Kingston Emporium

[Rhodyram]

What happened to that place??? I haven't been there in years but I stopped by today- It was dirty- many of the storefronts were run down- everything looked like it needed a coat of paint.

[ramster]

Providence Bagel is in good shape and repainted - recently opened on the corner.
Rest of the Emporium is rough. CVS is ok.
As bad as buildings look from the front take a look at the backs of the buildings.
Could be a nice place but truly an embarrassment. Not good at all. Not only does it need painting but a lot of wood is rotting.

On the plus side Upper college Road is coming along nicely. Granite Curbs now being installed. 2 bike lanes and new sidewalks in both sides.

New Granite Curbs and road upgrade at parts of Fraternity Circle

New Parking lot being developed behind Softball Field at corner to West Alumni Road.

[NYGFan_Section208]

What happened to that place??? I haven't been there in years but I stopped by today- It was dirty- many of the storefronts were run down- everything looked like it needed a coat of paint.

how long ago were you there?

[Rhodyram]

[quote=Rhodyram post_id=484913 time=<a href="tel:1626311102">1626311102</a> user_id=2045]
What happened to that place??? I haven't been there in years but I stopped by today- It was dirty- many of the storefronts were run down- everything looked like it needed a coat of paint.

how long ago were you there?
[/quote]
Mid/late 90s.

[Rhodymob05]

It’s been a sh*t hole for a while. Privately/poorly owned unfortunately.

[rhodyruckus]

It’s been a sh*t hole for a while. Privately/poorly owned unfortunately.

URI in concert with the Town of SK needs to send some building inspectors there to punch-list all the code violations and condemn the buildings, then maybe the owners will sell off and we can get a commercial area that actually reflects the aesthetics of the remainder of campus. I go to a women's game in Storrs every year, and gladly eat in one of the many areas in their Storrs Commons commercial area on campus. It's nicely designed as a little village area, complete with indoor bus station (I think our bus pickup area is at the Union, where you basically need to wait outdoors in order to see the vehicles approaching). But I NEVER even give thought to eating on campus before a Rams game, I feel like the Emporium is an old west facade where you can just knock over the storefronts.

[RF1]

Storrs Commons has a good street-scape. It however otherwise feels contrived and very much out of proportion and out of place in the New England countryside. It actually reminds me of the back lot fake city at Universal Studios. Its building materials, tall structure heights, and density just do not fit in.

The Emporium was designed as a suburban shopping plaza geared to cars. It never fit in with the rural feel of Kingston village and never will. The best urban planning solution would be to bull doze it. A village feel environment to Upper College Road between Rte 138 and the URI entrance gates by the Visitor Center is what I would like to see. It would be an extension of the Rte 138 village cluster and form a unified T. Add shops along Upper College Road with wide sidewalks. Put common shared parking behind the buildings. Buildings should be no taller than two stories in order to fit with the character of an old New England village. Could put apartments in the upper floor to have mixed use and 24/7 activity.

[RhowdyRam02]

New Parking lot being developed behind Softball Field at corner to West Alumni Road.

I wonder if that is new parking or if that's where the new transportation hub is going

URI Mobility Hub
The Governor recommends $8.8 million in financing for a new transit hub at the URI Kingston
campus. Of that total, $7.0 million is federal funding from a Federal Transit Administration
discretionary grant program. The RIPTA award was announced in November 2019. The RI
Capital Plan Fund contributes $850,000. URI is contributing $400,000 bond proceeds through
the RI Health and Educational Building Corporation in addition to land for the project site. The
remaining $500,000 is in the form of RI Highway Maintenance Account proceeds that would
finance the purchase of additional vehicles to expand public transit in South County.

https://www.thewesterlysun.com/news/wes ... d159d.html

[RhowdyRam02]

It’s been a sh*t hole for a while. Privately/poorly owned unfortunately.

