I-195 commission considers Fane redesign

BY ABE WYETT STAFF WRITER

On Saturday afternoon, the men’s basketball team (10-9, 3-3 Ivy) defeated Columbia (6-15, 1-5 Ivy) by a score of 97-85 in a high-scoring affair. The Bears’ offensive effort was spearheaded by Nana Owusu-Anane ’25, whose 27 points and 18 rebounds earned him Ivy League Player of the Week honors. Bruno dominated in the 148th meeting between Brown and Columbia, earning their 73rd all-time victory against the Lions.

“I thought we played the right way — guys took what the game gave them,” Head Coach Mike Martin ’04 said in a press conference following the game. “It gave Nana a lot of opportunities, and he was confident and aggressive, and his teammates were looking for him.”

Owusu-Anane, Aaron Cooley ’25, Kino Lilly Jr. ’25, Dan Friday ’24 and Paxson Wojcik ’23 started the game for Brown. After falling into a quick 6-1 hole, Bruno went on a 12-0 run to take an early lead. The run was sparked by Owusu-Anane finding a cutting Wojcik for a reverse layup and included a thunderous slam dunk from Friday.

After back-and-forth play, Bruno led Columbia 18-16 with 13:07 left in the first half. But consecutive buckets by Owusu-Anane and Landon Lewis ’26 propelled Brown to a 22-16 advantage. Owusu-Anane led the offense from the jump, scoring 15 of his 27 points in the first nine minutes of the contest.

“My teammates were really just looking for me … I had opportunities to get to the rim and shoot” three-pointers, Owusu-Anane said in the postgame press conference.

With one minute remaining in the first half, Brown held a narrow fourpoint lead. Owusu-Anane corralled his own miss and scored off a putback, and Wojcik forced a miss on the defensive end before making a reverse

BY RHEA RASQUNIHA METRO EDITOR

A new design for a 550-foot skyscraper known as the Fane Tower was brought before the I-195 Commission at a meeting Jan. 18.

The project originally proposed three skyscrapers in 2016, and has undergone multiple revisions since, with this latest rendition announced in December.

The Fane Organization’s original design received commission approval in October 2019, and in June, the Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld a zoning ordinance exception in favor of the 550foot tower.

But while the Fane Organization, led by President Jason Fane, had approval for the previous design, the new plan will go through the commission’s approval process again, said Marc Crisafulli, current chair of the I-195 commission, at the meeting.

The tower has been controversial since its initial proposal seven years ago, with the most recent design garnering mixed reviews from community members.

New design presented at meeting

“In this economy, the previous design simply cannot be built,” wrote Jim Malachowski, a spokesperson for the Fane Organization, in an email to The Herald. “Inflation, supply chain issues, major increases in the cost of construction materials and higher interest rates have significantly raised construction costs.”

While the commission supported the previous plan, it will now “work aggressively on this alternative design with all stakeholders,” Crisafulli said. “Our hope is that a partnership approach can improve the project.”

With the redesign, the group worked to reduce construction costs and increase leasable space, explained Jeff Padwa, an attorney representing the Fane Organization, at the meeting.

“This project will create over 1,500 construction jobs,” Padwa said. He added that the completed project will gen-

Women’s basketball team falls to Columbia in thirdstraight loss 94-74.