Alexa Gagosz of The Boston Globe appeared this week on “Behind the Story” to talk about the future of the embattled Providence Place.
Alexa Gagosz, who covers business for the newspaper, has spent years reporting on the mall. She described it as currently being in a state of limbo.
“It’s this place that used to be a luxurious place to shop with the Nordstrom’s — with classic mall stores like The Gap, J. Crew and a lot of those have been replaced and gone,” Gagosz said. “When we say the mall is in limbo, it’s like, what is the future of this major development?”
The mall has been under court-ordered receivership, a state-level version of bankruptcy, since the former operator defaulted on millions of dollars of debt in 2024.
Gagosz and her colleague Steph Machado detailed the current state of the mall’s vendors, including a mounting number of empty storefronts alongside businesses that continue to bustle.
The duo also looked at what it would take to reinvent the struggling shopping complex, which is poised to lose a longstanding tax break with the city in 2028.
“If it failed, it would completely transform downtown Providence in such a negative way,” Gagosz said.
“luckily though, it is literally at the front door of the state House, lawmakers have to drive by it in order to go park and get into the State House and deliberate over whatever they’re going to deliberate that day,” she added. “I think the same with City Hall, and I don’t think that there is an appetite for anybody to allow this mall to fail. It just can’t.”
Later in the show, Dan and Eli talked about the “stories we wish we wrote,” including:
Watch “Behind the Story” Thursdays at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on the WPRI 12+ TV app.
It airs on TV (Sundays at 8 a.m. on FOX Providence and 11 a.m. on The CW Providence), and will be available on demand through the WPRI 12+ app and right here on WPRI.com.
“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of the Boston Globe.