South Street Landing project opening delayed but still on track

THIS IS A RENDERING of the South Street Landing project, which features a joint URI/RIC nursing-education center, Brown University administrative offices, a new parking garage and a residential/commercial component. Despite some delays in taking ownership of the property, developer CV Properties says that the project is scheduled to be completed on time.  / COURTESY CV PROPERTIES LLC
THIS IS A RENDERING of the South Street Landing project, which features a joint URI/RIC nursing-education center, Brown University administrative offices, a new parking garage and a residential/commercial component. Despite some delays in taking ownership of the property, developer CV Properties says that the project is scheduled to be completed on time. / COURTESY CV PROPERTIES LLC

PROVIDENCE – The first hints of construction materialized Thursday as the developer of the South Street Landing project said the firm is on track for a summer closing on the property and completion of the project by early 2017.

CV Properties LLC is spearheading the $220 million project, which will house the Rhode Island Nursing Education Center, Brown University offices, graduate student housing and a parking garage. The nursing education center will be shared by the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.

“We are on track for a financial closing in the coming weeks,” Richard A. Galvin, founder and president of CV Properties, said in an emailed statement. “We have started site mobilization as of today with Gilbane in anticipation of that closing and full-scale construction. Costs associated with the lien settlement are accounted for and included in our budget.”

Eric Cote, a spokesman for Galvin, added that earlier this year, after a December 2014 ceremonial groundbreaking, the developer decided to target November 2016, the “more realistic” of two options for delivering the redeveloped property, allowing the center to open for the spring semester of 2017.

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The first option was July 2016, and would have allowed classes to begin in the fall of 2016.

“Just given the complexities of the project CV Properties has elected to deliver at the second window,” Cote said. “The project is on track and on schedule for the second delivery date, and we’re excited to get it under way.”

Pre-construction work that has begun involves securing the property to ensure access, installing a fence and beginning cleanup to prepare the property for construction, Cote said. Neighbors and stakeholders are being advised of the potential for parking restrictions, road closures and noise, he said.

The developer has yet not taken ownership of the property, since debts to at least one of a group of 19 subcontractors has not yet received settlement on its legal claim, said attorney David M. Campbell of Shechtman, Halperin Savage LLP in Providence.

His client, Northeast Steel Corp. Inc. of North Kingstown, is owed $913,000, which is part of a slightly less than $1.7 million settlement for some 19 different subcontractors. The settlement totals are what was agreed to, based on nearly $5 million in claims, he said, with his client’s being the largest and the smallest amount totaling about $8,000.

The closing Galvin says is targeted for June is later than the January or February time frame originally promised, Campbell said. The settlement was reached in December, he said.

“I’m confident the project is going to happen,” Campbell said. “The time frame changed, but it appears they are going forward. We’re hopeful the project is not off the rails, but we did not expect the payment would be pushed back into the summer.”

Ken Orenstein, director of the Heritage Harbor Museum Corp., which is reportedly owed money as well, could not be reached for comment.

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