PAWTUCKET – Progress continues on the $400 million soccer stadium project proposed for the riverfront here, but the city and the developer are not ready to ink the deal just yet.
The city and developer Fortuitous Partners have agreed to extend the exclusivity period for the Tidewater Landing project through Sept. 15, according to a letter signed on Wednesday and shared with Providence Business News by the mayor’s office.
The project, slated for three separate riverfront properties in Pawtucket, calls for a 7,500-seat soccer stadium, a 200-room hotel, an indoor sports center, retail, residential and infrastructure improvements. The stadium would be home to a professional United Soccer League Championship team.
The initial 120-day due diligence period was set to end in early April but parties involved agreed to an extension amid delays in administrative and logistical progress due to the new coronavirus.
The new deadline for finalizing the deal comes as the city prepares to lease one of three sites included in the project over to the developer. As proposed, the agreement offers the developer a 50-year lease – with the option for two, 25-year extensions – for $1 per year for the city-owned Division Street site. The Pawtucket City Council is slated to vote on the lease on Friday.
Acquisition of the two other parcels proposed for the project – the privately owned former Apex site and one owned by National Grid- continues to move forward, as do next steps in formalizing a master development agreement and tax-increment financing project plans between the city, state and developer, according to the mayor’s office.
“It is clear, as the city finalizes lease agreements with Fortuitous, that everyone continues to stand behind this project,” Mayor Don Grebien said in an emailed statement. “We continue to do our best to move forward. … This is a $400 million investment that will redevelop our waterfront and downtown for decades to come.”
