features of Brown is that it is …
integrated into the surrounding neighborhood of College Hill.”
</p>
<p>
With this disconnect, Brown seems “to have very low regard for the
<a href="https://guide.ppsri.org/list/college-hill-national-hd"
>College Hill National Historic District</a
>,” Runyon said.
</p>
<p>
Though the University has previously physically relocated several of
its
<a href="https://www.brown.edu/news/2018-12-17/sharpe">historic </a
>buildings, those opportunities have diminished. There just isn't
that much open space,” Runyon said.
</p>
<p>“Expansion has been aggressive,” he added.</p>
<p>
Runyon said some of Brown’s acquisitions and replacements — like fast
food restaurants and a gas station on Angell Street — were beneficial.
But other efforts, like a
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2018/02/university-changes-site-for-performing-arts-center"
>failed</a
>
plan to demolish buildings including the Urban Environmental Lab for
the Lindemann Performing Arts Center “really disregard the
neighborhood, and so there is a lot of friction between neighbors,” he
said.
</p>
<p>
Historic districts and other preservation measures are in place but do
not protect all properties. The
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2021/07/college-hill-historic-district-expansion-passes-despite-prior-university-objections"
>2021 historic district overlay</a
>
expansion included three Brown properties, down from the 21 in the
original proposal, The Herald
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2021/02/university-expresses-opposition-to-historic-district-ordinance-at-public-hearing"
>previously reported</a
>.
</p>
<p>
Runyon, as well as Nick Cicchitelli, president of the Fox Point
Neighborhood Association, emphasized that the University’s shadow
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/browns-footprint-today-student-housing-taxation"
>extends</a
>
well past its official property holdings, as students and graduate
students proliferate further off College Hill.
</p>
<p>
“Brown is the largest and wealthiest player around,” Cicchitelli said.
“That affords it the ability to expand in ways that other players
cannot.”
</p>
<p>
The University “likes to say that they’re very open to community
feedback,” Cicchitelli said. While “they’re open to conversation, … in
terms of external efficacy, it’s lacking.”
</p>
<p>
“I think there’s a longer strategic vision that they’re keeping
private and they’re only sharing piecemeal bits here and there for the
public,” Cicchitelli said.
</p>
<p>
“Brown wouldn’t be Brown without Providence,” Cicchitelli added.
“Providence wouldn’t be Providence without Brown.”
</p>
<p>
The University has “a constant set of relationships and
communications” with neighborhood organizations, government officials
and departments and key stakeholders, such as the PPS and 195 District
Commissions, Carey said. For large-scale projects, with the
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/09/brown-begins-planning-for-construction-of-new-life-sciences-building-in-jewelry-district"
>integrated life sciences building</a
>
“front-and-center right now,” the University is engaging in extensive
community outreach.
</p>
<p>
Additionally, the University solicits community feedback when it
creates its institutional master plans submitted every five years to
the city, Carey said.
</p>
<p>
“We’ve seen an unbounded expansion of the University,” Ward 1
Councilman John Goncalves ’13 MA’15 said.
</p>
<p>
“We all recognize Brown’s symbiotic relationship with the city of
Providence and positive impact,” including job-creation, voluntary
payments and public-private partnerships, Goncalves said.
</p>
<p>
But he pointed to the problem of the “human displacement of the former
denizens of Fox Point,” where a vibrant
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/the-magnitude-of-the-community-that-we-had-fox-point-gentrification-urban-renewal"
>immigrant community</a
>
once stood. College students priced out longtime residents as rents
and property values rose. Highway construction and urban renewal also
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/the-magnitude-of-the-community-that-we-had-fox-point-gentrification-urban-renewal"
>displaced</a
>
many residents.
</p>
<p>
The University’s property assessments are close to
<a
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/02/payments-for-tax-exempt-properties-reconsidered"
>$1.3 billion</a
>
in total, according to the Finance Department.
</p>
<p>
Brown, Goncalves said, could do more for Providence. “The thing that a
lot of people would like to see is Brown pitching in more of its fair
share to alleviate some of the burden that property taxpayers or
taxpayers in the city have to shoulder.”
</p>
{% separator 'jewelry-district' %}
<h2>Jewelry District</h2>
<p>
In 2004, the University acquired 70 Ship Street, its first purchase in
the Jewelry District. Since then, Brown has become a major player in
the area, with 17 properties — including a parking garage — west of
the Providence River, according to
<a
href="https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Facilities_Management/maps/#building/WILBOUR"
>current campus maps</a
>.
</p>
<p>
“There was a strategic decision to think of our campus as having two
elements: one based on College Hill and one based in the Jewelry
District,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark said.
</p>
<p>
The College Hill campus focuses on “undergraduate instruction, faculty
research and student life” while the Jewelry District is in the
process of becoming “a mixed-use environment that focuses on medical
education, scientific research and … administrative space,” Clark
said.
</p>
<p>
“The Jewelry District itself is very different than most other
neighborhoods,” said Sharon Steele, president of the Jewelry District
Association. In the early 20th century, the Jewelry District was the
city’s “center of manufacturing” but faced decline when the interstate
was built, Steele said.
</p>
<p>
I-195’s
<a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/realestate/commercial/11iway.html"
>relocation</a
>
opened up many parcels in the neighborhood. Though most developments
have been residential, there is hope for new jobs and business
activity to make the area “very much like the neighborhood that we
used to be,” Steele added.
