Chafee’s budget keeps nursing-school project alive

Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee’s inclusion in his state budget for next year of $500,000 to design a new downtown Providence advanced-nursing school was done without fanfare. The provision wasn’t even included in his published budget highlights or his state-of-the-state address.
And it was a retreat from a year earlier, when Chafee pitched borrowing $65 million to build the school in Providence’s Knowledge District to be shared by the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.
But after digesting the budget, advanced-nursing-center advocates are more optimistic about the current approach to the project – seen as a potential catalyst for growth of the Providence research economy – than they were about the bond proposal.
“This is a positive sign,” said Bob Weygand, vice president for administration and finance at URI, about the governor’s proposal.
Although $500,000 for design work seems a minor commitment for such a large project, unlike the $65 million bond, it leaves open the possibility that the nursing school could be part of a larger complex developed in concert with the private sector.
Under the public-private concept, the two public nursing schools would be anchor tenants in a privately built research facility that could also include speculative laboratory, office or clinical space.
Weygand and Chafee spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger describe the governor’s proposal as a kind of budget placeholder, signaling his support once higher education and General Assembly leaders can agree on what to pursue.
“The governor’s preference on whether the state should build a public or public-private project depends on what the schools decide is the best way to proceed,” Hunsinger said. “[The $500,000 for design work] is so the money will be there when the schools and legislature decide on a path.”
While URI’s support for the nursing center is clear, Rhode Island College’s enthusiasm for the project is a bigger question.
When the idea was first being discussed in 2010, RIC teachers expressed concern it would jeopardize the college’s independence.
Although RIC President Nancy Carriuolo had openly backed the project, last year when lawmakers left it out of their budget her assistant posted a Facebook message cheering the plan’s demise. Carriuolo distanced herself from the post. RIC officials last week declined to comment on the advanced-nursing school proposal.
In addition to any new nursing-school building, both URI and RIC have needed improvements to their on-campus nursing-school facilities. If the Knowledge District building is built, students will still spend their first two years on the respective South Kingstown and Mount Pleasant campuses before moving to the new building.
While lawmakers passed on the advanced-nursing center bond last year, they did endorse a $50 million bond question, also approved by voters, to pay for renovations to three RIC buildings, including the current nursing-school site. Chafee’s current budget includes $2 million to renovate White Hall, home to URI’s current nursing school.
So far, General Assembly leaders have said they need to see a concrete proposal for the nursing center before they can decide whether to back it, creating a chicken-and-egg problem for project supporters.
Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed “is generally supportive of the concept,” said a spokesman.
The advanced nursing center “is a concept that the speaker said he could possibly support once the details have been presented to the legislature,” said Larry Berman, spokesman for House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, in an email.
Another question about the project is where exactly it would be built, on state land or on private property.
An informal Request For Information floated by the state last year received letters of interest from five firms: Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., Harbor East Development Group of Rhode Island LLC, Gilbane Development Co., Crary Realty and Infralinx, Carpionato Group.
A committee put together to review the responses said they were encouraging and indicated that the project was “achievable.”
Weygand thinks the responses the state received last year were slightly disappointing.
“I don’t think the responses were quite as good as we hoped, but I think the way the economy is going and the attention on the Knowledge District, there would be competitive proposals if we put out a real [Request For Proposals],” Weygand said. “The [RFI] was informal and some developers want to keep their cards close to their chest.” •

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