Month: June 2018

SPRINGFIELD — Joined by Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Paul Picknelly, president of Monarch Enterprises, Jeff Lomma of the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce and other guests, a team of United Bank employees officially cut the ribbon to its new location at 1414 Main Street- One Monarch Place on Thursday.

Earlier this year, the bank moved its branch from 115 State St. into the first floor of One Monarch Place, the signature office tower in Springfield. Thursday marked its ceremonial opening of the new branch location.

United Bank noted several reasons why they wanted to relocate to One Monarch Place, including creating a more modern, ergonomically-designed floor plan and optimizing space to enhance the banking experience for their personal, commercial and business banking customers.

The Monarch Place location has private offices for bankers to privately meet with customers, including offices for the Bank’s branch manager, financial advisor, mortgage banker and business banker who cover the Springfield market. The space provides better company branding opportunities due to everyday pedestrian traffic on the street level and among visitors and potential customers who work or utilize the amenities inside the building. The location also provides greater exposure among other neighboring businesses – including the new Starbucks that opened next door.

“United Bank’s commitment to first-class banking and community giving in the Greater Springfield market dates back to 1882. Today, we are celebrating another milestone that underscores our commitment to our customers who bank with us at Monarch Place, strengthening our community partnerships in Springfield and attracting new personal, commercial and business banking customers,” said William H.W. Crawford, IV, CEO & President of United Bank. “It’s the type of physical banking location that is more inviting to our customers and potential customers looking to bank with a local, established and reputable banking partner in downtown Springfield.”

Springfield College Appoints Kathleen Martin to Capital Campaign, Strategy Position

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College President Dr. Mary-Beth A. Cooper is pleased to announce the appointment of Kathleen Martin of to the position of executive director of the Capital Campaign and Campus Strategy. Martin begins July 2.

The appointment marks Martin’s return to Springfield College, where she received both her doctorate in Physical Education with a Specialization in Sport Psychology and her Master of Science in Physical Education (athletics administration concentration). She also began her teaching career at Springfield College.

“We are delighted to welcome Kathy back home to Springfield College,” said Cooper. “Her extensive background in senior administrative roles make her an exceptional fit to lead strategic initiatives that are underway at Springfield College.”

Martin will be responsible for coordinating the overall strategic direction of the College’s capital campaign, strategic plan, and campus master plan. Through the development of strong collaborative relationships with the office of the president, the college’s senior leadership team and key stakeholders, Martin will serve as the primary lead, strategist, and coordinator of strategic initiatives.

Most recently, Martin served as vice provost and chief educational compliance officer and Title IX coordinator at Bay Path University. She also held the positions of director of Institutional Research and Special Projects, and assistant provost for Academic Affairs.

STCC to Offer Comprehensive Drone-training Course

SPRINGFIELD — As business use of drones continues to expand, Springfield Technical Community College will offer an introductory three-day course to train people to become pilots of the unmanned aircraft systems.

Intro to sUAS (small unmanned aircraft systems) will be taught on Saturdays — Sept. 8, 15 and 22 — between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at STCC.

The Federal Aviation Administration has released regulations that pave the way for expanded commercial use of the aircraft systems commonly called drones. As part of the guidelines, drone pilots are required to pass the FAA’s remote pilot knowledge test “Unmanned Aircraft — General” to receive an FAA remote pilot certification and be able to use drones for commercial purposes.

STCC’s comprehensive 18-hour ‘Intro to sUAS’ course provides hands-on skills training for aspiring business operators to fly drones safely and efficiently and helps them prepare for FAA certification.

Goldman Sachs Research estimates the economic impact of sUAS technology to be $100 billion between 2016 and 2020. Much of this growth comes from the application of drone technology to existing industries, as well as emerging businesses yet to be created, their growth facilitated by the FAA regulations which went into effect in 2016.

Industry applications include construction, agriculture, insurance, real estate, public safety, inspections, law enforcement, ecommerce, environmental conservation and mapping, to name a few.

“It’s the next transformative technology that will change how business is done for many industries,” said Elliot M. Levy, senior director for the Workforce Development Center at STCC. “We are offering the most comprehensive, up-to-date course material available so that members of our business community can be among those who are capturing this technology’s potential.”

STCC President John B. Cook said the drone course exemplifies the college’s effort to bring technology innovation to the regional workforce.

“This course focuses on one of the most innovative technologies today, and STCC is pleased to offer this unique workforce opportunity,” Cook said. “This training is ideal for people working in a wide range of fields.”

Storrowton’s Little House Family Day Set for July 14

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Experience the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder at Little House Family Day Saturday, July 14, at Storrowton Village Museum.

Wilder, best known for penning the Little House on the Prairie books, had adventures on the American frontier that have captivated the imaginations of children for well over 100 years, whether on the written page or via the popular television series based on her books.

Different 19th century activities will take place throughout the day, so guests can enjoy a whole day of fun or participate in a few favorites.

Visitors can also play old-fashioned prairie games on the Village green, learn about foraging on the frontier, and make corn husk dolls. Bring your best detective skills because this year will include a new scavenger hunt and anyone who completes the hunt will receive a small prize.

The day’s special guest will be Laura Ingalls historical interpreter, Rosalie Silliman. She will give two presentations, including one in the Village’s one-room schoolhouse, for a taste of what Laura’s life was like as a schoolteacher.

“It’s an annual tradition to celebrate Laura Ingalls Wilder and her New England heritage here at Storrowton. Her ancestors hail from Corinth, Vt., and Grafton, N.H., which isn’t too far away. This event is now in its fourth year and a favorite for many of the families that return each year,” museum director Jessica K. Fontaine said.

Tickets for Little House Family Day are $8 in advance via storrowtonvillage.com (through 7/13/18) or $10 on the day of the event. All children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, visit storrowtonvillage.com/p/tours-and-events/little-house-family-day

Healthcare Heroes 2018

Healthcare Heroes

2nd Annual Healthcare Heroes Awards

HERO (n.) a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

BusinessWest and Healthcare News have created Healthcare Heroes to honor those who live up to that word’s definition. This region’s health and wellness sector is large, diverse, and dominated by heroes of all kinds. They’re on the front lines, in the administrative office, the research lab, the neighborhood clinic, the family dentist’s office, the college health and science building. They’re making real contributions to the quality of life in our communities, and it’s time to recognize their efforts!

Event Date: Thursday, October 25, 2018
Event Time: 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Location: Starting Gate at GreatHorse, Hampden

Nominations can now be submitted for the 2018 Healthcare Heroes awards. Deadline for nominations is Friday, June 15 at 5 p.m., NO EXCEPTIONS. Winners will be profiled in the September 3 issue of BusinessWest and the September issue of Healthcare News. Winners will be invited to attend the “Healthcare Heroes” Awards gala scheduled for Thursday, October 25, 2018.

Click on one of the following categories to submit a nomination:

Presenting Sponsors

Partner Sponsors

Supporting Sponsors

Conn. Gov.: Hartford Line Ridership Tops 10,000 in First Full Week

HARTFORD, CT – Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) announced today that ridership on the new CTrail Hartford Line passenger rail service exceeded 10,719 customers during its first full week of regular operations from Monday, June 18 through Sunday, June 24, during which full-fare tickets were required.

The service launched on Saturday, June 16, and was free for all riders on the first two days of operation.

“We know that it will take some time for this new rail service to grow to full maturity and become part of the everyday lives of Connecticut residents, but there is definitely an excitement about this long-overdue train service,” said Malloy. “At the end of the day, this transit service is about building vibrant communities that attract businesses, grow jobs, and make our state a more attractive place to live, visit, and do business.”

“I’ve spoken with scores of riders who have begun to use the Hartford Line and who are saying their commute has become much easier and less stressful,” CTDOT Commissioner James P. Redeker said. “With easy access and connections with our CTtransit buses, we are opening up all kinds of options for getting around Connecticut – whether you’re going to work, to school, or simply playing the role of tourist.”

Stations along the line from north to south include New Haven Union Station, New Haven State Street, Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, Hartford, Windsor, Windsor Locks, and Springfield, Massachusetts. Trains run approximately every 45 minutes during the weekday morning and evening peak periods.

The Hartford Line connects commuters to existing rail services in New Haven that allow for easy connections to Boston, New York City, and beyond, including the New Haven Line (Metro-North), Shore Line East, Amtrak Acela and Northeast Regional services. CTtransit local bus service is also available at most stations along the line, and connections to the CTfastrak bus rapid transit system is available in Hartford.

Comcast Names Daniel Bonelli to Finance Post

SPRINGFIELD — Comcast today announced the appointment of Daniel Bonelli as vice president of Finance for the company’s Western New England Region, which includes more than 300 communities in Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Western Mass. and Western New Hampshire.

In this role, Bonelli will oversee all financial operations, including finance and accounting; warehouse and materials; information technology; facilities; security; fleet management; and environmental health and safety.

Bonelli began his career with Comcast in the Western New England Region in 2007 as a financial analyst. He quickly progressed to manager and then director before being promoted to Senior Director of Finance in 2014. In 2016, Bonelli relocated to the Philadelphia area where he served as senior director of Finance for one of Comcast’s largest regions that serves Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey and oversaw a team of 60. Over the span of his tenure, his responsibilities included financial oversight and operational support for technical and engineering operations; call centers operations, sales and marketing operations; administrative and personnel administration; and fleet management.

“Dan has an outstanding background in finance and operations,” said Michael Parker, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Western New England Region. “His expertise in analysis, planning and execution make him the ideal leader to oversee our financial operations and we’re thrilled to welcome him back to Connecticut to join our regional leadership team.”

Bonelli graduated with a bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Central Connecticut State University.

Casting Crowns Set to Perform at the Big E

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Casting Crowns, an award-winning contemporary Christian Rock band, will perform at The Big E’s xfinity arena Sept. 16.

Made up of seven members, Casting Crowns holds the distinction of Billboard’s top selling act in Christian music with more than 11 million records sold worldwide. With their latest album, The Very Next Thing, Casting Crowns progresses in its journey to bring listeners closer to their faith.

Front man Mark Hall draws inspiration from real-life experiences. The local church is the heartbeat of the band and he maintains his more than 25-year role as the student pastor at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

All Casting Crowns band members remain active in ministry in the Atlanta, Ga., area and tour according to their local church commitments. Members include Megan Garrett, Josh Mix, Juan and Melodee DeVevo, Chris Huffman, and Brian Scoggin.

The Horace Smith Fund Awards $382,000 to Area Students

On June 21, The Horace Smith Fund held its 119^th Corporators’ Meeting and scholarship awards ceremony in the Carriage House at Storrowton Tavern for recipients, their parents and school counselors, and Corporators.

Wayne Webster, Chair of the Board of Trustees, announced that this year there were 30 Walter S. Barr Scholarship awards, with 25 given to graduating high school seniors and five given to recipients already attending college. The William R. Rooney Award was granted to one candidate who has had special needs. There were also six Walter S. Barr Fellowship recipients. Providing that students maintain at least a B average in college, each scholarship provides a total of $10,000 over four years and each fellowship provides $12,000 over three years. Therefore, The Horace Smith Fund is pleased to have granted a total award of $382,000 to area students this year.

The Horace Smith Fund was established in 1899 by the successful and generous philanthropist Horace Smith. He and Daniel Wesson were the founders of Smith & Wesson, located in Springfield. Smith’s will provided that the residual of his estate, after several bequests to relatives and institutions, was to be used for public purposes at the discretion of his executors. They decided that it should be used to help deserving students finance their education.

The Walter S. Barr Scholarships and Fellowships are named for a West Springfield businessman, whose widow left the bulk of the family estate to The Horace Smith Fund in 1950. The William R. Rooney Award is named for a past Executive Director with a desire to assist special needs students. All recipients must be residents of Hampden County.

The keynote speaker and dance performance artist was Jessica M. Baker of Southwick, a 2016 graduate of Point Park University and past recipient of the Walter S. Barr Scholarship.

Students were selected on a variety of criteria, including their test scores, class rank, extra-curricular activities, and a personal written account of why the student feels deserving of financial assistance. Applications for next year’s awards will be available Sept. 15 on-line at www.HoraceSmithFund.org or by calling (413) 739-4222.

Bradley Airport Enters Final Stages of Roadway Construction on Route 20

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) announced that the roadway construction at Bradley International Airport’s Route 20 entrance is approaching its final stages. During these next phases of construction, access to the airport from the Route 20 connector will not be interrupted, however, new traffic patterns will be put in place to allow for the completion of the construction.

“This is an exciting time at Bradley International Airport,” said CAA Executive Director Kevin A. Dillon, A.A.E. “We’re committed to taking the travel experience at the airport to the next level and that starts with the arrival at the airport. The new roadway will completely change the way travelers enter the airport, most importantly it will make access easier and safer. It will also bring us one step closer to the development of the Ground Transportation Center, which will be another major improvement for our travelers.”

The CAA began the construction of the new roadway system in June 2017. The project involves the realignment of Schoephoester Road along with a portion of the airport’s lower roadway system, as well as the construction of a modern roundabout. Ultimately, when construction is complete, these changes will provide a new entrance to the airport at the Route 20 access point.

The main feature of the new roadway system is the modern roundabout which is an effective tool to reducing vehicle speeds while maintaining high levels of traffic. The new roadway system will also result in the opening of a 19-acres site, which will be used for the future development of the airport’s Ground Transportation Center.

During these next phases of construction, and over the course of the next six months, there will be several changes to the traffic pattern in order to achieve the final roadway configuration. Construction signs and variable message boards will be present along the roadway to alert travelers to these changes. Information about the changes in traffic patterns will be available on the airport’s website, www.bradleyairport.com. Travelers are advised to plan ahead and allow extra time when coming to the airport during this time period.

The construction of the new entrance to the airport is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2018. The total cost of the project is approximately $11,000,000.

United Personnel Announces New Hires

SPRINGFIELD — United Personnel announced the expansion of its Connecticut-based team. Nancy Scirocco Nesbitt has joined the company as its new vice president of Business Development for the Connecticut region, while Brandon Houston, United Personnel’s new director of Client Services, is leading the expansion of the firm’s Information Technology Division.

Scirocco Nesbitt, most recently vice president for Government and Not-for-Profit Banking for Webster Bank, brings more than 20 years of management, client-support, and economic-development experience to her position with United. Past positions include vice president of at the Metro Hartford Alliance, adjunct professor at Central Connecticut State University, and contract administrator at Otis Elevator. She has an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut. She serves on the Governor’s Task Force for Abused Children and is a former board member of Internhere.com and the Special Olympics of Connecticut.

Houston has more than 10 years of human-resources experience, with a specialty in recruiting and placing software engineers, developers, architects, project managers, infrastructure, and security personnel. He most recently worked as a senior account manager for Prestige Staffing in Atlanta. Other prior positions include recruitment management roles at Latitude Inc. and Maxim Healthcare. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Tennessee and is involved with the Metro Hartford Alliance and HYPE.

“United Personnel is excited about the opportunity to expand our human-resources and recruiting services in the Connecticut marketplace,” said United Personnel President Tricia Canavan. “Nancy and Brandon will lead our innovation in recruitment and placement services, providing significant value to both our clients and candidates.”

PV Squared Honored for Positive Impact on Employees and World

GREENFIELD — PV Squared, a local solar company based in Greenfield, was recognized for creating the most positive impact for its workers and the world, based on an independent, comprehensive assessment administered by the nonprofit B Lab.

PV Squared is honored in the Best for Workers and Best for the World lists. The assessments measure a company’s impact on its workers, community, customers, and the environment.

The Best for Workers designation assesses the company’s relationship with its workforce and how it treats its workers through compensation, benefits, training, and ownership opportunities. The category also focuses on the overall work environment within the company by assessing management/worker communication, job flexibility, corporate culture, and worker health and safety practices. PV Squared made the list because it is a worker-owned cooperative that implements a collaborative and transparent decision-making process, and has created a safe environment for workers to share their ideas and beliefs.

“With the rise of anger at a system that feels rigged, people are hungry for companies like PV Squared, who are changing the system by building businesses that seek to create the greatest positive impact,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab. “Best for the World is the only list of businesses that uses comprehensive, comparable, third-party-validated data about a company’s social and environmental performance. As consumers, talent, and investors increasingly demand transparent, values-aligned businesses to buy from, work at, and invest in, companies will need to not just be the best in the world but the best for the world. Not just to be nice — but to be the most successful.”

Of PV Squared’s 44 employees, 24 are worker-owners. The company has provided renewable-energy solutions to residential and commercial clients in the Pioneer Valley and surrounding regions since 2002.

Hampden County Bar Assoc. Announces Scholarships

SPRINGFIELD — The Hampden County Bar Association (HCBA) announced the recipients of four scholarships for the 2018-19 academic year.

Andrew Berthiaume and Victoria Lyne, both students at Western New England University School of Law, have been awarded the John F. Moriarty Scholarship, which was established in 1985 to extend the standards of professional and personal excellence in the practice of law.

In addition, Patrick Greenhalgh, student at the University of Connecticut School of Law, and Symin Charpentier, student at Suffolk University, were awarded the Colonel Archer B. Battista Veterans Scholarship. The scholarship was established in memory of the late colonel and HCBA past president who dedicated his career to helping veterans. The scholarship was available to any veteran pursuing a legal degree.

Local Author Featured in Book on Lyme Disease

EAST LONGMEADOW — Local author and business owner Carleen Eve Fischer Hoffman is featured in the new book The Waiting Room: Invisible Voices of Lyme.

The book is a compilation of 27 real-life stories released to help raise Lyme disease awareness, to encourage sufferers to keep fighting, and to help caregivers and doctors understand how to better support those with Lyme disease. Compiled by author Vickie Gould, the book outlines the struggles that sufferers go through on a daily basis, and aims to raise awareness and understanding of the disease.

“It was difficult for me to write my story, and I was hesitant to release it for fear of what my family, friends, and colleagues would think — and, in fact, I had missed the deadline while contemplating my decision,” said Fischer Hoffmann, owner of the Clutter Doctor Inc. “But then I thought to myself, what if, by sharing my story, someone reading it got inspired to speak up and get help? Of course I would be happy with that.”

Added Gould, “it is our hope that this book will not just raise awareness for Lyme disease, but also give hope to those suffering. Suicide is a top killer of those suffering from Lyme disease, and part of the angst that goes along with it is the fact that many family and friends don’t believe in Lyme, as it’s an invisible disease. I want this book to help those who surround Lyme sufferers, including doctors, to believe, love, and support them so the suffering can end.”

The book is available for purchase on Amazon, and all profits will be donated to the Lyme documentary The Monster Inside Me.

