Pawtucket Soccer Stadium Developer Says Costs Are Rising for Entire Project - Apartments, Retail
Wednesday, June 08, 2022
Fortuitous Partners is already asking the state of Rhode Island for $30 million in additional support -- just to complete the construction of the proposed soccer stadium.
In 2019, Fortuitous and then-Governor Gina Raimondo had announced what they said would be a $400 million stadium project that included more than 400 apartments, retail space and a parking garage all to be located in Pawtucket.
Now, the costs are spiraling, sparking questions about the project's overall costs and how much state and local taxpayers will be asked to subsidize the project.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAfter weeks of not responding to questions, Fortuitous Partners' CEO Brett Johnson responded to GoLocal questions about the rising costs of the project on Tuesday.
GOLOCAL: Stadium costs have risen by nearly 50%, but what about the retail, apartments, and parking garage costs. Can you send those anticipated costs over?
FORTUITOUS PARTNERS: Fortuitous is implementing the project plan based upon a phased approach which was developed well over a year ago. The stadium components in Phase 1A include the waterfront public use components and the stadium is fully designed, permitted and received bids from the trades. Dimeo construction assembled a guaranteed maximum price for these improvements. The Phase 1B improvements include the residential housing, retail and commercial space and parking are still being designed and permitted and final costs will be available once bids are completed for those components. The costs included for those components at this time is over $220 million.
NOTE: The developer provided no backup or specifics on the cost increases to the other aspects of the project
GOLOCAL: Does anyone know the overall cost? It was announced at $400M which included the infrastructure -- what is it now?
FORTUITOUS PARTNERS: The Phase 1A and Phase 1B improvements total approximately $344 million. A future Phase 2 includes an indoor event center and hotel will have the overall project cost well over the initial $400 million budget.
NOTE: The developer provided no backup or specifics on the cost increases to the other aspects of the project
GOLOCAL: Have the infrastructure costs changed?
FORTUITOUS PARTNERS: Yes, the infrastructure costs that were a part of Phase 1A [the soccer stadium] and are now fully designed, permitted and competitively bid have been included in the updated pricing.
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