Hailed as an exciting mixed-use development on the site of the former Newport Grand when Carpionato Group bought the property more than four years ago, the old casino still stands, vacant and surrounded by a vast parking lot that’s only inhabitants are an increasing number of weeds.
Delays caused by the city’s development of a Northend Plan, the pandemic and apparently an abundance of projects for Carpionato, have left the project in limbo.
City officials have said all the city’s work is done, and they are waiting for Carpionato Group to submit its applications.
Planning officials said they talk to the Carpionato Group “every few months.”
WhatsUpNewp attempted to get comment from Carpionato several times over the last two weeks, but Greg Perry, the firm’s public relations consultant, said the company had not responded to his requests for comment.
Carpionato continues to list what it calls Carpionato North End among its ongoing projects.
Carpionato had bought the property for $10.1 million in 2018 and within a year it had unveiled plans for an exciting $100 million mixed use development that would include two hotels, two six-story apartment buildings, and 164,000 square feet of what Carpionato Group described as “innovative research and office space, as well as medical, retail and restaurant space.”
It was anticipated that the project would be developed in tandem with the bridge realignment. That realignment has gone ahead. Meanwhile, Newport Grand relocated its casino to Tiverton, where it opened a few years ago.
When the project was announced in 2019, it was anticipated it would create some 250 construction jobs, 500 full-time permanent jobs, and $1.5 million in annual real estate taxes. It was being compared with another Carpionato project, Chapel View in Cranston, which is a vibrant mixed use project featuring many of the elements envisioned for the Newport project.
Several months before buying the Newport Grand property from the then Twin Rivers (now Balley’s), Carpionato had purchased nearly 30 former Benny’s Stores, scattered throughout Rhode Island and in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Many of those stores have either been leased or sold, but several remain vacant.
Besides the Benny’s project, Carpionato’s website shows the company involved in all types of real estate projects, from restaurants to mixed-use projects.
City officials don’t seem concerned about the time lag, suggesting that “with all developments this is the pace.” No one, however, seemed to have a sense of Carpionato’s timeframe.
Carpionato now projects starting North End project in early 2023
The Carpionato Group, which purchased the former Newport Grand property more than three years ago, is redesigning the project, hopeful of beginning work by early 2023. Initially, with plans to begin construction in 2020 on a $100 million multi-use development, the project was put on hold because of the pandemic and the city’s moratorium on…
Newport Grand property to become ‘Newport North End’, $100-million mixed use development
In the lobby of the former Newport Grand Casino this morning, Carpionato Group announced their plans to demolish the former Newport Grand Casino and create Newport North End a $100-million mixed use development to serve as the amenity anchor for the Newport Resilience Innovation District on the former casino site. When completed, Carpionato Group says…