Happier Valley Comedy Empowers Through Improv

By George O'Brien June 26, 2018

Cover Story

This Is a Laughing Matter

Pam Victor and Scott Braidman will soon open what they believe is the first improv club in Western Mass.

Pam Victor is official president and founder of Happier Valley Comedy, but she prefers the title ‘head of happiness.’ It’s effective, and she likes it, and as the founder, she said picking her title is one of the rewards of her job. The far bigger reward, though, is changing people’s lives — just as hers was changed — through improvisation.

Pam Victor refers to it affectionately as simply ‘the experiment,’ or, more formally, the ‘can-I-make-a-living-doing-what-I-love experiment.’

It was undertaken back in the summer of 2014, and the premise was pretty simple. Victor was going to see if she could make $16,000 a year — the poverty level for a family of two back then — through a business based on improvisation.

She was confident — well, sort of — that she would meet or surpass that threshold, but at the start, she was already thinking about the great blog post she would have if she didn’t.

“‘An artist can’t even break the poverty line,’ or something like that, is what I would have written,” Victor recalled, adding that she never had to submit that blog post, because she greatly exceeded her goal by teaching improvisation and using it to help professionals and others achieve any number of goals, including one she calls the ability to “disempower failure,” which we’ll hear more about later.

Today, that nonprofit business Victor started, called Happier Valley Comedy, continues to grow while carrying out a simple mission — “to bring laughter, joy, and ease to Western Massachusetts (and the world).”

It does this through three business divisions:

• Classes in improvisation. Victor started with one, and there are now eight a week, and there’s a waiting list for some of them;

• Comedy shows, such as the one on June 9 at the Northampton Center for the Arts, featuring the Ha-Has, the comedy group Victor started; and

• Personal and professional growth through use of improvisation, what the company calls its ‘Through Laughter’ program. Victor and her team visit companies, groups, and professional organizations and undertake exercises — usually highly interactive in nature — designed to help bolster everything from confidence levels to communication to team building.

It’s not what many people think of when they hear ‘improv’ — people taking to the podium and talking off the cuff (stand-up comedy) or even some of those other things people might conjure up; “we don’t cluck like chickens, and we don’t do ‘trust falls,’” said Victor. People do stand in circles, sometimes, and they do take part in exercises together.

Many of them are designed to address self-confidence and what has come to be known as the ‘impostor syndrome,’ said Victor, adding that this afflicts everyone, not just women, although they often seem especially vulnerable to it.

“I see it in my female colleagues, and I see it stop us from manifesting our successes because we talk ourselves out of success before we even have a chance to get into the ring,” she explained, referring specifically to the voice inside everyone that creates doubt and thoughts of inadequacy.

With its Through Laughter program, Happier Valley visits companies, groups, and organizations and undertakes exercises designed to boost everything from confidence levels to communication to team building.

“The improv exercises help us step into the unknown and step into possibilities,” she went on. “It’s a muscle that we can strengthen, and every time we do it, we strengthen that muscle.”

Meghan Lynch, a principal with the marketing group Six Point Creative, has become a big believer in improv. She was first introduced to it when Victor did a presentation at a women’s leadership group, and Lynch then arranged to have Happier Valley come to her company. There have been several workshops, and as employees are added, Lynch schedules what are known as ‘improv workout sessions.’ Six Point even hires Happier Valley to do improv sessions as the company onboards new clients “to start the relationship off with some momentum,” as she put it.

All three divisions of this business — and the venture as a whole — are set to be taken to a much higher level with the opening of what Victor is sure is the first improv club in Western Mass.

Currently, it has another name — the “dirty vanilla box.” That’s how Victor and business partner Scott Braidman, who takes the twin titles general manager and artistic director, refer to the 1,300-square-foot space being built out at the Mill Valley Commons on Route 9 in Hadley.

There, in a retail center that Victor and Braidman have nicknamed the ‘Play Plaza’ — there’s also a tavern, an Irish dance center, a kung fu studio, and an outfit that grows coral at that location — the partners are outfitting space into classrooms and a performing area with 70 seats.

“This is the answer to a dream, really,” said Braidman as he walked within the space, noting that this will be the first improv club in Massachusetts outside of Boston, and it will enable him to meet a long-time goal of doing essentially what Victor has been doing — making improv a career.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked with Victor and Braidman about their venture, which is, indeed, a laughing matter — and also a very unique enterprise that is changing businesses, and changing lives, through improvisation.

Getting into the Act

As one might expect, Victor, who takes the title ‘head of happiness,’ uses humor early and often to communicate her points.

Consider this response to the question about why she believes her improvisation classes have caught on to the point where there is that waiting list.

“It’s cheaper than therapy,” she deadpanned, adding quickly that, in many ways, that’s not a joke. Her classes — $22 to $25 for each of eight classes — are much, much cheaper than therapy. And from what she’s gathered, they are just as effective, as we’ll see.

Three years or so later with those classes and the other divisions within Happier Valley Comedy, the experiment is more or less ancient history. The matters at hand now are building out that dirty vanilla box and substantially updating the business plan to reflect everything this facility can do for this nonprofit venture.

Before looking ahead, though, to tell this story right, we first need to look back — about 15 years or so, to be exact.

That’s when the clouds parted, as Victor put it in a piece she wrote about her venture for Innovate 413, and “the Great Goddess of Improv locked me in a fierce tractor beam with songs of love and connection.”

Thus began what can be called a career in improv. But things developed very slowly after that.

Victor took one leap of faith, as she called it, when she founded an improv troupe that played mostly in libraries as fundraisers. And she took another one in 2012 when she summoned the courage to spend five weeks in Chicago studying at the mecca of longform improv, the iO Theater.

She took a third leap, perhaps the biggest, a few years later, when, after the son she had homeschooled for 10 years went off to college, she waged that aforementioned experiment.

“I tried everything,” Victor said when recalling the early days and her efforts to promote improv and its many benefits. “Classes, writing about it, doing corporate-training workshops, speeches — anything I could do, I tried. And sure enough, it worked out.”

By that, she meant that after six months, not a year, she had passed that $16,000 threshold and, more importantly, had gained the confidence to launch a business, officially a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, that would be called Happier Valley Comedy.

“It was one of those experiences where not thinking about the impossibility of it was quite advantageous,” said Victor, using more humor as she put into perspective the experience of launching a business based on improv in a region that was essentially an improv desert. “Ignorance is power in some ways.”

In the beginning, she started with one set of classes — titled “The Zen of Improv” — and doubts about just how many there could eventually be.

“I thought I had run out of the number of people who were interested in taking improvisation in the Pioneer Valley — those 12 people,” she said, adding that some of those original students signed up for more, and, to her surprise, there were many more people willing to take seats than she imagined.

Why? Maybe because it is cheaper than therapy, she told BusinessWest, adding that few of her students actually want to perform improv. They sign up because the sessions are fun and they give participants a chance to experience what Victor calls “the true meaning of community.”

“People seem to find that the classes have a great deal of impact outside of the classroom as well,” she explained. “People regularly tell me that improv has changed their life, and that’s a good feeling. It’s a fantastic community of people, and you get to make a whole bunch of new friends, which is rare as an adult.

“Improv is a team sport,” she went on. “We’re seeking joy, we’re seeking ease, and we’re also seeking how to make our scene partners look good; people learn how to be of service to each other and to the moment, so there’s a lot of mindfulness to it as well.”

As Victor and her team would discover, these improv classes were not only popular and effective, but demographically unique within the improv world in that they were and still are dominated by middle-aged professional women and not the younger men that are the norm.

“We’re the unicorn of improv, or Wonder Woman’s island,” said Victor, adding that she’s not really sure why her classes take on this demographic shape, but she’s clearly proud and quite happy that she doesn’t have the problem most other improv groups have — attracting women.

She would, however, like to attract more men … but that’s another story.

Grin and Bear It

As for the Through Laughter division of the company, it has also enjoyed steady growth, said Victor, adding that Happier Valley Comedy uses improv within that broad realm of personal and professional development to improve people’s lives at home and in the workplace.

And this aspect of her business takes on a number of forms, she said, citing, as just one example, an interactive presentation she’s done with groups such as the Women Business Owners Alliance called “Meet Your Evil Eye Meanie: How the Voice of Unhelpful Judgment Is Getting in Your Way.”

It uses improv exercises and humorous stories to help women identify and disempower their fear-based internal critical voice in order for them better manifest their professional dreams.

“As my comedy hero Tina Fey says, ‘confidence is 10% hard work and 90% delusion,” she noted. “The primary focus of my job is to help people quiet their voices of unhelpful judgment and get to the ‘delusion’ that leads to success.”

And with that, she again referenced the ‘impostor syndrome.’ In her efforts to help people address it, Victor has actually put a name to the problem, or at least to the voice inside people that causes all the trouble.

Pam Victor says improv is cheaper than therapy — and arguably a lot more fun.

“We call him ‘Calvin’ — that’s a random name; that’s the voice inside our head that is our evil critic. It’s the voice that’s constantly in our head conjugating ‘to suck’ — as in ‘I suck at this,’ or ‘you suck at this’ — it’s that super-judgmental voice,” she said, referring to things people say to themselves, out loud or under their breath.

“I teach people that voice is a liar,” she went on. “And by naming it, that helps to disempower it a little bit or make it a little more manageable, because that voice is never going to go away — that’s human nature; that’s who we are. But we can use some techniques for quieting it.”

These are improv exercises, she went on, adding that they are designed to address that impostor syndrome and the accompanying fears and doubts and be that team sport she described earlier.

She’s putting together another presentation, a workshop she’s titled “F*ck Your Fear and Trust Your Truth,” a name that speaks volumes about what she wants attendees to do — not just that day, but for the rest of their careers and the rest of their lives.

This is a part of a subcategory within the Through Laughter division devoted to personal growth and female empowerment, she explained, adding that this workshop is being designed to help women use the skills associated with improv to enable them to quiet their judgmental voices and their inner critic so they amplify their truth and speak their mind.

“This will hopefully help women on all fronts, from their personal life to their professional life,” she noted. “Women in leadership roles can hopefully get better at speaking up for themselves and being heard, even women eyeing political positions — they’re calling this ‘the Year of the Woman.’”

Lynch told BusinessWest that the use of improv has been beneficial to Six Point on many levels. It has given employees there a common vocabulary, she said, including the now-common use of the word ‘triangles.’

Explaining it is quite complicated, said both Lynch and Victor, but a triangle essentially describes a relationship between a group of people, especially employees. There are several triangles within a company, and the actions of a specific employee could impact several such relationships. The goal of triangle-related exercises is to make individuals understand how their movements impact such relationships.

“We’ll often start conversations now with ‘let me tell you about my triangles — these are the pressures I’m experiencing — you tell me about yours, and how do we work together to solve this problem?’” said Lynch. “And it’s been a game changer in terms of creating trust and open communication around those, and that’s just one example of adopting that vocabulary into our day-to-day lives in a way that improves communication.”

Both Victor and Braidman believe Happier Valley will be able to introduce more people to the notion of triangles — and many easier-to-comprehend concepts as well — as they build out that vanilla box into an improv club.

The two had been looking for a site for some time, said Braidman, adding that the nonprofit got a huge boost from the most recent Valley Gives program — $26,000, to be exact — that made creation of this new facility possible.

The location is centrally located, he went on — halfway between Amherst and Northampton and on busy Route 9 — and the space is large enough and flexible enough to host classes, performances, workshops, and more.

If all goes according to plan, he said, classes should start there in late June, and Happier Valley comedy shows will commence in August.

Passion Play

Victor told BusinessWest that Braidman will often give her some good-natured grief about her unofficial titles at Happier Valley Comedy and those assigned to other people as well. ‘Head of happiness’ is just one of hers. “Laugh leader’ is another used on occasion, and there are still others that come into play.

“I have my own business, so I get to make up my own titles,” she explained, adding that this is just one of the perks that comes from conducting that experiment, succeeding with it, and, indeed, making a business doing something she loves.

The bigger perk is changing lives, just as hers was changed, through improvisation.

It’s a reward that takes her well above the poverty line, in every way you can imagine.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Free Speech in the Workplace Can Be a Thorny Topic

By Joseph Bednar June 26, 2018

Employment

Shades of Gray

Recent high-profile issues around free speech in the workplace — from the NFL’s new national-anthem policy to ABC’s blackballing of Roseanne Barr — have elicited much debate in the public square, with the point often made that private-sector employees have no right to free expression. But that’s not exactly true — or, at least, it’s not as black-and-white as some might believe. That fact creates uncertainty for employers, who must balance their own interests with their employees’ very human desire to speak their mind.

When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, backed by 31 of 32 owners, announced a new national-anthem policy last month, they hoped it would quell an issue that seemed to be dying down on its own.

They were wrong, to judge by the wave of debate — in the media, online, and among players — that followed, and promises to bleed into the 2018 season. Even President Trump, whom the NFL hoped to placate with the new policy, only intensified his tweeted attacks on players and teams — a tactic he knows plays well to his base.

The new policy removes the existing requirement that players be on the field during the playing of the national anthem, but does require that players who are on the field must stand, and authorizes the NFL to fine teams whose players violate this policy. Supporters of forcing players on the field to stand have repeatedly argued — in internet comment boards and elsewhere — that private employees have no free-speech rights in the workplace.

But is that true?

To a significant degree, it is, area employment lawyers say, but the issue is far more gray than the black-and-white terms on which it’s often debated.

“Obviously, the Bill of Rights is a constraint on government action; clearly, the First Amendment doesn’t restrict what a private-sector employer can do or not do” when it comes to establishing workplace rules, said Timothy Murphy, an attorney with Skoler, Abbott & Presser. “And, if you think about it, the vast majority of employees work in the private sector and are at will, and can be terminated for any reason, as long as it’s not illegal.”

However, he went on, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), employees are generally protected when speaking out on issues that impact the workplace. In other words, companies can’t just fire an employer over anything he or she says on social media, even criticism of the company itself — particularly if that criticism specifically targets an employee policy or the workplace environment. In fact, the NLRB has likened such talk to water-cooler chatter, only in a more public forum.

Tim Murphy says private-sector workers have far fewer free-speech rights than public-sector workers — but that doesn’t mean they have no rights.

“If you’re taking a knee because you’re concerned about police brutality, are you making a statement on an issue of mutual concern that impacts your workplace?” Murphy asked. “The NLRB does tend to take a broad view of what impacts your workplace. Would something like that be viewed as protected speech under the NLRB? I don’t know.”

Because the NFL’s anthem-policy changes were not collectively bargained with its unionized workforce, they may be susceptible to legal challenge, notes Michael McCann, a sports-law expert who writes for Sports Illustrated. But, intriguingly, free expression of this kind may find even more protection now than before, if a player chooses to file a complaint, because he could argue that kneeling is also a protest against an onerous, hastily implemented workplace policy.

“Players could argue that such a change will impact their wages, hours, and other conditions of employment,” McCann notes. “To that end, a player could insist that, while the new policy does not lead to direct league punishments of players, it nonetheless adversely affects the employment of players who do protest in ways that violate the new policy.”

It’s just one example of many of the ways in which free speech in the workplace is an amorphous beast, pulling in competing issues of discrimination, harassment, and other labor laws.

“That’s why people like me have jobs. The law provides a lot of areas for employers to get in trouble doing things that seem like common sense,” said Daniel Carr, an attorney with Royal, P.C. “It’s entirely reasonable for employers to think employees being critical of them at work are guilty of some egregious conduct, but they may not realize that criticism does contain some protected rights.”

Power to the People

Because the NLRB has established a bit of a record on this front, the issue of speaking out against an employer on social media is a bit clearer right now than other, related situations.

“Generally, if the speech is oriented toward addressing some workplace condition or benefit, if it’s targeted toward concerted activity for the mutual benefit of workers, that can have the largest amount of protection,” Carr said. “But it’s sometimes unclear where the lines are. If you say, ‘company X is awful,’ well, how are they awful? Do they treat their employees badly? That might be protected.”

Daniel Carr says employees generally have the right to speak out about work conditions, but it’s sometimes unclear where the lines are.

Even without specifics, he went on, the NLRB has often come down on the side of employees, he noted. For example, saying “the products they sell are terrible” might be protected if someone works on commission, and the product really is terrible, so they don’t sell a lot of them.

“My thinking is, if you work for company X, you couldn’t go online and say, ‘do business with company Y.’ That crosses a line,” he added. “But the NLRB does have a lot of protections for employees criticizing their own companies, and even moreso if the criticism is based on the way employees are treated, or other conditions of employment.”

What to make, then, of the NLRB’s statement in January that Google didn’t violate labor laws last summer when it fired engineer James Damore? He was terminated after distributing a memo criticizing the company’s diversity program.

He filed a complaint, and Jayme Sophir, associate general counsel with the NLRB, concluded that, while some parts of Damore’s memo were legally protected by workplace regulations, “the statements regarding biological differences between the sexes were so harmful, discriminatory, and disruptive as to be unprotected.”

Sophir made it clear that, in this case, an employer’s right to enforce anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies permits it to restrict the kinds of speech that could lead to a hostile workplace.

“Where an employee’s conduct significantly disrupts work processes, creates a hostile work environment, or constitutes racial or sexual discrimination or harassment,” she noted, “the board has found it unprotected even if it involves concerted activities regarding working conditions.”

Indeed, Carr noted, as one example, employers are expected to grant accommodations for religious expression — certain dress codes, or short breaks for prayer — but not necessary for proselytizing to co-workers.

“There’s a lot of gray area where somebody’s religious beliefs may conflict with somebody else’s protected rights,” he said. “For example, if you have a religious belief against gay marriage, you don’t necessarily have the right to advocate for that in the workplace, where you might potentially discriminate against a gay employee. There are a few areas of anti-discrimination law where one person’s right conflicts with another person’s.”

Even clearer are employers’ rights when it comes to online speech by employees that has nothing to do with work conditions but theatens to cause the company embarrassment or reputational harm — such as ABC shutting down its hit show Roseanne last month after its namesake star, Roseanne Barr, fired off a racist tweet comparing Valerie Jarrett, a prominent African-American woman, to an ape.

Barr’s case is muddled by the fact that the public doesn’t know what stipulations she might have agreed to in her contract — and, considering her past tendencies to be controversial, such stipulations would probably be a wise move by the network.

“That certainly deals with a private employer’s ability to sanction speech it doesn’t agree with,” Murphy noted, adding that employers have much more to worry about in this realm than it did a decade or more ago. “These days, reputational damage can go viral at the drop of a hat, and employers want to be able to act to protect their brands.”

To measure the speed at which this can happen, look no further than the Justine Sacco debacle of 2013. A senior corporate communications director for IAC, an international media firm, she began tweeting travel-related jokes from Heathrow Airport while waiting to board a flight from London to South Africa. The last one was a joke intended ironically: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Then she turned off her phone. By the time she turned it back on in Cape Town, she was famous.

