Pier Market to Close: Victim to Greed (or perhaps its just the times)

The Pier Market, a small community market in the heart of Narragansett (and minutes away from the beach) is set to close because the developer and owner of the land (Gilbane Properties) decided to triple its rent.

This is from the Rhode Island Policy Reporter on December 7:

As was reported in the Projo this morning, Gilbane Properties, the landlord, offered to raise the Pier market's rent from $75,000 per year to $225,000.

I called Wes Cotter, the Gilbane Properties spokesman quoted in the story, and he told me that they aren't losing any money there, but the property is "undervalued" and they can get much more out of it. For the record, the town assesses the grocery building at $180,000. With its share of the land underneath it, the taxes on the market are around $6,500.

While tripling rents from one year to the next is clearly an excess, I also don't think that Gilbane should be forced to keep their rent at way below the market value. It's a hard question--because from an individual perspective, it makes perfect sense to maximize your income and utilize your assets to their best value. But what Gilbane apparently hasn't factored in is that the community is not a cash tree that they can shake. Gilbane is part of the community, and their desire to "monetize" should take a 5-10 year plan to raise the rent to a more "market-value" number.


The same thing with the information that follows the article about the approximately 88 apartments that will be renovated, and rents increased.