Swansea votes for redevelopment authority, green lighting sale of mall

Hundreds of voters gave their stamp of approval to create a redevelopment authority in Swansea.

According to Carreiro, the sale of the mall was contingent on the creation of the authority.

The new agency will have four elected people on it, and another appointed by the governor.

He says the authority will help the town as a whole, but specifically it’s aimed at revitalizing the Swansea Mall, which closed at the end of March after 45 years due to dwindling stores and restrictions imposed by nearby Walmart.

“Many restrictions were put in place,” said Carreiro. “So many restrictions that it pretty much prohibited any kind of redevelopment of the property.”

At Monday’s meeting most residents said they see it as an easy ‘yes’ vote, in the hopes the land won’t remain deserted for too much longer.

“It’s time that we do something for that mall so that it be revamped,” said resident Antone Miranda. “Other than that, we’ll probably have a stalemate there.”

“I don’t see an option at this point,” said resident Gina Weyland. “The mall is dead and it has to be redeveloped for the betterment of the town.”

Carreiro says the prospective buyers wanted a redevelopment authority in the town to be able to find ways to allow the mall to continue developing, despite the mall’s previous issues with Walmart.

“The redevelopment can cut to the chase and say, ‘We’re going to take this property by eminent domain, we are going to take these restrictions by eminent domain, and we are going to terminate them so we can effectuate meaningful redevelopment,'” said Carreiro.

Walmart has not returned our request for comment.
With the yes vote Monday night, Selectman Carreiro says the public should know who the prospective buyer is within the next 72 hours.