A schoolhouse that has sat empty on Phillips Street for nearly two decades finally has a new chapter. The former Wickford Elementary School in North Kingstown has been sold and is set to become 34 apartments, ending a search for a new use that stretched across multiple town administrations and a court battle with neighbors.
The 1907 building at 99 Phillips St. closed about two decades ago after years sitting vacant, according to WJAR. North Kingstown selected developer Paul Boghossian's redevelopment proposal back in 2019, and his company has now purchased the property for $331,000, per the station's reporting. That sale price came after a long negotiation: Boghossian's original 2019 bid for the five-acre site was just $50,000, according to Town of North Kingstown records.
Town Treasurer Ralph Mollis, speaking to the station, said North Kingstown faced real obstacles and challenges in finding a new use for the school. He added that the sale benefits local taxpayers both by delivering the $331,000 payment and by eliminating the town's ongoing responsibility for maintaining the vacant building, WJAR reported.
Why the Site Sat Empty So Long
Part of what kept the schoolhouse vacant for so long was the cost of basic infrastructure. Redeveloping 99 Phillips Street required extending a municipal sewer line along the street, an upgrade previously estimated at more than $1 million that had stalled prospective buyers for years, according to the Rhode Island Division of Taxation. The school itself closed in 2006 following a contentious 2005 consolidation vote by the North Kingstown School Committee that was driven by declining enrollment, per the same tax division records.
The building's status within the Wickford Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 1974, also shapes how it can be redeveloped. As a contributing historic structure within that district, per the U.S. National Park Service, the school qualifies for the state and federal historic tax credits that WJAR reports the redevelopment project has now secured.
Neighbors Fought the Plan in Court
The project did not move forward without a fight. Neighbors challenged an earlier version of the redevelopment in court, raising concerns about the development's size and parking, according to WJAR. That legal challenge reached the Rhode Island Superior Court, which in February 2023 upheld the North Kingstown Zoning Board of Review's decision granting the developer entity, Wickford Schoolhouse LLC, four dimensional variances and two special use permits, dismissing the residents' appeal in Curtis H. Fisher et al. v. Zoning Board of Review, according to Justia Law. A Superior Court judge ultimately upheld the zoning approvals, WJAR reported. Not everyone in the area is opposed — Nancy Moye told the station the redevelopment will be a lovely property.
A Bigger Waterfront Plan Takes Shape
The school building is only one piece of a larger assemblage. Boghossian has also acquired three properties across the street from the school as well as the former Wickford Theater, WJAR reported. Last month, Boghossian announced on social media that acquiring the school completed a six-acre waterfront site spanning four historic buildings, approved for 52 total residences along Academy Cove, with amenities including an outdoor pool, fitness center, and kayak launch, according to a Facebook post in the OurNK community group. Boghossian has a track record with this kind of project: he previously led the multi-million-dollar restoration of the historic 19th-century Hathaway Shirt Mill complex into apartments and commercial space in Waterville, Maine, according to Mainebiz.
Affordable Units Required, Not Optional
The redevelopment agreement requires at least 10% of the apartments across the project to be affordable housing, per WJAR, with the school building itself planned to include four affordable units and the old theater property redevelopment planned to include two more. That requirement is not just a developer's choice. North Kingstown's municipal inclusionary zoning ordinance mandates that at least 10% of units in residential developments of five or more homes be designated affordable, and it explicitly bars developers from paying a fee in lieu of actually constructing those units, according to the town's own zoning documentation.
The mandate carries extra weight given where North Kingstown stands on affordable housing overall. State law under Rhode Island General Law § 45-53, the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act, requires every municipality to ensure at least 10% of its year-round housing stock qualifies as low- and moderate-income housing. Tracking data compiled by HousingWorks RI shows North Kingstown's affordable housing stock sits at 9.09% of its total supply, leaving the town 99 units short of that statutory benchmark.
The full school-and-surrounding-properties redevelopment is expected to cost about $70 million, according to WJAR's reporting. Boghossian has said the project is destined to include 34 apartments at the school site and hopes to break ground in 2027.
