Mayor Joseph J. Solomon is heralding the news that the state Department of Transportation has been awarded a $2.8 million grant to work in partnership with Amtrak to determine the feasibility of bringing its rail service to the InterLink intermodal commuter rail station at T.F. Green Airport.

The Mayor, who wrote in support of the state’s application last summer, applauded the news, saying that expansion of regional Amtrak service to T.F. Green is a smart and necessary infrastructure investment. 

“The addition of an Amtrak station at T.F. Green International airport will not only continue to add to the robust transit infrastructure in place, but will also continue to support the thriving economic growth in the region and reduce congestion in the busy Northeast corridor between New York City and Boston. I thank Senators Reed and Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin for their ongoing support of initiatives such as these that will increase and support local economic development and our state’s economy in general,” he said in a statement.

 Expansion of the service will only serve to further the City’s efforts to market and develop City Centre Warwick, a neighborhood comprised of more than 100 acres near the airport and InterLink, into a vibrant, residential and commercial center.

The Mayor noted that the City and its state and federal partners have invested significant funds to develop the City Centre master plan, create companion zoning, develop the City Centre Design Manual, complete access management plan and streetscape plan and improvements and implement a 15-year Tax Stabilization Agreement.

These efforts have resulted in the construction of the $24-million Hyatt Place Hotel, the investment of over $3 million in aesthetic and safety improvement along Coronado Road, the Hilton Garden Inn’s (a brownfields redevelopment) sale for $19 million to Wall Street-based MCR Investments, the sale of the Ironworks Tavern, and approximately $40 million in planned improvement improvements and new construction on the Radisson Hotel parcel, as well as mixed-use (hospitality, residential and restaurant) projects being actively considered by other investors.