But imagine the Superman building dark; its beacon no longer illuminating the evening sky. That's a very real possibility now that financially trouble Bank of America, the lone tenant of the building, is in the market for new space when its lease expires in early 2013. Bank spokesman T.J. Crawford says they put out a request for proposals for 50,000 square feet of office space in downtown Providence in early December.

"We need to ensure that we're optimizing our local real estate presence," said Crawford. "This is something that any responsible company would do for their shareholders."

Crawford says the building's current owner, Highrock Development of Wellesley, Massachusetts, is free to make an offer but there's no way Bank of America would lease the whole building again.

"Not all of that space is utilized," Crawford explained. "It's roughly half of that space that's utilized. "

Former Providence mayor and downtown property owner Joe Paolino Jr. is frustrated. For years he warned former Mayor David Cicilline about the possibility of Bank of America vacating the building. And neither Cicilline nor anyone else he warned listened to him, he says.

"If that building is emptied it will have a devastating effect on the downtown," says Paolino. "It will have the same effect as when the Shepard's and the Outlet companies were closed and when the Biltmore Hotel was closed."

Ted Sanderson, director of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, says a mothballed Bank of America building could start to decay.

"Physically what can happen is it can be neglected," says Sanderson. "A building can freeze. It begins to affect not the structure usually but decorative finishes. The paint, the plaster doesn't go through too many freeze thaw cycles without some damage."

But perhaps equally important would be the psychological effect it would have on the capital city's historic district, he says.

"It's sort of like a mill village with an empty mill in the middle of it. It's a drag on the whole community when you have a major building like this sitting vacant. And so I think public officials need to work at bringing new tenants and businesses in."

Providence economic development director Jim Bennett says he's been trying to attract new tenants ever since he took the job last year but it's an uphill battle because the entire building has a single heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

"Well it's a single user tenant," Bennett says. "In other words, think of your home and you like to have your bedroom at 65 and your son downstairs likes to keep it at 85. Well, you don't have that choice. It has to be one or the other. That's a big handicap. If new tenants come in they'd have to figure out a way to fix that and that's going to cost money."

James Hall, director of the Providence Preservation Society, believes a tenant will ultimately be found, but acknowledges the building could sit empty for a time.

"With any luck we will have an inspired developer," Hall says. "It might make a great hotel. It might make great residences. I didn't say it wouldn't be challenging but the alternative is terrifying that we as a state and as a city could allow something like that "

Former mayor and property owner Paolino says nothing short of a full court press by the state's political establishment is needed to prevent the city's tallest building from going dark.

"I call upon the governor and Senator Reed and Mayor Taveras and Gina Raimondo to meet with the head of Bank of America. I think they should travel to Charlotte and meet with them. "

There is precedent for an historic Providence building closing. The Biltmore Hotel was shuttered in 1974 but re-opened five years later and has since been restored to its 1920's glory. Rhode Islanders can only hope that someone comes to the rescue of the Superman building.

Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please email us, we'd like to hear from you. news@wrni.org.

© Copyright 2012, RIPR