PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Commerce Corp. Investment Committee voted Tuesday to support $1.5 million in tax incentives to Westminster Partners LLC, the owner of the vacant former Providence Journal building on Westminster Street they hope to develop into apartments, retail and co-working space.
The measure now goes before the full board of directors for final approval.
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The $53 million Hive Life proposal includes 124 apartments, 11,500 square feet of retail space, a 13,000-square-foot lounge, a 4,600-square-foot rooftop bar and 10 on-site parking spaces.
A since-abandoned $6 million TIF request was approved by Commerce in 2019 for a 91-room hotel and 48 residential units projected to cost $39 million. That plan was scratched due to what Westminster Partners principal Jim Abdo characterized as market forces.
Made available through tax increment financing legislation approved by the General Assembly in 2015, the Commerce TIF program provides capital to private developers for projects which cannot exceed 30% of total project costs or 75% of incremental revenue generated.
Under the amended agreement, Westminster Partners would receive $1.5 million in tax rebates recouped through a portion of future taxes collected on food and beverage sales, according to Commerce spokesperson Lindsay Russell, who added that an economic impact analysis would be released before the next board meeting.
A separate 20-year tax-stabilization agreement with the city received approval from the Providence City Council back in November. That deal is projected to save the developer $4.2 million.
In a statement Tuesday, Abdo said the new project “will have a positive, halo effect for one of the most important corridors of the city by bringing substantial pedestrian-level retail and residences downtown.”
Abdo noted the initial hotel TIF request sought $6 million in incentives.
“Our ownership group has carried these buildings through the pandemic and has continued to invest in a programming concept that allows these buildings to be economically viable over the long term,” he said.
(Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com)
