Pawtucket mayor hoping to keep Hasbro, set to meet with CEO
by TEMI-TOPE ADELEYE, NBC 10 NEWS
Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien is looking at ways to keep Hasbro within city limits.
“They were born and raised here. They came to Pawtucket,” said Grebien. “It’s where they started, and I really think they recognize that.”
The conversations come one week after Hasbro confirmed it was looking into moving out of Rhode Island.
Grebien said the toy company’s move would hurt the community.
“It would be a tangible loss, probably a little over a $1 million, but it’s really about keeping them here,” said Grebien.
Word got out last week that Hasbro is considering moving its Pawtucket-based headquarters to Boston.
The toy company has considered moving its headquarters a few times over the past decade.
“It’s not that they’ve outgrown the facility. It’s that the facility is outdated,” said Grebien.
Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi, Governor Dan McKee and Hasbro’s CEO Chris Cocks met last Thursday.
“Hasbro is a different company. Hasbro is a global company. They do business all over the world. It’s not just a toy store in Pawtucket, Rhode Island anymore,” said Shekarchi.
“They’ve kind of changed their whole corporate makeup over the last 10 to 20 years. [They] do a lot of work in the West Coast and we want to make sure that we have what they need to survive and be prosperous here in Rhode Island.”
Shekarchi would not share details from the meeting.
“I don’t want to go into the details of anything until we have something really to report but I can say this,” said Shekarchi.
“It’s not going to be a very fast decision. It could take weeks. It could take months. ”
Grebien wasn’t there, but said he is still in talks with all parties.
“Out of respect…they’re [state leaders] the folks that are going to have to put the funds in…right? Whatever that is right” said Grebien.
” We’re [City of Pawtucket] the community that can give them the home that they want, and I think part of the challenge has been– is Hasbro being a global Fortune 1000 company and their model has changed.
Grebien says there is no official pitch for Hasbro’s new headquarters.
But he did speak with NBC 10’s Temi-Tope Adeleye about how the city’s Downtown Gateway project, which includes the APEX building, comes with high visibility.
“We have a lot of attributes. We have two beautiful waterfront sites that we control. We have an up-and-coming community with our development of soccer, with restaurants coming,” said Grebiem.
“We’re going to have over 2,000 units coming online within the next three years for housing. We’ve got the commuter rail so, we’ve got a lot of activity.”
The APEX building, albeit run down, is currently occupied by non-profit, The Elisha Project. A manufacturing business, operating on a month-to-month lease also occupies a space in the building.
Grebien said if sold, it will likely be demolished to make way for any incoming project.
The City of Pawtucket received four proposals for the Downtown Gateway project.
“But that doesn’t eliminate an opportunity for if we wanted to have Hasbro there or if they wanted to be there,” said Grebien.
“We have opportunity for Hasbro, but we’re also excited in moving the projects forward on the APEX site.”
Grebien will be meeting with state leaders over the next two weeks.