Although Sacco had only 170 Twitter followers, tens of thousands of angry responses to her ‘joke’ flooded Twitter, and she even became a trending hashtag, #HasJustineLandedYet — all in the space of a few hours. By day’s end, IAC had fired her. She’s certainly not the only employee to run afoul of an employer’s right to protect its brand through such a termination; Barr is just the latest in a long string of cases.

Public or Private?

It’s clear, Carr said, that private-sector employees need to be more careful about what they say than government employees, who do have greater protections.

“It is true that the First Amendment does not apply to private actors; there has to be a government actor. And there’s even some gray area in terms of what is and what is not a private employer,” he said, citing, for example, the example of a private contractor working on a government project.

“It gets tricky because these free-speech kinds of issues are often less about free speech and the First Amendment and more about labor law,” he said, citing, as one example, anti-discrimination laws that protect employees against being fired for religious reasons. “You don’t have an unfettered right to political speech in a private workplace, but there may be some overlapping and intermingling of, say, political speech with protected speech.”

For example, he noted, “the policies that political figures make do often affect the workplace, and insofar as employees have a right to engage in concerted activity, that can become a gray area. For example, somebody is advocating for a candidate that is proposing to pass anti-union legislation, then you’re clearly intermingling political speech with issues of labor law.”

Murphy noted that these issues tend to proliferate around election time, and employers often handle them on an ad hoc basis as they arise. “Employers want a civil workplace, but they don’t want to seem like heavy-handed censors. I’ve never seen a policy that deals with talking politics or the issues of the day at work; in general, employers say, ‘for everybody’s sanity, let’s try not to ratchet this up too much.’ Because these issues reflect society, and there can be a lot of hard feelings.”

On the matter of off-duty speech, on the other hand, employers are often taken aback by what the law and NLRB rulings actually say, Murphy said. “Is off-duty misconduct something employers have a right to weigh in on or sanction? Most employers say, ‘yes, we do, if it impacts our reputation or customers.’”

Some wrinkles of labor law have decades of case guidance behind them, Carr noted, while others are fairly new — social media being a prime example. “As each successive change in the law occurs, there’s a huge lag in getting guidance from judges. And for every law that’s passed, it’s impossible for us to predict all the possible eventualities. That’s what the judicial system is for — to interpret the law and define those edges.”

That said, he added, there has been a feeling in the legal world that the NLRB under the current administration may be amenable to clawing back some of the speech protections it originally granted employees.

“The pendulum is swinging back a little bit,” Murphy agreed. “They’re actually looking anew at some of those decisions and rules about employers’ handbooks and social-media policies. Generally, under the NLRB, you can speak out about matters of mutual concern among employees. But that’s fluid.”

At the end of the day, he went on, employers simply want a productive workforce and resist anything that might stir the pot, whether it’s a peaceful demonstration in favor of racial justice, an unhinged tweet that promotes racial strife, or something in between.

“There are people who say we’ve become less tolerant as a society and we’re not respectful enough of opposing viewpoints. They say, ‘get out of the bunker and listen to your employees; you don’t necessarily need to be censors,’” Murphy said. “But an employer’s primary responsibility is to protect that business and brand. That’s what they’re up against.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Picture This

Picture This

Email ‘Picture This’ photos with a caption and contact information to [email protected]

Xtraordinary Efforts

Berkshire Bank closed all locations early on June 5 for its third annual Xtraordinary Day, which provides employees the opportunity to volunteer in communities the bank and its affiliates serve. This year’s Xtraordinary Day included almost 90 community projects with 92% of employees participating, contributing more than 7,000 hours of service. In Berkshire County, projects include a Habitat for Humanity multi-site build in partnership with Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity; assembling of teacher-appreciation kits at Farmington River Elementary; landscaping and painting with Hillcrest Educational Centers; and cleanups with Housatonic River Walk, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, Boys & Girls Club of the Berkshires’ Camp Russell, and the West Stockbridge Historical Society.
In the Pioneer Valley, projects include:

Tree planting and park improvements with ReGreen Springfield

Gift wrapping at Birthday Wishes

Painting and landscaping at Lupa Zoo, Amelia Park Children’s Museum, Girls Club of Greenfield, and YMCA of Springfield; painting the West Springfield Boys & Girls Club; and shelving books and landscaping at the Westfield Anthaneum

Taste of Things to Come

The Boston Foundation recently awarded Holyoke Community College the 2018 Deval Patrick Prize for Community Colleges for expanding its culinary-arts and hospitality programs to address industry needs, and for the partnerships the college put together to construct the new HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute in Holyoke’s Innovation District. First awarded in 2015, the Deval Patrick Prize recognizes community colleges that do an outstanding job partnering with employers to build effective career pathways for their students. Part of the $50,000 prize money is allocated for a free line-cook training program for experienced kitchen workers that started on June 4. Pictured below: faculty and staff stand on the second-floor landing of the new HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute. At bottom: Culinary Arts lab tech and HCC alumnus Tyler Carrier prepares mussels for a lunch event during the spring 2018 semester.

faculty and staff stand on the second-floor landing of the new HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute

Culinary Arts lab tech and HCC alumnus Tyler Carrier prepares mussels for a lunch event during the spring 2018 semester

Community Spirit

Community Bank N.A. team members from the Springfield branch recently participated in Bowl for Kids’ Sake, an annual bowling event that raises funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden County. The branch donated $2,500 in scholarships for the organization, contributing to a grand total of more than $40,000 in proceeds raised during the 2018 event. “Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden County provides premier services in one-on-one mentoring that really makes a difference in a child’s life,” Community Bank N.A. Vice President, Commercial Banking Officer Michael Buckmaster said. “Our Springfield team is proud to support the organization and help them continue to make a significant impact in our community.”

Pictured, from left: Diane Dunkerley, Michael Buckmaster, and Keith Nesbitt, commercial banking officers; Jackie Guenette, branch manager; and Natasha Miranda, customer service representative

Click Workspace Aims to Make an Economic and Cultural Impact

By Joseph Bednar June 26, 2018

Creative Economy

Art and Commerce

Mary Yun on the ground floor of Click Workspace’s Market Street location.

Co-working spaces — offices where members share physical work areas and office technology and supplies — have become an increasingly popular model for small, particularly solo, businesses in the region. Mary Yun, executive director of Click Workspace in Northampton, had a broader vision, helping to grow a center that brings economic energy to the city, but also builds on its cultural vibrancy through the arts. A rapidly growing roster of members testifies to the success of that vision.

Mary Yun remembers the days when fax machines were considered modern technology, and so much that has happened since — from e-mail to social media to 24-hour, mobile access to limitless information — has only served to make it easier for people to work pretty much anywhere.

“Remember telecommuting? Everyone was like, ‘that’s amazing; I can work in my pajamas.’ Everyone thought it was great,” said Yun, executive director of Click Workspace in Northampton. “But the further and further technologically advanced we get, the less human contact we have.

“That’s why co-working spaces have become so popular, because people need that,” she went on. “The more technologically advanced we get, the more we need spaces like this for people to physically gather, whether it’s for work or for other reasons.”

Yung has been a key figure in the dramatic expansion of Click, which launched in a 1,000-square-foot facility behind Sylvester’s restaurant back in 2011. An architect by trade, she created Market9.5, LLC in 2012 so she could purchase and develop a 9,000-square-foot building at 9 1/2 Market St., which Click has called home for the past two years.

Remember telecommuting? Everyone was like, ‘that’s amazing; I can work in my pajamas.’ Everyone thought it was great. But the further and further technologically advanced we get, the less human contact we have.”

“We have such a wide range of professionals here, from people who are sole proprietors, like myself, to people who work as consultants to firms in other parts of the United States and the world,” she added, referring to Click’s 98 members, soon to be 100 with two pending additions. “Then we have people of all different age groups. Right now, we have a huge amount of members with small children.”

Those tend to disperse around 4 p.m. each day, she noted, while others may work well into the night; Click is a 24-hour operation.

But why bother being a member at all, with modern communication turning any home into an office? There are a few reasons, said Sofia Nardi, Click’s member advocate.

“A lot of people don’t find themselves productive at home,” she told BusinessWest. “They see laundry, start to do laundry, and stop working. Or their TV is there. A lot of people feel that a shared space is more conducive to working. When you see other people working, you get to work.

Click has cultural force through its promotion of the arts.

Click has become not just a home to small businesses, but a cultural force through its promotion of the arts.

“The second reason,” she went on, “is that a lot of remote workers are looking for a community and looking for co-workers to talk to during the day, even if they don’t interact with them on a daily basis.”

The basic concept behind co-working is simple. It’s a workspace where people can share a table or an office; access fast Internet service and shared resources like a copier, conference rooms, and audio-visual equipment; and make the kinds of connections that inspire further growth and success.

Yun had a broader vision, however, when she came on board — one centered around the arts as an economic driver.

“When Click was founded, it was mostly geared toward entrepreneurs. I knew a couple of the founding members, and they came to me and said, ‘help us grow.’ And this building was on the market, so I said, ‘this is a perfect location. We want to stay downtown,’” she recalled.

“I also said, ‘I want to rebrand Click. I want to open it up not just for entrepreneurship but for all kinds of professionals, a broader group of users. But the bigger thing is that the rebranding involved the ability to do cultural events and welcome the community in.”

That has proved to be a critical factor in Click’s growth, simply by using the arts — gallery shows, music performances, literary events, and the like — to emphasize Northampton’s cultural heritage while exposing new faces to Click’s eclectic space.

For this issue’s focus on the creative economy, BusinessWest visits one of the Valley’s many burgeoning co-working centers to explore why it has grown so quickly in recent years, and why the shared-workspace model is so appealing to the area’s business people who plant roots there.

Out of the Ghetto

Click’s co-founders — Ali Usman, Lisa Papademetriou, and Rocco Falcone — drew inspiration from much larger projects such as the Cambridge Innovation Center and the Innovation Pavilion in Colorado, which Usman also founded. Their original space included a main room with several tables and three small offices, and growth was definitely limited.

That led to some healthy connections between members, Yun said; in fact, they couldn’t be avoided.

“That happened very easily because it was packed,” she said. “It was like a ghetto; everyone was forced to interact. We had people packed in, four to a table, working away, and you knew everyone’s business.”

Looking across Click’s main room during BusinessWest’s visit, as about a dozen members quietly worked, heads in their laptops, she noted that density has certainly decreased, which has its pros and cons.

“When we moved here two years ago, all of a sudden it was like living in the suburbs. Like, you know who lives in that house, but you don’t have to deal with them,” she said by way of analogy. “As we start our third year in this space. I’m hoping we grow in density in the open office space so that we’re an urban community — but not a ghetto. And with our open office-space membership growing, we’ll see more of that happening. The analogy of urbanism is really the best thing to describe what we’re going through as we grow into this space.”

In designing the four-story facility — with its blend of shared workspaces, private offices, and shared offices, with membership options starting at $195 per month and rising from there, depending on how much space and privacy is desired — Yun said it was important to create a place where people would want to gather, and she feels the former antique store on Market Street accomplishes that goal.

“It’s very comfortable, very intimate. We’ve tried to keep the charm of this building, which was built in the ’20s as a warehouse facility. Since then, it’s gone through various changes,” she said, pointing out the glass-walled offices designed to take advantage of the natural light from Click’s storefront.

Sofia Nardi stands in front of the wall of company logos greeting visitors at Click’s entrance.

Nardi explained that the building is locked to outsiders, and members can give visitors a guest code to get in. Several conference rooms of different sizes are available to members for three hours at a time (longer for a small fee), and everyone has access to the shared office equipment, the basement kitchen and lounge, a shower for those who bike to work or visit a gym on the way in, and even a small room with greenscreen paint on the walls for video production.

Meanwhile, members access perks like reduced-rate gym memberships, hotel stays, and airport parking, to name a few, through area partnerships Click has forged, and member events throughout the month range from ‘Chew,’ a community lunch, to weekly yoga sessions to monthly happy hours, explained Nardi, whose roles at Click since coming on board in January include managing administrative functions, accounting, office operations, purchasing, and troubleshooting routine problems with equipment and maintenance, as well as serving as the first point of contact for all inquiries and visitors.

Art of the Matter

But what really has Yun and Nardi excited is the range of activities aimed at bringing in visitors. The space can be rented out for recitals, team-building exercises, and corporate parties, and Click maintains a steady flow of art displays through Arts Night Out events as well as music performances, with much of the ticket and art sales directly benefiting the artist.

“The first floor doubles as event space,” Nardi said. “It’s about getting people into this space and experiencing art and culture in Northampton.”

Yun said the space was designed specifically to facilitate such events.

“When we do art openings for Arts Night Out, we’ll have a guy come in to play the piano, and people walk in, and they’re surprised. It’s something you don’t necessarily expect.”

In addition, she noted, “because we have the rotating art, members that normally would not look at art are looking at art. That was one of my personal missions: trying to get more integration of culture, arts, and music into everyday life for everybody. Because it’s really disappearing.”

She explained that, when she moved to Northampton about 18 years ago, there were more small, “pocket” venues where people gathered to listen to live music. “Now it’s gotten a little more gentrified in Northampton, and those little spaces have kind of disappeared. So, having seen the evolution of that, it’s like, ‘oh my God, I don’t want Northampton to become just another New England tourist town.’”

Avoiding that fate, she said, requires a combination of professionals working downtown, not on the city’s fringes, and creating more vibrancy after hours through cultural events.

“People need that human interaction,” Yun said. “When people come for events, the first time they’re here, they’re like, ‘wow, this is amazing,’ and they might not even see it as a co-working space, since we move all this furniture out.” But when they do realize what the building has to offer an entrepreneur or creative professional, they may return during the day, asking about membership.

“I think what sets us apart from some of the other co-working spaces is that we really do have a mission to become embedded in this community,” she said, noting that renting out the conference rooms to area organizations is another way of bringing people inside. When they do, she noted, they’re immediately met by a wall of names and logos of member businesses, prominently displayed at the entrance.

“That’s the first thing they see because that’s what it’s all about. It’s a great physical space, but it’s really about the community of memberships we have,” Yun said. “If you want to keep Northampton downtown viable for anything, so that it just doesn’t become just another tourist town, you have to keep businesses here. There are towns like Northampton around, but it’s a challenge.

Part of the Whole

Click is a nonprofit organization, Yun said, but more importantly, it’s a collective and a place where professionals can collaborate — or, echoing Nardi’s observation, just hunker down in a place more conducive to working than beside the TV or a load of dirty laundry.

“If you have a membership here, you’re part of this whole community of Click, and you share all the resources. It’s totally convenient,” Yun said. “Plus, you can open a business and put all your energy into growing the business and not have to worry about the facilities. When you’re starting out, who can afford to have all the equipment, all those startup costs?”

Click has made forays into presenting professional-development events, but Yun admitted it’s more difficult these days to draw attendees, since so much information about … well, everything, really, is readily available online. “The best thing that happens here professional-development-wise is members making connections.”

Two years into the new space, Yun is glad she took on the challenge of converting an old building downtown into a bright, modern space — complete with fiber-optic service, a totally new HVAC system, and other amenities — that today’s professionals, whether remote workers, sole proprietors, or road warriors in need of a home base, can feel comfortable working in.

There’s a reason, she said, that co-working spaces — from Colab Design in Easthampton to the Writer’s Mill in Florence; from AmherstWorks to CoWork Springfield — have been popping up across the region, and succeeding. To many, that model simply makes more sense than working alone.

“We don’t compete with them,” Yun told BusinessWest. “We just make ours the best we can.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

After Eight-year Struggle, Hillside Residence Becomes Reality

By George O'Brien June 26, 2018

Business of Aging

The Dream and the Journey

Officials take up ceremonial shovels during the groundbreaking for Hillside Residence on May 18.

During their long and sometimes frustrating quest to secure funding for what would eventually be Hillside Residence, the Sisters of Providence never stopped believing the project’s model — blending healthcare and affordable senior housing — was worth fighting for. Now that the development is under way, they are even firmer in that conviction.

As she talked about the long and persistently frustrating quest to secure funding for the project that would come to be called Hillside Residence, Sister Kathleen Popko summed things up by recalling sentiments she expressed at the time — words that blended diplomacy, poignancy, and even a little sarcasm.

“I would tell people, ‘though our progress is slow … I’m making a lot of friends locally, regionally, and nationally,’” she recalled, with a phrase that hinted broadly at how many doors, in a proverbial sense, were knocked on by the Sisters of Providence, which Popko leads as president, as they sought to take a dream off the drawing board.

And also at how important it was to be making those friends.

Indeed, while making all those introductions, Sr. Popko and the other Sisters of Providence were gaining even more resolve as well. And it stemmed from the firm conviction that their unique model for Hillside Residence — the intersection of healthcare and affordable elder housing, if you will — was worth fighting for.

And fight they did, for the better part of eight years, a struggle that was ultimately successful and celebrated, as much as the project itself was, at an elabotate groundbreaking ceremony on May 18.

Fittingly, Sr. Popko, during her turn at the podium that morning, borrowed from St. Francis of Assisi to convey what it took to make that moment a reality.

“The journey is essential to the dream,” she said, invoking St. Francis’s famous quote. “With hindsight, I can see the truth and wisdom in that statement. Our eight-year journey to this moment expanded and sharpened our vision, tested our determination, enlarged our circle of friends, and committed supporters to this initiative. Let us work now to realize the dream.”

That dream, as noted, is to bring innovative, health-integrated, affordable elder housing to a region, and a city (West Springfield) where there is an acknowledged need for it, said Popko.

Elaborating, she said Hillside Residence, a demonstration project, will create 36 affordable rental units to frail elders, who will receive healthcare services from the Mercy LIFE PACE program (program for all-inclusive care for the elderly). Both programs are situated on the same 27-acre campus that was formerly home to Brightside for Families and Children.

And the expectation is that this $10 million project will demonstrate that this is an effective model for bringing needed services to what has historically been an underserved segment of the population, she told BusinessWest, adding that there have attempts to create affordable senior housing, but not in the same, holistic environment that Hillside Residence will create.

“This is innovative in that it will keep frail elders independent,” she explained. “They’ll live in an independent-living facility, but they’ll be supported in a way, on the same campus, that they can access a tremendous array of services and at the same time go home and live independently.”

For this issue, BusinessWest looks at both the dream and the journey that made Hillside Residence a reality — and why both are worth celebrating.

The Big Picture

When Brightside’s closing was announced in 2009, it left the Sisters of Providence with what amounted to a 27-acre canvas that could be filled in any number of ways, said Sr. Popko.

An architect’s rendering of Hillside Residence.

