Pawtucket Soccer Stadium Financing Hits the Brakes—Construction Now in Question
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
The proposed minor league soccer stadium to be built in Pawtucket is hitting financing problems.
The viability of the entire project is now in question.
According to a Pawtucket spokesperson, financing is now on hold.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The City’s top priority has always been protecting taxpayers. Given the market challenges of the last year, including a global pandemic, rising interest rates, tighter market conditions, and a looming banking crisis, the State financing and private debt components of the capital stack have not made fiscal sense to close to the date. While these challenges exist and we continue to work through these issues as partners, the developer has already committed over $25 million to begin work and put foundations in the ground. The State, City, and development team continue to meet regularly on this important project,” Grebien's office said in a statement.
"From the very beginning, the Tidewater project has been a strong partnership between the City, State, and developer and it will be an integral part of the region’s revitalization in the years to come,” said Grebien’s office.
Steel Has Not Been Ordered
GoLocal has also learned that more than $25 million in steel that needed to be ordered weeks ago to construct the project on schedule has not been ordered, as payments have not been made to Dimeo Construction. The stadium was to open in the spring of 2023. Then Johnson announced that the schedule was spring on 2024 and now that date appears unachievable.
The delay in the ordering of the steel sets the project back and according to those with first-hand knowledge of the construction schedule, the 2024 spring opening is now in question.
Questions About Partners
When the project was first proposed in December of 2019, a GoLocal investigation raised questions about two of the key players.
Grant Johnson is the twin brother of the project leader Brett Johnson -- the two brothers are partners in Benevolent Capital.
“Benevolent Capital was founded in 2005 by Brett and Grant Johnson as a family office. Brett Johnson now solely operates Benevolent along with having varying levels operational and ownership control over several professional soccer clubs and commercial real estate developments in both the United States and United Kingdom," according to the firm’s website.
And, Johnson’s longtime business partner Berke Bekay.
Bekay is Brett Johnson’s partner in a revolving door of soccer interests.
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