Third I-195 land proposal moves forward; for East Side land

The I-195 District commission is expected to hear a proposal for a new development.
A hotel developer has proposed a project for parcel 1A north of the pedestrian bridge. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION

(Updated, 4:15 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Developer Richard Baccari II said Monday that his proposal for a mixed-use complex on a parcel of East Side former Interstate 195 land has received a preliminary endorsement from the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission.

The proposal, from Baccari’s Royal Oaks Realty LLC, includes apartments, offices and a ground floor “retail/food operation” on Parcel 8, which stretches between Pike Street and Tockwotton Street in Fox Point, he said in an email.

Baccari, vice president of development at Providence-based Churchill & Banks, said he expects to work with the commission over the next month to finalize a “letter of intent” giving his company exclusive position to negotiate a land sale.

He said he could not provide further details of his proposal until that letter of intent is signed.

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I-195 Commission spokeswoman Dyana Koelsch confirmed in an email that the Royal Oaks proposal has been advanced.

The Royal Oaks bid for Parcel 8 would be the third advanced on a preliminary basis by the commission, although none have signed letters of intent yet.

The other two proposals to move forward – from Lincoln Property Co. and Cambridge Biolabs – are both on the west side of the Providence River.

Parcel 8 is 0.84 acres and zoned for building heights of 75 feet (about six or seven stories,) according to the commission’s Developer’s Toolkit.

Churchill & Banks already owns the abutting properties at 39 Pike St. and 40 Tockwotton St., and has previously discussed combining them with a development on the I-195 land.

Meanwhile, the commission has passed on the Carpionato Group’s proposal for a massive mixed-use development on five East Side Link parcels.

“The Commission chose not to advance [The Carpionato proposal] in its current configuration,” said I-195 Commission spokeswoman Dyana Koelsch in an email. “A second deadline for the next set of proposals is set for Oct. 15, and Carpionato may elect to re-submit at that time.”

An initial statement on the Carpionato proposal said the commission had been “interested” in the plan, but that reference was removed from a subsequent version.

Carpionato’s proposal was the largest by area of the seven known bids submitted so far for The Link. It would have included apartments, shops, offices, a life sciences research center and a bridge over Wickenden Street.

On Wednesday afternoon Carpionato spokesman Gregg Perry said the commission had asked the developer to modify its proposal and resubmit it by the next application deadline on Oct. 15.

Perry declined to elaborate on what the commission wanted changed or whether the changes were large, but said Caprionato intends to reshape the proposal and resubmit it this fall.

The commission has rejected four proposals.

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