PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Commerce Corp. voted to approve a $6 million tax increment financing agreement for Westminster Partners LLC’s construction of the Hotel Hive at 187, 203 and 213 Westminster St., the old Providence Journal and Kresge buildings that currently sit vacant.
The adaptive reuse project, which is estimated to cost $39 million, will consist of 91 hotel rooms, 48 studio apartments, a 7,130-square-foot co-working and shared office space a, a bar and outdoor cafe, a rooftop bar and restaurant, and a pizzeria. The hotel also will have 54 parking spaces.
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The company spent $4.7 million acquiring the building and expects the hard construction costs to be $26.1 million. Soft costs were estimated at $6.1 million, while fixtures, furniture and equipment are expected to cost $2.1 million.
The construction project is expected to employ 163 workers and have a direct impact of $10.4 million in earnings, $15.2 million one-time impact in gross domestic product value added and an economic output of $31.2 million, according to a third-party consulting firm.
The project is also expected to create roughly $1.4 million in taxes during construction paid to the state via sales and use taxes, personal income taxes, state business taxes and state sales taxes on taxable household spending.
The hotel and tenant operations are expected to directly generate 139 full-time equivalent jobs, creating earnings of a combined $4.3 million and add a one-time impact of $6.7 million to state GDP.
Operations are expected to generate $1.3 million in taxes paid to the state starting in 2022. The hotel property is expected to begin operations in spring of 2021, with stabilized operations by 2022. The length of the agreement can be up to 20 years.
Commerce RI also authorized the sale of the final $77 million in bonds of the Historic Structures Tax Credit Financing Program bonds Monday evening. The bonds are the last installment of the $356.2 million approved for the program.
A spokesman for Commerce RI said that there is already a waitlist for projects to utilize the program’s funds. There are currently no plans to renew the program, which falls under the Rebuild Rhode Island program.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. Email him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
