Providence Place

Providence Place, opened on August 20, 1999, is a modern urban shopping mall in the central part of Providence, Rhode Island, near the Rhode Island State House and Providence Station. Composed of three main floors, the mall is connected via skyway to the nearby Westin Hotel and Rhode Island Convention Center. It also features several streetside restaurants. There are 160 stores in all.

The 1.4 million ft² (130,000 m²) facility was constructed in 1999 at the cost of $460 million. Planning for a mall in Providence had begun as early as 1985, but no plan was feasible until 1996 due to the large amount of land needed and the traffic problems the mall would createVerify source|date=July 2007.

Architecture

The mall has 7 levels in total. The lowest 3 levels are labeled C-A. Level C consists of Parking-Only Stateside, and Street Level Restaurants Cityside. Level B consists of Borders and Restaurants, and Old Navy stateside, and The Skybrige to the Westin and Bed Bath & Beyond cityside. Level A consists of parking only city and stateside. The fourth through sixth levels are labeled 1-3 and have the indoor galleria, and the seventh level has a Dave & Buster's, an IMAX theatre, and 16-screen cinema. The mall's southern end (facing Downtown) is called Cityside, and the northern end (facing the State Capitol and other state office buildings) is called Stateside. The mall also hosts 2 large parking garages, one cityside and one stateside, anchored to its back end, with bridges connecting the two sides over the river.

The most noticeable feature in its architecture is its Winter Garden, a four-level structure in the center of the mall spanning the Woonasquatucket River and the Amtrak rail, providing the Acela service. Additionally, the Winter Garden features large expanses of glass providing views of the city. The third level of the Winter Garden contains the foodcourt and access to the fourth level of the wintergarten, which serves as the entrance to Dave and Busters, the IMAX theatre, and the cinema.

Unauthorized residence

Michael Townsend and seven other artists covertly built an apartment in a convert|750|sqft|m2|sing=on 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 2 October 2007. [cite web
url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2007/10/02/artist_gets_probation_for_building_secret_mall_apartment/
title=Artist gets probation for building secret mall apartment
publisher=Associated Press
date=2007-10-02] [cite web
url=http://www.trummerkind.com/mall/Living_in_the_Mall.html
title=Living in the Mall] [cite web
url=http://www.projo.com/news/content/Mall_Dwellers_10-02-07_1F7B9KA.34baf91.html
title=1 room, no view
first=Gregory
last=Smith
coauthors=Philip Marcelo
publisher=Providence Journal
date=2007-10-03]

Featured Attractions

There are two small levels with several stores, three main levels, and an entertainment level on top, which includes an IMAX theater and a 16-screen cinema. The facility also has a 5,000 car parking garage integrated into it.

Anchor Stores

* Nordstrom "(opened 1999)" (Levels 1-3)
* JC Penney "(opened 2005 in former Lord & Taylor)"(Levels 1-3)
* Macy's "(opened 1999 as Filene's, became Macy's 2006)"(Levels 1-3)
* Hoyts/Feinstein IMAX theatre (Entertainment Level/4)
* Dave and Buster's (Entertainment Level/4)

Streetside Stores

* Fire and Ice
* Old Navy
* Borders Books
* Pizzeria Uno
* Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill (closed in 2007)
* Cheesecake Factory
* Joe's American Bar & Grill
* Napa Valley Grill
* Touch of Class Auto Accessory Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.providenceplace.com Official site]