Carpionato Group Announces Leadership Change as Major Rhode Island Projects Continue to Evolve

Carpionato Group, one of Rhode Island’s largest real estate developers, announced Monday that longtime company leaders Kelly Coates and Angelo Marocco will retire this fall, bringing new trustees into the business founded by the late Alfred Carpionato.

The transition comes as the company continues developing and marketing several prominent properties, including the former Davol/Citizens Bank complex in Cranston, Narragansett Park Plaza at the Pawtucket–East Providence line, and the former Newport Grand casino site.

A change in leadership

In a statement provided by Advocacy Solutions Monday night, the company said Coates and Marocco will retire as trustees in October. Coates will step down as president and CEO in November, when Marocco will also retire as outside counsel.

Both have worked with the company for more than 30 years. Coates previously served as senior vice president responsible for financing, development and leasing. Marocco served as an outside legal advisor.

Since Alfred Carpionato’s death in 2018, the two have served as trustees alongside his wife, Sheryl Carpionato, a longtime company executive.

Domenic Carpionato, the founder’s son, who has worked in the company for more than a decade, will join his mother as a trustee. Rhode Island real estate attorney Charles “Chip” Rogers will also join the trustees.

According to the company, the controlling trust holds more than six million square feet of retail, office, residential and hospitality properties, with a development pipeline valued at $1.5 billion.

The statement thanked Coates and Marocco for their contributions. It did not identify who would succeed Coates as president and CEO.

The company said Sheryl Carpionato welcomes the new leadership team and looks forward to continuing her husband’s legacy.

This year, Coates and the company were in a corporate dispute and legal battle involving allegations of fraudulent trust handling and unauthorized spending, which emerged alongside a wider federal investigation into affiliated business finances. That dispute is likely resolved with this leadership shift.

Cranston: Chapel View

Chapel View & Retail Leasing: Coates has been heavily involved in complex commercial rezoning, expanding regional offices for Fortune 500 companies, and transitioning major lifestyle properties like Chapel View.

Cranston: the former Davol/Citizens building

The large building at 100 Sockanosset Cross Road in Cranston remains a visible question about the company’s next development steps in Cranston.

Citizens Bank’s departure (formerly Davol) was part of its move to a new Johnston campus in 2018. But the building has not simply stood unused throughout the intervening years: it became a state COVID hospital and vaccination location during the pandemic. The vaccination site closed March 12, 2022.

RINewsToday’s November 2019 reporting described a mixed-use proposal that included reusing part of the Citizens building for offices and retail, alongside a new golf entertainment center and a separate retail/restaurant building.

Topgolf subsequently opened in a separate facility at 120 Sockanosset Cross Road. Carpionato continues to advertise commercial and second-floor office space at 100 Sockanosset. Those listings establish that space is being marketed, but do not establish the occupancy status of the entire remaining building.

Next to Topgolf, what has become a bone of contention in the Garden City community is a mountain of dirt from the building of Topgolf – inquiries from RINewsToday have learned from the company that it had been sold, but that was about 2 years ago and the pile seems to grow larger.

Rumors of COSTCO moving to the back property or being part of the Citizen building seem to have been unfounded, regardless of seeing the logo on a company map showed to members of the Garden City Alliance community group over 5 years ago.

Millions paid for pandemic use

The state’s temporary use of the Cranston property generated substantial lease payments.

In April 2020, Providence Business News reported an initial lease rate of $302,105 per month for up to six months.

RINewsToday reported on December 7, 2021, that the property’s ownership entity, 100 Sockanosset LLC, had received approximately $6.705 million since April 2020, citing monthly payments of approximately $335,208.

That December 2021 figure was not a final accounting of the state’s pandemic use. The different reported monthly amounts, subsequent payments, and any separate maintenance or other charges would require confirmation through the leases, amendments and state payment records.

Newport Avenue, Pawtucket: construction and openings, with more planned

At Narragansett Park Plaza, the redevelopment has produced new buildings and an operating restaurant, while the larger mixed-use plan remains – unfinished.

Pollo Campero opened in July at 50 Narragansett Park Drive on the East Providence side of the municipal line. The restaurant’s website confirms it is operating.

Multiple new retail and restaurant structures on both sides of the city line have appeared but more housing seems to have now been planned, with no progress.

A remaining challenge is securing a tenant for the former 58,000-square-foot Stop & Shop and advancing redevelopment of the existing plaza behind the new buildings.

The property is therefore a redevelopment progressing in phases, with additional work still ahead.

Newport: a different offering from the original vision

The former Newport Grand property presents another question about the company’s future direction.

Carpionato purchased the 23.5-acre site in 2018. The following year, Coates unveiled a $100 million proposal that included hotels, apartments, offices, research space, retail and restaurants.

Local media have reported that the company is now marketing approximately 106,000 square feet of commercial and retail space there. The current listing does not mention the hotels or apartments included in the original proposal. That does not, by itself, establish that those components have been formally abandoned.

Major Rhode Island Developer

They manage over 6 million square feet of real estate assets, spanning Class A retail, office space, residential housing, and hospitality properties. The company maintains a $1.5 billion development pipeline, which includes massive multi-million dollar regional undertakings.  Their Flagship Footprint includes many of the state’s most recognizable commercial hubs, including Chapel View in Cranston, Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick, and the University Heights shopping area in Providence.

Monday’s leadership statement did not address the schedules or remaining scope of influx projects. As the new trustees take their seats, the questions for the company include who will lead its day-to-day operations, what uses will fill the remaining Cranston building, and when the next phases in Pawtucket, East Providence and Newport will move forward.