What made the most sense, she said, was to use the land and existing buildings, part of what’s known collectively as the Hillside at Providence, to help create a broad array of senior-living and senior-care facilities that would complement each other and meet recognized needs within the community.

This was a process that actually started with the conversion of the former Sisters of Providence Mother House into an independent-living and retirement community known as Providence Place in 1999, and it continued with the creation of Mary’s Meadow at Providence, a complex on the Providence Place campus comprised of 10-person houses designed to give elders a place to live in comfort equal to that of a private home. This was the first ‘small-home’ facility, as they have come to be called, in the Bay State.

The process of filling in the canvas at Brightside was accelerated with the creation of Mercy LIFE, a PACE program operated by Mercy Medical Center that provides tightly coordinated care and support designed to help seniors continue to live safely at home and avoid moving into a nursing home, she said.

The 25,000-square-foot facility, located within what was the main administration building for Brightside, includes everything from a medical clinic to a rehab gym to gathering places.

Meanwhile, the remainder of that 78,000-square-foot administration building has been devoted to reuses ranging from hospice care to a home for elder-focused programs administered by the Center for Human Development.

What emerged as a missing piece in the puzzle — and the next dream for the Sisters of Providence — was an affordable senior-living facility, one where the residents could take full advantage of the many programs and services at Mercy LIFE.

Talks for such a facility — and thus that ‘journey’ Sr. Popko described — began in 2011, she said, adding that it took the better of eight years (and work with four different mayors of West Springfield) to secure everything from the proper zoning to the needed funding.

And the latter part of the equation became more difficult when, in 2012, HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, ceased funding for so-called ‘Section 202’ projects, those aimed at expanding the supply of affordable housing with supportive services for the elderly.

“So we had to take a step back and try to look for alternative sources of funding,” said Sr. Popko. “That included private sources and looking at federal grants and so forth.

“And they really weren’t forthcoming at the time,” she went on. “We visited many legislators and congressmen, and we brought in experts to come in and talk about some other concepts we were thinking about. We had people come out here, we visited state offices … we talked to so many people.”

State Elder Affairs Secretary Alice Bonner addresses those assembled at the May 18 groundbreaking for Hillside Residence.

Like she said, progress was slow, but she and others were making acquaintances.

“Everybody was very encouraging — they kept saying, ‘go ahead, yes, do this,’” she recalled, adding that the words of encouragement were not backed up with checks.

But the sisters pressed on. They succeeded in getting the property rezoned, and eventually started making progress on funding, thanks in part to a timely visit to Mary’s Meadow by state Elder Affairs Secretary Alice Bonner in April 2016.

“I said, ‘I just need minutes of your time,’” Sr. Popko recalled, adding that she used it to give the secretary a brief overview of the Hillside Residence project and hand her a concept paper of the proposal.

Bonner put the paper in her backpack, but eventually took it out, read it, and became sufficiently intrigued to call Sr. Popko and arrange a meeting to discuss the matter.

“We brainstormed about what could happen,” she recalled, “and also about how we could remove the silos between housing and health services and bring the two closer together.”

Eventually, the sisters were able to cobble funds together for a number of state and federal sources, including the Housing Stabilization Fund, the National Housing Trust Fund, the Housing Innovation Fund program, and the Mass. Rental Voucher Program. Also, private funding was provided by the Sisters of Providence and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and the West Springfield Community Preservation Committee also chipped in toward the price tag, currently pegged at $9.65 million.

The project will focus on serving individuals who are 62 and older, with incomes at 50% of the area median income (AMI) or lower, and whose healthcare needs and housing instability can be optimally addressed by the program, said Sr. Popko, adding that, because the project has secured commitment of state rental subsidies, Hillside Residence participants’ housing costs will be capped at 30% of their income.

And while meeting an immediate need for those twin services — housing and healthcare — the project will be adding to the base of research on the efficiency and effectiveness of the integration of PACE and affordable elder housing.

“This data will assist policy makers, housing developers and managers, and healthcare providers better understand the benefits and operational challenges of an integrated PACE housing model,” said Sr. Popko.

The Next Chapter

As she talked about Hillside Residence, Sr. Popko noted that there is still more of the former Brightside canvas to be filled in.

Indeed, there are several cottages on the property that are roughly 9,000 square feet in size and could be transformed into more housing for the elderly.

“We could have another 50 units on this site, but it will be even more difficult to attain funding for that,” she said, adding that those cottages comprise what would be phase 3 of the work at the Hillside at Providence and the proverbial ‘next dream.’

As for the one currently coming to fruition, she said, again, that St. Francis of Assisi was right.

“Our journey of eight years was probably essential for realizing this dream,” she said in conclusion. “Because we’ve brought together people from the state level, we’ve brought together funders, legislators, and people within the community of West Springfield, to a point where they all want this to happen. That’s what has brought us to this moment.”

That, and a firm determination never to let the dream die.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

VVM Finalists Eager to Write the Next Chapters in Their Stories

Entrepreneurship

Accelerating the Process

The winners of the 2018 Accelerator awards

The products and services vary widely — from smoothies to yoga classes; from pet adoption to solar-powered battery rechargers; from water-purification technology to entrepreneurial apprenticeships. But the companies in Valley Venture Mentors’ Accelerator class of 2018 have many things in common, specifically the myriad daunting challenges involved with getting a venture off the ground or to a higher altitude. For this issue and its focus on entrepreneurship, BusinessWest looks at the three highest finishers among the 12 Accelerator finalists. We talked to those entrepreneurs about everything from what they’re going to do with the large checks they’ve received through this competition to how the Accelerator program helped them advance their concept.

WeThrive

Venture Provides an Entrepreneurial Practice Field for Students

WeThrive was the top winner in this year’s VVM Accelerator Awards.

Daquan Oliver is still in his mid-20s, but he already has a lot of awards and accolades on his résumé, including many of those ‘under’ lists that have become so prevalent.

He was included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 compilation for 2017, as well as the Boston Globe’s 25 Under 25 list. Back in 2014, as he was graduating from Babson College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, he was named one of the Top Five Black Student Leaders to Watch by the Clinton Foundation. He’s delivered a TEDx Talk on actionable strategies to overcome structural violence, and been recognized by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Yes, it’s an impressive list of achievements, and it looks like he’ll have to make room for more trophies, plaques, and citations — including the ceremonial first-prize check from this year’s VVM Accelerator program, featuring the name of the venture, WeThrive, and the number $42,500.

That’s because it’s Oliver’s goal — and WeThrive’s unofficial mission — to help young people make those same ‘under’ lists and other honor rolls.

Indeed, Oliver, who grew up in a single-parent, low-income household, made a promise at age 14 to assist future children in a similar socioeconomic position to become successful. In a nutshell, that’s what WeThrive, based in New York City, is all about.

This is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that essentially equips and empowers — those are two different things — low-income students in grades 7-10 to rise as entrepreneurial economic leaders, Oliver told BusinessWest.

“The students we serve are bursting with ideas to break the cycle of poverty, but too many times in their young lives, they have been told ‘no,’” he explained, adding that WeThrive gives them encouraging ‘yes’ to their entrepreneurial dreams.

It does this by training teachers, staff, and volunteers to become entrepreneurial educators who guide students through a curriculum designed to reach those left behind in traditional classrooms. Each student creates their own company, earning real revenues and donating profits to the charity of their choice.

The result is what the company calls an ‘entrepreneurial playing field,’ one that provides lessons not just in profit and loss and other business terms, but also in realms ranging from goal setting to teamwork to surviving the ups and downs of transforming an idea into a business.

Oliver, who launched this enterprise as he was exiting Babson, has taken it to a number of major metropolitan areas, including New York, Boston, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., and it was while he was exploring the possibility of expanding into Greater Springfield that he learned about and then became part of the VVM Accelerator class of 2018.

His was, quite obviously, a story, a concept, a business plan, and a final pitch that won over the judges.

But as advanced and apparently rock-solid as this venture is, there is still growing and pivoting (that’s the term one hears a lot in rooms full of entrepreneurs) to do, and proverbial ‘next’ levels to reach, said Oliver, and the VVM Accelerator experience will help with all of that.

“We’re at a unique point in our journey,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re doing a number of different things, our model has recently pivoted pretty strongly, and we wanted to go through the nuts and bolts of really reassessing everything.”

The Accelerator program, a broad term used to refer to everything from the mentorship to the work sessions to the feedback from the other entrepreneurs in the room — helped with this by continually stressing the value of customer interviews.

“We need those to make sure we understand our principals, our teachers, the things they want, the value they see in WeThrive, their pain points, and more,” he explained. “That’s the biggest thing for us — the innate value of digging deeper into each of our customer pain points.”

Oliver said he was impressed by the strong sense of community within the VVM Accelerator and the manner in which the entrepreneurs, all vying for cash awards, nonetheless supported one another in their collective efforts to get to the next level.

“It’s technically a competition, but it never truly felt like one,” he explained. “Because we’re all rooting for each at the end of the day.

“When we approached this, we definitely wanted to win, of course,” he went on. “But we were much more focused on just creating a sustainable company, and VVM provided us with the resources to help do that, whether it was the mentors or the entrepreneurs.”

Oliver said WeThrive will begin operating in Springfield this fall, and he expects the nonprofit to expand into other parts of this region. Wherever it goes, it focuses on students who were like him — who all too often heard ‘no,’ and needed someone, some influence, to get get them to ‘yes.’

And in the process, maybe some of those students it helps will also follow Oliver onto some of those ‘under’ lists.

Breaking Through

Julie Bliss Mullen and Barrett Mully say the market for their product may be vast, from residential and commercial applications to domestic sales to global interest.

Aclarity Set to Take New Water-filtration Technology to the Market

As Julie Bliss Mullen and Barrett Mully talked about the potential market for their product — a new type of water-purification device that uses electricity — they struggled somewhat to do the job with numbers, as many entrepreneurs do.

So they tried words, and one in particular: vast.

By that, they meant residential and commercial applications, domestic sales, and what they hope and expect will be truly global interest.

That’s because water is a precious commodity, and as the human population continues to skyrocket, the demands on the Earth’s limited supply of fresh water have increased accordingly. Meanwhile, the search for better, less expensive methods of filtering water have been intense and ongoing.

Bliss Mullen essentially grasped the size and scope of the potential market in 2015 when, while conducting evaluations of potential new filtration products as part of her lab work under the U.S. EPA’s Water Innovation Network of Sustainable Systems (WINSSS), she essentially discovered a novel, electrochemical advanced-oxidation process, or EAOP technology.

This technology has extensive treatment capabilities — more than the filtration products currently on the market — and low power-consumption needs compared to traditional processes.

“I found that the treatment capability of this specific technology was much greater than anything I had evaluated,” she told BusinessWest, adding that she became inspired to understand what it would take to bring the technology to the market, and in 2016 filed a provisional patent with the university and subsequently enrolled in entrepreneurship courses to further understand the commercialization process.

Moving the story along, Bliss Mullen and Mully met in the spring of 2017; she was participating as a student in a graduate-level Lean Launch Pad entrepreneurship class where she was conducting customer discovery while also seeking potential business partners. He was a fellow at the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship and attending that class as a teaching assistant.

“My pitch to the class was, ‘hey, I have this cool technology, but I need someone with a little more business acumen than I have to bring this to the market,’” she recalled.

Mully became immediately compelled by the potential of the technology and the business that could be generated from it, and the two quickly agreed to partner up. They won the top award at the UMass Innovation Challenge, claiming $26,000 in seed money to help jump-start the company, which was initially named ElectroPure and later renamed Aclarity.

The company was accepted into the inaugural Berthiaume Summer Accelerator in 2017, and it used that experience to continue customer discovery, meet with mentors, work with the university toward converting the patent, develop a business strategy, and advance technology research and development. The company won additional seed funding and soon thereafter embarked on a collaboration effort with Watts Water Technologies Inc. to help bring a residential product to market, something they expect to do within the next 12 to 18 months.

So it’s been a whirlwind few years, and those are just the first few chapters in this intriguing story; the principals are now involved in writing the next several, and they will have their $27,500 prize from the VVM accelerator — and the many forms of assistance that were part of that experience — to help them in that process.

“It’s not all about the technology,” Bliss Mullen said of the complex process of taking a product to market. “You need to find a customer.”

VVM has helped with that, said the two partners, adding that the next step in their journey is to raise capital for a pilot installation on an industrial scale.

“We want to look at the scalability of the technology and how we can put a pilot site in, what that looks like,” said Mully. “And prove the technology on a larger scale; once we do that, that opens up other markets.”

The prize money from the VVM accelerator will certainly help in taking that next step, said the partners, adding that it (along with other grants secured in recent months) will be put toward R&D, product development, and marketing efforts. In a word, it will be used toward generating that commodity they need the most at this time: validation.

As for the startup ‘experience,’ if you will, the two partners, like just about everyone else in their shoes, talked about a roller-coaster ride, with lots of highs and lows. And also about expectations and how to manage them.

“We have a lot of people come up to us and say, ‘this is the next big thing. I want to be part of it; I want to help you fundraise,’” said Bliss Mullen. “You think, ‘this is going to change the world.’ And then you have other days when it feels like the end of the world.”

Mully agreed.

“You have a lot of ups and downs,” he told BusinessWest. “The wins are big wins — they’re really high highs. And then, sometimes, when you think you’re going to hit a certain milestone and it just doesn’t work out that way and you have to make those hard pivots … it can get really challenging.

“It’s not that there’s no end product, because there is,” he went on. “It’s just so intangible at times, it’s like you’re feeling your way through the dark a little bit.”

It appears things are a little brighter these days, and the VVM accelerator played a big role in that process.

ACEA

Kyle Kahveci

Venture Sets a New Standard for Continuing Education

Kyle Kahveci says continuing education is part of life for a wide range of healthcare professionals, from physicians to dentists to nurses. They need it to keep their licenses.

Unfortunately, also part of life are considerable amounts of wasted or underutilized time for those same healthcare professionals as they take part in those continuing-education experiences, said Kahveci, who is part of the founding team at ACEA.

That’s an acronym for the Advanced Continuing Education Assoc. And maybe the key word in the phrase is ‘advanced,’ which in this case is used to connote a way of thinking about this topic — a methodology, if you will, that goes well beyond what Kahveci called “checking the box” as individuals go about amassing the requisite number of hours of required education each year.

“There are now hundreds of thousands of different continuing-ed courses in healthcare, but there’s no easy way to sift through it all and really find the most relevant education and have that all centralized,” he explained. “What we’re doing is aggregating all that in one place so a clinician can have a much more pleasant experience across all of those ed providers by discovering the right education in the right place and the most relevant stuff for their requirements, but also their personal interests.”

That one place is an app that does everything from track activities as members attend activities to sending a notification to a member’s phone alerting him or her to the fact that they haven’t taken a continuing-ed course recently and need to do so.

The app is live, and a number of clinicians have joined through a host of partners that ACEA works with, including the Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said Kahveci, adding that the broad goals are to continuously improve the app and add more members.

And VVM’s accelerator program has been quite helpful with those two assignments by emphasizing the need to for customer surveys to determine specific needs and how to go about meeting them.

Elaborating, Kahveci said that, in the beginning, ACEA and its app were focused mostly on helping healthcare professionals keep track of what they’ve done when it comes to a continuing education, something that might sound easy to those who haven’t tried, but definitely isn’t, as confirmed by all those who have.

“We were hearing complaints from physicians who said, ‘after one of these courses, I take I get a certificate, and it’s oftentimes on paper, and it’s like keeping receipts for taxes,’” he recalled, adding that the partners at ACEA followed how people kept track of these certificates. One physician kept it all in a manila folder that included courses from the ’90s.

Moving the story along, he said the first app they developed was designed simply to keep track of all those certificates much better than a manila folder could. It received a solid response, and thousands of clinicians signed on, he said, but it quickly became apparent that this app needed to do more.

Specifically, it needed to help members not just after the fact, but before it — in the discovery phase, if you will — and ACEA has made that shift, with a big assist from VVM and its accelerator program.

“VVM helped us treat this like an early-stage startup,” he told BusinessWest. “We did more 100 interviews with clinicians and partners to get a sense for where to really focus in on solving their problems.”

And there is tremendous growth potential, he went on, adding that, while ACE has tens of thousands of members, that represents a tiny fraction of the number of potential members.

The value proposition for this app is that it can save clinicians up to 40 hours a year by automating much of the continuing-ed process and getting them into relevant education. And considering how busy they are, 40 hours represents a great deal of value.

Getting that message across is critical, and the company will devote much of its energy — and the $20,000 prize it won during the accelerator contest — to do just that, while also continually improving the product and building a team.

The company is currently based in Boston — an ideal location, given the many world-class healthcare facilities in that city — but as a result of connections made with potential partners here, ACEA is thinking about opening a satellite location in Springfield.

VVM and its accelerator helped the company make those connections, he said, but mostly, the experience has enabled ACEA to sharpen its focus on the customer and identify opportunities for growth.

“It’s helped us see the forest for the trees,” he noted. “It was a good experience for us to help get the organization to the next level.”

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Commercial Real Estate Listings

A listing of available commercial properties HERE

Commercial Real Estate

For Sale, for Lease

Agawam’s New Mayor Focuses on Big Picture

Community Spotlight

William Sapelli inherited a long to-do list when he took on his new role as mayor, from infrastructure projects to economic-development concerns, and has only added more items to that list.

Very soon after William Sapelli announced he would be retiring as Agawam’s superintendent of schools — ending four decades of work in education — people started suggesting that he run for mayor that fall.

“They said, ‘you have the skill set — you have a $45 million school budget, which is half the town budget, you deal with 700 employees, you’ve negotiated five contracts, and you know all the city departments,’” recalled Sapelli, who took the suggestions under advisement and eventually took the idea to his family.

At first, he recalled with a laugh, he interpreted their unbridled support as perhaps a loud hint that they weren’t ready to have him home full-time. But soon they convinced him, as did others, that their backing was grounded in the belief that Agawam needed a change — and a fresh perspective — in City Hall. And that he could provide it.

Although he eventually embraced the calls for him to seek the corner office, Sapelli rejected recommendations that he formally announce his intentions before he actually retired almost a year ago (early July, to be exact) because he wanted to avoid any and all suggestions that he might be using the resources of his office as superintendent to help gain the mayor’s chair and focusing on his next job before he finished up in the one he was in.

“I got in late — I was really behind the 8-ball, and people said you can’t get in that late,” said Sapelli, who nonetheless triumphed in the September primary and then the November election. And he attributes that victory, in large part, to his message of needed change and the promise that he can provide it.

