To the editor,
There has been a lot of attention recently to the plan for a Gateway Development at the Quonset Business Park. This mixed-use development is designed to support additional growth in the park.
Bottom line – the business park needs a hotel, restaurants and amenities for its employers, employees and guests. Without these essentials, Quonset cannot and will not develop into the first-class business park that will serve to build Rhode Island’s economy.
When corporate guests come to Quonset now, not only are there no hotels for them to stay at – there is also an embarrassing failure along Post Road to provide the kind of welcoming environment needed to entertain visitors. In addition, we are unable to offer our employees support amenities – such as places to eat, fix eyeglasses, and even drop off dry cleaning.
It is time to move this project forward. As a longtime tenant of the Quonset Business Park – and resident of Rhode Island – we know the great potential here at Quonset. We also know there has been an historic inability to take advantage of that potential. It seems that finally with the Gateway, we have the chance to send a clear signal that the state has the will and the ability to provide critical services for businesses at Quonset.
The project itself is appealing. From the perspective of a park tenant, the proposal – with its meandering paths, outdoor cafés, water elements, pocket parks and a streetscape design – will be a great addition for our corporate guests and employees.
To refer to the Gateway as a sprawling strip shopping center is just plain wrong. The plans presented by the developers show only 32 percent of the development is retail. The remaining 68 percent is multi-story office buildings, research and development sites, a hotel, restaurants, visitors’ center and outdoor cafés. There is also a day care center, a Seabee museum and a chapel.
Much has been made of Lowe’s being an anchor tenant. This fixation on one store is distorting the true scope, scale and value of the Gateway. In reality, Lowe’s is a very small piece of the development (less than 13 percent) and is set over a half-mile into the park. Quonset staffers are right when they point out, of all the potential large retail stores, Lowe’s is the most likely to be used by park tenants who need easy quick access to hardware supplies.
The developers are investing $120 million of private funds in the project – with no state subsidies or tax incentives. The relatively small retail portion of the 850,000 square feet is needed to keep the project feasible.
With the completion of the new Route 403 extension into the park and the freight rail improvement project, Quonset is poised to move forward.
With its 2,000 jobs, significant private investment and attention to aesthetics, the Gateway will finally provide what many of us in the park have been requesting for decades – a signature entry way that provides an amenity mix, office space and a chance to expand our client base.
