In 2007, American Kuhne cut down a section of forest bordering Exit 1 and put in a manufacturing facility. They were lured to Ashaway with the promise of partial tax amnesty. I can’t remember the details but the longer they stayed, the higher their taxes would get until they were paying the full value they owed. I thought it was a 10 year plan but it might have been 7 or 5. I’m sure someone remembers. I don’t. At the time, I opposed Exit 1 development and still do. Aquifer sensitivity, quality of life degradation, traffic, police enforcement (and HPD size), crime, fire protection, etc, etc. These issues are all still the same. My prediction was that as soon as they were paying full value on their taxes, American Kuhne would probably leave. I can’t say if that was actually what happened. That is not what is being reported. What is being reported is that they were bought out, they are too small, Hopkinton won’t let them expand, blah, blah, blah. But the local media is horrible, it couldn’t find its way out of a paper bag (Westerly Sun, I’m talking about you) and corporations are liars, run by liars. If a corporate officer’s lips are moving, it is a sure bet they are lying. So who knows what the actual reasons are for their departure. I could be on the mark. And forty jobs lost. Sadly, if those folks do relocate, they will take a hit on their houses. That’s an investment they will never recoup.
Now there is talk of a new welcome center on the other side of Exit 1. Another bit of foolishness since we can’t pay to run the one we already have between Exit 2 and 3 and which has been closed since 2008. Any predictions?
So what is left? An empty building. And we have plenty of those in Southern Rhode Island. Its just such a waste. And it was so easy to see it coming, so easy to predict. But Vinnie Cordone and his lot never saw it coming. And those of us that did could not do anything about it. So what are the prospects for filling a purpose built building with a new tenant? Well, based on the ultimate fate of the 1904 building, I would say pretty slim. Although that may not be a fair analogy. Who knows. Maybe someone will decide to do something in it. Or maybe it will just rot for the next 10 years and become a vandal’s paradise.
Hopkinton Underground 