Rhode Island Commerce Corporation

The Board discussed and approved several economic development and support initiatives. Key actions included the approval of tax credits under the Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit Act for the conversion of the Sonesta Suites hotel in Warwick into a mixed-use facility and the approval of incentives for the Atlantic Mills building renovation in Providence. The Board also selected a vendor for consulting and legal services regarding the management of the Rhode Island Foreign Trade Zone 105, authorized a Renewable Energy Fund grant for a solar project at Phantom Farms, and approved sponsorship funding to support volunteer, hospitality training, and event coordination programs for the Rhode Island Summer of Soccer.

The board is set to consider the award of incentives to Raytheon Company, Ace Endico Corporation, and Social Sparks Inc. under the Rhode Island Qualified Jobs Incentive Act. Additionally, the meeting will cover the approval of Innovation Vouchers and the selection of consultants for broadband infrastructure deployment, a Salesforce customer relationship management system, and tourism analytics and impact reporting.

The workshop introduced the Ready, Set, Rhode Island initiative, which aims to develop vulnerability assessments and resilience plans for 12 small business districts vulnerable to coastal and inland flooding. Key topics included a review of past risk reduction work, an overview of coastal and inland flood risk factors such as sea level rise and extreme rainfall, and a demonstration of the Flood Risk Explorer mapping tool. The project approach involves collecting data on local infrastructure and developing targeted adaptation strategies to mitigate flood risks through building-scale and collective improvements.

The Board of Directors will consider the award of incentives to Nabsys 2.0 LLC under the Rhode Island Qualified Jobs Incentive Act, approve Innovation Vouchers for Liseva Bio, Inc., Shellf Life, LLC, and Trace Sensing Technologies Inc., and select consultants for business attraction, lead-generation, the Ocean Tech Hub, and the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. Additionally, the Board will consider a $250,000 award to the League of Cities and Towns for the Rhode Island Summer of Soccer, a memorandum of understanding with the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, and the Corporation's annual report.

The session provided a project progress update for the Ready, Set, Rhody initiative, which focuses on flood risk assessment across 12 main street districts in Rhode Island. The presentation covered the development of a flood risk mapping tool and a detailed vulnerability assessment framework, which analyzes infrastructure, social-cultural resources, and economic vulnerability using specific coastal and inland flood scenarios. Participants were guided on how to utilize the project's story map and flood viewer, and the team clarified the methodology for assessing asset sensitivity and adaptive capacity.