Roger Williams University (RWU) has brought many positive benefits to the East Bay region since expanding its Providence institution of higher learning to Bristol in 1969. However, the university also brings an outsized influence on the host town for nine months of the year when students are in session.

Initially, the university gobbled up some adjacent land at its Bristol site, to expand its core mission of education. RWU also purchased two housing developments off-campus, which included Almeida Apartments on Bayview Avenue in Bristol. Located on 10-plus acres, it was purchased in 1980 for $2,250,000 and taken off the open rental market to be used as student dormitory units. This complex had 107 residential units once rented on the open market. The property is currently assessed by the town at $14 million.

The university also purchased what was then the Ramada Inn in Portsmouth (on Anthony Road) in 2010 for almost $5 million, taking those fair market hotel rentals off the market. The university recently decommissioned the housing portion of the Portsmouth site and moved those students into dormitory buildings that were recently built on campus. They are studying how to repurpose the property, seeking the Town of Portsmouth’s input, according to the university. At this point, RWU continues to use the property for some of its administrative offices and some classes.

Bristol’s Comprehensive Plan, section H-4, states: “Work with RWU to encourage more on-campus student housing. As off-campus housing becomes surplus, the Town should consider creating opportunities for affordable housing. The Town and RWU should create an agreement offering the Town the Right of First Refusal for these units (Almeida Apartments).”

In 2022, RWU published the “RWU Institutional Master Plan Update,” which states under its “Ten-Year Goals” section “the intent to consolidate all undergraduate student housing options in university-owned properties to be contained on the local campus; thereby vacating the Almeida Apartments in Bristol and the Baypoint Residence in Portsmouth.”

Today, a confluence of societal changes and the lack of housing units being built is contributing to a severe regional lack of housing and a rental affordability crisis not seen since the end of World War II, when the brave men and women who fought in the war came back to the states and ignited the need for more housing — and the Baby Boom generation was born.

To buy, and not to buy

The university has recently made a couple of dubious housing related moves that continue to exacerbate and compound the local housing affordability crisis. At the same time, the university is trying to position itself as a spokesperson for helping solve the housing affordability crisis via an association with HousingWorksRI.

In 2014, the university began an association with Housing Works RI, which began as a data collection and analysis organization backed by the Rhode Island Foundation, R.I. Housing, and the United Way, to promote a public education campaign highlighting the relationship between housing and the state’s economic future.

Housing WorksRI at Roger Williams University, as it is now known, continues with that charge. The university, while promoting its association with HousingWorksRI, is not doing its part to expand housing opportunities locally.

During the past few years, RWU did not negotiate to purchase adjacent land to its north from the world renown boat building Herreshoff family. I asked Halsey Herreshoff if RWU had been approached to buy the property, which was listed by a local Realtor on the open market with signage on the site. Herreshoff replied, “I personally reached out to them twice in regard to purchasing this land, but each time they replied, ‘we don’t have the money.’ ”

This adjacent property would have cornered their campus perfectly, by enclosing it by the public roads of Griswold Avenue to the north, Old Ferry Road and Metacom Avenue/Rte. 136 to the west and of course Mt. Hope Bay to the east. This strategically missed opportunity will go down in RWU history as a major blunder by their board of directors.

This additional land would have allowed Roger Williams to immediately build more on-campus housing and continue to expand its core curriculum in the decades to come.

An example of an institution which did the right thing is the Town of Bristol. The town bought land adjacent, to the immediate west, of the Bristol Police station on Bayview Avenue. The town purchased this land for “future potential” expansion, maybe an expanded police building, a fire department building, a civil defense building. The point being that the town had the foresight to plan for possible expansion in the future, whereas RWU did not have the strategic sense to do the same with property right next to its campus.

Another decision compounding the housing problem locally is the university’s policy of requiring only freshmen and sophomores to live on campus. Two other Rhode Island colleges require juniors to live on campus, and Johnson and Wales University has adopted that same policy this year. Why doesn’t RWU do the same?

A mansion on the water

In another dubious real estate decision, RWU decided to purchase a mansion on the shores of Bristol’s outer harbor, at 55 Ferry Road, in 2017 for a whopping $6.7 million. This 20-acre site is improved with several buildings, including an 8,000-square-foot Tudor style home with 10 bedrooms, 6.3 bathrooms, an in-ground pool, tennis courts, and a substantial deep-water dock. At the time of purchase, a university spokesperson said there were no immediate plans for the property.

Seven years later, and in answering a question posed by this columnist as to their plans for the property, the spokesperson said, “RWU is still exploring potential uses for the property” … What?!

What kind of business entity purchases an almost $7 million property without an immediate plan for its use and seven years later still has no plans for its use?

So, reportedly, RWU did not have the money to buy adjacent land to secure its growth into the future, but purchased a $7 million property with no known educational purpose and no intended use when it was purchased. And seven years later, they still have no plan for the property’s use.

Further, sources tell this columnist that Roger Williams University President Ioannis Miaoulis uses the property as a summer residence and keeps his boat at the dock. To be fair, the university does pay market-rate property taxes  based on the assessed value of the property.

The university bought land across the street from the college at 45 Ferry Road in 1999 and had a house built that serves as the RWU official residence. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like an opulent lifestyle for a nonprofit institute of higher education.

RWU also has an asset at Almeida Apartments that they paid $2.2 million for and is now valued by the town at $14 million. They could sell this site and use the $12 million profit to build more housing on their campus, making more than 100 units available for fair market and below market housing opportunities.

More housing for the community

The new Rhode Island Department of Housing, which was created to encourage affordable and other types of housing throughout the state, needs to become more creative in its approach to do so. This is a perfect example of out of the box thinking that could creatively bring more than 100 units to the market with no permitting or development required. The East Bay Community Development Corporation (EBCDC), a nonprofit affordable housing developer with decades of experience in the East Bay area, could manage this development to its fullest potential and not break a sweat.

The housing department needs to have a ‘town-to-town’ approach, selecting savvy Realtors from each town who can sniff out opportunities in a creative, out of the box fashion. Waiting for an opportunity to present itself on the market will only guarantee one thing; the highest bidder will prevail, rather than the neediest!

Roger Williams University can talk the talk, but not walk the walk. It is now time for the university to do the neighborly thing and keep its word, as they have clearly stated in their 2022 Master Plan. They should build enough units on campus to accommodate all undergraduate students, and at the same time match their words to their actions and help in the challenge to provide affordable housing in Bristol County.

If they don’t, and don’t do it soon, the Bristol Town Administrator and Bristol Town Council should hold their feet to the fire when it comes time to negotiate the next Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement. If they can spend almost $7 million on a property with no useful purpose, they can pay more in lieu of taxes.     

Douglas Gablinske owns AppraiseRI, a 28-year-old statewide real estate appraisal company located in Bristol, R.I. Currently he is chairman of the Warren Taxpayer Appeal Board, is a member of the Rhode Island Real Estate Appraisal Board, and a licensed real estate appraiser and broker. He is also a consultant to the Rhode Island Department of Housing. He was a former member of the Bristol Town Council and represented parts of Bristol and Warren as a state representative. He can be reached at Doug@AppraiseRI.biz.