Rhode Island leaders have been accused of dropping the ball on efforts to keep Hasbro Inc. from moving to Massachusetts.
On Wednesday night, a state panel took matters into its own hands, approving a legally binding resolution offering the toymaker exclusive rights to buy a 1-acre plot of land southeast of downtown Providence for $1. The only problem? They haven’t talked to Hasbro yet.
“We wanted to show them how committed and serious we are,” Marc Crisafulli, chairman of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, said during the meeting.
The commission unanimously approved the agreement, which gives Hasbro up to six months — with two additional six-month extensions — to buy the empty land adjacent to the downtown pedestrian bridge.
Advertisement
None of the company’s executives attended the meeting. Andrea Snyder, a spokesperson for Hasbro Inc., declined to comment specifically on the proposal.
“It’s early and we continue to explore options,” Snyder said in an email Thursday.
Hasbro executives have been in talks with Massachusetts officials since at least April over a potential move across state lines into Boston, as first reported by the Boston Business Journal on Sept. 16. Company CEO Chris Cocks has indicated in a series of internal emails that the company’s Pawtucket headquarters is outdated, expressing desire for “modern” and “collaborative” space with accessible public transit. Ahead of a relocation decision — expected in early 2025 — Rhode Island officials have scrambled to come up with a way to keep the century-old company, and one of the top employers, rooted in the Ocean State.
The former state highway land, home to an explosion of commercial and residential development, quickly emerged as a top alternative.
The I-195 commission’s vote specifically offers up the 1-acre site known as Parcel 42. Originally slated to host a controversial, luxury residential skyscraper, the land remains empty after the “Fane Tower” developers pulled out of the project in March 2023.
Advertisement
But, if Hasbro has its eyes on other available space within the district, the commission is open to that too, Crisafulli said.
Mock designs presented by Utile, a Boston-based design consultant, show a 10-story, 286,000-square-foot building, complete with designated manufacturing space, a museum and a two-level underground parking garage with 150 spaces.
Tim Love, founding principal of Utile, said the renderings were not intended as a final design or concept but merely a “test run” to see if the site could fit Hasbro’s needs.
The company’s existing, circa-1900 industrial space on Newport Avenue is 300,000 square feet. Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien’s office has previously indicated his desire to keep Hasbro in Pawtucket.
Grace Voll, a spokesperson for Grebien, said the city is “in the process of finalizing” its own pitch to Hasbro.
Advertisement
“Despite the vote in Providence yesterday, we still remain confident that Pawtucket is a viable option for Hasbro, and we look forward to presenting them with their options in the City that they have resided in for the last 60+ years,” Voll said in an email Thursday.
Hasbro was founded in 1923 in Providence as a family-owned pencil-box maker, relocating its headquarters to Pawtucket in 1968. Now a publicly traded, multinational company with 5,000 employees — at least 1,000 of whom work out of Rhode Island — the game and toy empire generated $223 million in profits for the three months that ended Sept. 29, its most recent financial report.
PROVIDENCE — The application period for Rhode Island’s charter schools opened this week, giving families a shot at roughly 3,000 seats projected to be available at charter schools next year.
A blind lottery for available seats will be held on April 1. Charter schools are in high demand in Rhode Island, with roughly 11,000 families submitting 30,000 applications for 2,500 seats lasts year. (Families can apply for more than one school.)
There are about 13,000 Rhode Island public school students currently enrolled in 25 charters, some of which are larger networks with multiple schools.
Advertisement
Despite the demand, teachers unions and other public school advocates have sought to block the expansion of charter schools, concerned they are financially hurting the traditional public school system. School funding follows each child from their home school district to the charter school.
In this week’s episode of the Rhode Island Report, Chiara Deltito-Sharrott from the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools talks about the future of charter schools in Rhode Island, and provides a rebuttal to comments made by Maribeth Calabro, the head of Rhode Island’s largest teachers union, in an episode earlier this month.
Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.
United Way of Rhode Island accepts initial donations from the Fund’s sponsoring energy companies. (courtesy: United Way of Rhode Island)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — United Way of Rhode Island announced the Rhode Island Good Neighbor Energy Fund has begun for the 2024 through 2025 season.
The fund helps families that need assistance paying their home heating bills but are not eligible for federal or state assistance.
Since it was founded, the Good Neighbor Energy Fund has aided over 48,250 Rhode Island homes.
