For years, Douglas B. Riggs, president of Riggs & Gallagher Inc., had his eye on a waterfront parcel at Quonset Point – an oblong, 5.2-acre property where the Naval officer’s beach club and cabanas had been. It seemed a perfect place to build and rent, both businesses the company is involved in.
When the North Kingstown property came up for sale during early 2004, Riggs’ general contracting firm paid the state about $500,000 for it.
“We were able to purchase the property at what we consider today to be an excellent price, a reasonable price,” Riggs said in a recent interview. “It’s the old entrepreneurial thing: If you’re willing to take the risk …”
Now, four years later, the land is worth about $1.1 million, according to the North Kingstown assessor’s office. And by the end of this year, Riggs & Gallagher will have invested about $10 million, including filling in the property to create a level parcel.
Completed during 2006, the first of two buildings constructed is a 38,000-square-foot office building, which is now occupied by BBC Audiobooks and a DuPont subsidiary, International Dioxcide Inc.
In early summer 2007, construction started on the second building, which, with a brick-and-glass façade, will be more of a “premier” location, said Riggs. It doesn’t hurt that it’s on the edge of Narragansett Bay, he added.
It’s designed in an L-shape, to fit alongside a former Navy jet-engine testing building, with glass revolving doors that face toward the water instead of the rest of Quonset Point.
“We sited the building on the lot so that the emphasis is from the building toward the vista,” Riggs said, standing in front of the unfinished building last week.
The brick, too, is an important feature for the building. Riggs, who runs the company with his brother, Vice President William Riggs, and sister, Property Manager Susan Collier, said the firm chose to use “premium” products for a “a premium project.”
“Even though it’s more expensive … we wanted to use materials best suited for it,” he said.
During the more than 30 years that Riggs & Gallagher have operated as general contractors, the firm has built about 10 properties for which it acts as owner-operator, Riggs said.
“Our secondary business is that every couple of years, we’ll do a project that we keep for our own inventory,” he said. In managing those properties, worth more than $20 million, the firm has seen a growing interest for comfortable workplaces, where workers “want to spend more hours at work in a more comfortable environment.”
That’s why its newest property, the second Quonset building, will be complete with lockers and showers – maybe even an outdoor one – and might offer individual storage for fishing equipment, he said.
Riggs is beginning leasing talks for build-to-suit offices in the new building, which has enough room for about eight businesses, he said. So far, the unusual design elements are generating interest in the building, he says, including a potential lessee who is attracted because he will be able to use his private plane at the nearby Quonset Airport.
The firm, which isn’t using a broker, also hopes the view of Narragansett Bay will draw companies. That’s why the two buildings are being called Vantage Point.
“It’s just simply because there’s such a wonderful [view] from here,” he said. To capitalize on that, Riggs & Gallagher is planning decks at the corners of the parking lot, 13-by-5-foot windows and glass-banister balconies.
Riggs & Gallagher also plans to relocate its own headquarters – with between 3,000 and 5,000 square feet of space – from its current Warwick location.
“This is our balcony,” said Riggs, standing on the third floor on the rainy first day of spring. “We’re going to be taking the center suite of the third floor.” •