</p>
<p>
The University hopes to bring “new life to that neighborhood and
(support) city and state goals,” Clark added. Carey noted that parcels
in the Jewelry District
<a
href="https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/07/01/brown-university-expands-downtown-footprint-16-million-purchase-jewelry-district-plans-build-new-lab/7780366001/"
>purchased from Care New England this summer</a
>
will support research opportunities. There are “opportunities to do
that in the Jewelry District in a way that is beneficial and is
welcomed by the community.”
</p>
<p>
The University aims to develop projects that create “both near-term
construction jobs and long-term economic growth and sustainable
activity,” Carey said.
</p>
<p>
Brown’s role as an anchor tenant in the Rhode Island Department of
Health laboratory building has enabled the developers to build out
space for potential commercial entities, particularly commercial
laboratory space, he explained.
</p>
<p>
The University has engaged in similar developments at South Street
Landing — a power plant that sat vacant for almost 20 years — and 225
Dyer St., where Brown recently committed to leasing an additional
floor for laboratory space, Carey said.
</p>
<figure>
<img src="images/jewelry.jpg" />
<figcaption>
President Ruth Simmons prepares to break ground on a new building
for Brown’s medical school.
<cite
><a href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/author/alexbell"
>Alex Bell</a
>
/ Herald</cite
>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
Over time, Steele believes Brown’s Jewelry District properties will
eventually resemble the campus on College Hill. “What we have is the
most collaborative, communicative relationship that I could ever wish
to have with any major institution in the state,” Steele said, citing
the association’s work with Paxson and her administrative team. Steele
said the University is a “partner,” and “they demonstrate it every
single day.”
</p>
<p>
The University informs the JDA of its plans years in advance, Steele
said. “We have a seat at the table.”
</p>
<p>
“We have the ability now to basically create a brand new neighborhood
out of whole cloth, and that is a rare opportunity,” Steele said. “We
feel that we could not have a better partner than we have in Brown.”
</p>
<p>
“It is our mutual goal,” Steele said, “to basically make this place
better than the way we have found it.”
</p>
</div>
</div>
<aside>
<h2>Related Stories</h2>
<div class="aside-content">
<a
class="related-article"
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/we-didnt-choose-to-be-neighbors-a-history-of-browns-property-impact-on-the-east-side"
>
{% image "images/east-side.jpg" "" %}
<span style="text-indent: -0.2em"
>‘We didn't choose to be neighbors’: A history of Brown’s property
impact on the East Side</span
>
</a>
<a
class="related-article"
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/04/the-magnitude-of-the-community-that-we-had-fox-point-gentrification-urban-renewal"
>
{% image "images/fox-point.jpg" "" %}
<span style="text-indent: -0.2em"
>‘The magnitude of the community that we had': Fox Point,
gentrification, urban renewal</span
>
</a>
<a
class="related-article"
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/02/payments-for-tax-exempt-properties-reconsidered"
>
{% image "images/taxes.jpg" "" %} Payments for local tax-exempt
properties reconsidered
</a>
<a
class="related-article"
href="https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/09/brown-begins-planning-for-construction-of-new-life-sciences-building-in-jewelry-district"
>
{% image "images/jewelry-district.jpg" "" %} Brown begins planning for
construction of new life-sciences building in Jewelry District
</a>
</div>
</aside>
<footer>
<span>Copyright © 2022</span>
<span>The Brown Daily Herald, Inc.</span>
<div class="footer-bullet">•</div>
<button id="to-top">Back to top</button>
</footer>
<noscript>
<style>
.map {
--fill: var(--tan);
opacity: 0.5 !important;
}
#map-roads {
opacity: 0.15 !important;
}
.over-map {
margin-top: 2em !important;
background: transparent;
color: inherit;
}
.over-map a {
color: inherit;
}
.js-only {
display: none;
}
</style>
</noscript>
<div class="maps">
<svg
viewBox="0 0 314.1592653589905 139.13084045264986"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
>
<g
id="map-transform-wrapper"
style="transform-origin: center"
transform="scale(2) translate(40, -30)"
>
<image
id="map-roads"
xlink:href="assets/maps/roads.svg"
width="314.1592653589905"
height="160.21752962021856"
x="0"
y="0"
style="opacity: 0.3"
/>
<g
id="map-properties"
transform="translate(-142.92036732050474, -33.879346293600975)"
>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 1" id="first-map">
<use href="#map-2022-raw" />
</g>
<g id="intro-maps" style="opacity: 0">
<g class="map" id="map-1770">{% include_map '1770' %}</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1770-1900">
{% include_map '1770-1900' %}
</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1900">{% include_map '1900' %}</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1920">{% include_map '1920' %}</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1940">{% include_map '1940' %}</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1940-1980">
{% include_map '1940-1980' %}
</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1940-2000">
{% include_map '1940-2000' %}
</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1960">{% include_map '1960' %}</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1980">{% include_map '1980' %}</g>
<g class="map" id="map-1980-2000">
{% include_map '1980-2000' %}
</g>
<g class="map" id="map-2000">{% include_map '2000' %}</g>
</g>
<g id="modern-maps" style="opacity: 0">
<g class="map" id="map-2002">{% include_map '2002' %}</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2004">
{% include_map '2004' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2006">
{% include_map '2006' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2008">
{% include_map '2008' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2010">
{% include_map '2010' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2012">
{% include_map '2012' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2014">
{% include_map '2014' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2016">
{% include_map '2016' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2018">
{% include_map '2018' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2020">
{% include_map '2020' %}
</g>
<g class="map" style="opacity: 0" id="map-2022">
{% include_map '2022' %}
</g>
</g>
</g>
</g>
</svg>
</div>
</body>
</html>