PORTSMOUTH – A developer plans to pitch Tuesday a $100 million development on land in Portsmouth that the U.S. Navy plans to leave.
Portsmouth developer Allen Shers will propose to the Aquidneck Island Reuse Planning Authority a roughly 85-acre solar farm along with a museum highlighting green technology and incubator space for renewable energy companies. The project would be built on two former tank farms that the Navy will soon leave.
Shers, a long-time real estate investor, would form a nonprofit called Solaris Power to develop the park and told Providence Business News he is in talks with private investors.
Shers submitted the proposal last month to the authority. The federally anointed tri-community group is crafting a master plan for the 260 acres that the Navy plans to leave in Portsmouth, Middletown and Newport. It is required to provide preference to nonprofits and governments seeking the land.
Known as a public-conveyance option, the land would technically move from the U.S. Navy to a federal agency and then to the nonprofit organization or government. The ultimate end-user would pay for the property, but at a reduced rate.
Solaris Power was the only nongovernmental entity to request a public conveyance.
The Aquidneck Island Reuse Planning Authority has yet to find a federal agency willing to hand off the land to Shers, said the authority’s Property Reuse Coordinator Julie Oakley. But nothing would stop Shers from bidding on the land when the areas not set aside for government become available. And the authority can guide development through its master plan.
On Tuesday, the board will hear details of the Solaris Power plan. Oakley said the board is not expected to make any decisions regarding the project at the meeting. The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Middletown Police Station.
Turn to Monday’s edition of the Providence Business News for additional information.
