A managing partner of Hemenway's Seafood Grille and Oyster Bar has noticed one major change in his restaurant since Brown students began attending community health classes at 121 South Main St.
"We've seen some increase in take-out from the raw bar - but from the ice cream section," said Christopher Phillips. "It seems like Brown students like Haagen-Dazs," he added.
But Phillips and employees of other businesses in the 11-story office building said they have seen few other changes since the Program in Public Health began moving into the building. The University's renovations in the building, which began in May, have been a small annoyance to some tenants, while others said they have barely noticed it.
Phillips called the construction a "distraction" but added that he was "not really concerned with it." One of his clients, who will host a holiday party at his restaurant, noticed a dumpster planted directly outside windows on one side of the restaurant and asked if it would be there for her party, Phillips said.
The construction work is "no big deal," said John Harpootian of estate planning firm Paster & Harpootian, which is located on the building's fifth floor, where construction is now taking place.
Phillips said the University's presence has improved the building.
"The building wasn't as clean, well-kept and well-groomed before," he said. "I've seen a higher set of standards in regard to maintenance and upkeep of the entire building."
But an employee on the third floor of the building said 121 South Main St. has grown "a little dirtier" since the Program in Public Health began moving in. "There's trash on the floor of the ladies' room, and that was never there before," said Tracy Bryan, assistant to the director of the Providence field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Bryan added that construction is "dying down" and is not an issue.
Joey Borges, assistant manager of Café La France, which is located on the ground floor of the building, said construction was "not a problem" and that he hadn't noticed a difference in the number of customers coming into the café as a result of the students and faculty working in the building.
Phillips said he would wait a few months to see if Brown's move-in would have any effect on his business.
The University has taken steps to make sure construction does not affect tenants and their clients, said an employee on the fifth floor, who works just a few feet away from a construction site. The employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said the University's decision to hire elevator operators reflects its effort to minimize irritation caused by construction. The operators, dressed in green uniforms, "make sure construction workers use their own elevators," the employee said, adding that they "keep the elevators cleaner and make sure they run for the benefit of tenants and guests," the employee said.
The workers themselves have been "cooperative," the employee said, while University administrators, whom the employee called "terrific," have always kept tenants informed of their actions.
Tenants' "frustration" with construction workers' use of the elevators was the biggest complaint received by Director of Real Estate and Administrative Services Abigail Rider. "It's unusual for a commercial building to have so much construction at one time," Rider said. She added that "there was a temptation on the part of the construction workers to sneak into those elevators (instead of waiting for the single elevator assigned to workers)."
Overall, though, tenants - whom Rider called "fabulous" - have "been very nice about how much construction we've done," she said.
Executive Vice President for Planning and Senior Advisor to the President Richard Spies said move-in "growing pains" were inevitable, but he hopes tenants will give the University a year before judging its handling of the transition. The move itself has taught University administrators how to approach moving into the recently purchased buildings in the Jewelry District, Spies said.
"The most useful thing we learned was getting in touch with people early and making it clear that if they have concerns, to let us know," Spies said. The experience informed administrators' decisions to promptly contact tenants in buildings in the Jewelry District, he added.
The Jewelry District, however, will present a different challenge because the University plans to move into several smaller buildings as opposed to one larger office building, Spies said. "Each building presents a different set of approaches and different challenges," he said. "It won't work out the same way."
