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$23 M slated for Union Wadding PAWTUCKET TIMES August 10, 2005 DOUGLAS HADDEN PAWTUCKET -- Barely a week after his $1.3 million bid for the Union Wadding property was approved, Connecticut-based developer Garfield Spencer is moving quickly on all fronts to get his residential rehab plans for the 343,000-square-foot complex in motion. Spencer, who will be in town today to meet with city fire and zoning officials, is looking to transform the Goff Avenue mill into 200 loft-style condominium units in a project valued at more than $23 million. The rehab will bring hundreds of people to live at the long-blighted western edge of downtown. It will also save the mill buildings in a complex where countless workers toiled since the late 1800s until Union Wadding entered receivership, the state-regulated form of bankruptcy, last October. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Spencer said "a couple of buildings in the back" of the complex -- the woodframe two-story former bleachery -- not suitable for rehab will likely be demolished, "because we’ve got more building than land." Those teardowns will help provide more parking, although "from what we’ve seen," he said, "we shouldn’t have a problem" supplying the required number of spaces. Spencer also said there will also be "selected demolitions to get light into the building," by opening up space at the center of the complex. He said the project will be "100 percent identical" to the bricks-and-beams mill makeover that First National Development LLC, the company he runs with his wife, Rebecca, performed in Bridgeport, Conn. The project will be privately financed, which should help speed the timeframe, although Spencer said local banks "in your area" had already contacted him about financing. That’s in sharp contrast to Riverfront Lofts, the 60-unit mill makeover that started the recent run of such projects in the city. To make that work, developer Ranne Warner needed a short-term bridge loan where the city pledged most of its redevelopment loans portfolio, plus creative financing by Bank RI and Chase Bank in New York. Although Spencer had been comtemplating a bid and had spoken to city officials to determine the local climate, he said he did not enter his bid to UW’s court-appointed receiver until just before the deadline. "Our bid was a 12th-hour bid," he said. "We did not get the particulars put together till the day before. The difference between our bid," and the only other applicant, a Massachusetts-based group, "was we felt comfortable dealing with the Phase I environmental" issues. The term refers to review requirements set forth by the state Department of Environmental Management and required by the local planning process. While the Massachusetts group’s bid was 25 percent higher, at $1.75 million, Spencer said it could have walked away from the deal within 45 days if it was unsatisfied after a further environmental review. But Spencer said his preliminary review showed the environmental concerns "in reality wasn’t a big issue. And we were cash," he said. "That was very attractive," to the receiver and ultimately the court. The plan is to perform the early work including demolition to clear the way for construction to start next spring, Spencer said. He put the cost of the project at "northward of $23 million or $24 million." He said he will be "seriously" looking into possible use of state historic tax credits to trim costs. Spencer praised the "warm welcome" he has gotten from city officials from the time he first expressed interest in bidding on the property. "The officials of Pawtucket have made every step of the way doing this a pleasure," he said. "It’s always good doing business with people who are warm and friendly to us. So I am -- I must confess -- the city of Pawtucket, I’m really impressed." Herbert Weiss, city economic affairs and cultural officer, said Spencer came to the city Planning Department before putting his bid in, "to see if his vision goes with the city’s vision." "He really wants to get moving on it, so what we’re going to do is have him attend the Fire Department-Zoning meeting (today) to give him direction on what he needs to do in the process." Mayor James E. Doyle appointed the special panel, which meets Wednesdays in City Hall, to smooth the process between developers and city and state code requirements. "It’s a very pivotal project," Weiss noted, "200 units, maybe 400 people. It fits in with our grand scheme of bringing people (to live) downtown," which in turn should spawn restaurants and other new retail, Weiss said. Weiss called Union Wadding "the last (major) mill that I know that would be available for sale" right now. Spencer’s initiative lengthens a major mill makeover list that besides Riverfront Lofts includes the Bayley Lofts (former Parkin Yarn) mill and Hope Artiste Village (Hope Webbing mill) residential projects. "So you can see a lot of things are hoppin’ and poppin’," Weiss said. (c) 2005 The Pawtucket Times. All rights reserved. |
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© 2006 First National Development. All Rights Reserved. |  |