Carpionato Properties Revenue and Competitors

Carpionato currently manages 10 strip malls in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts that total 1.3 million square feet of retail space. Ultimately, the region is getting close to a saturation point, said Coates. But judging by the company's upcoming work, Rhode Island is not there yet. There are plans for seven additional open-air centers that range from 30,000 square feet in Westerly to 850,000 square feet in North Attleboro. In addition to construction, the market for shopping centers as real estate investments remains active. The Smithfield Commons, a 35,130-square-foot open-air shopping center at the intersection of routes 44 and 5, was bought last month by Linear Retail in Burlington, Mass., for $8 million. Linear focuses on the acquisition and management of "convenience-oriented" retail properties in eastern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and Rhode Island, according to the company's mission. Since forming in 2003, Linear has purchased 12 shopping centers in separate transactions totaling about $80 million. Aubrey Cannuscio, senior vice president of acquisition and partner, said the company specifically looks for smaller and moderately sized shopping centers that range in size from 10,000 to 125,000 square feet and are priced from $1 million to $15 million. Linear also bought the 73,000-square-foot shopping center at 1000 Bald Hill Road in April for $6.8 million. The effect these shopping centers have on the economy cannot be ignored. The 2004 National Research Bureau census reported that the 234 shopping centers in Rhode Island generated sales revenue that totaled $5.2 billion in 2004, up from $4.9 billion in 2003 at 218 shopping centers. Scott Wolf, executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island, maintained that the proliferation of strip malls is due to the state's heavy reliance on property taxes - the fifth-highest per capita in the nation, Wolf said - to fund education. Building shopping centers is a way for a community to increase its tax base but not add schoolchildren, he said. Grow Smart would rather see revitalization and redevelopment of existing urban and town centers that are within walking distances of the surrounding residential areas, said Wolf. Areas like Darlington in Pawtucket and Main Street in Bristol and East Greenwich are examples of development that can help maintain the character and charm of the area, he said.