With financing worries assuaged, members of the Warren Town Council were expected Tuesday evening to vote to continue the town's relationship with its preferred development partner for the Warren Gateway project at the old National Grid site in North Warren, a project that could now see a bakery, brewery, restaurant and hotel.

This Spring, council members voted to give Giovanni Cicione 90 days to demonstrate that he has the financial backing to help turn the town-owned waterfront property into a polished space with restaurants and public amenities. In a memo to the council prior to Tuesday's meeting, Warren Town Planner Bob Rulli wrote that while he expressed concern about funding earlier this year, financing on Barrington developer Giovanni Cicione's end appears to be moving ahead, and the partners are ready to continue the project to its next phase.

"I am pleased to convey that ... significant progress has been made in moving this effort forward," he wrote, adding that Mr. Cicione is working on funding with Rhode Island Commerce. He also has private financing.

The plan is to renovate and build an addition to the only building currently on the site, the small brick warehouse next to Route 114. A second, larger building would be built on the footprint of an existing foundation, and a third building is possible. A public riverwalk along the water would connect to the riverwalk already built by the developers of the American Tourister property, and benches, a terrace, public restrooms and other public amenities are included.

Since the council last met on the Gateway project, new players have entered the picture, Mr. Rulli said. They include:

n Seven Stars Bakery, a popular bakery with several locations in the state, has "expressed a commitment" to lease space in the small brick warehouse building, which would be renovated and expanded.

n Twelve Guns Brewing, which currently has a smaller brewing facility and tasting room in Bristol, has committed to leasing space within the new building, and Commerce RI is working to help finance that portion of the building.

n In addition, a new direction for the development plan is the inclusion of a "boutique" hotel with 30 to 40 rooms and a ground floor restaurant. "The inclusion of a hotel will provide an additional source of local revenue from both the meal and room taxes," Mr. Rulli wrote.

Apart from state and private financing, Mr. Rulli said earlier this year that the town is looking at other funding sources, including tax increment funding. That type of funding considers and would utilize future local tax revenue from the improved site as a basis for financing.

"If you said you were getting $1,000 in taxes (from the property) before but now when we're done are getting $40,000 in taxes, you could use that $39,000 to reinvest in projects and infrastructure," Mr. Rulli said in April. "Site work being as expensive as it is, we would like to use tax increment financing. We don't want to raise taxes."

To facilitate redevelopment at the site, the town may re-zone the several-acre site as a Special Revitalization District, which Mr. Rulli said is required for tax increment financing.

There are still other hurdles to cross.

As the property lies within a flood plain, all new buildings would need to be raised seven feet, and the town is evaluating whether the small existing warehouse also needs to be raised. Warren officials have applied to the Coastal Resources Management Council for preliminary determination.

Warren purchased the property from National Grid for $450,000 in the fall of 2019.