Kennedy Plaza May Soon Get New Look

A plan to fill Kennedy Plaza in Providence with a mix of pedestrian-friendly activities will be announced Thursday evening.

Providence's Kennedy Plaza may undergo renovations.

Credit Natalie Jablonski/RIPR

The effort to populate Kennedy Plaza with more people is being led by the Downtown Providence Parks Conservancy. The group’s head, Cliff Wood, said it will take time and a mix of millions of dollars in public and private money to reach the goal. The vision is to fill Kennedy Plaza with a variety of uses, like transit, shopping, socializing, concerts, a beer garden and children’s programs.

“When you have those different things all drawing, it creates a space that’s safer, that has more socially beneficial, culturally and subsequently economically beneficial opportunities that come with it," Wood said.

Wood says Kennedy Plaza will remain a hub for RIPTA bus service, but that some bus lines will be dispersed elsewhere in downtown. The plaza was named for John F. Kennedy after the president’s assassination in 1963.