Pawtucket Soccer Team Owner Claims He Has Raised More Capital, Refuses to Release Names of Investors

Pawtucket Soccer Team Owner Claims He Has Raised More Capital, Refuses to Release Names of Investors

Brett Johnson, the point person for the minor league soccer team and stadium slated for Pawtucket, claims in a new press release that he has raised additional capital.

The partially built Tidewater Landing project in Pawtucket has been at a near-complete shutdown for more than a month.

This is the latest twist and turn in the on-again, off-again project. That was first announced in December of 2019.

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In June, a GoLocal video showed contractors packing up building materials and removing them from the site.

Johnson, who heads Fortuitous Partners, said in a press release issued on Wednesday "that the Fortuitous Partners development team raised another $14.5 million of private equity over the last two months without taking on any additional debt. The additional equity investment announcement signifies the completion of the development team’s equity raise and both the stadium and Rhode Island FC are fully capitalized.”

GoLocal asked who the additional investors are in the newly announced round of capital. Johnson's spokesman Michael Raia said, "We’re not releasing the names of private investors."

When asked by GoLocal, "If the taxpayers are investing the majority of the money for this project, shouldn't the public know who the investors are?" Raia refused to respond.

Previously Johnson had told the public and state and city officials that the team had raised the needed amount of capital.

 

On June 26, GoLocal reported:

The number of workers on-site at the minor league Pawtucket soccer stadium has been dwindling for weeks.

GoLocal on Friday saw no construction going on at the so-called Tidewater project.

Mike Raia, a spokesman for the stadium project, told GoLocal on Wednesday, "In analyzing the work completed at the site to this stage and the amount of private funding already allocated to construction, this is an appropriate time to demobilize certain components of the construction while others continue."

At the construction site on Friday, several workers were loading construction masonry units (CMUs) onto flatbed trailers for removal from the project.

Across the entire site, there were fewer than ten workers in the work area — they were collecting electrical cables and equipment.

Now, remaining on the site are construction trailers and some flatbeds of material, including some steel, but the site project site is now a functional ghost site.