Could Aquidneck Island become the next Nantucket? Multibillion-dollar real estate developer and entrepreneur Brian O’Neill says it could be even better.
He cites the island’s accessibility, the number of quality restaurants and its artist community as reasons. Aquidneck Island is “Nantucket without any of the B.S.,” O’Neill said in a speech at the Newport County Chamber of Commerce’s quarterly economic development luncheon series in Middletown on April 6.
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O’Neill owns O’Neill Properties Group, which has plans to develop about 130 acres of Portsmouth’s western shore into luxury residences, a resort and a 1,500-slip marina – in addition to a $400 million project already under way to build a 21-story condominium tower, 21 luxury cottages and 33 waterfront homes at the Carnegie Abbey Club.
O’Neill’s plans fit with the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission’s West Side Master Plan, a collaborative effort of state and town planners to recommend strategic development of about 5,000 acres along the west coast of the island.
“Some high-end development is indicated,” said Tina Dolen, executive director of the commission.
O’Neill cited statistics showing about 80 million people with combined incomes of about $1.6 trillion live within 500 miles of Aquidneck Island, making it a prime spot for investment.
O’Neill said his interest in investing came after he bought a home in Newport. He had joined the Carnegie Abbey Club, an exclusive resort and golf course. A nationally recognized developer of brownfields, O’Neill saw the potential of redeveloping the former Kaiser Aluminum Factory, which was part of the club’s property. After buying the factory for $13 million, he decided to buy the club.
O’Neill identified the island’s thriving live/work artist community, its jazz and folk festivals, art museum and its sailing, fishing and history as reasons he lives and invests in the area.
By comparison, he said, high housing costs have driven all of Nantucket’s artists off the island. Having only 14 restaurants makes it difficult to book reservations, and heavy traffic congestion makes Nantucket a hassle to visit.
In addition, the average cost of a house on Aquidneck Island is one-fourth the average cost of a house in Nantucket, one-third the cost on Martha’s Vineyard, and half the cost in Cape Cod, he said.
The Carnegie Abbey condos are priced starting at $695,000, and the cottages will range from about $2 million up to $7 million. But Dolen said O’Neill has plans to develop some affordable housing on the island as well, so people who work there can also live there.
O’Neill Properties’ private investment is part of a relationship similar to the partnership involved with developing the Providence Place mall, said Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport Chamber and treasurer of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
When completed, the 1,500-slip marina, on a 44-acre parcel at Weaver’s Cove, would be the largest in New England and possibly the East Coast, Stokes said. It would support the state’s marine industries by drawing more boats, tourists and consumers to the area.
It also would transform acres of what used to be heavily industrialized military property into jobs and revenue for the town and state, Stokes said, but “it takes time and money, and it’s very complex.”
“There’s no larger economic project in the state,” said Stephen Corridan, New England regional partner for O’Neill, saying it could create about 4,500 jobs.
Much of the 130 acres, including the 44 acres at Weaver’s Cove and 88 acres at the former Weyerhaeuser Lumber Terminal (Mount Hope Marine Terminal), was formerly used by the military, and the commission wanted to protect the military parcels from becoming a maze of housing developments, Dolen said. Along with O’Neill’s high-end residential resort style and marina developments, the West Side Master Plan includes room for mixed-use development, a wastewater treatment plant and open space.
