Providence calls it the Superman Building because the 1928 Art Deco tower looks like the Daily Planet. It has been empty since Bank of America walked out in 2013, and at 26 stories and 428 feet it is both the tallest building in Rhode Island and the largest vacant one.
Project Scope
High Rock Westminster is converting it to roughly 285 apartments, a fifth of them affordable, with about 8,000 square feet of commercial space plus event and retail area at the base. Consigni Construction holds the general contract. Interior demolition and asbestos abatement have been running since 2022.
The budget has moved. The project was originally underwritten at $223 million; in December 2025 the developer put the figure at roughly $270 million, a developer statement rather than an audited number. About $41 million of state and municipal money is in the capital stack alongside federal and state historic rehabilitation credits. Progress slowed through 2025 and 2026 on cost and interest-rate pressure and a change of leadership after founder David Sweetser’s death in 2025. The company says it remains committed. No completion date is set.
Why It Matters
This is the test case people point to when they argue that converting older office towers is harder than the pitch decks suggest. The building has everything a conversion is supposed to want: it’s landmark-quality, it’s in a downtown that needs housing, it qualifies for two layers of historic credit, and it has public money behind it. It has still taken thirteen years and a 21% cost increase to get to partial demolition.
The gap between $223 million and $270 million is roughly what four years of escalation does to a job that can’t start. For developers looking at similar towers in second-tier downtowns, that delta is the number that decides whether the deal happens at all.
Project Team & Details
| Developer | High Rock Westminster LLC |
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| General Contractor | Consigni Construction Co. Inc. |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Funding Source | Mixed |
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