“This sounds corny, but I grew up here in town, and I care about this town,” he told BusinessWest. “I personally didn’t like the way things were going; it seemed that elected officials weren’t really getting along. It seemed like things were going off the rails — people not communicating, people sniping at each other — and I thought we could do better, and do better for Agawam.”

Five months in, he said the office is, well, busier than he thought it would be, in part because there are a great many meetings and official functions at which his attendance is required, or at least requested. But another big part of it is that Sapelli inherited a lengthy to-do list, and he’s only added more to it.

Among those line items are a host of important infrastructure projects, especially the rebuilding of the Morgan/Sullivan Bridge, which connects Agawam to West Springfield. There are also specific business concerns, such as the nagging question about how to inject new life into the tired commercial district known as Walnut Street Extension, home to the now-infamous Games & Lanes, which no longer exists; however, the problem of finding a new use for the property does.

And then, there are broader, more complex business and economic-development concerns, such as Agawam’s notorious — and in many ways debilitating — spot-zoning practices.

“There’s so much spot zoning in Agawam … our system is so archaic,” said Sapelli with some exasperation in his voice. “In most communities, it’s an issue; in our community … well, I’ve had the experts from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission get involved through a grant we received, and they used the word ‘unique’ to describe the problem.”

To address it, Sapelli has created a zoning-review committee, which is expected to make some recommendations in the months to come.

An even bigger issue — although the zoning problem is quite extensive — is the recognized need (on Sapelli’s part, anyway) to make the city more business-friendly.

Improving the Walnut Street Extension area remains a problem without an immediate solution in Agawam.

“People ask how we can become more business-friendly, and one of the ways is to expedite the permitting process,” he explained. “From what I was hearing from individuals who came in and tried to start businesses and get permits for different things was that it took longer than they expected. I thought it was important to go out and try to make this community attractive to businesses.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest talked at length with Agawam’s mayor (he’s no longer the ‘new mayor’) about the challenge he accepted and how he’s working to fulfill that campaign pledge of bringing positive change to the community.

Learning the Ropes

As he provided a chronology of a career in the Agawam school system that began when Jimmy Carter was in the White House, Sapelli said there were a number of stops.

They started with a stint coaching junior-varsity hockey and substitute-teaching assignments at the high school. A year later, he was coaching the varsity team and teaching social studies at the junior high. Later, he taught science for six years, then became assistant principal at the middle school, then an elementary-school principal, assistant superintendent, and, starting in 2011, superintendent.

During the campaign last fall, he encountered — and earned a good deal of support from — people who were students during each one of those stops. When it came to people making such claims about the earliest stages of his career, he admits to having to take their word for it.

“People will say, ‘remember when I had you in school?’” he said. “And I’ll say, ‘I don’t think you looked like this when you were 10 or 12, so I don’t recognize you, but I believe that you were one of my students.”

Support from all those former students and colleagues was certainly a factor in Sapelli’s rather large margin of victory over former City Council President Jimmy Cichetti last November.

As was, he believes, the desire for change in a community that had seen little progress on many of the key issues facing it — and his ability to bring about that change.

“I really thought we could do a better job of having local, city, and state government be a kinder, gentler group, if you will,” he said, “and be able to have open, honest discussions and not take things personally.”

While working to stimulate change and progress, Sapelli is also leading efforts on a number of issues, or fronts, that, as noted, have challenged several of his predecessors.

At or near the top of that list is the Morgan/Sullivan Bridge, the rebuilding and widening of which has been talked about for years. State funding has been secured for the project, and a bid should be awarded shortly, said Sapelli, adding that work was to have started this spring.

But it’s already late June, and construction still hasn’t started, said the mayor, adding that, since work is due to be halted during the 17-day run of the Big E — which is just a few hundred yards to the east of the bridge — in September, there is now a good chance the project may not see much progress this calendar year.

“They may be doing some preliminary set-up work this fall,” said Sapelli, adding quickly that there will be more definitive timelines for this project emerging shortly. “But I don’t think anything major will happen until next spring.”

The bridge, projected to be a two-and-a-half-year project, is an important initiative, he went on, referring to the traffic bottlenecks that are regular — and problematic — for residents and businesses trying to attract people to that area. And during the Big E, the traffic problems reach nightmare proportions.

To ease those problems, the city plans to improve not only the bridge intersection, but also the one a few hundred yards to the north at Springfield and Walnut streets.

Meawhile, improvement of another key intersection, in Feeding Halls on Route 187, is on the drawing board — it has been for some time, actually, said the mayor, adding that is part of approximately $8 million in road, sidewalk, and intersection improvements that will be undertaken city-wide.

While addressing those infrastructure matters, there are a number of specific business and economic-development-related issues that demand attention as well, said Sapelli.

Chief among them is the ongoing issue of Walnut Street Extension. The Games & Lanes property has been razed, said the mayor, and the property’s owner reports there has been some interest, but nothing likely to translate into redevelopment in the near future.

Meanwhile, that property is just part of the story. The Walnut Street Extension area remains a problem without an immediate solution. Last spring, the City Council first rejected a $5.3 million streetscape-improvement project for that area and then a subsequent, scaled-down, $3.6 million initiative.

The strategy moving forward, said Sapelli, is to create what’s known as a DIF (district improvement financing) program for that area. With a DIF, a community can pledge all or a portion of tax increments — additional tax revenue stemming from development or increases in property value — to fund district improvements over time.

“That money gets set aside and earmarked strictly for development in that area that’s mapped out, and that area alone,” said the mayor. “It’s a way of creating a fund to improve that depressed area without using taxpayer dollars or increasing taxes on the people in that area.”

A DIF is a close cousin of the better-known TIF, whereby municipalities may grant property-tax exemptions to landowners of up to 100% of the tax increments for a fixed period. Agawam intends to use both DIFs and TIFs to generate economic development, said Sapelli.

Other specific initiatives include redevelopment of the former Buxton property, later Southworth Paper and Turners Falls Paper, on Main Street, said the mayor, adding that the emerging plan is to subdivide the sprawling plant and attract multiple tenants.

There are also the many smaller retail centers and strip malls within the community, he went on, adding that the town has seen some new businesses come in and fill vacancies, and the goal is to attract more.

As for work on the town’s archaic zoning, Sapelli said his administration is “attacking” the problem.

“It’s going to be a big job, so we’re taking it little bites at a time,” he noted, adding that the Planning Commission has been a big help in this regard. “But we’re going to get it done.”

By the Book

Sapelli said he’s not sure if he’s the only the school superintendent to move the corner office in this region in recent times. But he does know that his route is certainly one that’s not well-traveled.

As his supporters note, he brings considerable experience to the job and knowledge of city departments and how they operate. Those skills have certainly helped him make the transition and advance many different kinds of initiatives.

But his comments — and his body language — convey the message that behind every challenge … there are many more challenges.

He says he’s up for them, because of that dedication to the town where he grew up, and also because he brings a new school of thought to managing this community — literally and figuratively.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

The Impact of ‘America First’ on Employment-based Immigration

Employment

Under Pressure

By Marylou Fabbo

In the year that’s passed since President Donald Trump signed the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order, there’s been increased federal scrutiny on the employment-based visa petition process that has made it more difficult for businesses to hire foreign employees.

President Trump and other critics of employment visa programs believe they displace American workers and drive down wages, while employers maintain they need foreign labor to fill jobs that Americans are not willing or qualified to fill. So far, however, the administration’s actions have taken place through heightened agency action, such as government I-9 audits and immigration ‘raids,’ rather than legislation.

Enforcement Action Substantially Increased

When it comes to employing non-immigrant workers, the message is clear: companies’ hiring practices must be able to withstand heightened scrutiny. In September 2017, Asplundh Tree Expert Co. was ordered to pay a record fine of $95 million for employing thousands of unauthorized alien workers.

The U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (often referred to as ICE) has implemented a worksite-enforcement strategy that focuses on criminal prosecution of employers, human-resources personnel, and talent officers who knowingly hire illegal workers or are ‘willfully blind’ to the same. ICE has already doubled the number of worksite-enforcement cases that it pursued all of its last fiscal year. In New England alone, ICE made more than 680 arrests during the first quarter of its fiscal year. Even companies that don’t employ any immigrants or foreign workers are subject to an ICE audit and can face significant fines and penalties for things such as failing to fully and accurately complete I-9 forms for U.S. citizens.

Number of H-1B Visa Petitions Down

President Trump’s Buy American and Hire American Executive Order is purportedly designed to increase wages, protect the jobs of U.S. citizens, and increase employment rates. Among other things, the order requires federal agencies to review and propose new rules and guidance to protect the interests of U.S. workers and to prevent fraud and abuse in the H-1B visa program. This program allows companies in the U.S. to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent. H-1B specialty occupations typically include fields such as science, engineering, and information technology.

About 65,000 regular visas and 20,000 masters-level visas are awarded each year through a lottery system, although the ultimate goal is to switch to a point-based merit system. While ICE received more than double the amount of petitions needed to fill the quotas, the total number of petitions submitted decreased by about 10,000 from last year and has decreased more than 50% since its high in 2016. Trump’s executive order — designed to reform the H-1B visa program by making it more difficult to get such a visa — may be driving some away from using the program at all.

Spouse Employment Authorizations Likely to Be Rescinded

Certain spouses of H-1B workers may be eligible to work pursuant to an H-4 visa. However, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have stated that they intend to rescind employment authorization for H-4 visa holders, and it now appears that at least some form of the rescission is likely to take place in the near future.

Yet, some questions remain unanswered. Will current H-4 visa holders be able to renew them? Will there be a drop-dead date after which H-4 authorization is no longer valid at all? What’s clear is that employers who hire H-4 workers need to start thinking about alternate means of legally employing them.

Tougher Standards for H-1B Workers at Third-party Locations

ICE also has increased the scrutiny on employers who petition for H-1B employees and intend to place them at third-party sites. Earlier this year, ICE issued a policy memorandum stating that, for an H-1B visa petition involving a third-party worksite to be approved, the petitioner must show “by a preponderance of evidence” that, among other things, the worker will be employed in a specialty occupation and the petitioning employer will maintain an employer-employee relationship with the beneficiary for the duration of the requested validity period. The third-party recipient of the H-1B worker will also have to come up with some evidence corroborating what the employer provides.

Organizations that provide H-1B workers to third parties should be prepared to respond to requests for evidence beyond what they have experienced in the past, denials of petitions, and, possibly, the granting of H-1B visas for less than the usual three-year period.

Moving Forward

Employers should expect the Trump administration to continue to aggressively pursue immigration reform. Like the visas mentioned in this article, the state of those with C-33 visas — non-immigrants who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), remains up in the air, and employers that have DACA recipients with employment authorization may face the loss of the ability to continue their employment.

Companies that have not already done so should carefully review their hiring practices and evaluate alternate means of employing non-immigrant workers regardless of their current visa status. Those employers that have H-1B workers at third-party sites should scrutinize their vendors and their contracts with those third parties. And, perhaps most importantly, companies should make sure their I-9s and other immigration-based records are complete and accurate. u

Marylou Fabbo is a partner and head of the litigation team at Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. She provides counsel to management on taking proactive steps to reduce the risk of legal liability that may be imposed as the result of illegal employment practice, and defends employers faced with lawsuits and administrative charges filed by current and former employees; (413) 737-4753; [email protected]

Many Ways to Support Entrepreneurs

By Editorial June 26, 2018

Opinion

Despite the occasional major project landing in the region — that casino opening is only two months away — the Pioneer Valley’s economy is still driven far more by the myriad small businesses that dot the landscape.

That’s why it’s important to give entrepreneurs the tools, inspiration, and resources they need to make the risks they take in launching their enterprises worthwhile.

Our story on page 40 is always a fun assignment — our annual writeup on the winners of the Valley Venture Mentors Accelerator Awards. This year, we sat down with the entrepreneurs behind the three top winners, who received, through this program, significant funding for their projects, but, just as important, key guidance and support in taking their businesses to the next level.

Because those enterprises deal in such critical matters as clean water, continuing medical education, and equipping low-income youth to write their own entrepreneurial stories, that next level, as you’ll see by reading these accounts, may turn out to be life-changing for many — and even world-changing,

Then there’s our page 26 story on Click Workshop — perhaps a less splashy story, because no one is handing out giant checks. Rather, they’re handing over monthly payments (rather reasonable ones, at that) to participate in a community of 98 small (mostly solo) businesses that share resources and network in a refurbished former warehouse in downtown Northampton.

One of the region’s growing number of co-working spaces, Click is supporting economic energy in its city while also boosting the profile of another type of entrepreneur: the local artists and musicians to whom it offers exposure and a place to promote their creations.

These two articles may seem unrelated at first, but they both speak to the importance of creating a supportive community of entrepreneurs who understand that the success of each contributes to the success of all, by establishing Western Mass. as a place where ideas can turn into viable businesses.

“You have a lot of ups and downs. The wins are big wins — they’re really high highs,” said Barrett Mully, one of the VVM Accelerator Award winners. However, “it’s just so intangible at times, it’s like you’re feeling your way through the dark a little bit.”

Programs and organizations that support the region’s startup culture are making that journey a little bit brighter.

After all, countless entrepreneurs are taking calculated gambles every day that have nothing to do with a casino. When those risks pay off, everyone benefits.

Hold Your Applause on Arbitration Call

Opinion

By Tom Jones

The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the use of arbitration agreements to prohibit class-action lawsuits generated widespread cheering in the business community. But employers would be well advised to hold their applause.

That’s because this Supreme Court decision is unusual in that it does not draw a bright line making it clear what employers may or may not do. It simply opens the door for employers to pursue mandatory arbitration as an option.

Most importantly, the decision does not allow employers to use arbitration agreements to escape the “onerous” aspects of legally established remedies.

The court has made clear that, while arbitration involves a change of forum from the courts to the private arbitration arena, and an elimination of class actions, it does not change workers’ substantive rights. Arbitrators must apply the same law that a court would apply and award the same substantive remedies for proven violations.

Employees will still be able to file a claim for non-payment of wages, sexual harassment, or other adverse consequences at work. They just won’t be able to do it as a class action.

The best advice to employers any time they face a new legally justified option is to take time to weigh the options before moving ahead.

The Supreme Court ruled that companies may use arbitration clauses in employment contracts to prohibit workers from banding together to take legal action over workplace issues. The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s more conservative justices in the majority. The court’s decision could affect some 25 million employment contracts.

Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the court’s conclusion was dictated by a federal law favoring arbitration and the court’s precedents. If workers were allowed to band together to press their claims, he wrote, “the virtues Congress originally saw in arbitration, its speed and simplicity and inexpensiveness, would be shorn away, and arbitration would wind up looking like the litigation it was meant to displace.”

The ruling does not necessarily invalidate Massachusetts law on the topic of arbitration. For example, a Massachusetts case from a few years ago centered around an arbitration waiver agreement that prohibited plaintiffs’ recovery of multiple damages in any arbitration proceeding — a provision that directly conflicted with the Massachusetts mandatory treble damages law.

In 2013, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) declared the waiver of multiple damages in the arbitration agreement unenforceable, ruling that the FAA (Federal Arbitration Act) did not preempt the SJC from holding that waiver of multiple damages in these circumstances is void as contrary to Massachusetts public policy.

Given that arbitration is really a procedural strategy, there are many questions you should consider before adopting a change in your company’s practices. Some questions to ask yourself as a company include: how will arbitration be a benefit to us? How much will it cost to use it? What is the potential cost vis-a-vis the likely benefit? Will we be better off as an employer with such a policy in place? If so, how? How often do we get sued? What issues do we get sued for? Wages? Discrimination? If or when we do get sued, what is our success record under the current rules?

Consider that, in discrimination cases filed at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), the agency found “lack of probable cause” (i.e. the case was dismissed) in 87% of the cases filed, according to its most recent annual report. Are you likely to do any better with an arbitrator?

One other thing to keep in mind is that federal and state administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or MCAD, are not bound by private arbitration agreements; they are able to sue over statutory rights where private claimants may not bring a case.

Before jumping on the bandwagon of arbitration, you need to engage in due diligence to see if it makes sense for your company.

Tom Jones is vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

More Men Are Embracing the Nursing Profession

By George O'Brien June 26, 2018

Business of Aging

Changing the Landscape

By George O’Brien

Erasmo Ruiz says he has found a profession that offers stability, flexibility, and a wide range of options.

To say that Erasmo Ruiz took a circuitous route to the nurse-pinning ceremony at Springfield Technical Community College late last month would be an understatement. A huge understatement.

Now 34, the father of two teenagers — and the first one in his family to attend college — studied engineering at UMass. But things “didn’t go as expected,” he told BusinessWest, noting that he was into partying and girls far more than he was into his studies and eventually had to drop out.

From there, he went into the Navy, specializing in electronics. But he didn’t finish his enlistment because his father got into trouble with the law and was incarcerated; Ruiz needed to get home and help support his family.

He would join the workforce, trying his hand at everything from manufacturing to time as a clerk in the Post Office. Then, by chance, he got a job as a medical assistant working with a group of neurosurgeons at Baystate Medical Center.

“It just made sense at the time to take things to the next level,” he said of his decision to pursue a nursing degree. “With the guidance of nurses and other medical professionals, I chose this career.”

A circuitous route to be sure, but Ruiz found himself at that pinning ceremony, persevering through a two-course of study that challenged him on many levels. And many men are doing the same thing.

Well, let’s say many more men, and even a phrase like that needs to be put into perspective.

Yes, there are more men getting into nursing these days, at least compared to 40 or even 20 years ago, but the numbers still don’t approach that of women, said Karen Aiken, a Nursing professor at Holyoke Community College for the past 17 years, eight as chairman of the department.

“The labor bureau will tell you, and make it sound really great, that since 1970, the number has tripled,” she said of men in the profession. “But the numbers are so small, that doesn’t mean much; overall, I think the percentage [of all nurses who are male) has risen from 2.9% to just over 9%, so those are still small numbers.”

We’ll get into the numbers and the reasons they’re higher than they were, but not as high they as perhaps they should be, later. First, let’s look at some of the men who are getting into nursing.

Most are not taking what would be called the traditional route, right out of high school, but then again, many women don’t take that path either.

Andy Bean, 38, who graduated from Westfield State University this spring, worked in sales for a trucking company, sitting in front of a computer all day ordering parts for clients. He was laid off once when the economy took a turn for the worse and decided that he wasn’t going to let that happen to him again.

So he segued into healthcare and eventually a nursing program. Actually, several of them. He’s been working toward a degree in healthcare for seven years, by his estimate, and he’s looking to make a home in the emergency room at Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield, where he’s already spent considerable time as a technician and student nurse.

Andy Bean, seen here in the ER at Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield, likes the fast pace of that setting and wants to start his career in nursing there.

Meanwhile, Nick Labelle, another member of STCC’s class of 2018, now 36, worked in everything from food preparation to sheet-metal fabrication to real estate before getting a job as a counselor in a substance-abuse clinic. It was that last stop that convinced him that he liked helping people and working in a healthcare setting.

But some have taken more of a direct route. People like Brendan McKee from North Attleboro, another recent graduate of WSU. He said that, unfortunately, he spent a lot of time in hospitals in his youth visiting sick family members, and quickly realized he wanted to be part of that environment. Nursing, he said, was his first choice.

Overall, there are many reasons why nursing has become the first choice, or the second, or the fifth, for men, said Lisa Fugiel, director of the Nursing program at STCC, listing everything from solid pay to the availability of jobs as Baby Boomers retire, to the flexibility within the profession and the wide variety of options available to those who choose it.

But for many, it comes down to those same ingredients that bring women into nursing, she said — compassion, caring, and a desire to help others.

For this issue and its focus on nursing education, BusinessWest interviewed several men on their way to joining the profession (the licensing exam is their next challenge). Collectively, their stories help explain why the landscape within nursing — gender-wise, anyway — is changing.

Course Change

Bean told BusinessWest that he likes the pace of work in the ER and the fact that he’s always moving in that setting.

“That’s a big change from when I was just sitting in front of that computer all day,” he said. “That’s one of the things I hated the most about my old job. It just didn’t feel like a good fit for me anymore.”

But pace of work — and fit — are just two of many reasons why there are more men hearing their names called at those nurse-pinning ceremonies, said both Aiken and Fugiel as they discussed the changing demographics in their classrooms.

They both spoke of greater acceptance of male nurses in general and among women receiving care, and, on the flip side of the equation, more acceptance of the profession as a career option among men. And both halves of the equation are important.

“Women are more comfortable with women, and in some areas especially,” Fugiel noted. “But overall, there is more acceptance of men now.

“And we’re seeing a steady increase when it comes to men getting into the profession,” she went on, noting that this is reflected in the numbers of men in the STCC program; there were nine in this year’s class of 74, roughly double the total from when she started 15 years ago.

There are many reasons for this, said Fugiel and Aiken, listing solid pay and benefits, stability (an important consideration given anxiety about many professions in an age of ever-advancing technology), a host of opportunities, and a wide array of specific areas to get into, from critical care to medical-surgical nursing to behavioral health.

“All the students talk about how there are so many options in nursing, which is one of the things that’s so enticing about the profession, whether it’s male or female,” said Fugiel. “Just look at all the options in an acute-care setting — pediatrics, maternity, ER, ICU, med-surg, and mental health — but there’s also community nursing, nursing infomatics, and managed care.

“And there’s stability,” she went on. “A lot of our nurses are getting older, and that translates into opportunities and stability.”

While it’s good for men to be getting into the profession, given its many rewards, it is also good for the profession, the healthcare community, and society in general, to have men as nurses, said Aiken.

“As an instructor and as a seasoned nurse, I believe that that the more men we can get into nursing, the better,” she explained. “It makes it a rounded profession, and it makes the care more rounded.”

Elaborating, she said men can and often do bring a different perspective to the work of caring for people in need.

“Nurses that are female think one way, and our society doesn’t give men a lot of credit for compassion and caring,” she told BusinessWest. “When these men come into nursing, they come in for a reason — they have that compassion and want to care for people.

“A large number of men who enter our program have been out in the workforce and are either changing professions or are looking to be caring professionals,” she went on. “And they bring so much with them when they come in.”

Getting into the profession is difficult for many, she said, and perhaps more difficult than for many women because men are still traditionally the breadwinners in many families, and, therefore, it is difficult to quit work completely or go to school part-time to earn a nursing degree.

Lisa Fugiel says society is becoming more accepting of male nurses, and, likewise, men are becoming more accepting of careers in the nursing field.

“The commitment, the education, is more than a full-time job,” said Aiken, adding that men often enter a program not fully understanding what they’re getting into and how they’re going to manage that commitment given their other responsibilities, and that’s why many struggle to get to the finish line or never get there.

Labor of Love

As for those that do, well, interviews with several men graduating this year provide solid evidence that men are more open to a career in nursing — and for all those reasons listed above, from the stability to the flexibility; from the nature and pace of the work to the ability to work with people.

“A big factor for me was all the options we have — you can do anything with this,” Ruiz said of that diploma he’s earned. “Also, in terms of looking out for my family, that was also part of it. The demand is there; there’s a nursing shortage.”

Stability was also a big consideration for Bean, who, as noted, had been laid off once and was looking for firmer ground career-wise. He was also looking for something more rewarding and with opportunities to do some ladder-climbing.

He had taken a few EMT courses, and, after returning to his job with the trucking company after being laid off, found it lacking in many ways,

“So I quit my job, and with the support of my wife, I went back to school to get my nursing degree,” he explained. “I found that, with nursing, there were so many avenues to go down; if one didn’t fit, you could find another one that did fit.”

As noted, he’s been going to school, part-time or full-time, for seven years now. It’s been a struggle at times, but he kept his eyes on the prize awaiting him.

“I was taking classes while working, then quitting and going back to full-time, then working again quite a bit in the emergency room while going to school full-time,” he said. “It’s been a long road, and I’m happy to be done with it.”

Job satisfaction was also a mostly missing ingredient for Labelle, who tried to find it, without much success, in fields ranging from hospitality to selling houses. He found much more of it working in that substance-abuse clinic, but desired an even higher level.

“I wanted a career that would directly impact patient or client care,” he explained. “I did a variety of career assessments, and found that nursing was something that seemed to suit me with regard to compassionate care of client needs, and also something that would be challenging.

“I needed a job that would really challenge me, and I was looking for stability as well,” he went on. “And nursing really fit that criteria. It was a very careful decision.”

As it was for Brendan McKee, who, as noted, didn’t segue into nursing; it was his first choice.

“I did spend a lot of time in hospitals with sick family members,” he recalled. “And I got to see how the nurses worked and took care of my family. It left a really good impression on me.”

He entered Westfield State out of high school, and, like all nursing students, was exposed to a number of different and intriguing paths within the profession. One of them was work in the ICU, and that’s where he is slated to work, at Baystate Medical Center, this fall.

“I like the acuity of it — I enjoy being in that demanding of an environment,” he explained. “I’m the kind of person who runs well when there’s a lot to do and there’s a faster-paced environment.”

A second reason for choosing the ICU, said McKee, is that he eventually wants to work in anesthesia, and the ICU is the “gateway,” as he called it, to that specialty, just as the nursing degree itself is the gateway to a seemingly endless range of career paths within healthcare.

Making a Difference

Ruiz, like all those we spoke with, said he’s taking things one step at a time right now. That means his focus is on passing the licensing exam, which he’ll tackle in the next few months.

After that? He has a comfort level on the “neuro side,” as he called it, but he’s also willing to explore.

“I grew up in Springfield, and I would love to work with the community,” he told BusinessWest, adding that one of his rotations while at STCC was at the High Street Clinic, located in one of the city’s poorer neighborhoods. “I think I could make a difference in a center like that, but I’m not really sure that’s what I want — there are lots of options.”

With that, he summed up why more men are getting into a profession long dominated by women. They want to make a difference, and they’re becoming more accepting of a profession that allows them to do just that.

The numbers of men are not rising quickly or dramatically, but the arrow is definitely pointing up. And as Aiken and others noted, that’s good not just for the men taking this career path, but for those they will serve when they reach their destination.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Court Dockets

Court Dockets

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

HAMPDEN DISTRICT COURT
Sheyla Rosado v. Massachusetts Institute of Alternative Medicine Inc.
Allegation: Negligence; plaintiff struck by falling cabinet, causing personal injury: $4,820.66
Filed: 5/3/18

Hector Luccas v. James Austin Co.
Allegation: Employment discrimination, retaliation: $7,000+
Filed: 5/11/18

Carmela Daniele v. CVS Pharmacy
Allegation: Negligence; plaintiff struck by poorly stacked cartons of water, causing injury: $5,000
Filed: 5/14/18

Sound Marine Transport, LLC v. Bassett Yacht & Boat Sales, LLC
Allegation: Unjust enrichment, money owed for services rendered, fraud: $2,703.96
Filed: 5/18/18

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Cornelia Roberge v. Gil’s Gym and Racquet Health Club, LLC d/b/a All Day All Night Fitness of Ludlow and Wilbraham
Allegation: Negligence; plaintiff thrown from treadmill, causing personal injury: $25,090.85
Filed: 5/10/18

Carol Szulc, by and through her daughter, Laura J. Murray v. Julian Hernandez, D.O.
Allegation: Medical malpractice: $3,400,000
Filed: 5/11/18

Donna M. Mattice, as personal representative of the estate of Thomas J. Monty v. Vibra Hospital of Western Massachusetts, LLC
Allegation: Wrongful death
Filed: 5/14/18

Athanasia Kazonis v. the Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., LLC and the Stop & Shop Cos. Inc.
Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury $25,000+
Filed: 5/24/18

Cristina M. Ianello v. 110 Elm Street, LLC and the Celery Stalk
Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury: $119,993.56
Filed: 5/24/18

HAMPSHIRE DISTRICT COURT
Hunt Country Furniture Inc. v. Berkshire Home Design Outlet Inc.
Allegation: Money owed for goods sold and delivered: $7,113.28
Filed: 5/21/18

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT
Barbara L. Denette v. Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., et al
Allegation: Employment discrimination: $230,000
Filed: 5/18/18

Cheryl Sperry, administrator for Charles Sperry v. Betsy Green, NP; Joseph Tassoni, M.D.; and OnCall Urgent Care Center
Allegation: Medical malpractice, wrongful death: $56,880
Filed: 5/24/18

Estate of Eleanor Bolotin v. Dr. Henry Simkin
Allegation: Medical malpractice, wrongful death: $25,000+
Filed: 5/25/18

Kerry Sue O’Riley, as personal representative of the estate of Richard R. O’Riley v. Timothy M. Brazee; TJ Property Services, LLC; SPS New England Inc.; and Safety Insurance Co.
Allegation: Negligence, wrongful death: $1,000,000+
Filed: 5/30/18

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Joseph Vass v. Fuel Services Inc.
Allegation: Negligence and breach of warranty; oil spill in basement causing property damage and personal injury; $73,691
Filed: 5/21/18

Agenda

Agenda

Financial-literacy Workshops
July 11 to Aug. 1: Springfield Partners for Community Action Inc. will host financial-literacy workshops starting Wednesday, July 11 and continuing every Wednesday through Aug. 1. Sessions run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at 721 State St., Springfield, and are free and open to the public. Workshops are facilitated by the agency’s on-staff, nationally certified credit counselors. Series learning objectives include budgeting, credit, managing money, and debt. Participants completing the course will be presented with certificates of achievement, documenting an additional skill to enhance participants’ résumés or include in their personnel files on the job. Refreshments will be served, and raffle prizes will be offered. Call Springfield Partners at (413) 263-6500 to register.

Brightside Golf Classic
July 23: More than 200 golfers are expected to participate in the 38th Annual Brightside Golf Classic at Springfield Country Club in West Springfield. Two tee times are available. Registration and breakfast for the morning session will begin at 6:45 a.m. with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. Lunch and registration for the afternoon session will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a 1 p.m. shotgun start. The evening reception will be held immediately following the tournament from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Prices include green fees, golf cart, breakfast and/or lunch, a gift and swag bag, and reception featuring cocktails, food stations, auction, networking, and live entertainment. On-course food and beverages will be provided by event sponsors throughout the day. Golfers will also be eligible for a chance to win prizes and participate in raffles. The event chairs are John Kendzierski, founder and director, Professional Dry Wall Construction Inc.; Matt Sosik, president and CEO, Easthampton Savings Bank; Hank Downey, vice president, commercial loan officer, Florence Savings Bank; and Dan Moriarty, senior vice president, chief financial officer, Monson Savings Bank. For more information on sponsorships, donations, and attending the event, contact Suzanne Boniface at (413) 748-9935 or [email protected].

Future Tense Lecture
Sept. 20: The second installment of the BusinessWest lecture series Future Tense, titled “Change Considerations: An Examination of Lean Process, Market Disruption, and the Future of Your Business,” will take place on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Tech Foundry, 1391 Main St., ninth floor, Springfield. The lecture, open exclusively to CEOs and business owners, will be delivered by Mark Borsari, president of Sanderson MacLeod. The cost is a $25 donation to Tech Foundry. Event sponsors include Paragus IT, the Jamrog Group, and Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. With increasingly automated business processes, AI, and machine manufacturing, lean concepts are becoming more important than ever in terms of staying competitive. Borsari will discuss change and innovation through lean concepts and focus on resulting cultural considerations. To register, visit businesswest.com/lecture-series.

Healthcare Heroes
Oct. 25: The second annual class of Healthcare Heroes will be feted at the Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden. Meanwhile, the deadline to nominate an individual or organization has been extended to July 9. Healthcare Heroes, a recognition program involving the Western Mass. healthcare sector, was launched last spring by HCN and BusinessWest. The program was created to shed a bright light on the outstanding work being done across the broad spectrum of health and wellness services, and the institutions and individuals providing that care. Categories include ‘Lifetime Achievement,’ ‘Emerging Leader,’ ‘Patient/Resident/Client Care Provider,’ ‘Innovation in Health/Wellness,’ ‘Health/Wellness Administrator,’ and ‘Collaboration in Healthcare.’ To nominate someone, go HERE. Healthcare Heroes sponsors include American International College (presenting sponsor), National Grid (partner), Renew.Calm (supporting sponsor), and the Elms College MBA program (supporting sponsor).

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

Chamber Corners

1BERKSHIRE
www.1berkshire.com
(413) 499-1600

• July 18: 1Berkshire Chamber Nite, 5-7 p.m., hosted by NBT Bank on North Street.

• July 22: BYP Summer Social, 1:30-7:30 p.m. Begin with a catered lunch at Tanglewood with the Boston Young Professionals and end the evening with a cocktail reception at Berkshire Botanical Gardens.

• July 31: Entrepreneurial Meet-up, hosted by Shire Breu Hous, Dalton.

AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.amherstarea.com
(413) 253-0700

• July 30: 15th Annual Golf Tournament, hosted by Orchards Golf Club, South Hadley. Schedule: 10:30 a.m.: registration, putting contest, and light lunch; noon: shotgun start, scramble format; 5 p.m.: social hour and cash bar; 6 p.m.: dinner and awards ceremony. Hole-in-one, longest-drive, and closest-to-pin contests. Cost: $150 per player, $600 for a foursome. To register, visit www.amherstarea.com/events/details/2018-golf-tournament-19060.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414

• June 27: Speaker Breakfast 2018, 7:30-9 a.m., hosted and sponsored by Williston Northampton School, 19 Payson Ave., Easthampton. Keynote speaker Kate Harrington, Human Resource manager for Smith College, will speak on “Hiring the Right Fit.” She will help attendees understand how to develop a diverse applicant pool, know what questions to ask, and recognize what questions to avoid. She will also point out what to look for in a great employee and how to watch for bias. Cost: $25 for members, $30 for non-members. Pre-registration is suggested. For more information, visit www.easthamptonchamber.org or call the chamber office at (413) 527-9414.

GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.holyokechamber.com
(413) 534-3376

• July 9: Grow with Google, hosted by MassMutual Center, Springfield. Grow with Google is an initiative to help small businesses, startups, job seekers, developers, and teachers improve the skills they need to prepare for a job, find a job, or grow their business. These free, live workshops include “Get Found on Google Search and Maps,” “E-mail, Spreadsheets, and Presentations,” “Reach Customers Online with Google,” “Get Started with Code,” “Using Data to Drive Growth,” and “Coding for Kids.” Join us for the whole day or a specific workshop. Greater Holyoke Chamber members receive first priority registration. To register, e-mail Jordan at [email protected].

GREATER NORTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900

• July 11: July Arrive @ 5, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Northampton Country Club, 135 Main St., Leeds. Cost: $10 for members.

GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618

• July 12: 41st Pancake Breakfast, 7-11 a.m., hosted by South Middle School, 30 West Silver St., Westfield. Rain or shine. Attractions include a bounce house, face painting, entertainment, a live broadcast from WSKB 89.5, and vendor tables. Sponsors to date include BusinessWest (pancake sponsor), Appalachian Press (placemat sponsor), Puffer Printing (ticket sponsor), and Dunkin’ Donuts (coffee sponsor). Cost: $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for kids under 10. For additional sponsorships or tickets, call the chamber at (413) 568-1618 or visit www.westfieldbiz.org.

SPRINGFIELD REGIONAL CHAMBER
www.springfieldregionalchamber.com
(413) 787-1555

• July 19: Golf Tournament, 11 a.m., hosted by Crestview Country Club, 281 Shoemaker Lane, Agawam. Reservations may be made at www.springfieldregionalchamber.com, [email protected], or (413) 755-1310.

WEST OF THE RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.ourwrc.com
(413) 426-3880

• July 25: West Meets West at the Ranch Networking Event, 5-7 p.m., hosted by the Ranch Golf Club in Southwick. Join us as we pair up with the Greater Westfield Chamber for an evening of games, fun, networking, and food. These events bring members and non-members together to network in a laid-back atmosphere. Cost: free for members, $10 for non-members. For more information about this event, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880, or register online at www.westoftheriverchamber.com.

• Aug. 6: 15th Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament, hosted by the Ranch Golf Club in Southwick. Schedule: 11:30 a.m.: registration; noon: lunch; 1 p.m.: shotgun start, scramble format. Putting contest, 15th hole air cannon, Carrabba’s Cuisine Hole, and more. Cost: $125 for golf and dinner. For more information and tickets to this event, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or [email protected], or register online at www.westoftheriverchamber.com.

YOUNG PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY OF GREATER SPRINGFIELD
springfieldyps.com

• June 28: Tenth annual Great Golf Escape, hosted by the Ranch, 65 Sunnyside Road, Southwick. Visit springfieldyps.com for registration information.

Company Notebook

Company Notebook

UMass Amherst Surges in Ranking of Sustainable Universities
AMHERST — A national program that measures accomplishments in sustainability in higher education has placed UMass Amherst ninth in the nation, a leap of 20 places from the previous rating in 2015. The ‘gold’ rating from the Assoc. for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) program recognizes sustainability accomplishments in areas such as academics, research, engagement, operations, and administration. The rating is good for three years. The university scored a 75.77 to earn its gold rating, a significant increase from its score of 68.18 in 2015, which was also a gold. UMass Amherst is now rated ninth in the STARS Campus Sustainability Index among U.S. doctorate-granting institutions, up from 29th in 2015. To prepare the rating application, sustainability staff and others involved in ‘green’ campus efforts used an online sustainability evaluation tool to report data in the categories of academics, campus engagement, operations, and planning/administration. In a letter that was part of the reporting process, Subbaswamy cited a number of recent actions, including creation of the School of Earth and Sustainability; installation of the largest solar-power project of any college in New England; the design and construction of the John W. Olver Design Building, which is the largest and most technologically advanced academic contemporary wood structure in the U.S.; and the decision to be the first major public university to divest its endowment from direct holdings in fossil fuels.