URI in concert with the Town of SK needs to send some building inspectors there to punch-list all the code violations and condemn the buildings, then maybe the owners will sell off and we can get a commercial area that actually reflects the aesthetics of the remainder of campus. I go to a women's game in Storrs every year, and gladly eat in one of the many areas in their Storrs Commons commercial area on campus. It's nicely designed as a little village area, complete with indoor bus station (I think our bus pickup area is at the Union, where you basically need to wait outdoors in order to see the vehicles approaching). But I NEVER even give thought to eating on campus before a Rams game, I feel like the Emporium is an old west facade where you can just knock over the storefronts.

Currently the bus pickup area is at the Union rotary but the University is constructing a new RIPTA hub that should be located at the bottom of campus. I think the goal is to eventually tie it in with rail, but that might be more of an ambition than actual plan.

It's too bad you've never eaten at the Emporium because a lot of what you'll find there is better than anything you'd get at the Ryan Center

[NYGFan_Section208]

It’s been a sh*t hole for a while. Privately/poorly owned unfortunately.

URI in concert with the Town of SK needs to send some building inspectors there to punch-list all the code violations and condemn the buildings, then maybe the owners will sell off and we can get a commercial area that actually reflects the aesthetics of the remainder of campus. I go to a women's game in Storrs every year, and gladly eat in one of the many areas in their Storrs Commons commercial area on campus. It's nicely designed as a little village area, complete with indoor bus station (I think our bus pickup area is at the Union, where you basically need to wait outdoors in order to see the vehicles approaching). But I NEVER even give thought to eating on campus before a Rams game, I feel like the Emporium is an old west facade where you can just knock over the storefronts.

Currently the bus pickup area is at the Union rotary but the University is constructing a new RIPTA hub that should be located at the bottom of campus. I think the goal is to eventually tie it in with rail, but that might be more of an ambition than actual plan.

It's too bad you've never eaten at the Emporium because a lot of what anything you'll find there is better than anything you'd get at the Ryan Center

FIFY. No charge.

[OBRAM]

Storrs Commons is way out of place, 4-5 story buildings.
Emporium should look something like Bowens Wharf or Watch Hill.

[ramster]

New Parking lot being developed behind Softball Field at corner to West Alumni Road.

I wonder if that is new parking or if that's where the new transportation hub is going

URI Mobility Hub
The Governor recommends $8.8 million in financing for a new transit hub at the URI Kingston
campus. Of that total, $7.0 million is federal funding from a Federal Transit Administration
discretionary grant program. The RIPTA award was announced in November 2019. The RI
Capital Plan Fund contributes $850,000. URI is contributing $400,000 bond proceeds through
the RI Health and Educational Building Corporation in addition to land for the project site. The
remaining $500,000 is in the form of RI Highway Maintenance Account proceeds that would
finance the purchase of additional vehicles to expand public transit in South County.

https://www.thewesterlysun.com/news/wes ... d159d.html

Could be right RR2. I got my info from guys working there a couple weeks ago. There is a lot of activity and earth movement now. I hope they don’t drop the Memorial Union stops - it’s very convenient.

[ramster]

Work in progress on West Alumni and Plains Roads

[RhowdyRam02]

My guess is they'll stop the main RIPTA busses from going to the Union. You would take the RIPTA bus to the new terminal and get on a campus shuttle there. Again, that's just a guess, but it makes sense to keep the big busses out of the center of campus and have those areas serviced by the existing shuttles

[RhowdyRam02]

Work in progress on West Alumni and Plains Roads

5927D035-00F6-448C-8F11-075DCF218D65.jpeg623D95AB-3F9B-4AA0-9432-35A85071548A.jpeg30F84D9E-12B5-4F25-9A29-42E518DDB2BE.jpeg

Looking at your top picture I wonder why they seemed to have made West Alumni a one way now

[ramster]

Work in progress on West Alumni and Plains Roads

5927D035-00F6-448C-8F11-075DCF218D65.jpeg623D95AB-3F9B-4AA0-9432-35A85071548A.jpeg30F84D9E-12B5-4F25-9A29-42E518DDB2BE.jpeg

Looking at your top picture I wonder why they seemed to have made West Alumni a one way now

They made it one way I’m guessing a year ago, maybe a bit more than a year ago.

