Cities renew PawSox pitches

(Updated 12:52 p.m.)
Is Providence still the front-runner to be the next home of the Pawtucket Red Sox? While team owners say they are still interested, momentum for a new stadium in the city has ground to a halt.

And that’s raising hopes in other communities, including the team’s current home.

“We could have a stadium [in Warwick] easily,” Mayor Scott Avedisian said last week. “We have all the meeting space, convention space, hotels and restaurants said to be an integral part to new stadiums, so I think I should at least advocate on behalf of our community.”

Avedisian in March sent a letter to the late Providence attorney and team part-owner James J. Skeffington, urging the PawSox ownership group to consider Warwick for a new stadium should Providence not work out. The mayor has since resurrected contact with the ownership group, which says it’s reviewing his request. Avedisian expects an official response this week.

- Advertisement -

And Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien is increasing his efforts to keep the PawSox from moving.

Last week he wrote a letter to Gov. Gina M. Raimondo asking the state and team to make good on a 2014 lease agreement that called for a feasibility study on how to further invest in McCoy Stadium, where the PawSox currently play home games.

“By allowing this process to drag out further without the city of Pawtucket and McCoy Stadium … being part of the conversation, the state runs the risk of forcing the team to consider other locations outside of Rhode Island and perhaps even the region,” Grebien wrote.

The ownership group, led by Boston Red Sox President and CEO Lawrence “Larry” Lucchino, has eyed a move to Providence since purchasing the team last year. But a proposal to build a new stadium on the former I-195 land along the Providence River wasn’t well-received by the public. Stadium opponents have criticized its location, the team’s public-private financing proposal with the state and a potential tax treaty with the city.

On Monday, the PawSox said Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has determined that the I-195 site on the Providence River is not suitable for a new ballpark. The PawSox said that the club will suspend its pursuit of that parcel, but explore other options within the city.

Prior to Raimondo’s statement, the ownership group began renegotiating with state officials, even though other roadblocks regarding the riverfront parcel had emerged in recent weeks.

Brown University, owner of 2.19 acres of the proposed site, set an asking price of $15 million for the land, which would comprise left field in the would-be ballpark.

A potential alternative site, Victory Place, a 5.4-acre lot also in Providence, was sold earlier this month by Jag Investment Realty LLC to Rhode Island Hospital, a Lifespan Corp. company. Lifespan spokeswoman Beth Bailey said last week it wouldn’t be resold to the PawSox.

PawSox ownership spokeswoman Patti Doyle last week in an email said “the focus on a renegotiated agreement with the state continues.”

But House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello says negotiations are on hold.

“From [Mattiello’s] perspective there is no more activity happening at this point at the current site,” spokesman Larry Berman said. “The ball is in their court.” •

No posts to display