PawSox Update

In case you’re not getting news from any other local source this week, there have been some interesting developments in the Pawtucket Red Sox Epic. The PawSox themselves have indicated that they will not be moving to the proposed wedge of I-195 land they have been prospecting for the past several months, indicating that governor Raimondo put the brakes on the arrangement.

At the same time, Mayor Elorza endorsed consideration of another Providence location several blocks farther south, between Eddy and Point Streets. While this location – called Victory Place — has been on offer before and is privately owned by Lifespan, it would seem that the same financial planning elements that made the original parcel unsuccessful also would apply to this spot. But some of the factors that blocked the original parcel would not apply. (Federal money for the I-195 land involved guarantees to create a public park, and some of the land at issue was owned by Brown University, which had proposed an extremely high price point. Exactly which factors were the deciding ones for the governor are not clear.)

Jumping into the void left at the I-195 area, Coran Capshaw Red Light management, a North Carolina development company with experience creating a public pavilion in Charlottesville, seems to be stepping into the fray to propose a similar public entertainment facility where the ball field was suggested, according to GoLocalProvidence (Capshaw Management would not respond to requests for comment). While this might sound like the PawSox stadium proposal minus the ball team, it seems reasonable to expect that the proposed financial plan will be significantly different than the stadium proposal – both in how it’s structured, and in how much a pavilion costs compared to a stadium.

Governor Raimondo, Pawtucket Mayor Grebien and many of the groups that protested the new stadium proposal still suggest the current Pawtucket location, with a few renovations and “upgrades,” would fit the bill for the ball team.