Thunderbirds Donate $20,000 to Rays of Hope Foundation
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Thunderbirds recently presented a check in the amount of $20,000 to the Rays of Hope Foundation, the culmination of a second-year partnership with Baystate Health. The $20,000 was raised through ticket sales and jersey auctions from the Thunderbirds’ second annual Pink in the Rink game on March 10. A sellout crowd of 6,793, many of whom were dressed in pink, witnessed a moving pregame ceremony honoring breast-cancer survivors and battlers. In their two seasons partnering with Rays of Hope on Pink in the Rink night, the Springfield Thunderbirds have raised more than $30,000 for breast-cancer awareness and research. The Thunderbirds’ full 2018-19 schedule, including the date for the third annual Pink in the Rink, will be unveiled later this summer.

AIC Names New Health Sciences Facility for Frank Colaccino
SPRINGFIELD — American International College (AIC) announced that the new health sciences educational facility located at 1020 State St. in Springfield will be named the Colaccino Center for Health Sciences in recognition of Frank Colaccino, a 1973 alumnus of the college. Colaccino is the founder, president, and CEO of the Colvest Group in Springfield, a firm that specializes in land planning and development; commercial real-estate site selection; shopping center research, development, leasing, and management; and office-space rental and leasing services. While serving as chair of the board of trustees finance committee in 2005, Colaccino was instrumental in helping restore the college’s solvency after facing extreme financial jeopardy. In 2007, and again in 2015, he assumed the role of chairman of the board of trustees. Colaccino is the first alumnus in the college’s history to hold this position. Set to open this fall, the two-story, 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility will house AIC’s new exercise science programs in addition to expanded occupational therapy and physical therapy offerings. Athletic training programs will be introduced beginning in 2021. Located in the geographic center of Springfield, the Colaccino Center for Health Sciences complements the ongoing redevelopment of downtown by extending revitalization efforts up the State Street corridor to the Mason Square/Upper Hill neighborhood.

Gándara’s ArtSong Reception Celebrates Young Artists, Performers
SPRINGFIELD — The fifth annual Gándara Youth Art Exhibit, ArtSong, hosted a gallery reception and silent auction on June 7 at the former federal building, 1550 Main St., Springfield. The family-friendly event featured youth paintings and live music performances. Youth artists in the ArtSong Arts Enrichment Program spent months working on their pieces as a part of their art therapy. Of the 65 pieces on display, created by youth ages 3 to 17, more than 10 Gándara Center residential DCF programs were represented at the show. Attendees were able to bid on all artwork on display. Event proceeds from the auction and T-shirts designed by one of the artists will directly support young artists by providing supplies to help sustain this unfunded art-therapy program. “It’s so inspiring to see what the youth created — not only for me, but also for the artists,” said Amy Porchelli, founder and director of ArtSong. “They really enjoyed the process of making art, and they got a true sense of accomplishment because they saw what they could do for the community as artists.” Porchelli said some of the artists were new to the program, and some have been in it for quite a while and came to the reception to perform music they had developed and recorded at the Gándara Center’s Holyoke Youth Development Center media lab studio.

Northeast Solar Installs Solar Array for Gardening the Community
HATFIELD — Northeast Solar announced that the new farm stand for Springfield-based nonprofit Gardening the Community, at 200 Walnut St. in Mason Square, is now being powered by a free solar-power array made possible in part by a collaboration with two area donors. The farm stand is the 11th free solar installation completed by Northeast Solar, and the list continues to grow as the company identifies more nonprofit organizations operating in the Pioneer Valley to work with. The nonprofit solar installations are part of the company’s larger mission under its commitment to the community program. Greg Garrison, president of Northeast Solar and a graduate of the Greenfield Community College (GCC) Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency program, started the company in 2010 after serving as a business consultant for the previous owner in 2009. Over the past year, Northeast Solar has been working with Garrison’s former GCC professor, Brian Adams, and Morey Phippen, a long-time social-service worker in Northampton, to bring free solar power to local community organizations. To date, Northeast Solar has installed free solar for DIAL/Self, ServiceNet, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, the Peace Development Fund, Dakin Animal Shelter, Nasami Farm, the Amherst Survival Center, Historic Northampton, and now Gardening the Community.

Easthampton Students Complete My Financial Future Program
EASTHAMPTON — Mary Rawls, vice president and co-CRA officer at Greenfield Cooperative Bank (GCB) and its Northampton Cooperative division, announced that 59 students at Easthampton High School have received certificates of recognition for the My Financial Future program being sponsored by the bank. Rawls noted that GCB partnered with EVERFI, a nationally recognized educational technology firm to provide the program at no cost to area high schools. My Financial Future is an interactive, online training program that prepares teachers to use online modules and teaches real-life skills to students so they are better prepared to handle their personal finances in the future. Module topics include how to prepare a budget, how to complete forms such as FAFSA for college aid, the differences between (and risks of) debit and credit cards, how to handle a checking account, and more. Greenfield Cooperative Bank started with just one school last September, and in its first school year the program has been expanded to four area high schools, with four more actively working with the bank and EVERFI to kick off their own classes. Greenfield Co-op has placed particular focus on connecting with the communities it serves by sponsoring schools in Franklin and Hampshire counties. If any other Franklin or Hampshire county school is interested in the program, they may contact Rawls at (413) 772-0293.

Steve Lewis Subaru Donates $52,225 to Dakin Humane Society
HADLEY — As part of its ongoing support of local communities, Steve Lewis Subaru recently presented a check for $52,225 to Dakin Humane Society in Springfield. From Nov. 16, 2017 to Jan. 2, 2018, during its Share the Love event, Subaru of America Inc. donated $250 to a charity of the customer’s choice for every new vehicle purchased or leased. The list of charities included ASPCA, Meals on Wheels America, Make-A-Wish, and the National Park Foundation. Dakin Humane Society was selected by Steve Lewis Subaru as its hometown charity choice. For the customers who chose Dakin, Steve Lewis Subaru added $25 per vehicle, putting each donation made to Dakin at $275. Subaru of America and its retailers hope to exceed a grand total of $115 million donated since the creation of Share the Love.

People On The Move

People on the Move

Tracy Sicbaldi

PeoplesBank announced the appointment of Tracy Sicbaldi as assistant vice president, Commercial and Institutional Banking. She has more than 35 years of financial-services and banking experience. In her new position, she will identify, develop, and manage new municipal, commercial, and institutional deposit relationships. Sicbaldi is the former treasurer of the towns of Hampden and Monson. She is a member of the Massachusetts Collectors and Treasurers Assoc., the Hampden County Collectors and Treasurers Assoc., the Hampshire and Franklin Collectors and Treasurers Assoc., and the Worcester County Collectors and Treasurers Assoc. She is a former member of the Eastern Mass Treasurers and Collectors Assoc. and attended all educational state and county municipal meetings. Her professional volunteer service includes serving as treasurer, vice president, and president of the Professional Women’s Chamber; the finance chair of the Rays of Hope steering committee; and a past board member of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) and the YWCA of Western Massachusetts.

•••••

Jeanne Woods

Florence Bank promoted Jeanne Woods to the position of assistant vice president and branch manager for the bank’s Amherst location. Woods joined Florence Bank in 2001 and previously served as assistant branch manager of the Amherst office. She is a development committee member for the Amherst Survival Center. “We are thrilled to announce the promotion of Jeanne Woods,” said Florence Bank President and CEO John Heaps Jr. “She is a dedicated and valued employee who consistently delivers great results. She has been an asset to the bank for many years, and I look forward to watching her progress even further in the years to come.”

•••••

Lynn Ostrowski-Ireland

Viability Inc. announced that Lynn Ostrowski-Ireland has been appointed chief operating officer, a new position within Viability, reporting directly to President and CEO Dick Venne. As COO, Ostrowski-Ireland will be responsible for overseeing the operation of Viability’s programs and services across the 36 locations in five states in which it currently operates. Ostrowski-Ireland is the former executive director of the National Aetna Foundation, where she led strategic grants and programs and enterprise-wide corporate social-responsibility strategy and reporting. She also held numerous leadership positions at Health New England, including director of Marketing, Communications and Brand, director of Community Relations and Health Programs, and director of Corporate Responsibility & Government Affairs. She is recognized for her expertise in population health and addressing social determinants of health, and has addressed national audiences on many public-health topics, most recently keynoting at the National Cancer Foundation and the National Oncology Nurses Congress. Ostrowski-Ireland has achieved several certificates of advanced study from Harvard Business School of Executive Education as well as Johns Hopkins University. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Springfield College, and a Ph.D. from Capella University. She was honored at the 2017 Bay Path University Women’s Leadership Conference and inducted into the Bay Path University Women’s Leadership Hall of Fame.

•••••

The board of directors of the Ludlow Community Center/Randall Boys & Girls Club announced that Mechilia “Chile” Salazar has accepted the role of president and CEO of the center. Salazar previously served as executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Middlesex County in Somerville. Her experience also includes positions as chief Development officer of the Base in Roxbury and Room to Grow in Boston. “I am excited to join such a committed group of leaders at the Randall Boys & Girls Club and build on the best of the team and organization,” she said. “I look forward to working relentlessly to ensure that the club continues to be a positive place where every young person feels loved, knows that they matter, and has access to the resources and opportunities to succeed. I am excited about harnessing the strength of this tight-knit community that has helped make the culture in and outside the club great.”

•••••

Chris Palames

Disability-rights activist Chris Palames is the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Service Award from Holyoke Community College. Palames is the founder of the Stavros Center for Independent Living in Amherst, executive director of Independent Living Resources in Florence, and a retired consultant for the Massachusetts Division of Capital and Asset Management, which manages construction projects for publicly owned facilities in the state. He has served on the Northampton Commission on Disability and the Massachusetts Disability Policy Consortium, and frequently advises the staff in HCC’s Office for Students with Disabilities and Deaf Services. HCC President Christina Royal presented the Distinguished Service Award to Palames at HCC’s 71st commencement ceremony at the MassMutual Center in Springfield on June 2. Palames began his life as an activist as a freshman at Wesleyan University in the 1960s, demonstrating for civil rights on the White House lawn. A spinal-cord injury left him a quadriplegic, but, after a year recuperating, he was back, protesting the Vietnam War and completing his bachelor’s degree in psychology.

•••••

Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health, is the 78th chair of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Assoc. board of trustees. He succeeds Kate Walsh, president and CEO of Boston Medical Center. In his inaugural address, Keroack discussed his deep interest in the major policy proposals and other efforts now underway to advance healthcare both statewide and nationally. He also acknowledged that many of these endeavors are currently overshadowed by disruptive challenges buffeting hospitals, health systems, and other care providers. “We must reconnect with our core purpose, to remind both our team members and our communities of who we are and what we have always been,” he said. “We need to remind ourselves of our history of being there for our communities for generations, reliably serving all those who need our help, innovating, and caring for the person and not just the disease. And as we step up, as we find our voice, I believe we will learn something about ourselves and what we share in common.”

•••••

Brooke Hallowell, dean of the Springfield College School of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies, was one of 14 signatories for international associations that founded the initiative of the Global Rehabilitation Alliance (GRA), which gathered for the first time on May 22 at the World Health Assembly hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. Hallowell will continue to serve as a founding representative to the Global Rehabilitation Alliance for the next three years. The alliance will be a platform for united advocacy and awareness-raising to strengthen rehabilitation in health and social systems around the world. Many organizations serve this goal through working to improve accessibility to services, quality of care, the building of rehabilitation workforce capacity, and strengthening of data collection. The Global Rehabilitation Alliance will aim to further these efforts through raising the profile of rehabilitation and strengthening networks and partnerships. Hallowell has a global reputation in collaborative development of rehabilitation services and frameworks, especially in under-resourced regions. Most recently, she held adjunct faculty appointments and visiting professorships at universities in Korea, Malaysia, and Honduras. She is involved in current research, educational, and clinical program collaboration in Malaysia, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, and Honduras.

Briefcase

Briefcase

BusinessWest Accepting Nominations for Women of Impact Awards
SPRINGFIELD — BusinessWest has launched a new recognition program to honor a specific segment of the local population: women who are making an impact in and on this region. Nominees who score the highest in the eyes of a panel of three independent judges will be honored at a luncheon in December (date and venue to be determined). “We decided to create a special program recognizing women because, after careful consideration, we decided that this region needed one and that BusinessWest was the right organization to do it,” Kate Campiti, associate publisher and sales manager for BusinessWest, explained. “While women have certainly made great strides over the past several decades, and many women have made great achievements and broken through that proverbial glass ceiling, doing so remains a stern challenge for many.” ‘Women of Impact’ was chosen as the name for the program because, while nominees can be from the world of business, they can also be from other realms, such as the nonprofit community, public service, law enforcement, education, social work, the mentorship community, a combination of all these. Nominations for this honor, due on Aug. 3, should be written with one basic underlying mission: to explain why the individual in question is, indeed, a woman of impact. Nominations should explain, when applicable, how the nominee has made impactful accomplishments or contributions that have positively influenced business or the community; how the nominee demonstrates unwavering passion and commitment for an issue that has made a difference in the lives of others; how the nominee has influenced other women through her actions and contributions; how the nominee exemplifies qualities of spirit, service, compassion for others, or professionalism to achieve accomplishments, and how she may have overcome adversity in order to give back to the community; how the nominee has applied innovative thinking to push the boundaries and find new and better ways to do things; and how the nominee has consistently demonstrated exceptional and progressive leadership. Additional information and nomination guidelines are available at HERE. Nominations may be submitted HERE. For more information about this event, call Bevin Peters, Marketing and Events director, at (413) 781-8600, ext. 100, or e-mail [email protected].

Governor Baker Announces Western Mass. Rail Initiatives
BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker joined Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, members of the Massachusetts Legislature, and local leaders at Union Station in Springfield on June 12 to announce a request for proposals for a consultant team to study the feasibility of east-west passenger rail service, the launch of a pilot for passenger rail service between Greenfield and Springfield, and one-seat service through Springfield to Hartford and New Haven, Conn. The RFP will enable the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to carry out an extensive study over approximately 18 months, analyzing many aspects and options for potential east-west passenger rail service. In addition to studying potential passenger service from Springfield to Boston, the study will look at potential origins farther west such as Pittsfield and Palmer. This will include engaging with stakeholders and evaluating the potential costs, speed, infrastructure needs, and ridership of potential passenger rail service throughout this corridor. The administration also announced that a term sheet has been finalized with the Connecticut Department of Transportation which will enable the start of passenger rail service between Springfield and Greenfield beginning on a pilot basis in spring 2019. Under the agreement, MassDOT will fund the cost and management of the pilot service, which will be operated by Amtrak and conclude in fall 2021. The pilot will provide two round-trips each day and make stops at stations in Greenfield, Northampton, Holyoke, and Springfield. Southbound service will be provided in the morning hours, and northbound in the evenings. This pilot service will leverage the MassDOT-owned Knowledge Corridor, which is currently used by Amtrak’s Vermonter service, and the recently renovated Springfield Union Station. Meanwhile, the new 62-mile Hartford Line began operating on June 16, with trains running approximately every 45 minutes between Springfield and several cities and towns in Connecticut, including Windsor Locks, Windsor, Hartford, Berlin, Meriden, Wallingford, and New Haven.

Greylock Works Transforming Mill with Help from MassDevelopment
NORTH ADAMS — MassDevelopment has provided a $1.1 million loan to Greylock WORKS LLC, the developer of the Greylock Mill, a former cotton-spinning mill campus in North Adams that Greylock WORKS is transforming into a mixed-use commercial development. The organization will use loan proceeds to continue renovations of the Weave Shed, which includes a 26,000-square-foot event venue and commercial kitchen where the owners have been producing regional festivals and dance parties, as well as hosting weddings and other private events. This loan builds on significant support from the state and MassDevelopment, including nearly $4 million in MassWorks Infrastructure Grant Program funding for North Adams. The two awards enabled the city to complete public infrastructure improvements necessary for the development’s ongoing construction. The Greylock Mill is a 240,000-square-foot former cotton-spinning facility that stretches 700 feet along Route 2 in North Adams. Plans for the building’s campus include wholesale scaled artisanal food production, a boutique hotel, housing, and event space. The Baker-Polito administration, through MassDevelopment, has worked with the developer across numerous aspects of the project, providing pre-development funding and grants through the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, the Site Readiness Program, and the Collaborative Workspace Program.

Employer Confidence Surges in May
BOSTON — Business confidence surged during May to its highest level since the summer of 2000, driven by improving employer outlooks about the state and national economies. The Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) Business Confidence Index rose 2.4 points to 66.6 last month after increasing modestly during April. The BCI has risen in five of the last six months and now stands 5.8 points higher than its level a year ago. Confidence remains well within the optimistic range. The only whiff of concern came in the index that measures hiring, which dropped 1.5 points for the month and 0.2 points during the year. Economists believe the weakness in the AIM Employment Index reflects the persistent shortage of workers in Massachusetts that has forced some employers to postpone expansions or to decline new business opportunities.

Springfield Dementia Friendly Coalition Receives Grant
SPRINGFIELD — The newly formed Springfield Dementia Friendly Coalition (SDFC) has been awarded a Dementia-Friendly Capacity Building Grant from the Massachusetts Council on Aging under a Service Incentive Grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs. The Council on Aging grant will enable the coalition to hold focus-group meetings over the coming months with local government and public officials, first responders, and members of the business community to make them aware of the issues facing individuals living with dementia, their friends, family, and care partners, to give an overview of the movement and elicit their thoughts and engagement in the initiative. In addition, the group will meet with those living with dementia and their care partners and expand the Dementia Friendly website, www.dementiafriendlycommunities.org. An estimated 5.7 million Americans ages 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Nearly 60% of people with dementia live in their own communities, and one in seven live alone, creating an urgent need for communities to support people with dementia and their caregivers. SDFC partners include the Springfield Department of Elder Affairs/Council on Aging, Springfield Partners for Community Action, Greater Springfield Senior Services, the Alzheimer’s Assoc., Silver Life Care at Home, Chapin Center, El Grupo de Apoyo, and Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing. A calendar of upcoming events is available at www.dementiafriendlycommunities.org. For more information or to get involved, contact Scott-Mitchell at (413) 263-6500, ext. 6518, or [email protected], or Carol Constant at (413) 588-5184 or [email protected].

