Connecticut developer offers hope for Scituate mill

Sept. 15--SCITUATE, R.I. -- A Connecticut development company is in negotiations with Scituate officials on a proposal to rescue the decrepit Hope Mill.

Representatives of Belfonti Companies LLC, of Hamden, Conn., met last Thursday with the Town Council to discuss a plan to convert the historic mill into a mixed-use property with approximately 200 residential units, according to documents obtained by The Journal and interviews with various parties. In exchange, Belfonti would like tax and infrastructure commitments from the town of approximately $11 million in total.

Hope Mill has been at the center of years of legal fights that have moved in and out of federal and state courts.

Rhode Island businessmen Vincent R. Coccoli Sr. has struggled for years to develop the historic mill.

The mill was built in 1806 on an island of 38 acres, surrounded by the Pawtuxet River on one side and a tailrace, a man-made channel, for its hydro plant, on the other.

The mill fell into disuse, was condemned by the town, and boarded up.

A development group led by Coccoli bought the mill in 2007 intending to turn it into apartments.

He ran into problems with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in 2008 over land clearing around the mill.

The economy cratered; property taxes piled up; the project stalled.

The company Coccoli created to own the mill filed for both federal bankruptcy and state receivership. Providence lawyer Peter Furness controls the mill property as a court-appointed receiver.

In 2008, the General Assembly suspended the tax credit program.

Coccoli has tried through the courts to regain control of the mill and $7.5 million in tax credits he asserts were previously awarded to the redevelopment project.

One of the main issues is whether the planned reconstruction work qualified for tax credits prior to the General Assembly's 2008 suspension of the tax credit program.

The situation changed in 2013 when state lawmakers authorized a limited renewal of the tax credit program. They agreed to reissue $34.5 million in unused tax credits.

More than 40 developers applied for the credits, seeking a total of $54.5 million. State officials decided to disburse the credits through a lottery held in August 2013.

The lottery produced 31 winners. Fees paid by those applicants funded a 32nd.

Coccoli's application was at the top of the list of those that failed to win funding.

In April, the R.I. Division of Taxation notified Coccoli that it approved his application for $5 million in Historic Preservation Tax Credits for the mill's redevelopment. He's apparently enlisted the help of Belfonti, which owns more than 3,000 residential units and 1 million square feet of commercial and industrial space.

According to David M. D'Agostino, the Scituate town lawyer, the two sides had "pretty productive" meeting last week in which they discussed tax incentives and a tax stabilization that would stretch for 20 years, as well as $3 million in sewer line work to be paid for by the town.

The council, D'Agostino said, is eager to have at least a tentative agreement in place by sometime in October, when insurance covering the mill is due to expire. It also would like to be reimbursed for the approximately $53,000 it spent to secure the mill after it was damaged by a 2010 fire.

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