Commerce Corporation slated to vote on Tidewater Landing project

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) — Newly appointed Secretary of Commerce Liz Tanner announced Thursday that the Commerce Corporation is expected to vote on the future of the Tidewater Landing project Monday.

Tanner said that significant progress has been made over the last few weeks on the project after the commerce board still had unanswered questions at their last meeting.

The secretary said Monday’s scheduled vote will solely focus on the stadium aspect and no additional state funding will be added, though already approved funding could be shifted to help get the stadium off the  ground.

“The governor made it clear that the project needs to have strong taxpayer protections, including that the state money would not flow to the project until the the project was actually built andcompleted,” said Tanner.

“We’ve also asked the developer to add more housing units to the project, “she added.

Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien echoed that progress has been made and is hopeful the project can get off the ground with a positive outcome Monday.

“We look forward to Commerce RI’s July 25th Board meeting and getting shovels in the ground to start construction on this game changing project for Pawtucket,” the mayor said.

Earlier this year, the Pawtucket city leaders and the developer, Fortuitous Partners, said inflation had significantly raised the price of the Tidewater project that would bring a soccer stadium, restaurants and housing to the city’s riverfront.

Both went to the state last month to ask for additional funding for the project, which was put on hold as the board had questions about the project.