United RI says any local households in the state that are in need of funding assistance for energy are encouraged to contact a local Community Action Program agency, or to call the 211 helpline for help locating a CAP agency.
Advertisement
GNEF eligibility is determined on total income not exceeding 300% of the federal poverty level, and provides up to $825 per household each heating season depending on eligibility, fuel type, and need.
United RI said in addition to sponsors, the fund relies on Rhode Islanders who donate through the “Warm Thy Neighbor” campaign.
Donations can be made through the yellow donation envelope enclosed with monthly energy bills, or by scanning the QR code on the envelope.
Additionally, donations can be given through phone by texting “WARM” to 91999.
For more information, visit United Way of Rhode Island’s website here.
Former U.S. Naval officer Darryl Lindie learned early in his career that taking care of his team was key to accomplishing a mission.
Since buying AASign & Awning in Warwick in 2023, Lindie has applied that philosophy to his business, giving his 30-person team paid days off and other benefits. But one offering remained a little too complicated and expensive: retirement savings.
Not for long.
Legislation approved in the 2024 General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee in September sets up a public retirement savings program for private-sector workers whose employers don’t already offer the investment option. Ahead of its formal launch, state officials unveiled details of the RISavers program at an event outside Lindie’s sign shop on Wednesday.
Advertisement
Modeled after similar programs in other states, including Connecticut, RISavers automatically opens Roth Individual Retirement Accounts for eligible private-sector workers, set up through the Rhode Island Office of the General Treasurer with help from a third-party account administrator.
“It is absolutely true that anyone can open a Roth IRA or another retirement account whenever they want,” Treasurer James Diossa said. “But it’s also equally true that not everyone has the ability to navigate the financial sector. These things can be daunting and RISavers makes it quick and easy and helps ensure more Rhode Islanders are on a path to stable retirement.”
An estimated 170,000 Rhode Island workers, equal to 40% of the state’s private-sector workforce, don’t get retirement benefits through their jobs, according to information from Diossa’s office. Connecticut State Comptroller Sean Scanlon (left) and Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa announced a partnership between Connecticut and Rhode Island, sharing costs for administering their respective state public retirement programs. (Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current)
The program also alleviates the burden on small businesses, which have no obligation to match contributions. Their only cost is from processing payroll deductions from participating employees.
Businesses with at least five employees are mandated to make the new retirement program available to their workers, with phased-in deadlines based upon business size. Employers with at least 100 workers must enroll within the first year of the program, while those with 50 to 100 workers have to sign up within two years. All 400,000 businesses that meet the minimum employment requirement must join within three years. Businesses with fewer than five employees can also sign up anytime they want.
Advertisement
“This represents a win for families, for the state economy, and for the overall well-being of our state,” McKee said.
And, it doesn’t come with any extra costs to taxpayers or extra staffing needs, as touted by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.
A fiscal note included with the legislation in March 2024 estimated a $311,000 startup cost, split between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026, based on comparable startup costs in other states like Delaware and Maine. However, no additional money was used in the nearly $14 billion fiscal 2025 budget to pay for the program, which instead relied on existing funds within the treasurer’s office, according to Rob Craven, Diossa’s legislative affairs director.
Rhode Island will pay a $100,000 fee for Vestwell State Savings, split between this fiscal year and the next, to administer the program. Rhode Island is also partnering with Connecticut, which launched its public retirement savings program for public-sector employees two years ago, to share in administration costs and investment fees from Vestwell.
Which, in turn, drives down the fees for participating workers.
Advertisement
The program will use Bank of New York Mellon for its accounts, the same financial services company Vestwell uses for its version of a public retirement account.
Since Connecticut launched the MyCTSavings program in April 2022, it has opened retirement accounts for nearly 30,000 state residents, who have invested $33 million, said Comptroller Sean Scanlon, who attended the event in Warwick.
As of June 30, 2024, 20 states had launched, or passed legislation to launch, retirement savings programs for private sector workers, 17 of which (including Rhode Island) automatically enroll eligible workers, according to the Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University’ McCourt School of Public Policy.
Diossa plans to launch a pilot program with a small number of participants in the spring of 2025, opening up the program to full capacity “shortly after.”
Lindie is eager to sign up, noting the interest among his workers already. He hopes the perk will attract new workers to the growing, design-to-build sign shop.
Advertisement
“We are looking for a younger generation of talent, and we need these kinds of benefits,” Lindie said.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25739950/247386_Elon_Musk_Open_AI_CVirginia.jpg "Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI")