Masonic Temple

We represented the State of Rhode Island’s Economic Development Corporation in connection with the disposition of the state’s abandoned Masonic Temple to a private hotel developer.  The project involved the sale of state property, the conversion of the property into a condominium in order to govern the use of the property and the adjacent public performing arts center, the issuance of historic tax credits, the drafting and passage of legislation to execute certain aspects of the project, the use of Department of Transportation funding to improve the access to the project and the implementation of the State’s repurchase of the tax credits to provide the project with enhanced cash flow and save the state net revenue.  Our services included providing not only the technical legal requirements for real estate, government procurement, tax and lending aspects of the transactions, but we also coordinated the sophisticated interaction between the government agencies, the developer, institutional lenders and the institutional investors.  This project resulted in the conversion of an abandoned and blighted property into a first class 200 room hotel and entertainment venue that is integrated into the State’s premier performing arts venue.  The sophisticated tax planning and use of tax credits not only assisted the private developer, but also saved the taxpayer over six million dollars.