RISDIC Loans Comes Back To HauntDeveloper

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - (01/28/05) -- A local developer told statelawmakers Wednesday he is ready to make good on a long-forgottendebt that was insured by the Rhode Island Share and DepositIndemnity Corp. in order to get clearance to buy the state-ownedWestin Providence hotel complex. The only trouble is, not everybodyagrees that the $2.9 million James Procaccianti has promised to payshould satisfy the more than $14.75 million in loans Procacciantihad outstanding with Marquette CU, one of the nearly dozen creditunions that failed after RISDIC went down in 1990, causing thebiggest state-wide banking failure since the Great Depression. Thecredit union loans, with interest, would now amount to more than$25 million, but the state agency created to clean up the RISDICmess was ready to settle its claims for just $2.9 million, per thediscount collected on most RISDIC-related loans. Officials with theRhode Island Convention Authority, which owns the downtown hotelcomplex, said without a settlement on the debts the sale may not gothrough.