Tidewater Landing project set to make ‘waves’

Article posted by Coliseum, August 29^th, 2024

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Brett M. Johnson is hugely invested in the United Soccer League (USL) team Rhode Island FC (of which he is the Owner) and he is also hugely invested in their future home – The Stadium at Tidewater Landing in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (US) – which is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2025.

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The mixed-use Tidewater Landing project is his baby and presently Johnson spends most of his waking hours on the project as he sings paeans of praise for his “incredible and exceptional” team at work that is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the multiphase Tidewater project turns out to be the perfect destination for the people to “live-shop-work-watch”.

Brett M. Johnson is one of the Owners and Co-Founders of the USL team Rhode Island FC (the other being Michael Parkhurst). He is also a Founder and Partner of Fortuitous Partners, a diversified opportunity fund platform investing in professional sports anchored multiasset developments in opportunity zones.

Brett M. Johnson, Founder and Partner, Tidewater Stadium, US, confer with Rob Hunden, President, Hunden Partners (real estate consultant), US, in an exclusive for ‘Coliseum’ and does not shoot the breeze when he asserts that the under-construction The Stadium at Tidewater Landing in Pawtucket (US) when completed will work its magic on the fans with its host of premium offerings. His dream is to add a “bunch of rectangular sports and make the Tidewater Landing project in its entirety the sports and entertainment capital for Rhode Island and copy paste this model across United States”. He also pointed out that in a mixed-use the real estate angle holds great significance and is critical for the business as it brings home the bacon.

USL

Tampa (US)-based the United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of soccer leagues in the United States. It operates several men’s and women’s leagues, both professional.

Rhode Island FC

The Rhode Island FC is an American professional soccer club headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (US). The team plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship. The USL Championship is below the Major League Soccer (MLS – the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada) in the United States Soccer Federation’s (U.S. Soccer – the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States) hierarchy. The Rhode Island FC is the State’s (Rhode Island) only homegrown men’s professional soccer team. The team’s temporary abode is the 5,252-capacity Beirne Stadium in Smithfield, Rhode Island, US.

The Stadium at Tidewater Landing

The Stadium at Tidewater Landing is a 10,500-seat multiuse stadium under construction in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (US) that’s part of a mixed-use development along the Seekonk River. The stadium will be the future home of the Rhode Island FC.

The stadium is part of a larger public-private partnership in downtown Pawtucket which will include housing, restaurants, retail stores, and recreational amenities. The private investment in Tidewater Landing represents the largest private capital investment in any Rhode Island development in over a century. In fact, the stadium is a key part of the greater Tidewater Landing project that will revitalize long-vacant land in Pawtucket.

USL Economics

Brett M. Johnson started off by narrating his back story to Rob Hunden on how in the year 2014 he bought a USL franchise and rebranded it as Phoenix Rising FC (USL Championship team based in Phoenix, Arizona).

He added, “Slowly I got attracted towards what I call the USL Economics and gave a serious thought on bringing the USL to the other markets.”

When Rhode Island “suffered the loss of their iconic AAA baseball team – the Pawtucket Red Sox (who moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, and is now known as the Worcester Red Sox), I quickly bought the USL franchise – the Rhode Island FC – in December 2019 and things started moving in a fast forward manner and we ended up winning a request for proposal (RFP) and today we are developing 30 prime acres of riverfront land right outside Providence (City in Rhode Island).”

He informed Hunden that the “135 million dollar multipurpose Stadium at Tidewater Landing will have the Rhode Island FC as the anchor team.”

Johnson averred that even the 70,000-capacity iconic Gillette Stadium (18 miles Northeast of Providence) in Foxborough, Massachusetts, will go full house “only if a Taylor Swift (American singer-songwriter) concert is held”. But that will not be the case with the Stadium at Tidewater Landing as it will be unparalleled in its offerings.

Tidewater Landing Master Plan

Hunden wanted to know about the “ecosystem” of the Tidewater Landing project and Johnson informed, “What we have done is we are tying two parts of a river together through a pedestrian bridge and we put a master plan together and a big part of the business plan is obviously all the development around it. We are building 535 multifamily units, we will build retail, and since it will be a multiphase project, in the second phase we will concentrate on the hospitality offerings, hotel, etc. For me, the development around the project counts the most.”

Hunden asked for the financial mechanisms deets and Johnson informed, “It’s a 135 million dollar stadium and about a third of it is public support. It is the State of Rhode Island and the City of Pawtucket. We are going out with a tax increment financing (TIF) bond and then the City of Pawtucket is also putting forward a contribution through a grant and then the last bit of it is a tax credit – a Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit Program.”

He averred that the critical part of the business plan again is developing all the real estate around it – “The stadium side of the development was actually a brownfield. We have cleaned it up. We will develop exactly what Rhode Island needs – critical housing product but doing it in a sense of place – people want to be in a live-work-play scenario that this brings.”

Johnson swears by the emerging rectangular sports – lacrosse, rugby, American football, field hockey, women soccer, concerts, and feels that the venues should be “maximized” in order to promote the rectangular sports as the same helps to rake in the moolah.

Hunden wanted to know about the future phases of the project and he informed, “During the second phase, we will concentrate on the housing part, retail, office, big corporation. Again, from my perspective, in order to really make it work you got to have a great location, you got to have public support, you got to have a bouncing act where you have additional drivers of revenue so that’s where the real estate again becomes very important. But, the reality is that I am really committed to the sports anchor side of it so right now my priority is the stadium.”

Talking about the food and beverages (F&B) offerings, Johnson stated, “We are going to have a sizable food hall, sort of 365 days in a year and we are also thinking about sports betting and putting up a sports bar. That would make perfect sense in a stadium and drive traffic 365 days a year. A hotel at some point makes a lot of sense – visiting teams, fans – home and away – that want to come to these games. Right now, during the first phase, our focus is on 535 units of multifamily on two sides of the river along with retail which will include that multipurpose food hall.”

Johnson told Hunden that presently, the focus is on opening the doors of the 10,500-seat stadium – “The stadium is designed to go up to 15,000 seats in the second phase and then we will immediately start to look to break ground across the river on that housing part. But, first is the stadium. The rest of the mixed-use project plans like housing and retail will take three more years.”

Soccer Talk

Brett M. Johnson wrapped up the conversation with Rob Hunden by talking about soccer. He was all praise for English football – “I truly believe in the promotion-relegation model and I think the USL should look if it can adopt it and in terms of fan engagement there is nothing like fighting to get promoted or fighting to avoid relegation which is sadly missing in American football. But I am bullish on soccer with large in North America with the World Cup in 2026 and the Women’s World Cup likely coming back in 2027.”

Brett M. Johnson is very focused on his relationship with the USL as he summed up brimming with confidence, “I think the USL has the ability to adopt promotion/relegation. I think the USL has the perspective to create just within the USL ecosystem what I call a Premier League.”

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