Newport Collaborative Tapped for Cup Pitch

NEWPORT, R.I. – Newport Collaborative Architects has been chosen to provide the architectural vision behind the state’s bid to bring the America’s Cup back to Newport.

The Newport-based firm, which has been behind many a high-profile designs, including the CCRI Newport Campus, the Clubhouse at Carnegie Abbey, and the restoration of the Fort Adams officer’s barracks and Dutch Island Lighthouse, beat out three other competing firms, Keith Stokes, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) said on Friday.

And with little time to spare to develop an infrastructure plan to lure the Cup back to New England waters, the firm has gotten right to work, drawing up preliminary designs which outline several different options for how the city could host the competition.

John Grovesnor, principal at NCA, described his firm’s early vision during an hour-long meeting of the state-led America’s Cup working group at the Newport Police Station on Friday.

Beginning his presentation with a map of the southern end of Narragansett Bay, Grovesnor said while other Cup venues have been spread out over disparate areas, “It appears that we can get everything within a very close proximity – probably about 2 miles,” he said.

Connecting it all will be an intermodal network of bus lines, water ferries and light rail, mostly relying on pre-existing, yet under-utilized infrastructure.

For example, spectators and visitors coming into the city from either entry point to the island would be directed to off-site parking facilities connected to downtown via the Old Colony Railway tracks, which according to Stokes still falls under the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. “Any of these schemes we’ll be relying on that feature,” Grovesnor said.

From there, visitors would be directed to the city’s expanded Perrotti Park facilities where a water taxi station would be set up to shuttle passengers between Fort Adams and King Park. Spanning from one end to another would be a completed harbor walk, stretching from the Newport Shipyard to King Park.

Syndicates could be placed at several locations. At State Pier 9, anywhere from four to six teams could set up operations, with others dispersed at the Newport Shipyard and other privately owned land. Stokes added that if that proposal gains traction, the state would work with the commercial fishermen located at Pier 9 during Cup years for alternative accommodations, or to potentially create a fisherman’s wharf concept which could be provide a boost to local fishermen while paying homage to the city’s maritime traditions.

Alternatively, the Naval pier at Coddington Cove was also identified as a possible syndicate location, although Stokes cautioned that the state has no claim to that property and would have to rely on the Navy for authorization.

The most well-received plan, however, was a proposal that would site up to 12 teams at Fort Adams, effectively transforming the historic site into a world-class yachting village. According to Grovesnor, the road into the fort could be re-routed behind the playing fields, reclaiming a swath of waterfront property that would allow the syndicates direct access to the water in a prime location on the harbor. The playing fields are also flat, he added, and could be turned into temporary parking with as many as 1,000 extra spaces created for the syndicates. Dredging would be needed in some spots along the fort, but Grovesnor said that siting the syndicates at the fort could have a transformative effect on the Civil War-era landmark.

Under each plan, the investment on the part of the state would be limited to state land. The private sector, said Grovesnor, “will take over the rest – because there’s a demand for it.”

“From a state perspective… It gives us the opportunity to leave behinnd enhanced public assets,” added Stokes. “If we’re looking with our eyes wide open, then the starting point should be to invest state money into state assets.” The investment into the Fort Adams plan, for example, “provides a longterm improvement into the park” that would benefit generations of Rhode Islanders, he said.

As far as siting goes, Grovesnor welcomed comparisons to past Cup ports.  The 2000 and 2003 Auckland, New Zealand venue, he pointed out, could fit easily into Newport harbor, as could that of the most recent host city, Valencia.

“It’s a no brainer,” Grovesnor said of Newport as a venue.

Stokes said the next critical step for the fledgling group is to form a subcommittee that will work with the architects to develop a series of more concrete proposals from which BMW/Oracle head Larry Ellison can choose from. A second sub-committee will focus on the marketing and the available amenities to the pitch.

Without sounding overly optimistic, the group disbanded on an up-note, with Grovesnor saying that in his mind, Newport’s proposal, its natural setting, and the history it brings with it, “Can’t be beat.”

For more on this story, be sure to pick up a copy of next week’s Newport This Week, on news stands Wednesday.

Tagged as: Chasing The Cup, Newport, Sailing Report