Newport Yachting Center Sold to Peregrine Group

The Newport Yachting Center has been sold by Newport Harbor Corporation to a Rumford real estate development company.

A representative of Peregrine Group LLC confirmed the transaction Tuesday but deferred comment on future plans to company co-founder Colin Kane, who was not immediately available.

In a statement, Paul O’Reilly, president and CEO of Newport Harbor Corporation, said that the decision to sell was based on a desire to invest in the company’s expanding restaurant and hotel operations where they see “excellent growth opportunities.”

“We will continue to operate the Newport International Boat Show, the Charter Yacht Show, The Mooring, The Smoke House, and the Newport Yachting Center Private Events business at the Sunset Terrace, by leasing back the land from the new owner,” O’Reilly said. “We have reluctantly made the decision to exit the concert and festival segments of our company. The current, local city noise ordinance is not designed for a concert business. We simply could not commit to a long-term lease and invest capital into an area that has such an unpredictable future. We remain committed to investing in the local island economy as we grow our remaining businesses in future years.”

Peregrine’s plans for the three quarters of an acre lot will be of particular interest to all Newporters, since the venue has been host to the Newport Summer Comedy and Concert Series along with a steady stream of events throughout the year through the marketing arm of Newport Waterfront Events.

The venue has also been a sore spots for the residents of nearby Harborview condo complex who have complained about severe noise from concerts and events for years.

Most recently, lawyers for the Newport Yachting Center agreed to plead no contest to 10 of 11 noise violations in Newport Municipal Court and will pay an undetermined fine.

The center installed a $180,000 sound abatement system earlier this year in the hopes of deadening the noise somewhat, but police registered the violations nearly every week this summer after continued complaints.

In May, before the City Council voted 3-2 to approve a variance lifting a restriction for shows past 9:30 p.m. to let the center host a late-night performance of comedian Aziz Ansari, Jim Head, a resident in the Commercial Wharf, said in the beginning, it was a marina. Today, it’s an event center.

“I can live with that,” Head said. But what he can’t live with is never “getting to bed at a reasonable time.

“They never [end] at nine o’clock,” Head said. “They always push it to nine thirty, ten. We are looking to stop further expansion of the entertainment center. It’s already too much, too long, too loud.”

The property includes an ice rink, marina and a 2,910 square foot building that was originally built in 1850, according to city records.

The total property was valued at $1.8 million in the most recent revaluation, though $1.5 million of that was for the land.

The lot is zoned WB, waterfront business district, and among the allowed uses are single and two-family dwellings, retail shops, offices, restaurants, fish and seafood receiving, boat building, painting and research laboratories.

Multi-family dwellings, shopping centers, transient guest facilities, fast food restaurants, convention centers, banks, taverns, clubs and commercial indoor and outdoor recreation facilities are allowed with a special use permit from the Newport Zoning Board.

Peregrine Group has completed a wide variety of projects in the region, including the redevelopment of a 25,000 square foot space in Providence to headquarter Swipely, The Villages on Mount Hope Bay in Tiverton, Thundermist Health Center’s new facility in South Kingstown, to name just a few.

We’ll post more information as it becomes available.