City uses eminent domain to save downtown Providence building
“A dilapidated downtown building torn apart by fire and neglect has a future as more than a parking space because the Taveras administration was willing to employ a rarely used but often controversial legal tactic and cobble together an unusual financing package for its reconstruction.
The George C. Arnold Building on Washington Street has had a tenuous hold on the city landscape for more than 15 years, having survived at least two proposals to raze it.
The building that spans 94-100 Washington St. is vacant, having been damaged in 2009 by fire. The structure has held a perennial spot on the annual endangered properties list compiled by the Providence Preservation Society.
The boarded-up brick building is a sore spot for Mayor Angel Taveras.
In a sweeping economic plan announced in early 2013, the mayor said the Providence Redevelopment Agency would pursue ways to propel redevelopment of that building and others in the city — including the massive South Street Power Station on the Providence River.”
Grimaldi, Paul. Providence Journal 30 January 2014.