[ramster]

Rambone????

Plains Road and West Alumni current construction

[rhodyruckus]

It’s been a sh*t hole for a while. Privately/poorly owned unfortunately.

URI in concert with the Town of SK needs to send some building inspectors there to punch-list all the code violations and condemn the buildings, then maybe the owners will sell off and we can get a commercial area that actually reflects the aesthetics of the remainder of campus. I go to a women's game in Storrs every year, and gladly eat in one of the many areas in their Storrs Commons commercial area on campus. It's nicely designed as a little village area, complete with indoor bus station (I think our bus pickup area is at the Union, where you basically need to wait outdoors in order to see the vehicles approaching). But I NEVER even give thought to eating on campus before a Rams game, I feel like the Emporium is an old west facade where you can just knock over the storefronts.

Currently the bus pickup area is at the Union rotary but the University is constructing a new RIPTA hub that should be located at the bottom of campus. I think the goal is to eventually tie it in with rail, but that might be more of an ambition than actual plan.

It's too bad you've never eaten at the Emporium because a lot of what you'll find there is better than anything you'd get at the Ryan Center

By never eating at the Emporium I didn't mean I eat at the arena (anything is an upgrade from the arena), but I'll stop at Back 40/Twisted Pizza/Tilly's/Mews/etc. before heading to Kingston instead. As in if something really drew me there, I may keep my business in Kingston.

[NYGFan_Section208]

URI in concert with the Town of SK needs to send some building inspectors there to punch-list all the code violations and condemn the buildings, then maybe the owners will sell off and we can get a commercial area that actually reflects the aesthetics of the remainder of campus. I go to a women's game in Storrs every year, and gladly eat in one of the many areas in their Storrs Commons commercial area on campus. It's nicely designed as a little village area, complete with indoor bus station (I think our bus pickup area is at the Union, where you basically need to wait outdoors in order to see the vehicles approaching). But I NEVER even give thought to eating on campus before a Rams game, I feel like the Emporium is an old west facade where you can just knock over the storefronts.

Currently the bus pickup area is at the Union rotary but the University is constructing a new RIPTA hub that should be located at the bottom of campus. I think the goal is to eventually tie it in with rail, but that might be more of an ambition than actual plan.

It's too bad you've never eaten at the Emporium because a lot of what you'll find there is better than anything you'd get at the Ryan Center

By never eating at the Emporium I didn't mean I eat at the arena (anything is an upgrade from the arena), but I'll stop at Back 40/Twisted Pizza/Tilly's/Mews/etc. before heading to Kingston instead. As in if something really drew me there, I may keep my business in Kingston.

Back 40/Twisted Pizza/Tilly's/Mews/etc. win out regardless, 'cuz.....beers....

[rhodyruckus]

Currently the bus pickup area is at the Union rotary but the University is constructing a new RIPTA hub that should be located at the bottom of campus. I think the goal is to eventually tie it in with rail, but that might be more of an ambition than actual plan.

It's too bad you've never eaten at the Emporium because a lot of what you'll find there is better than anything you'd get at the Ryan Center

By never eating at the Emporium I didn't mean I eat at the arena (anything is an upgrade from the arena), but I'll stop at Back 40/Twisted Pizza/Tilly's/Mews/etc. before heading to Kingston instead. As in if something really drew me there, I may keep my business in Kingston.

Back 40/Twisted Pizza/Tilly's/Mews/etc. win out regardless, 'cuz.....beers....

Very true, and that is something else the Storrs example has over Kingston.

[NYGFan_Section208]

By never eating at the Emporium I didn't mean I eat at the arena (anything is an upgrade from the arena), but I'll stop at Back 40/Twisted Pizza/Tilly's/Mews/etc. before heading to Kingston instead. As in if something really drew me there, I may keep my business in Kingston.

Back 40/Twisted Pizza/Tilly's/Mews/etc. win out regardless, 'cuz.....beers....

Very true, and that is something else the Storrs example has over Kingston.

And if it were that way at the Emporium...game days would be packed.