Sports complex to join Quonset Gateway District

COURTESY QDC
GAME TIME: The owners of Wide World of Indoor Sports plan a groundbreaking this month, with a target opening date of August.
COURTESY QDC GAME TIME: The owners of Wide World of Indoor Sports plan a groundbreaking this month, with a target opening date of August.

Developing Quonset Point into an industrial park has been a monumental task. Measuring 3,207 acres, it has been a project years in the making. Significant progress has been made over the last six years thanks to the Quonset Development Corporation, a real estate development and property management agency formed by the state in 2005 to meet the specific needs in expanding the use of the park.
With so much acreage, the park has been divided into eight distinct areas, each with its own purpose. Welcoming people into the park is the Gateway District, a 64-acre development intended as a mixed-use retail and commercial plaza. “It’s designed to act as a buffer between the residential neighborhoods and the industrial areas in the park,” said David Preston, spokesman for the QDC. “We wanted to allow for a smooth transition between the park and the nearby homes.”
Seven office buildings are in the planning stages for Gateway and there is still plenty of room for growth, including Wide World of Indoor Sports, a new indoor sports facility tentatively slated for a January 2012 groundbreaking. If all goes well, owners Dan Fawcett and Stephen Sangermano will have the complex up and running by August 2012.
The Gateway area is unique among the other park districts, being the only one with retail use. There are several stores already in place, including Dave’s Market, a 24,000-square-foot supermarket opened in May 2009, and Marriot TownPlace Suites, a 104-unit hotel opened in May 2011. Also included are Kohl’s, Supercuts, Subway, Sally Beauty, Hollywood Nails and Sunshine Early Child Care Center. A Lowe’s store opened in January 2009 but closed this past November as part of a nationwide consolidation plan. At full build-out the Gateway will employ more than 2,000 workers and represent $144 million in private investments.
According to Preston, the Gateway district is owned by the QDC, but most of it has been leased to New Boston Development Partners LLC, for 99 years. The two entities provide the impetus for Gateway’s accelerated development. “They are working very hard to try to fill the available retail space,” he said.
Preston said QDC had been attempting to bring a sports facility into the park for the last three years but had failed to do so through a variety of different circumstances and parties. “They offer something different that will be a good fit for the Gateway,” he said, “but it’s also a good fit for the nearby neighborhoods. “We are expecting that work on the foundation will begin sometime in January,” Sangermano said.
This past August the two owners announced their company would build a new facility in North Kingstown. The owners said it would be similar to their existing Pound Road, North Smithfield location. Once complete, the Quonset and North Smithfield locations are expected to employ about 85 full and part-time employees.
The 76,000 square foot Quonset complex will have four nonboarded turf fields, and will be located at 215 Romano Vineyard Way, in the Gateway district. Programs will be offered for all ages, including adult leagues, youth leagues, youth classes, camps and tournaments. Sports offered will include soccer, flag football, field hockey, lacrosse, softball, volleyball, wiffle ball and more.
According to Katherine Trapani, planning manager for the QDC, the parcel was predesigned and pre-engineered to meet their development regulations for site, drainage and parking. Trapani said QDC will coordinate with Sangermano and the building official for a foundation permit, and confirmed the project could be started within weeks.
The nearby Quonset Bike Path is another addition to the area that allows for recreation. Built with federal grant money given to the R.I. Department of Transportation, the path is 2.5 miles long and skirts the perimeter of the industrial park. Open since 2009, the path is extremely popular, said Preston.
Preston credited several factors responsible for the increased development at the Gateway and the entire park. “For starters, there’s clarity of purpose, to develop the land and create jobs. Second, the permitting process is incredibly simple and well-coordinated between QRR and the town,” Preston said. Adopted in 2010, the new procedure means that projects can progress at an improved and efficient pace with less confusion about agency jurisdiction. The streamlined process benefits developers by saving them both time and money. &#8226

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1 COMMENT

  1. As a North Kingstown resident, I’d much rather see QDC focus on businesses that will bring in more tax revenue than a sports complex for kids. I’d love to see some restaurant development that can tie into the Quonset sewer lines — good quality, locally owned and operated restaurants, not national chains. And to see the Lowe’s become the new home of a destination shopping experience such as Bass Pro Shop, Cabela’s or LL Bean. But, I would settle for Target!