Coming Soon to Garden City: 20 Lofts and 32 Luxury Units

The former Cranston Johnston Catholic Regional  High School, which has for years stuck out like a sore thumb behind the ever-evolving Garden City Center in Cranston, will soon be home to a pair of renovated and new buildings that will boast 52 apartments within footsteps of the destination shopping center.

Plans for the new apartments have been revealed at www.liveatgardencity.com, a site launched to start attracting prospective tenants to the development, which will begin with a dramatic conversion of the former school into 20-loft style apartments followed by the construction of a brand-new energy efficient building housing 32 luxury apartments.

Phase one of the project will begin this summer as crews convert the abandoned school into the 20 lofts. Plans depict a structure that retains its boxy brick presence but larger, brightly-lit windows have been cut in and adornments and architectural details over everything bring a modern, metal and glass balance to what was a relatively bland institutional structure. 

The name of the new building will be 45 Pop Lofts.

The new building, dubbed 125 Midway, will feature underground parking, elevator access, porches, "cutting edge" green building standards and "promises luxury living in the heart of Garden City."

The project is being led by Providence-based Truthbox, Inc. 

The project was approved by the city after a lengthy series of hearings before the Zoning Board. Many neighbors expressed concern about traffic, among other issues, but the developers pledged to address those concerns with landscaping and other measures to lessen the impact on the surrounding Garden City neighborhood.

The site was zoned commercial before the project was approved.

Meanwhile, Garden City Center continues its multi-phase expansion and renovation project as it develops the lower portion of the popular destination shopping center. What was once a row of empty big-boxes, home to the now-closed Circuit City and Borders, is steadily becoming a vibrant shopping area.

In just the last few months, Garden City Center has celebrated the openings of b.good, the Container Store, Sephora, L'Occitane en Provence, with more announcements expected in the coming months.