PAWTUCKET – The City Council has approved a series of agreements to ease the path forward for further development on both sides of the Pawtucket/Seekonk River at the Stadium at Tidewater Landing.
Mayor Donald Grebien is calling it a huge deal for the city and thanking the council for its longtime support of the project, saying officials envision a walkable riverfront district with housing, shops, restaurants, and a pedestrian bridge.
This is the vision he and Brett Johnson, of Fortuitous Partners, led, he said, a dynamic district with connecting development complementing the stadium project as the anchor.
The administration alluded to the past vacant and blighted nature of the riverfront, a theme brought up by City Council President Terry Mercer at a May 6 meeting where the council approved new 20-year tax stabilization agreements and other resolutions and authorizations related to the project.
Mercer said this is an area, off Taft Street and across the river at 45 Division St., that leaders have been begging developers to invest in for more than 30 years, and now it’s finally happening, in a partnership between the city, Fortuitous, and other partners.
Mercer and other councilors said they appreciated the fair negotiating process on the tax stabilization agreements, which included an agreement for a 20-year stabilization of taxes at 45 Division St., where 325 new residential units are planned, and a 20-year agreement for a mixed-use project around the stadium off Taft Street, with 250 more units there.
The appraised value of the Division Street property once improvements are made will be $49 million, and the total estimated tax revenue to be brought in is $15.6 million over 20 years. The annual tax goes from $29,170 today to $1.83 million in year 20.
For the 250 units coming around the stadium, the agreement calls for revenue over 20 years of $13.6 million, a value of #8 million in improvements, and a tax increasing from $88,000 to $1.5 million.
Councilors noted that this doesn’t include 72 mixed-income units being developed by Pennrose on School Street.
The entire project will feature multi-family residential, restaurant and retail spaces, a parking structure, event plazas, a riverwalk, pedestrian bridge, an amphitheater, and an overlook park.
In addition to the new stabilization agreements, the council agreed to amend a $10 million agreement for the stadium property itself.
Councilor Clovis Gregor said he understands the need for more development int he city, but he was concerned about a length of 20 years as residents are facing a potential increase of 3 percent on their taxes, suggesting a length of 10 years instead.
Mercer responded that the length of tax stabilization agreements, or TSAs, are spelled out by ordinance based on investment levels. He said this is not about the stadium project, but about separate projects being done in conjunction with that project on parcels the city has long desired to see redeveloped but failed to do so.
Mercer, Councilor Mike Araujo, and Councilor David Moran all highlighted how this isn’t about the current tax increase, but will help with future budget years and preventing significant tax increases by expanding the tax base. Moran said it’s a give and take situation, with developers investing significant money themselves. Without the TSAs, said councilors, these projects wouldn’t get done.
Gregor ended up voting with his colleagues to approve the agreements, for unanimous 8-0 votes.
