City close to finally selling middle school
WOONSOCKET – The Central Falls company that wants to convert the old Woonsocket Middle School into luxury apartments may sign an agreement to purchase the Park Place site from the city as soon as next month.
Principals of the Tai-O Group, including Chairman Louis Yip, and CFO Jevon Chan, discussed the proposed timeline during a planning session with the council earlier this week, according to Council President Dan Gendron.
Tai-O won the bid for the abandoned, 116-year-old structure in February 2017 with an offer of $470,000, slightly better than a competing proposal from the Hawthorne Development Group in Burr Ridge, Ill. It was the latter offer favored by the administration of Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, saying Hawthorne’s plans to convert the school into a full-spectrum, geriatric housing facility
By RUSS OLIVO rolivo@woonsocketcall.com
stood a better chance of success.
“They’re pushing hard to complete the purchase and sales agreement,” Gendron said. “Our city solicitor and their lawyer are going to be working on the agreement, which hopefully can be brought to the city council for a vote by April.”
As a result of this week’s powwow with Yip, Chan and their architect, councilors will also act on two measures during a voting session on Monday, according to
Gendron. One is an resolution affirming that the city intends to move forward on the project.
Another would cap the parking requirements for the project under an amendment to the zoning ordinance that was passed last year expressly with Tai-O’s middle school overhaul in mind. Under normal zoning requirements, the project would require two parking spaces per dwelling unit, or at least 208.
With the intent of making the project more feasible for Tai-O, the council and the late Planning Director N. David Bouley crafted an ordinance called a “floating
overlay district” that essentially allows the city to cut the parking requirement in half on a case-by-case basis.
Gendron said Yip has agreed in principal to provide 121 parking spaces for residents of the proposed apartment complex, which is 17 more than he would need under the requirements of the floating overlay district.
Since Tai-O first tendered the offer, details of the company’s build-out plan for the antiquated schoolhouse have been evolving. Though the original called roughly twice the investment and far more units, the latest calls for a roughly $13 million rehab, with 104 units – 59 single-bed, 34 two-bed and 11 three-bed units, Tai-O says.
This week’s work session on Tai-O started on a bit of a confusing note when Planning Director Joel Mathews questioned the sufficiency of available parking for the project. Mathews identified as many as 120 possible parking spots for the project in the congested Park Place neighborhood where the school is situated, but he indicated he’d feel more comfortable if Tai-O could supply a figure closer to 190.
The discussion of the issue at one point prompted a heated outburst from Yip, who complained that the city always seems to be changing the rules on him. Apparently, Gendron said later, Mathews didn’t realize the city had passed the floating overlay district in order to relax the parking minimums for Tai-O.
Mathews returned to city government recently, curtailing a retirement after Bouley, suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer, resigned in late December. Bouley passed away on Monday.
Efforts to reach Matthews were not successful.
Despite the flareup, however, Yip appeared eager to conclude an agreement with the city and move forward with the project.
Tai-O is the same company that built the highly praised M Residential housing complex, a millto-apartment conversion on the Central Falls-Pawtucket line. Tai-O also has another project in development, a $4 million makeover for an old factory building on the Central Falls-Cumberland line. Tai-O envisions converting the building into a restaurant and a brewery, calling the project Blackstone Landing.
Built in phases starting in 1902, the former Woonsocket Middle School is a cavernous, rambling structure with approximately 212,000 square feet of space. The building was shuttered for good in January 2010 when p the Woonsocket Education Department christened a new, $80 million middle school campus featuring twin buildings located off Hamlet Avenue.
Even if Tai-O signs a purchase and sales agreement for the Park Place building, p the company faces some daunting hurdles. Ultimately, the deal may hinge on whether the Tai-O can assemble a financing package that includes certain government incentives, including historic tax credits.
Last year, Bouley succeeded in listing the old school on the National Register of Historic Places. Without the designation, Tai-O would be unable to make an application for historic tax credits to the state.