Stadium & Riverwalk | Tidewater Landing | Pawtucket

Shawmut

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Since this project seems to be moving forward I thought it was about time it gets its own page. A little bit about the project: Tidewater Landing will transform Pawtucket’s waterfront with hundreds of thousands of square feet of new residential and retail development. In addition, a new USL Championship league professional soccer team will compete in a privately-financed stadium.

Rhode Island Commerce said it has approved financing for Pawtucket's Tidewater Landing project: https://turnto10.com/news/local/rho...ncing-for-infrastructure-at-tidewater-landing
Tidewater_North-Entrance-Plaza.jpg


Link to project page: http://thetidewaterlanding.com/
 
Since this project seems to be moving forward I thought it was about time it gets its own page. A little bit about the project: Tidewater Landing will transform Pawtucket’s waterfront with hundreds of thousands of square feet of new residential and retail development. In addition, a new USL Championship league professional soccer team will compete in a privately-financed stadium.

Rhode Island Commerce said it has approved financing for Pawtucket's Tidewater Landing project: https://turnto10.com/news/local/rho...ncing-for-infrastructure-at-tidewater-landing
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Link to project page: http://thetidewaterlanding.com/

Definitely an exciting project. This is going to transform that area big time. Maybe they'll move the famous McCoy Stadium fireworks for the 4th of July to the new soccer stadium.
 
After giving an initial glance to the development site, where I-95 traces its "S"-curve path over the Seekonk, I was downright giddy, assuming that this hideous hulking eyesore of a monstrosity (the Apex of blighted mid-century autotopia sterility?) would be demolished. Then I scrutinized the site map more carefully.

Damnit! The gawdawful pyramid is just on the other side of I-95 from the development site. Oh well... at least the monstrosity that is I-95 itself will buffer/block people who are patronizing Tidewater from enduring Apex's horrors.

On the plus side, this puppy is still supposed to open a year or so from now. It will be just .6 miles (12-minute walk) from Tidewater--although, on the opposite side of I-95. Will I-95's hulking, amputating presence prevent Tidewater and the new Pawtucket CR station from combining to catalyze new development on the corridor separating them? Or are folks more optimistic?

[the context seems perhaps analogous to downtown Worcester's plight, where 290 amputates the downtown core and Union Station from the lively and up-and-coming (at least, pre-pandemic) Shrewsbury St. corridor...]
 
I think development of the the Apex site is key for the area as a whole but there is possibility to “connect” north and south despite the highway bridge running through. I was exploring over there a few weeks back. At least it’s an impressive looking bridge when looking from the ground. It would be good to spruce up Division St. also. This, I think, is the lastest on the city seizing the Apex site. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.providencejournal.com/amp/114424140
 
I think development of the the Apex site is key for the area as a whole but there is possibility to “connect” north and south despite the highway bridge running through. I was exploring over there a few weeks back. At least it’s an impressive looking bridge when looking from the ground. It would be good to spruce up Division St. also. This, I think, is the lastest on the city seizing the Apex site. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.providencejournal.com/amp/114424140

Thanks for the update regarding Awful Aztec-Lite Apex--glad to hear Pawtucket is well along in the eminent domain process.

(But what the heck is up with the Pawtucket Mayor referring to it as the "Pawtucket River"?! It's the Seekonk River from Central Falls until it spills into the top of the 'Gansett at India Point in Downtown PVD as any map indicates. Was he just calling it that to see if anyone was paying attention, or was the reporter not from around there, or?)
 
I didn’t catch that and only in RI a couple of years. Not sure if the “locals” up there call it that colloquially or maybe he was saying it along the lines of the “river in Pawtucket” or “Pawtucket’s River.” Beats me, haha. And yea that Apex building is truly hideous and sits on a sea of asphalt against “downtown.” So much potential to realize. Things just take so long when there is no sizable economy to create attention and interest. I am still super curious about the new Hasbro headquarters and if they’ll move out of the city, state, be integrated into Tidewater’s plan or the adjacent Apex site. Or if with that pandemic and more folks moving to do more remote it’ll look like something much different. I haven’t been able to dig anything up.
 
did the tide's waters ever make it to Pawtucket? I thought the whole idea of the Blackstone/Seekonk river was that it had such a powerful amount of rise compared to its run.

That aside, I'd say that Pawtucket is more than entitled to call is stretch of river the Pawtucket river, and it is probably in RI's interest to renameit within the boundaries of the state.
 
did the tide's waters ever make it to Pawtucket? I thought the whole idea of the Blackstone/Seekonk river was that it had such a powerful amount of rise compared to its run.

That aside, I'd say that Pawtucket is more than entitled to call is stretch of river the Pawtucket river, and it is probably in RI's interest to renameit within the boundaries of the state.



The river is tidal all the way up to the natural Pawtucket Falls below the Main Street Bridge that is located between the Slater Mill and former Apex store with pyramid shaped roof. The Falls were the northern bounds of the Providence Colony per Roger Williams' deed with the local Native Americans. The indigenous people long used the falls and its rocks as a foot crossing point.

The river is navigable and ships regularly traveled to and from it via Narragansett Bay up until the mid 1900's. The Providence bridges on the Seekonk River were all of the draw or swing type so that ship traffic could pass. Both banks of the river below the falls in Pawtucket were once heavily industrialized and lined with many energy (mostly coal) and lumber businesses supplied by boat. Pawtucket was a large manufacturing hub back then. Today the river's very limited boat traffic is nearly all small personal vessels used for recreation purposes.

While it is not official, locals in Pawtucket have long called the small stretch below the Falls to the Providence and East Providence borders the Pawtucket River.

