On Wednesday night the Pawtucket City Council met with Brett Johnson of Fortuitous Partners and Dan Kroeber from Milone and Macbroom. Johnson is the leader of the Tidewater Landing project while Kroeber is serving as the development project manager on the project.
The major update on the project is the removal of the Apex site from the plans after a deal was not able to be made to secure the parcel of land. That and other adjustments have made the $400 million downtown revitalization project into a $300 million one.
Wednesday night served as a quick update on the project to the City Council following an announcement earlier in the month that the due diligence process had been completed and progress had been made on the National Grid site.
The project despite the pandemic continues to charge forward with next steps including lease reviews, finalizing public financing negotiations, a Master Development Agreement between the City and State, and then Phase I of the City permitting process.
Bottom line is this:
- the stadium project is still being privately financed
- office space has been tentatively reduced due to response to the pandemic but is flexible
- The hotel and Indoor event center have been moved to Division Street
- Additional multi-family residential housing on Tidewater and Divison.
- Will still have various waterfront improvements including park spaces and a pedestrian bridge
Going forward there will be public hearings for the City and State approvals and there are plans to make contact with parties adjacent to the site, neighborhood meetings, and other ways to connect and engage with the communities.
The main focal point of the project is still the USL Championship soccer stadium and the franchise that will play there.
“While we continue to work on the details of the project’s financing, one thing is unchanged – we remain committed to privately financing the stadium where Rhode Island’s new USL franchise will play,” said Brett Johnson in his opening statement to the City Council on Wednesday night.
