PROVIDENCE — Lisa Raiola remembers when downtown had more of a pulse. Tourists crowded the sidewalks, and office workers filled local restaurants. But now, the streets around the once-lively financial district feel empty. And at the center of that void looms the vacant “Superman” building.
“It is not a good neighbor for anyone in that part of the city,” said Raiola, who runs the Hope and Main café nearby. “It really should be a beacon of hope and not this giant question mark.”
The 26-story skyscraper, the tallest in the state, is a symbol for Providence, featured on postcards, magnets, and mugs, the covers of government reports, and even the skyline of the fictional city of Quahog, R.I., in the cartoon sitcom “Family Guy.” Formally known as the Industrial Trust Co. building, it was nicknamed the “Superman” for its resemblance to the Daily Planet building in the 1950s television series.
It hasn’t had a tenant since Bank of America left in 2013.
In 2022, owner High Rock Development and its principal, David Sweetser, promised to convert the 26-story Art Deco office tower into about 300 apartments plus commercial space. State and city leaders pledged a combined $41 million to the project, which was meant to be a stimulus for downtown. The developer estimated it would be completed this spring.
Instead, three years after a triumphant State House event announcing the deal, the site remains largely untouched. Some windows are boarded up. Construction materials have been left outside, and scaffolding sits empty. The developer has gone silent, and officials who once championed the project are offering few answers.
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-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 selling at a deep discount as values dip and owners struggle with low occupancy rates. The region’s housing crisis has grown more dire and interest rates have risen. In some cases, major development projects have been delayed or scrapped altogether.
Many projects around New England are still moving forward. But Superman has always been more of a challenge, said Richard Godfrey, director of the Roger Williams University Cummings Institute for Real Estate.
“With the turmoil in the financial markets, investors are reexamining where they invest, and they will back away first on the most uncertain projects — like Superman," Godfrey said.
Located at 111 Westminster St., the Superman building towers over the city center, Kennedy Plaza, a stone’s throw from City Hall and the federal courthouse. Just 400 feet away is the second-tallest building in the state, a half-empty office tower that is up for auction and also faces an uncertain future.
Superman’s vacancy “is devaluing the other properties around it,” Mayor Brett Smiley said. “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.”
The Superman building is located in the center of Providence
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,” Burke said.
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 Joe 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 spokesperson, 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.
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 told a radio host on April 18 he would be willing to give additional state dollars if High Rock “put skin in the game.”
But House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi told the Globe, “There is no available state money.”
“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, died last week.
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,” Paolino said. “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 tax treaty to High Rock, allowing the developer to save $29 million in property taxes over 30 years if the redevelopment is completed. The clock started when High Rock pulled demolition permits in 2023, the day before a deadline to do so.
The state promised $26 million from a host of taxpayer-funded programs. Providence also pledged a $5 million grant and a $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 David Morales, a Providence Democrat, who opposes providing more public money for the project. “At what point is enough, enough?”
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 Consigli Construction, the general contractor, began asbestos abatement and some interior demolition. Signs for the company still hang in the windows. It’s unclear when workers might return.
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 alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz. Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.