(Updated at 10:41 a.m. with Senate vote)
PROVIDENCE — The Senate late Friday gave its approval to House-passed legislation financing a new Pawtucket Red Sox ballpark in downtown Pawtucket.
The bill, which now moves to Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, will authorize the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency to issue special revenue bonds for the $83 million facility, to be built on a site now occupied by the Apex building. The move was meant to shield the state from liability should attendance and other revenue fail to generate enough money to repay the bonds over 30 years.
Under the bill, championed by House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello, D-Cranston, a revenue repayment, or tax incremental financing, district will be established around the ballpark, and new commercial development would be used to repay the debt.
Under the split, the PawSox will contribute $45 million, including $12 million in owner equity. City and state revenue from the ballpark and surrounding development would make up the remainder.
An earlier Senate-passed version had the bonds being issued by the state.
“While the House version of the bill takes a slightly different approach, it still addresses and reconciles all the issues that were a concern to the Senate after studying and deliberating about the issue for so long,” Sen. William J. Conley Jr., D-East Providence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. “This legislation gives Pawtucket the opportunity to pursue a ballpark partnership with the potential to anchor redevelopment in a downtown district at the northern gateway to our state.”
Through a spokesman, the Pawtucket Red Sox ownership has said it will wait until the legislation is approved to comment on the changes.
Legislators who were supportive of bill being sent to the governor urged approval as an economic-development initiative, with one saying it could mean the end of Pawtucket otherwise.
Rep. Carlos Tobon, D-Pawtucket, said the bonds will not leave state taxpayers on the hook, because they are special revenue bonds, repayable only by the revenues produced within the district. For that reason, they will carry a higher interest rate, because the risk to bond buyers is higher. Tobon said he remembered when Pawtucket was thriving when he was a child.
“This will be the catalyst to make Pawtucket downtown what it once was,” said Tobon. “I want to make sure my son, who turns 1-year-old today, has an opportunity to do that. This is no charitable giveaway to the PawSox. This is the city of Pawtucket asking… give us an opportunity.”
Opponents cited the unknowns, including how many people would go to ballgames 10, 20 years from now. And whether the development would generate enough revenue to cover the debt.
“This is the very definition of risky,” said Rep. Patricia Morgan, R-Coventry, the House minority leader.
One of the unknowns appears to be how the proposal will be viewed by the PawSox.
Rep. Lauren Carson, D-Newport, said she found it unsettling that they had yet to express an opinion, given how active they were last year in trying to get the stadium bill approved.
“Their silence is just a little deafening,” she said. “I’m concerned.”
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
