Stalled redevelopment of R.I.'s iconic ‘Superman' building leaves downtown Providence in limbo

Boston Globe

30-04-2025

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It hasn't had a tenant since Bank of America
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In 2022, owner High Rock Development and its principal, David Sweetser,
Instead, three years after
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The project, originally pegged at $220 million, has ballooned to at least $308 million. Meanwhile, the value of the building has dropped 58 percent since Newton, Mass.-based High Rock purchased it in 2008, to just $13.5 million.
It's a scenario playing out in commercial spaces around the country. In Boston, office towers are
Many projects around New England are still moving forward. But Superman has always been more of a challenge, said
'With the turmoil in the financial markets, investors are re-examining where they invest, and they will back away first on the most uncertain projects — like Superman," Godfrey said.
The empty Superman building has been vacant for 12 years since Bank of America moved out in 2013.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Located at 111 Westminster St., the Superman building towers over the city center,
400 feet away is
Superman's vacancy 'is devaluing the other properties around it,' said Mayor Brett Smiley. 'It is making it harder for the other downtown businesses to stay in business because there's nobody buying lunch, dropping off their dry cleaning, looking for a place to get their dog groomed.'
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The Superman building is located in the center of Providence
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One
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CHRISTINA PRIGNANO/GLOBE STAFF. Image: Google Earth
Bob Burke, the owner of French restaurant Pot au Feu, used to work on the 18th floor in the 1970s and 1980s, when the building was 'a symbol of prosperity and pride.' Now, he said, it's 'an eyesore, derelict, rundown.'
'Every year we have to watch the building suffer more abuse in the name of the owner getting more and more money,' said Burke.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley looks out his City Hall office window at the still-vacant Superman Building.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
The redevelopment's survival currently hinges on a low-interest loan of up to $236 million from the US Department of Transportation. A letter obtained by the Globe sent by the DOT seven days before President Biden left office said the agency made a 'preliminary determination' that the project was eligible for the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program. But President Trump's Department of Transportation says the project is under 'eligibility review,'
looking for 'any major statutory, regulatory, financing, or timing issues that would prevent the project from receiving assistance.'
It's unclear when the Trump administration will make a decision.
Bill Fischer, High Rock's longtime spokesman, said conversations between the developer and the DOT are 'productive and ongoing.'
'We're really in a holding pattern,' said R.I. Commerce Secretary Liz Tanner, whose agency negotiated the 2022 deal.
'We still have confidence the Trump administration is going to do right by businesses and development, but there's just a lot of uncertainty right now,' Tanner said in early April. 'The last few weeks, what's happening federally is making us wonder whether we're going to be able to get it to the finish line or not.'
But the project delays started long before Trump.
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David Sweetser, principal at High Rock Development, which owns the Industrial Trust building, announces a plan to redevelop the property into housing on April 12, 2022. He has declined interviews with the Globe since.
Matthew Healey for The Boston Globe
High Rock declined repeated requests for an interview with Sweetser. Fischer also refused to be interviewed or answer basic questions about when construction might begin and end, or how large of a financing gap remains.
If federal dollars are awarded, the 'last piece of the puzzle' would be a sales tax relief bill pending in the state Legislature, lobbyist Nick Hemond wrote to lawmakers in early April. The legislation would allow developers to be reimbursed for sales tax on construction materials, even if they've received the maximum $15 million from Rebuild Rhode Island, a state subsidy.
The sales tax relief is worth $4.6 million to the Superman project.
Governor Dan McKee, who won praise for inking the deal three years ago, declined to be interviewed. He
But
'They've got to find another way to fill the gap,' he said.
The project's fiercest champion at the State House, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio,
The value of the Superman building has dropped 58 percent since High Rock bought it in 2008, to just $13.5 million this year.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Joe Paolino, a one-time Providence mayor who owns properties near Superman, suggested officials sit down with the heads of banks to cut a deal with High Rock.
'This is not a bailout,' said Paolino. 'This is trying to save an iconic, historic structure.'
The project could either be of 'tremendous value' to the city, Smiley said, or a 'tremendous liability' if it doesn't happen.
Providence provided a
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The state promised $26 million from a host of taxpayer-funded programs. Providence also pledged a $5 million grant and $10 million low-interest loan. The project also relies on $24 million in federal tax credits.
Despite that, 'we just haven't seen the level of effort needed to get this project off the ground,' said state Representative
In exchange for the subsidies, the developer agreed to make 20 percent of the apartments affordable for middle-income tenants.
Some work started in 2023, when
Sitting on the rooftop deck of his downtown home, developer Buff Chace said he knows that Sweetser's heart is still in the project, but it's a complicated one.
'Imagine 500 people permanently move into that building,' he said. 'That's what downtown needs. Downtown's future depends on it.'
Some nights, when the sun is going down and an orange glow hits the limestone on the Superman just right, Chace snaps a picture.
'I'll send it to David, and say: 'Keep going,'' Chace said.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at