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Skyline at Waterplace Park, the city-owned venue that's being leased to a group with financial problems, which includes illustrious entrepreneur Michael Mota. Photo by: Barry Chin/Globe Staff)

Rhode Island Business

Providence rejected transfer of Skyline lease over concerns about new tenant’s finances

The commissioners unanimously rejected the license transfer at their Feb. 12 meeting. 2:29 p.m.

Skyline at Waterplace Park in Providence. (Carlos R. Muñoz / Globe Staff)

Rhode Island Business

Providence rejects lease transfer for Skyline at Waterplace, going ahead with eviction trial

The Providence Parks Commissioners rejected an offer by a newly formed East Greenwich company to take over the lease of Skyline at Waterplace. The city is moving ahead with a trial in two weeks to evict Skyline. 2:17 p.m.

Skyline at Waterplace Park in Providence.

Rhode Island

Skyline at Waterplace seeks to transfer lease to East Greenwich company

The owners of the Skyline at Waterplace are asking the city of Providence to allow an East Greenwich company to take over their lease of the downtown event venue. 6:00 a.m.

Rhode Island

Claims made to OTC Markets misstate Memorial Hospital development plans

Michael Mota’s public company is making all kinds of claims to investors and the OTC markets about what it’s doing with the former Memorial Hospital. But those claims aren’t true — and that’s a problem under federal securities laws. 1:22 p.m.

Caption 1: A staff member of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection measures the depth of the mangrove fringe that was chopped to the roots on the shoreline of the Sandpiper Bay Resort in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Rhode Island entrepreneur Michael A. Mota is being questioned by authorities in their investigation into the destruction of 17,789 square feet of protected mangroves at the resort.

Caption 2: A map of the Sandpiper Bay Resort in Port St. Lucie, Florida, shows where the protected mangroves were destroyed on the eastern shore of the St. Lucie River. Rhode Island entrepreneur Michael A. Mota is being questioned by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as part of their investigation.

Caption 3: Investigators from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection found large dumpsters overflowing with fresh-cut mangrove branches at Sandpiper Bay Resort in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on May 10. Rhode Island entrepreneur Michael A. Mota is being questioned as part of the investigation.

Rhode Island

Florida company may be fined $110k for clear-cutting protected mangrove trees

Rhode Island businessman Michael Mota told Florida Department of Environmental Protection investigators in May that he represented the resort’s owner. He blamed the cut trees on storm damage. 1:21 p.m.

Skyline at Waterplace Park. Photo by: Barry Chin/Globe Staff)

Rhode Island

Skyline at Waterplace evicted by city of Providence

The business’ longtime CEO, Michael Mota, used the venue to host events for his entertainment company, VirtualCons. 11:16 a.m.

VirtualCons CEO and Bayport International Holdings President Michael Mota sits at his desk in his former office in Smithfield, R.I., in October 2022.

Rhode Island Business

Michael Mota, VirtualCons’ attempts to silence critics may violate R.I. free speech laws

“Facts are not slander, libel, or defamation of character,” one critic noted in her response to a lawyer for the Rhode Island businessman, who threatened to sue her after she was quoted in the Globe. 9:15 a.m.

Skyline at Waterplace Park in Providence.

Rhode Island

Providence continues to push to evict Skyline from Waterplace Park

Judge Walter Gorman denied a motion from the city to sever the eviction case and the Skyline company’s counterclaim, and told the lawyers to work out an accelerated discovery schedule. 10:45 a.m.