by Rich Lang

“Isn’t he that developer guy downtown?”

That is a common answer when asking people around Rhode Island “who is Buff Chace?”  Mr. Chace is known for the revival he has engineered in the Downcity section of downtown Providence, which, in broad strokes, encompasses the rectangle defined by Dorrance St. to the east, Empire St. to the west, and Washington and Weybosset streets to the north and south respectively.    While Mr. Chace’s work in Downcity clearly involves real estate development, classifying him simply as a real estate developer would be much like calling a film director “a guy who looks through the lens of a movie camera”.  It is a small subset, in other words, of a far broader, organic process in which a positive outcome depends on the director’s ability to lead a diverse army of technical, creative, bureaucratic, and business forces in a carefully orchestrated process, united under a clear and passionate vision, toward the finish line.

In fact, if one were to formally label Mr. Chace, it would be as a New Urbanist.  To use another artistic analogy, New Urbanism is to traditional real estate development what a traffic court clerk is to a poet.  They both deal with recording letters on a page, that is, but one efficiently produces practical documents which no one particularly cares to read, and the other creates verbal art capable of evoking deep emotion.

Where analogies run out of steam and Mr. Chace’s new urbanist saga really begins to hit some dramatic twists and turns, is in the City of Providence, in the deep recession and political stranglehold of 1991, when he purchases a number of buildings located behind city hall at auction.  He saw something in those vacant buildings and abandoned streets that others could not (or, daunted by the cost and effort involved, chose not to):  the pulsing heart of this once great city, restored and given a new life in a new time as a unique, vibrant, mixed use urban community. 

That was 17 years ago.  When someone who lived here through the 70s and 80s, and hasn’t really been back since, wanders into the polished sections of Downcity they inevitably stop short on a corner, look around in total amazement, and mutter something like “oh-my-god...  I cannot believe what I’m seeing.” 

Ask Mr. Chace how he feels about that common reaction and the progress which inspires it, and the enthusiasm is present, but far more tempered.

That was my first question to him, in fact.  We were sitting in the sunny conference room of his 4th floor offices on Aborn Street, with an easterly view of downtown set against a clear blue sky framed in the long bank of windows.  I stated the question with an almost naive sensibility, asking how far he had come compared to his original expectations on a one to ten scale.  I figured he’d pause for an instant and say something easy like, “Oh, I’d say between 6 and 7,” and we’d move on to explore all of the exciting details.

Instead, he paused, and something began to whir behind his eyes as he pieced together his answer.

“It’s difficult to say.  You know, you really have to sort of understand the context of what we’re talking about.”

That comment led to two hours of conversation, and then a series of lengthy follow up meetings.  My take away?  Had I walked the last 17 years in Mr. Chace’s shoes, my enthusiasm would be tempered as well... if I were still standing, that is.

*****

Mr. Chace’s urbanist journey began in the early 1970s in Islington (North London), which, at the time, was a rough neighborhood. A cousin of his was an actor who was involved with the now renown Almeida Theatre.   Mr. Chace ended up spending twelve years there, associated with the revitalization of the Almeida.  In the end, the lesson he took away from the experience was that the diverse elements of a community were interconnected and could have a dramatic influence on one another.  Specifically, he witnessed how the energy of a dedicated group could not only bring back a theater, but how that revitalized theater in turn set off a renewal of the surrounding community.  And while New Urbanism speaks in the vernacular of architecture and planning, ultimately that creation (or re-creation) of vital, mixed use, authentic and engaging community  is really what the movement is all about. 

Ask an average real estate developer about their plans for a given project and the response typically revolves around the economics, the challenges to profitability, and key points that define the marketability and value of the project (e.g. proximity to the beach, good schools, shopping, etc.).  Ask Mr. Chace about his properties or plans, and you tip off a chain reaction of tumbling dominoes in which the conversation moves seamlessly from the balance between economics and supporting a diverse mix of residents, to the relationship between architecture and the urban experience of those who inhabit it; from the broader context of the neighborhood, including the availability (or development) of key services, to  the challenge of bringing neighboring property owners into the fold of the urbanist vision; to strategies for not only attracting “tipping point” tenants, such as shops, entertainment venues and restaurants, but of hopefully creating a mix of those tenants that lends an authentic and attractive character to the area; and, of course, to the constant battle of appealing for support to a broad coalition of city and state officials, planners, legislators and lenders.

In other words, being a straight real estate developer - or directing films for that matter -  would have been a far easier play (in fact, Mr. Chace was a documentary film maker at an earlier point in his life).

Mr. Chace has chosen to wear many hats over the course of his affair with downtown Providence.  He is a real estate developer who values fine architecture and design; he is a new urbanist, who sees his investment in the full context of the urban fabric; he is a preservationist; he is a  board member and a benefactor; he is a political activist, business man, and concerned citizen; and he is a passionate supporter of both Providence and of Rhode Island.  Above all, however, I believe Mr. Chace can be bestowed with the finest honor in our American cultural lexicon:  he is a visionary.

These may seem like big words, but they are backed up by big deeds.  Does Mr. Chace want to succeed and have his efforts pay off personally?  Of course he does.  He is neither a masochist, nor a fool.  But as many past articles about him lay out in detail, he came from a sufficiently comfortable family background that this path was not an economic necessity.  He made the choice to throw himself into the thorny forest of downtown Providence in 1991 because he saw a vision of something unique in its decaying streets.   It was a vision which has required far more than most would be willing to give, and he has stuck it out through long years of difficulty and challenge.  His reward? For now it is seeing the pulse of life rushing back into the face of the city, and feeling the momentum build.

When asked about the successes, however, he defers to “the others, lots of others” who have been involved in the effort, and tends to circle back to the challenges still ahead.

“I am not a great interview subject,” he admits, “because I tend to focus on what is left to do, on the pieces that have yet to come together.”

Perhaps such caution goes with the territory as the effort tilts toward two decades, or perhaps it is precisely that moderated approach that has allowed him to keep moving forward.

Nonetheless, moderation and humility aside, there is no denying the disbelief on the face of that someone standing on the corner of Westminster Street who hasn’t been in downtown for 15 or 20 years.  And for that, and for the energy it has created which has inspired others to throw themselves into the effort to renew our city - storefront by storefront and block by block - we have Mr. Chace to thank.  Okay, as he would be quick to indicate, perhaps not all the credit goes to him alone, but certainly it would not have happened without him.

So how do you thank someone for bringing back a city?  You go there, of course.  You go there to eat, to celebrate, to shop and to live.  That, after all, is what a great city is all about: you, strolling down its streets with a smile on your face.

*****

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