PROVIDENCE – Philanthropist Mary Ann Lippitt has given $1 million to the Providence Public Library. A Providence Public Library Board member from 1985 to 1993, Lippitt also provided organizational expertise to the library’s capital campaign.
Lippitt’s gift was formally announced at the June 24 gathering of the library’s board of trustees held at the Central Library. In recognition of Lippitt’s gift and her long standing support, the library will commission a portrait of her to hang in the Fox Point Branch Library, which will be renamed Mary Ann Lippitt Library at Fox Point.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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Kahn, Litwin,
Renza & Co, partners with Briggs Capital
PROVIDENC – Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co., a Providence-based regional CPA and business consulting firm has formed a strategic partnership with Briggs Capital, LLC, a Boston-based mergers and acquisition and investment firm representing $750 million in funds. Briggs Capital will maintain an office within the KLR building at 951 North Main St. in Providence.
According to officials at KLR, the two companies will combine their skills to provide comprehensive merger and acquisition opportunities in the New England market.
GeoNova announces
East Providence development
EAST PROVIDENCE – GeoNova Development Company announced that they are proceeding with the redevelopment of the former Washburn Wire site in East Providence and plan on converting it into a mixed-use New England Village. The 28-acre waterfront parcel forms a peninsula into the Seekonk River. A portion of the site also abuts Omega Pond.
The project is the first announced redevelopment along the East Providence waterfront that conforms to the city’s waterfront plan. As part of the proposed redevelopment all existing structures on the property will be demolished and removed. The site will be re-graded and substantial new infrastructure will be installed. When completed the project will contain residential townhouses and condominiums, retail space and offices. A parkway is also expected to weave its way along the shoreline.
The site has brownfield classification, which means it is an underutilized urban site that contains environmental contaminants due to a previous industrial process. The site is expected to undergo an extensive environmental clean up which will need to meet all city, state and federal standards for residential and commercial reuse.
Software swap
saves Rhode Island $1 million
PROVIDENCE – Secretary of State Edward Inman, III and Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office have agreed to a software swap that will make interstate business transactions more efficient and save Rhode Island taxpayers $1 million in technology development costs.
Rhode Island has received quotes starting at $1.2 million to develop Uniform Commercial Code software. By the terms of the swap, Massachusetts will give Rhode Island the Uniform Commercial Code software developed by the Commonwealth. In exchange, Rhode Island will give Massachusetts its Rules and Regulations Tracker software developed by Secretary Inman’s office and $100,000 to be paid in installments over the next three years.
Rhode Island is acquiring the UCC software system at a fraction of what the cost would be to develop one from scratch, while Massachusetts recoups a portion of its initial UCC investment and acquires first-in-the-nation rules and regulations on-line system.
Block Island Ferry
ordered to pay $160,000 to employees
GALILEE – Interstate Navigation Company and Nelseco Navigation Company, doing business as The Block Island Ferry, have agreed to pay $160,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 114 present and former employees to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor.
According to Dianne Miller, Hartford District Director for the Department’s Wage and Hour Division, an investigation by her agency found that the New London, Connecticut-based ferry boat operators had misclassified deckhands and bartenders as exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act and also had failed to properly maintain records of hour worked.
The judgement signed by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson on June 24, 2002 resolves the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford on April 12, 2001. Under it, the defendants without admitting liability, agree to pay back wages covering the period between April 12, 1999 and March 24, 2002, and to submit proof of payment to the Wage and Hour Division no later than Nov. 30, 2002.
Pawtucket Fasteners
owned by new partnership
PAWTUCKET – PFI, LLC, an entity formed by the former management team of Pawtucket Fasteners and Main Street Resources, a private equity firm based in Westport, Conn., announced that it has acquired and re-capitalized Pawtucket Fasteners.
Pawtucket Fasteners, founded in 1882 and headquartered in Pawtucket, is one of the oldest operating fastener companies in North America. Through its Bell Fasteners, Zelenda Metric, and Stillwater Fastener brands, PFI is an importer, master distributor, and manufacturer of corrosion resistant metric fasteners. Pawtucket’s products are sold to industrial and hardware distributors through its nine distribution centers in the United States and Canada.
(Compiled from news reports and releases.)
