EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – New renderings of a planned development of the former Metacomet Golf, a historic Donald Ross design, show a supermarket-anchored suburban shopping center flanked by more than 800 apartments.
Developer Marshall Properties purchased the golf course in 2019 and two years later won city approval to build on the 140-acre property off Veterans Memorial Parkway over fierce resistance from neighborhood residents.
Back in November 2018, Golfweek reported on the prospects of Metacomet Golf Club – which had amassed significant debt, primarily in the form of back taxes – as it prepared itself for a sale. Three suitors emerged, with the membership eventually settling on a group that included PGA Tour great Brad Faxon. The reported sale price was $2.2 million.
The plans submitted to the city Waterfront Commission show that the whole development would be branded “The Met.” The shopping plaza, with 163,000 square feet of commercial space over several buildings, would be at the front of the complex, closest to the parkway, the East Bay Bike Path and the Providence River.
A mix of retail stores and apartment buildings
Most customers would enter the complex through a new roundabout built where Veterans Memorial Parkway meets Lyon Avenue. The main access road leads to an unnamed supermarket and an internal roundabout feeding cars to smaller shops and the apartment buildings.
The commercial buildings include restaurants and a drive-through bank. Some of the shops front a walkway that leads to what looks like an amphitheater.
Nine apartment buildings would occupy the northeast half of the development and include 844 rental units, according to a market study submitted to the Waterfront Commission. There would also be 22 duplexes and 24 townhouses.
The study says Marshall intends to rent 10% of the units to residents who make 80% of the Area Median Income.
The apartment buildings range from three to five stories with hotel-style double-loaded corridor layouts. Some feature basement parking garages to supplement the surface parking lots around them. There are 1½ dedicated spaces per unit.
At least three of the buildings are advertised as “senior living.”
Why did neighbors oppose the development?
The first work on the Metacomet site began last year to reduce the 18-hole golf course to nine holes.
The contentious fight over a city zoning change to make way for the development…
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