Two old photos of the river in Pawtucket dated from the late 1800's and early 1900's with the still used today 1876 stone arch Division Street Bridge (now just south of Route 95) in the background:

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The Washington Bridge (built in 1930) that once carried Route 195 traffic over the Seekonk River between Providence and East Providence:
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The Crook Point Bascule Railroad Draw Bridge built in 1908:
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The excursion steamer Mackinac at the Pawtucket State Pier (on the river bank opposite the Tidewater Landing site at what is today Festival Pier Park) in the 1920's. This 162 foot long ship left this pier in 1925 with 677 passengers for a day trip to Newport. Many were part of a company outing for the J&P Coats Company, a thread manufacturer that was Pawtucket's largest employer with at one time close to 5,000 workers. Its boiler blew up shortly after leaving Newport on its return. 55 passengers were killed and another 150 injured. There is a memorial plaque at this place in Pawtucket today marking this disaster.

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The former Newport-Jamestown Ferry at the State Pier in Pawtucket in the 1970's. The ship came to Pawtucket after the opening of the Newport Bridge in 1969 and was used for several years as a floating teen center. It is now a floating restaurant in Portland, ME.

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Pawtucket has a long association with the game of soccer. The oldest continuous soccer competition, the National Challenge Cup (now known as the US Open Cup), actually held its very first championship in 1914 at Coats Field in Pawtucket in front of some 10,000 spectators. The Brooklyn Field Club won the inaugural event of this tournament which continues to this day and is now open to all US Soccer Federation affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League Soccer (MLS). A team from Pawtucket won the Cup in 1941.

The city's connection to soccer was through its largest employer, the J&P Coats Thread Company (also known over the years as Conant Thread and Coats & Clark). It was a division of a Scottish based firm and once employed close to 5,000 workers at a sprawling 50 acre complex with several large factory buildings. The company sponsored athletic teams that played in industrial leagues made up of teams from throughout the northeast. Not surprisingly given its Scottish connections, J&P Coats had a soccer team that played on the pitch at Coats Field on company grounds. It recruited talented players from the UK to Pawtucket with the offer of steady jobs provided they played on its team.

In addition to the first championship in 1914, Pawtucket once again hosted the final in 1916 and 1917:
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List of US Open Cup Finals:



In addition to soccer, Pawtucket has long had an association with sports. The city was once associated with Major League Baseball via multiple teams that played at McCoy Stadium. The AAA Red Sox affilate played there for nearly 50 years hosting the longest game ever in professional baseball in 1981 (33 innings). NFL football games were also played in the city from 1925-1931. The Providence Steamrollers played their games at the 10,000 person Cycledrome on the Pawtucket-Providence border with portions of the stadium in both cities. The city of Pawtucket was also long associated with thoroughbred horse racing for 44 years at Narragansett Park (1934-1978) which was located on Newport Ave (Rte 1A) at the border with East Providence. The track in its hey day saw horses run such as Triple Crown winners Whirlaway and War Admiral along with the legendary Seabiscuit. Celebrities such as Cab Calloway, Jimmy Durante, Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig, Mickey Rooney, and Milton Berle frequented it along with many of the wealthy elite that summered in nearby Newport. Some of the tens of thousands of patrons for some cards arrived and departed via train at the track's own station on Gansett Specials from both Boston and Providence.
 
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So reading the article the city and state are kicking in 50M in public financing to build a soccer stadium in the hopes that a second tier league will place a team there....but they refused to do the same to keep the Pawsox?
 
So reading the article the city and state are kicking in 50M in public financing to build a soccer stadium in the hopes that a second tier league will place a team there....but they refused to do the same to keep the Pawsox?


Unlike the proposed RI PawSox baseball park, my understanding is that there is no upfront public money going to the construction of the stadium. The public funding is for infrastructure and most of the assistance is directly tied to credits on future tax revenues.
 
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Soccer stadium project gets go-ahead
 
Are they really expecting to draw anywhere close to 11k for a 2nd tier soccer league? I took a quick look and average attendance is like 4k for the league. Some teams draw more but they're located in much larger cities than Pawtucket (Orlando, Cincy, etc). Furthermore even the Revs with Kraft's backing and tons of exposure in MLS are only pulling in 16k-17k on average.

Appreciate what they're trying to do here but hopeful the project isn't contingent on the new soccer team drawing that many fans per game.
 
Are they really expecting to draw anywhere close to 11k for a 2nd tier soccer league? I took a quick look and average attendance is like 4k for the league. Some teams draw more but they're located in much larger cities than Pawtucket (Orlando, Cincy, etc). Furthermore even the Revs with Kraft's backing and tons of exposure in MLS are only pulling in 16k-17k on average.

Appreciate what they're trying to do here but hopeful the project isn't contingent on the new soccer team drawing that many fans per game.


I would agree that the capacity far exceeds what one would reasonably expect for most games at this level of soccer. I do not know for sure but that number may be more geared to other events. I think they plan to have concerts. I myself would also not be surprised to see college football games played there. It might make for a neutral site for intra-state games between FCS teams such as URI, Brown, and Bryant. There is also the possibility that Brown might play more games there given its proximity. Brown Stadium was built in 1925, has few creature comforts, and is far bigger than needed with a capacity of 20,000. It is not on the immediate campus as it is located 1.75 miles from the clock tower on the Brown quad. Tidewater Landing in Pawtucket is not all that much further at 3.5 miles away and it will have far more modern amenities. If it ever chose to, Brown could make some very good money selling the land where Brown Stadium is located. Such a large parcel of land would make for many new home lots in the highly desirable and uber expensive East Side area of Elmgrove Avenue close to Blackstone Blvd.
 

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