Brown Spends $16M on 4 Buildings in the Jewelry District, Nearly $100M Buying Spree in 18 Months
GoLocalProv Business Team
Brown Spends $16M on 4 Buildings in the Jewelry District, Nearly $100M Buying Spree in 18 Months
According to sources with first-hand knowledge, Brown spent $16 million acquiring four buildings and open parcels from the financially distressed Care New England.
Brown announced the deal on Wednesday but refused to disclose the price.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThis is just the latest deal by Brown University.
In just the last 18 months, Brown has purchased a major office building, an apartment complex, and now four buildings in the Jewelry District as well as 10 lots.
The total cost of the buying spree is just under $100 million -- all at the same time the University has come under fire for its lack of contribution to the City of Providence and is buying apartments and vacant lots at a time when there is a major housing shortage in the city and state.
SEE BELOW THE RECENT ACQUISITIONS BY BROWN
"Economists here in the state of Rhode Island have shown that we are tens of thousands [housing units short]. I think the last number I saw was about 25,000 units short of safe and affordable housing here in the state," said Cortney Nicolato of the United Way of RI on GoLocal LIVE.
Some legislators are pushing to tax Brown and other universities.
In November, Yale University announced a major increase in payments to New Haven.
“A significant increase in Yale’s voluntary payments to the city, totaling $52 million in new money over six years. When combined with Yale’s existing voluntary payments, Yale will contribute approximately $135.4 million to the city over this six-year period. This amount is unprecedented nationally,” said Yale announced at the time.
Brown claims it pays Providence $6.2 million.
Numbers provided to GoLocal from the City of Providence puts Brown's contribution at $3.2 million annually.
Major Expansion to the Jewelry District
Earlier this week Brown announced the construction of a major facility in the Jewelry District and refused to disclose the location.
The announcement on Wednesday of the purchase of buildings and lots in the Jewelry District puts into better focus where Brown will be targeting for its new facility.
Brown says the University is not restricted to its growth.
"The institutional zone is not a restrictive boundary where all Brown properties must be located. The zone allows for a wide range of permissible institutional uses — classrooms, residence halls, research space, athletics, for example — and by enabling those uses within a boundary around campus, growth is encouraged within the zone, while adjacent, mostly residential neighborhoods are afforded protections. But in no way does that mean the University is prohibited from owning or purchasing land outside of the institutional zone — in those instances, we are required to comply with whatever uses are permitted by zoning where the property is located," said Brian Clark, the University's spokesperson.
On Tuesday, Brown did not disclose the specific location in its announcement.
"[A] specific location is not yet determined," Clark told GoLocal. "At this early phase, we can only describe the general characteristics of what would make for an appropriate site -- Jewelry District location, for example, with proximity to other Brown and hospital research locations."
Properties Bought by Brown in Past 18 Months
In 2021, Brown University purchased The River House property next to the Point Street Bridge and received a total of $9.2 million in state subsidies.
According to Commerce Corporation records, the cost of the project was $62 million and coupled with the "$8,354,910 in Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credits and use tax reimbursement of $700,000 for eligible construction and build-out costs," the actual investment by the developer was just $52,945,090.
How much did Brown pay? -- a reported $75 million.
Thus, the developer realized a windfall of more than $22 million in just two years.
The developer? Wexford Science & Technology, LLC -- the same group that developed the Innovation Center, also known as the District. That building cost $88 million and as much of it as $40 million was taxpayer-funded.
In 2021, Brown University purchased another major office building in Providence and plans to transform it from commercial office space into use by the school.
The Packet Building located at 155 South Main Street will be utilized for the Brown School of Public Health.
Brown’s spokesman Brian Clark told GoLocal at the time, “We acquired this building to support the long-term expansion of the School of Public Health. The property currently has multiple commercial tenants. All existing leases will be honored and for now, the property will remain a commercial building with no change in payments to the city. We do not yet have a timeline for when the School of Public Health will begin occupancy.” Brown had previously bought the Old Stone cube building which is best known for the location of Hemenway's Restaurant.
Purchased from Women & Infants as part of the packaged deal announced Wednesday. Bought by the hospital in 2005 for $5 million. More than 30,000 square feet
Over 20,000 square feet purchased from Women & Infants. Most recently assessed by the City of Providence for $2.747 million.
This small garage-type building is assessed by the City of Providence at $495,100
Assessed by the City of Providence for $2,747,200. The property is more than 23,000 square feet.