SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The Palisades mill complex in South Kingstown is back on the market after a purchase-and-sale agreement expired last month.
Murray Gates told Providence Business News that the deadline to purchase came and went without him assembling the financing needed to meet the terms. The 13-acre property is now listed for $11.8 million.
“We found that the terms of their last agreement were not doable,” Gates said. “They wouldn’t be doable for any developer.”
Gates said he remains committed to negotiating a new agreement. He wants to develop the mill as a mix of retail space and residences anchored by an arts organization. But finding financing has been difficult in a down economy and without state historic preservation tax credits that the legislature eliminated two years ago.
“We’re still looking for ways to make it work,” Gates said.
Not on the table, however, is proposing the complex as a home for a big-box store, a concept Gates said he would not support.
