Change of Plans for Pawtucket Waterfront District
Sunday, March 08, 2015
The Division Street property in Pawtucket that was once designated for a hotel development now is slated for a different potential use -- luxury apartments.
Colin Kane with the Peregrine Group said on Friday that he hoped to work with the city on an "exciting" project, after responding to an RFP last fall for the fifteen plus acres near the south end of the city's waterfront.
"Dr. Pablo Rodriguez and his partner had just bought a a building next to this site, so they asked us if we liked the property next door, " said Kane. "We submitted an application to the city, we have no formal designation - we put something that we thought was exciting and we'll need a high level of support from the community."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTKane affirmed Friday that his group had proposed "a couple hundred luxury apartments."
"It would be similar to what we're doing in Boston, closer to the new park. We also proposed 30,000 square feet of mix-used commercial space," said Kane. "The question is, how do we make it work here, and is it something they want to do."
From Hotel to High End Apartments?
The land on Division Street, located across from the Pawtucket River Bridge, had historically been eyed for a hotel development, until as recently as last year.
A representative for the Tai-O Group had told The Valley Breeze last March that it was looking to put a hotel and commercial building to the target property at 45 Division St., located diagonally across from the Pawtucket River Bridge. The Peregrine Group however was ultimately the sole respondent to the RFP.
Prior to the city's control of the land, the Carpionato Group had owned the 45 Division Street site from 2007 to 2009 with the intent to build a hotel on the property, but the development never moved forward.
"Carpionato Group worked hard with the City of Pawtucket to make the proposed hotel project work, however, by the time the company returned the land back to the City the hotel market had collapsed during the economic downturn. The company has not evaluated the current market demand for a new hotel in Pawtucket, and as such we are not in a position to provide any specific comment regarding a second hotel in the city," said Carpionato spokesperson Gregg Perry. "Anecdotally, hotel occupancy rates are up in Rhode Island since the downturn, however whether they are up enough to financially support construction of a new hotel anywhere in the State remains to be seen."
In pursuing apartments, Kane referenced the Peregrine Group's Rumford Center for example of how "mixed-use works well."
"There's an 'easy way' to do it and a 'hard way," said Kane of the group's Pawtucket plans. "The easy way would be to slap apartments by surface parking, it would look like a parking tray. That didn't seem to leverage the opportunity that the site has."
"It needs a structure, and it needs public improvements, to link it with the other development taking place," said Kane. "We're prepared to work with the city to generate public improvements, and we will need the city's help. We don't want to ruin it with surface parking."
Post Paw-Sox Vision?
Kane said that the departure of the Pawtucket Red Sox would mean "two figs" for the apartment project to move forward.
"Pawtucket's a special part of the state, the river's spectacular, the new park is just extraordinary," said Kane, of the Pawtucket's new federally designated Blackstone River National Historic Park.
Kane noted that the Peregrine Group had begun work on "select demolition" for the new Pet Food Experts facility across from Pawtucket City Hall. "We're going to be moving in 100 white collar jobs to the city," said Kane. "Pawtucket has good bones, and good leadership."
