A year ago officials close to the Warwick Station Redevelopment District project said they expected the project to be completed by next year, but now say that not even the train station will be finished by 2002. Announced in 1998 by the late Senator John H. Chafee as part of the Congressional enactment of the Federal Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21), the project’s schedule has changed slightly since its inception.
The Amtrak Station, which will occupy about 5,000 to 10,000 square feet of the 70-acre Warwick Station Redevelopment District will only be as far from T.F. Green Airport as a typical par five golf hole, according to officials.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
”This is the shortest distance between a train station and an airport in the country,” said Mike Giuttari, president of NAI MG Commercial Real Estate.
NAI MG Commercial brokered the buyout of the Hillsgrove South neighborhood in Warwick, which will function as gateway property for commercial development to complement Warwick Station. Giuttari’s company is currently working on the operating documents to buy out Hillsgrove North, the 150 or so houses on the other side of the planned intermodal area, which is the region which involves more than one form of transportation.
“Negotiations in our business generally take a long time,” Giuttari said.
Yet with the cleanup of the former Bayliss chemical plant soon to be under way, and the Bullfinch Companies of Boston working on a development plan, things might soon pick up.
”There’s too much momentum right now for this not to happen,” said Giutarri, noting that the airport already has so much traffic that it is at a “volume today that was not supposed to happen until 2015.”
What will this new train station and commerce area surrounding mean to the business traveler, and what will it mean for Warwick?
AREA BETWEEN the station and the airport (visible in background) awaits development.
”A lot of people have a lot of different theories on what will happen,” said Michael Grande, chairman of the Warwick Station Redevelopment Authority, “My sense is that it will make it a lot easier for them, because in theory they will have another mode of transportation.”
Nobody is willing to project any numbers as far as the increase in business that the redevelopment of the District will bring. Patrick Luce, press secretary for the City of Warwick said it’s too early to know.
”It’s still in the design phase,” he said.
Chuck Alves, chief of intermodal planning for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation confirmed which Amtrak trains will stop at Warwick Station.
He said that Amtrak has committed to stopping all 24 of its Acela Regional inter-city trains at the station and they are currently looking into the plausibility of stopping the high-speed train there. The high-speed version of the Acela is still being tested by Amtrak.
Patti Goldstein, director of public affairs at T.F. Green Airport would not make any predictions as far as numbers go either, but she did say construction of the train station most likely will increase traffic at the airport because of its proximity. She added that the people mover which will travel between the terminals is sure to generate a lot of traffic. Goldstein also spoke of some of the trains that will be stopping at the station.
”The MBTA has already agreed to provide an extension of their service to that station,” she said, “but what that translates to as far as numbers of passengers go, is hard to predict. It remains to be seen.”
Alves said the next step is to advertise the contract for cleaning the area that was the Baylis chemical corporation. The bid package was made available last Friday, July 28.
”They can come in and pick up the package,” said Alves, “and the contract will be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.”
Alves made certain that he emphasized the word ‘responsible’.
He said that 2002 is still the goal for completion of the project, but even that is flexible.
”With any major project,” he said, “it takes time.”
