CRANSTON, R.I. - Belcourt of Newport, owned by Alex and Ani designer Carolyn Rafaelian, has withdrawn its request to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation for money to help pay for a solar photovoltaic system in the historic Belcourt Castle.
Belcourt Castle, which Rafaelian purchased in 2012 for $3.6 million, had a request before the EDC last month for $18,504.79, or 20 percent of the cost for the solar project.
The EDC board did not vote on the matter at its October meeting and had anticipated considering the application at its next meeting, which is Thursday at 5 p.m., EDC spokeswoman Melissa Czerwein said Tuesday. But the EDC received notice Monday, Czerwein said, that Belcourt of Newport was withdrawing its application.
Rafaelian, who is the majority shareholder of Alex and Ani, told The Providence Journal on Tuesday that news reports about the request for money from the state's Renewable Energy Fund had caught her off guard. She said the small company with which she had contracted to do the solar project on the castle put forth the request to the EDC without her knowledge. She had been working with Stuart Flanagan, the owner of Newport Renewables, on the project.
"Once I found out what was going on, I immediately told them to withdraw this because this is not something that we do," Rafaelian said.
Alex and Ani CEO Giovanni Feroce said news reports about the request upset him considerably, and he spoke immediately with Rafaelian.
"And she assured me there was no process in which our involvement had us as part of the application," he said.