PROVIDENCE, R.I. � The state should have a new request for development proposals for the Shooters site ready for public viewing in January, according to a Rhode Island official.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. � The state should have a new request for development proposals for the Shooters site ready for public viewing in January, according to a Rhode Island official.

The state took control of what was once the site of Shooters�Waterfront Caf� as part of the Route 195 highway relocation project, later transferring control of the 2-acre property at 25 India St. from the Department of Transportation to the DEM after Rhode Island voters in 2010 approved $3.2-million bond to pay for the property.

The DEM sought out ideas for reusing the India Point site, �seeking proposals that could redefine the way Rhode Island develops public recreational projects. The agency charged with protecting Rhode Island�s natural resources contemplated partnerships with private entities far broader than those it had joined in the past.

Ultimately, it drew one proposal from a coalition of Providence cultural activists that sought to build a performing-arts pavilion on the prime waterfront land. That plan fell apart when the group could not find the financing it needed to bring off the project.

The site continues to languish, as do the skeletal remains of the club that sit upon it. The site is temporarily employed as a holding area for construction equipment used to reconfigure roadways at the eastern end of the old path of Route 195.

The DEM first sought to have the club�s concrete frame reused, but that may not be a requirement for future proposals, said Lisa Primiano, deputy chief of the DEM�s division of planning and development.

Primiano said she expects to forward a draft request for proposals to the state�s Division of Purchases by mid-month for review, with a new RFP published in January.