Worcester Acquires Additional Properties Around New PawSox Stadium
GoLocalProv News Team
Worcester Acquires Additional Properties Around New PawSox Stadium
The four acquired properties are: 69 Washington Street (Worcester Ambulance LLC), 62 Washington Street (Worcester Ambulance LLC), a portion of 2 Plymouth Street (Bafaro Realty Company LLC) and 90 Washington Street (Herbert R. Rasnick and Joseph Bafaro, Trustees of 85 Green Street Trust).
“With the authorizations adopted today, the Worcester Redevelopment Authority continues to move the Ballpark Project forward in an expeditious manner. Assemblage of the properties needed for construction of the ballpark is a critical first step. The WRA is now poised to own all the properties needed in addition to the Wyman Gordon properties which will be conveyed by Madison Properties,” said WRA Chair Vincent Pedone.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAcquiring Properties
Last month, the WRA voted to acquire the following three properties: 50 Washington Street (Serena E. Massey, Trustee of Holden Hill Realty Trust), 127 Washington Street (Paul J. Harrington) and 134 Madison Street (Grady Holdings LLC).
As part of the acquisition of a portion of 2 Plymouth Street and 90 Washington Street, the WRA agreed on Thursday to acquire additional properties that are related to and used in connection with those properties but are outside the limits of the ballpark site.
The total acquisition price of all these properties is $5.8M. The additional properties were part of the negotiated sale for the identified parcels that were needed for the project.
This agreement permits the WRA and the City to better control and manage the impact to the occupants of the properties, and avoid any potential litigation, a commitment that was made at the start of the project.
The additional properties are: the remainder of 2 Plymouth Street (Bafaro Realty Company LLC), 5 Gold Street (Joseph J. Bafaro), 7 Gold Street (Joseph J. Bafaro), 85 Green Street (Herbert R. Rasnick and Joseph Bafaro, Trustees of 85 Green Street Trust) and 8 Gold Street (Herbert R. Rasnick and Joseph Bafaro, Trustees of 85 Green Street Trust).
Who Lost the PawSox? August 2018
Owners' Error
Starting from nearly day one, the new ownership group of the Pawtucket Red Sox -- a collection of some of America’s most wealthy businessmen -- saw their investment in the team as a “gift” to Rhode Islanders and that their vision of a mega-stadium in Providence was a windfall.
The ownership group’s early strategy was to demand more than $140 million in subsidies and tax breaks and that led to strong public backlash.
The ownership group -- with a collective net worth of $6 to $8 billion, later blamed the late Jim Skeffington for the misstep, but the collection of owners all thought that for a small investment in the PawSox -- $2 million to $3 million per owner, reportedly, the windfall potential was tremendous -- and all financed by taxpayers.
Raimondo’s Flip Flop
As the Providence proposal took on water Governor Gina Raimondo reversed field and went from supporter to opponent on the financing structure.
Raimondo, who had once chided critics about complaining about the move from Pawtucket to Providence, flipped on the ownership group and ultimately opposed the Providence financing deal. The implications were two-fold.
First, it raised questions with owners about who to negotiate with and how to negotiate with Rhode Island’s government in good faith. Second, it did tremendous damage to her already strained relationship with Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello. Her change left him the last official holding the political hot potato.
Lucchino’s Demands
After Jim Skeffington’s death, former Boston Red Sox top executive Larry Lucchino took over the ownership effort to site a new stadium.
Lucchino, who had built stadiums in Baltimore and San Diego for major league franchises, had a formula. While his ownership group in Boston had failed to build a new Fenway Park in Boston due to public opposition, Lucchino put forth a series of demands and, more so than any factor, lead to the team’s stadium efforts failure.
First, he would not wait until after the 2018 election. Second, he refused to have the owners take on the final financial backstop. Third, he refused to acknowledge that times had changed — that minor league baseball’s popularity which peaked in the 1990s was long past.
Public Support — No Millions for Billionaires
At the end of the day, Rhode Islanders, by an overwhelming majority did not want to invest taxpayer dollars in a public stadium.
According to two GoLocal polls conducted by Harvard’s John Della Volpe which asked, “The Rhode Island General Assembly is in the process of negotiating a $40 million public financing deal with the Pawtucket Red Sox for a new stadium, hoping to bring a vote before the House and Senate this summer.
In general, do you favor or oppose the use of public funds to help finance a new stadium for the Pawtucket Red Sox?”
Net: Favor 33%
Strongly favor 13%
Somewhat favor 21%
Net: Oppose 59%
Somewhat oppose 21%
Strongly oppose 38%
Don't know 8%
Lack of Functional Leadership
In the end, the dysfunctional relationship between Raimondo, Mattiello, and Ruggerio doomed a viable solution — maybe from the beginning.
Instead of a united front by the three top political leaders, the owners got greedy and tried to manipulate the division of the state’s Democratic leaders.
Democrats Raimondo, Mattiello and Ruggerio are as aligned as Iraqi ethnic groups Kurds, Sunnis and Shias. Yes, they are all Democrats, but their trust and ability to co-govern often fails.
“Trust and reliability are the key ingredients in any public-private deal. Polls show about 60% of Rhode Islanders opposed the project which reflected in part a lack of trust in elected officials. The owners grew not to trust Rhode Island pols because of the way the process and negation unfolded at the State House,” Gary Sasse of the Hassenfeld Institute tells GoLocalProv.
