In secret, what doomed them: Pedestrian access to the riverfront promised to Wexford Science & Technology's innovation campus across the street. In short, the tower plan, a priority of R.I. Senate Majority Leader Dominick J. Ruggerio, ran smack into Wexford, the centerpiece of Gov. Gina Raimondo's vision for the former Route 195 land.

PROVIDENCE — New York developer Jason Fane put the 195 Commission in a bind Nov. 14 when he pitched three luxury apartment towers for the length of a prime piece of the former highway land.

The problem was that Fane’s towers would block pedestrian access between the planned Wexford Science & Technology campus and a public park envisioned for the riverfront land across the street.

Here’s the bind: Fane’s proposal had the strong support of Senate Majority Leader Dominick J. Ruggerio. The Wexford campus, meanwhile, was the centerpiece of Gov. Gina Raimondo’s vision for the former highway land.

And in negotiations with Wexford, 195 leaders had encouraged the Baltimore developers to build on land that was open to the park, the Providence River and College Hill — not land blocked by a five-story pedestal and three towers.

At the time of the November meeting, the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission had already taken steps to split the Fane parcel with a walkway that would lead from Wexford across Dyer Street and through the land Fane wanted — known as Parcel 42 — and on to the river.

The bottom line? The commission’s work to split Parcel 42 to enhance the Wexford site meant Fane’s three towers on a pedestal were dead on arrival Nov. 14.

But the commission kept quiet about its efforts to split Parcel 42.

The public didn’t learn that the commission had won federal approval to divide Parcel 42 until The Journal filed a public-records request and revealed the commission’s secret in a front-page story last month.

The fallout from the commission’s move has been extensive: Senate Majority Leader Ruggerio is upset. Fane doesn’t know if he can build anything on the 195 land.

And the commission stands accused in a Journal editorial of doing the public’s business in secret. When kept in the dark, the editorial asked: “How can citizens either offer sound opinions or trust the outcome?”

Wexford has long been at the center of Raimondo’s strategy to help rebuild the state’s economy on the ribbon of land where Route 195 once skirted downtown.

Her administration has already pledged at least $36.5 million in incentives to Wexford. In return, Wexford has said it will build a campus with hundreds of jobs on Parcels 22 and 25, right across Dyer Street from the parcel Fane wants.

Wexford surfaced in May 2015 when the governor announced that the firm had submitted a proposal to create a life-sciences complex in the heart of the 195 land.

Fane first spoke with 195 Executive Director Peter McNally in December 2015. McNally said he told Fane that he was working to split Parcel 42. Those steps began in October, according to records obtained by The Journal.

McNally sent images to the Federal Highway Administration on Dec. 10, 2015, of the walkway that would connect the Wexford campus through Parcel 42 to the river.

“The current configuration of Parcel 42 presents a significant impediment" to the walkway, McNally wrote.

Wexford, whose architect called that walkway "hugely important," has yet to close on the land but expects to break ground this spring.

In May, 195 Commission Chairman Joseph F. Azrack met with Fane in New York and tried to dissuade him from considering Parcel 42. Azrack recently told The Journal he recommended Parcel 35, near Route 95, away from the river and the park.

So why did Fane proceed?

On Thursday, he told The Journal the commission never showed him anything in writing about splitting the parcel. As for Parcel 35: “It’s not where you would put a top luxury project," he said.

Despite that meeting in May, Fane began assembling a local cadre of well-connected lobbyists and lawyers to advance his project on all of Parcel 42.

And he showed renderings of his three towers to Ruggerio, who wears two hats in Rhode Island's power structure. He’s the Senate majority leader who led the creation of the 195 Commission, and he’s a top official with the Laborers’ International Union of North America.

On May 9, 2016, McNally and R. David Cruise, then Raimondo's legislative director, met with Ruggerio to ask his support for splitting Parcel 42.

McNally recalled a “pretty brief” conversation with Ruggerio, in which the senator expressed “reservations” about “breaking” the parcel.

Ruggerio recently told The Journal: "I was reluctant to make any kind of commitment at that time because I didn't know what was happening with the Fane situation."

Fast forward to Nov. 14, 2016.

Six hours before the 195 Commission meeting, Fane gave The Journal an exclusive interview describing his high-rise plans. Fane assured the commission his project would not be "blocking anybody else's views," but would instead become a part of the view for others in the city.

Fane’s presentation showed the three towers rising from a five-story pedestal that stretched the length of Parcel 42. There was no walkway or passageway from the Wexford property to the river.

McNally did not reveal that he had won federal highway approval to split Parcel 42. Nor did McNally reveal that Azrack had urged Fane to look elsewhere on the 195 land.

Why had McNally kept all of this secret? “Primarily,” he said, “because we hadn’t told our commissioners yet.”

Sharon Steele, who formed the nonprofit Building Bridges Providence, had another take on the Nov. 14 meeting. Remember, she said, the room was full of powerful labor leaders, including Ruggerio.

“Why would the commission pick a fight when there was nothing really at that point to fight over?” Steele asked.

After Fane’s presentation, as Steele and others criticized the towers, Ruggerio countered, calling Fane’s plan great for the city and for Rhode Island’s hard-hit construction industry.

On Jan. 18, the 195 Commission told Fane it will not entertain a three-tower proposal. The commission told him he must limit development to one tower on the northern portion of a divided Parcel 42.

Ruggerio says he understands three towers aren’t feasible now — but he hopes the commission leaves open the possibility of allowing Fane to build two towers, on either edge of the land.

Ruggerio said he was out of town at a labor-management conference last month when the commission put out a request for proposals to build temporary food concessions on the southern part of Parcel 42.

“I was kind of floored,” he said.

“My concept of this commission was to entertain proposals that developers would bring in,” the Senate majority leader said. “I never thought for one moment that they would start entertaining their own proposals.”

Ruggerio said he didn’t like hearing from Fane’s team that Azrack urged Fane to look elsewhere for his three towers.

“The last thing I want to see is someone discourage developers from coming here, because I’ve been in construction for almost 50 years,” Ruggerio said. “It will have a chilling effect.”

Fane, for his part, doesn’t think it’s possible to build even one apartment tower with parking on the reconfigured Parcel 42. But he’s still trying.

“I have a certain amount of patience and tolerance,” Fane said. “It’s not endless.”

— kbramson@providencejournal.com

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