PAWTUCKET – With about a month to go before Rhode Island FC’s inaugural home opener, all financing on the United Soccer League team’s future 10,000-plus-seat home stadium – Tidewater Landing – has closed, including bonds, private debt and equity capital.
While the bonds closing is a major financial step needed to complete the stadium’s ongoing construction by 2025, the project’s bonding has gotten more expensive.
Stadium developer Fortuitous Partners, the city, the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency and R.I. Commerce Corp. jointly announced Thursday that the redevelopment agency has issued $54.3 million in tax-exempt bonds “in collaboration between” the city and R.I. Commerce. This comes roughly six months after Fortuitous Partners
secured the remaining private funding needed to construct the waterfront stadium that will be home to Rhode Island FC.
Fortuitous and the soccer club combined to raise $50 million in private equity for the project, of which $33.9 million has been invested in stadium construction – which was
briefly halted over the summer – the entities said Thursday. Also, half of the $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds that the city made available for the project has been spent to date, the entities said.
“This significant infrastructure project will create jobs for Rhode Islanders, both during the construction process as well as when it is in operation. Additionally, it will serve as a catalyst for revitalizing an underdeveloped area of the state, encouraging the development of new businesses and services that cater to both locals and tourists,” R.I. Commerce Corp. spokesperson Matthew Touchette said in an emailed statement to Providence Business News. “This state-of-the-art venue has the potential to attract visitors from near and far, boosting local businesses and contributing to our state’s revenue.”
Back in October, city officials voted to move forward to issue $36 million in city bonds to pay for part of the $124 million stadium project – $27 million of it going toward the project itself and $9 million for “cost of issuance” for the bonds, Touchette told PBN on Thursday. The project relies on a combination of public, tax increment-financing and private debt and investment, with the bonds intended to be repaid using revenue generated from the project.
However, the bonding amount issued Thursday by the redevelopment agency increased by 50% since that $36 million bond number was introduced in 2022. Touchette told PBN that rising inflation and interest rates nationwide that are “out of our control” contributed to the bond amount rising significantly.
“The [$36 million] estimates in 2022 were preliminary,” Touchette said. “A lot of time has passed, and the market has … contributed to the higher number here.”
Touchette says the net debt service for the bonds to be paid over 30 years is $131.7 million, with the first payment through the capitalized interest fund scheduled to be made on June 15. There is a “stipulation” that allows the opportunity to either refinance the bonds or pay them off after 10 years, he told PBN.
Also, Touchette told PBN last summer the total state public dollars for the project is net to $45.5 million. That amount includes the state bonds, $10 million in Rebuild Rhode Island tax credits and $10 million from the city of Pawtucket.
Touchette said on Thursday the first state appropriation is scheduled to be made in the 2027 fiscal year.
The entities said Thursday that “no state dollars” will be invested until the stadium’s construction is completed and any construction cost increases “will be borne by the private developer.”
(UPDATE ADDS fifth and ninth paragraphs to include additional comment from R.I. Commerce Corp. spokesperson Matthew Touchette, plus other minor changes.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
