By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

WOONSOCKET — City officials are entertaining a proposal by a Wellesley, Mass. developer to construct a 15,000-square-foot Rite Aid pharmacy at the corner of Providence Street and Great Road in exchange for building a new state-of-the-art baseball facility for the city that would replace an existing Little League field at that location.

North Smithfield real estate broker Francis L. Jacques, principal of Commercial Real Estate Services, is representing the real estate development company Newland Development Associates. In a letter he sent recently to city officials, Jacques says the developer wants to build the retail pharmacy store on the existing ball field owned by the city at the intersection of Route 16A and Providence Street and to replace the ballfield — at no cost to the city — with a new and larger field beside the existing field. The new ballfield, according to the proposal, would be donated to the city.
The proposal was first presented to Woonsocket at the end of December. In a reply letter sent to Jacques and Pat Mullowney of Newland Development Associates, Woonsocket Planning Director Joel Mathews said he presented the idea to Mayor Susan D. Menard, adding the city administration was prepared to enter into further discussions on the proposal.
A few weeks ago, the proposal was submitted to City Council President Leo T. Fontaine and other members of the council, who have agreed to hold a workshop on the proposal in the coming weeks.
In the letter sent to the council dated Jan. 2, Jacques said Newland Development Associates has in place an option to purchase the Donada property (Exercycle building — formerly the Coca Cola bottling plant) beside the city ballfield at 667 Providence St., which was named after late Mayor Gaston Ayotte.
“It is a larger lot and would be purchased to replace the existing ballfield lot,” Jacques said in his letter to the council. “A working agreement for the ballfield lot and the new retail store lot is necessary to prepare a development plan for the city’s site plan review process. Therefore, we are currently in need of the city’s assistance to identify the next step required by the city before our client makes any further investment in the site.”
Jacques said that once both parcels are under control, the developer would survey both lots to create the new city lot and the store lot, which may require an administrative subdivision. The developer would also design the replacement ballfield with the necessary lighting, bleachers, scoreboard and clubhouse, while simultaneously completing the design of the 15,000-square foot pharmacy.
“Upon completion of the design, we would present the plan to the city for review,” Jacques said in his letter.
Jacques said the project would benefit the community by providing a new state-of-the-art baseball facility, which would be much safer than the existing field because the entrance and parking would be moved to Providence Street and away from the corner.
In addition, the former bottling plant building would be be removed from a residential neighborhood.
Jacques also said the 15,000-square-foot Rite Aid store would be in keeping with the neighborhood’s other three corners, which currently has retail development.
Fontaine said Tuesday that the proposal seems like a fair trade, but felt it would be prudent for the city to “run the numbers” and determine the actual value of the property first. In the meantime, Fontaine says he will contact Mathews to set up a workshop to discuss the proposal in more detail.
“It’s an interesting idea because it takes the existing ballfield out of that corner and puts the new one on the side street for better access for the Little League,” he said., “Anyone familiar with that area knows it's not the greatest place for a ballfield, so this would be an improvement.”
The developer, Newland Development Associates, is headquartered in Hampton, N.H., and currently has Rite Aid projects under construction in York, Maine, and in Derry, Portsmouth and Colebrook, N.H.