Incorporations

Incorporations

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

AMHERST

Mass Landlord Education Inc., 11 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002. Thea L. Costine, 131 Main St., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370. To provide education and assistance to individuals new to the business of being a landlord.

BERNARDSTON

Jim Whitney Plumbing & Heating Inc., 336 Huckle Hill Road, Bernardston, MA 01337. James D. Whitney, same. Plumbing and heating.

EGREMONT

Kifar Zaydee Corp., 196 Egremont Plain Road, Egremont, MA 01258. Peter Neustadter, same. Real-estate rentals.

HAYDENVILLE

Massachusetts Families for College Success Inc., 2 Cole Road, Haydenville, MA 01039. Marc Kenen, same. Educates the public about the need to increase the number of Massachusetts residents who attend and graduate from college.

INDIAN ORCHARD

Mision Sembradores Inc., 890 Berkshire Ave., Indian Orchard, MA 01151. Michelle Aviles, same. Support churches, pastors, ministers, missionaries, and other lay and clergy personnel facilitating education, training, and on-the-field experiences.

NORTHAMPTON

Koala Tree Inc., 297 Pleasant St., Northampton, MA 01060. Ron Kretschmar, 80 Bolton St., Springfield, MA 01119. The purpose of the corporation is to promote access to healthcare.

SHELBURNE FALLS

KSW Home & Building Services Inc., 4 Laurel St., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370. Kelly S. Warger, same. Construction.

SPRINGFIELD

L F Meat Food Market Corp., 89 Wilbraham Road, Springfield, MA 01109. Francisco Augusto Cabrera, Springfield, MA 01109. Grocery-store products.

Mad Max Transportation Inc., 46 Haumont Terrace, Springfield, MA 01104. Max Charvayev, same. Transportation.

MC Carpet Inc., 72 Rittenhouse Terrace, Springfield, MA 01108. Christian Brito Quilambaqui, same. Flooring contractor.

WILBRAHAM

Kao Services, P.C., 1225 Stony Hill Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095. Kathleen A. O’Malley, same. Legal services.

Doing Business As Certificates

DBA Certificates

The following business certificates and trade names were issued or renewed during the months of May and June 2018.

AMHERST

If Wishes Were Horses
321 Main St.
Kay Gregory

Outre Real Estate
141 North Pleasant St., Suite 661
Jason Gray

PeopleFirst Technology Consulting
409 Main St.
Zach Fried

BELCHERTOWN

Styled to Go
6 Moss Lane
Andrea Stasio Pikul

CHICOPEE

Dance Dynamics
527 Grattan St.
Angela Breault-Klusman

Echo Painting and Renovation
73 Clarendon Ave.
Igor Morozov, Vladimir Morozov

Moore Productions
12 Daniel Dr.
Andrew Moore

Supercuts
601 Memorial Dr.
Abigail Allu

Total Cleaning Plus
211 Summit Ave.
Andrea Baush Regan

DEERFIELD

A. Chauvin Logistics
9 Braeburn Road
Angela Clemente

EASTHAMPTON

Daily Operation
42 Cottage St.
David Schrier, Jessica Pollard, David Clegg

Hair by Lisa
186B Northampton St.
Lisa Joy

Nature to Nurture Life Coaching
16 Pleasant Green West
Tracie Beasley

Waters Fine Goods + Coffee
20 Cottage St.
Mary Foster

EAST LONGMEADOW

Ace Property Consultants
27 Bunker Circle
David Preste

Elements Therapeutic Massage
80 Center Square
Ron Levin

James A. Kelly
6 Lee St.
James Kelly

Progressive Massage
168 Denslow Road
Patricia Gill

Scooters
203 Shaker Road
Scott Hauser

GREENFIELD

Greenfield Shell #04055
242 Mohawk Trail
Nouria Energy Retail Inc.

Hair’s the Thing
259 Federal St.
Kelley Goddard

Jennifer Torrey, LICSW
57 Elm St.
Jennifer Torrey

Melissa Scheid Frantz
38 Lovers Lane
Melissa Scheid Frantz

Our Daily Bread
401 Chapman St.
Francine Schrock, Barbara Sund

Summit Behavioral Wealth
525 Bernardston Road, Suite 1
Summit Behavioral Wealth, LLC

HADLEY

Barstow Massage Body Work
8 River Dr.
Heather Barstow

Boisvert Farm, LLC
70 Lawrence Place
John Boisvert

Jekanowski Farms, LLC
38 Roosevelt St.
Kevin Jekanowski, Paul Jekanowski

Kkuljaem Korean Kitchen
367 Russell St.
Paul Anst

Next Barn Over
15 Lawrence Place
Rachel Young

HOLYOKE

Boston Bud Factory
73 Sargeant St.
Frank Dailey, Carlo Sarno

Fashion Nails II
293 High St.
Phat Dang

Gadget Depot
247 Main St.
Diego Munoz Torres

Music by Blood in the Water
340 Hillside Ave.
Eric Paquette

Pure Air Systems
511-6B Whitney Ave.
Bruce Burns

Stop & Shop Supermarket #009
28 Lincoln St.
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., LLC

Stop & Shop Supermarket #030
2265 Northampton St.
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., LLC

T. Vouros Studio
80 Race St.
Tyler Vouros

LONGMEADOW

Crystal Clear Window Washing
350 Converse St.
Brian Wright

Max Eva Holdings
24 Maple Terrace
Adam McComb

Universal Auto Sales
228 Burbank Road
Jeffrey Consenzi

LUDLOW

Da Silva Salon
116 Alfred St.
Anna Porra

Joe’s Farm
189 Rood St.
Jose Baltazar

Kristine Chapin
300 West Ave.
Kristine Chapin

Pioneer Valley Junior Soccer League
41 Owens Way
Louis Teixeira

NORTHAMPTON

Animal Alliances
137 Damon Road
Caroline Moore

Badger’s Flowers & Co.
55 Clark St.
Christine Adams

Bambu Bicycles
174 Spring St.
The Chilson Design Collaborative

Birdhouse Music
164 Main St.
Glenn Alper

Cutchins Programs for Children and Families Inc.
78 Pomeroy Terrace
Tina Champagne

Hair’s the Thing
21 Locust St.
Kelley Goddard

New Directions School
78 Pomeroy Terrace
Tina Champagne

Pioneer Valley Driving School
241 King St.
Mary Paciorek

Progression Brewing Co.
9 Pearl St.
Andrew Starkweather

The Pure Massage and Spa
30 Strong Ave.
Yuting Huang

Revival Homestead Supply
123 Hawley St., Unit 14
Melody Figge

Western Earthworks
275 Hatfield St.
John Henderson-Adams, Benjamin Hix

SOUTHWICK

Children 2 Learn
73 Klaus Anderson Road
Francis Mancini Jr.

Ming House
648 College Highway
Shu Ming Chen

Southwick Motors
483 College Highway
Anthony Novak

Stacey Gravanis
36 South View Dr.
Stacey Gravanis

SPRINGFIELD

Aveanna Healthcare
2071 Roosevelt Ave.
AND Venture Inc.

Blue Life Behavioral Health
529 Main St.
Frank Gallo

Brown Mini Market
178 Oakland St.
Derek Brown

Candido Osorio
7 Shepard Dr.
Candido Osorio

Caraballo Flooring
626 White St.
Luis Caraballo

Family Pawn
461 Main St.
Star Hai Duong

Feng Enterprises, LLC
42 Berkshire Ave.
Feng Zheng

Fresh Start Marketing
39A Nokomis St.
Kaiya Hill-Thomas

Georgie’s Barber Shop
776 Liberty St.
Jorge Cruz

Gilded Lily Florist
1926 Wilbraham Road
Lisa Rubner

John’s Parking
48 Bliss St.
John Fortin

Keshav Shivam Corp.
527 Allen St.
Gaurav Patel

Kingslee Shuttle Service
25 Hutchinson St.
Kenneth Alexander

Krishna Keshay Corp.
570 Sumner Ave.
Gaurav Patel

M & T Unlimited Gifts
68 Maynard St.
Victor Arroyo

M.C.O. Trucking, LLC
75 Bryant St.
Orlando Soto

Mass. Scalp Inc.
143 Main St.
Lordi Smith

Meraki Hair Studio
1498 Allen St.
Natasha Rodriguez

Razzleberries
164 Main St.
Barbara Lyons

Rosado Trucking
28 Marengo Park
Luis Rosado

Smiley Sevi and Abhi Inc.
1121 State St.
Sneh Kumar

Subway
1019 St. James Ave.
T & W Subway Inc.

VIP Cuts
143 Main St.
Andres Ortiz

WMass Construction
14 Alsace St.
Armando Roman

Yanet’s Beauty Salon
519 Main St.
Charlie Melo-Perez

WESTFIELD

Fortini Construction and Remodeling
138 Feeding Hills Road
Matthew Fortini

Groomtastic Pet Salon
22 School St.
Whitney Stevens

J. Burke Engineering
29 Salvator Dr.
James Burke

NES Worldwide Inc.
3 Progress Ave.
NES Worldwide Inc.

Progress Enterprises Inc.
3 Progress Ave.
Progress Enterprises Inc.

Simply Rustic
26 North Elm St.
Debra Fortin

Trinity Health of New England Medical Group
140 Southampton Road
Riverbend Medical Group Inc.

Trinity Health of New England Medical Group
395 Southampton Road
Riverbend Medical Group Inc.

Workshop 818
38 School St.
Workshop 818

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Advanced Aesthetics & Wellness Center
120 Westfield St.
Yelena Ivanov

Atlantis Fresh Market
884 Westfield St.
Orkun Gonul

Hale Home Improvement
573 Westfield St.
Todd Hale

Licensed Avon Beauty Center
250 Westfield St.
Deborah Scharmann

Total Fitness Equipment
1267 Riverdale St.
Jon Valles

White Pumpkin Design
57 Angeline St.
Jennifer Ehle

WILBRAHAM

David Kravchuk Electric
76 Stony Hill Road
David Kravchuk

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Auger, John C.
41-43 Morgan Road
Hubbardston, MA 01452
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/25/18

Bassett, Jason
Bassett, Barbara
a/k/a Granger, Barbara
41 Fernwood Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Borrero, Dora Rosalinda
950 North Pleasant St., Apt. 135
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Caracciolo, Robert Shane
16 Lynebrook Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Chamberlain, Steven J.
240 Waconah St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/18

Chouinard, Stephen W.
Chouinard, Holly L.
27 Fairmont St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/18/18

Connolly, William John
391 Ridge Road
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Corporate Renegade, LLC
Goldfarb, Matthew S.
27 Hadley Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/18

Curry, Elizabeth Ann
557 South St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/18

DiFronzo, John C.
48 Elm Circle
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Espinal, Vikiana
51 Lester St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Fisher, Tracy A.
1470 White Pond Road
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/18

Fleming, Jeanne E.
200 Lambert Terrace
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/21/18

Fountain, Stuart
P.O. Box 836
West Warren, MA 01092
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Garrett, Kenneth D.
44 Forest Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/23/18

Gaynor, Traci L.
226 Old Farm Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/22/18

Gentles, Robert M.
343 Chicopee St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/27/18

Gianna Salon
Shepard, Tammy A.
29 Joanne Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/27/18

Gray-Mylonakis, Karen F.
a/k/a DeSousa, Karen F.
a/k/a Mylonakis, Karen F.
184 Ellsworth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Gregoire, Kelly L.
a/k/a Gregoire-Claing, Kelly L.
10 Nokomis Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/18

Guevin, Kathleen
a/k/a Whitworth, Kathleen
57 Bonair Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/29/18

Hoffman, Agnes
48 Oak Ridge St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/19/18

Hubbard, Brittany
24 Wood Ave., Apt. A
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/18/18

Janes, Sean
Janes, Daphne
258 Bromley St.
Chester, MA 01011
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/18/18

Johnson, Erica Lee
92 Columba St., Apt. 2C
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/18

Jones, Anthony W.
505 Royalston Road
Phillipston, MA 01331
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/24/18

Kelsey, Arlene M.
PO Box 122
Chester, MA 01011
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/18

Khawaja, Ammar T.
45 Montgomery St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Lacasse, Garrett S.
Lacasse, Carolyn H.
84 Monson Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Leong, Caryn Andrea
a/k/a Banks, Caryn
Leong, Lisa
2C North Main St.
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/18

Madni, Shoeb K.
Khatoon, Aysha
200 Lambert Terrace
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/18/18

Marshall, Bryan J.
108 Basil Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/18

Midura, Shirley A.
a/k/a Bigos, Shirley A.
172 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Modern Dairy & Liquors, Inc.
Steele, Dennis Robert
Steele, Susan Jean
162 North Hoosac Road
Williamstown, MA 01267
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Monette, Robert E.
134 College St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/18

Monfils, Sarah Ann
a/k/a Edwards, Sarah Ann
78 Elmar Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Murphy, Cole Ryan
a/k/a Ouellet, Cole R.
197 River Road
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Murphy, Jenniefer Susan
a/k/a Davis, Jenniefer S.
a/k/a Davis-Bulko, Jenniefer S.
Bulko, Jenniefer Davis
197 River Road
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Obregon-Lopez, Iris Y.
PO Box 161
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

O’Donnell, Diane E.
73 Barrett St. #1033
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/18/18

Ortiz, Tina M.
52 Granby St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/18/18

Perez, Louis
55 Spring St., #214
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/18

Perron, Jessica Rae
69 Allen St., 2nd Fl.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/18

Portier, Jaime L.
Portier, Kristopher R.
11 Anne St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/18

Pratt, Kevin Paul
Woods-Pratt, Rena Rae
7 Mill St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Pritchett, Patrick John
34 Cherry St., Apt A
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/18

Rivera, Brandon Enrique
Rivera, Melissa Marie
40 Brookline Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Rosser, Sherri L.
30 Sunnymeade Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/25/18

Sanderson, David G.
1037 Williamsville Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/26/18

Sayers, Walter A.
Sayers, Janice M.
176 Columbus Ave.
Bldg. B, #521
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/18

Sears, Regina M.
73 Ontario St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/29/18

Smith, Mary P.
3 Myrtle St., Apt. E-12
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/18

Smith, Randall P.
Smith, Michelle L.
885 Cold Spring Road
Williamstown, MA 01267
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/18/18

Trudel, Joyce Beverly
38 Maynard St.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/18

Waskiewicz, Joyce Ann Irene
15 Kelley St.
Three Rivers, MA 01080
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/18

Zaccari-Garafolo, Joanne
281 Chauncey Walker St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/31/18

Real Estate Transactions

Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest available) were compiled by Banker & Tradesman and are published as they were received. Only transactions exceeding $115,000 are listed. Buyer and seller fields contain only the first name listed on the deed.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

ASHFIELD

520 Main St.
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $274,000
Buyer: April P. West
Seller: Ethan K. Vandermark
Date: 05/23/18

193 Norton Hill Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Carolyn B. Johnson
Seller: Pamela J. Poissant
Date: 05/22/18

CHARLEMONT

327 West Hawley Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $146,500
Buyer: Joseph H. Gougeon
Seller: Jeffery Carantit
Date: 05/31/18

COLRAIN

181 Call Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $138,000
Buyer: Luke M. Johnson
Seller: Oona Morrow
Date: 06/01/18

499 Jacksonville Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $115,200
Buyer: PNC Bank NA
Seller: Jillian M. Lively
Date: 06/01/18

DEERFIELD

216 Conway Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Jennifer C. Green
Seller: Julie A. Sencabaugh
Date: 05/30/18

630 Greenfield Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $219,900
Buyer: Christopher Manning
Seller: Pamela T. Hodgkins
Date: 06/01/18

107 Plain Road West
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Karen K. Murphy
Seller: Cheryl A. Bohonowicz
Date: 06/01/18

393 River Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Leonard Haskin
Seller: Andrew A. Adams
Date: 06/01/18

ERVING

32 Forest St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Jeffrey W. Lanoue
Seller: Shirley J. Holmes
Date: 05/25/18

24 Prospect St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Jeremy D. Klepadlo
Seller: Mary Gapinski
Date: 06/01/18

GREENFIELD

49 Birch St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: James S. Pettengill
Seller: Leif C. Riddington
Date: 05/30/18

101 Colrain St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $124,000
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Mae A. Hale
Date: 05/22/18

346 Conway St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Sarah L. Meikle
Seller: Bryan G. Hobbs
Date: 05/31/18

776 Country Club Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Adam J. Williams
Seller: James A. Cullen
Date: 05/30/18

181 Elm St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Dominic S. Lively
Seller: Stefanie A. Williams
Date: 05/30/18

20 Hancock Lane
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Darren J. Stover
Seller: Robert Mattson
Date: 05/23/18

66 Orchard St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Spencer Sherman
Seller: Louis D. Manica
Date: 05/31/18

18 Shattuck St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $146,000
Buyer: Jason Higgins
Seller: Gerard R. Ethier
Date: 06/01/18

151 Smead Hill Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $750,000
Buyer: Moonlight Rose Inc.
Seller: Michael A. Waskewicz
Date: 05/30/18

302 Wells St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $144,900
Buyer: David P. Cardaropoli
Seller: George R. Marchacos
Date: 05/24/18

LEVERETT

Putney Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $169,000
Buyer: Janine Roberts
Seller: Gregory L. Woodard
Date: 05/24/18

MONTAGUE

4 K St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Vladimir Gargun
Seller: Bich-Thuy T. Reed
Date: 06/01/18

432 Millers Falls Road
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: James Perkins
Seller: Aaron D. Budine
Date: 05/21/18

14 Morris Ave.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Jacob S. Dlugosz
Seller: Christian S. Couture
Date: 05/30/18

108-R South Prospect St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $211,500
Buyer: Jonathan T. Rawls
Seller: Leon R. Laster
Date: 05/25/18

9 Turnpike Road
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Bryan G. Hobbs
Seller: Scott A. Johnson
Date: 05/31/18

37 Unity St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $219,900
Buyer: Trevor A. Leblanc
Seller: Terry F. Pease
Date: 05/30/18

23 X St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Brian J. Bowden-Smith
Seller: Scott D. Tompkins
Date: 05/25/18

ORANGE

202 Daniel Shays Hwy.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: Courtney J. Graves
Seller: Randall L. Croto
Date: 05/30/18

76 Mechanic St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $169,900
Buyer: Stephen Petrovich
Seller: Sean T. Bardsley
Date: 06/01/18

78 Shelter St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Brody M. Cullen
Seller: Andrew Meuse
Date: 05/24/18

58 Stone Valley Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $211,230
Buyer: Catherine M. McCarthy
Seller: April Melanson
Date: 05/25/18

280 Walnut Hill Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Jessalyn L. Zaykoski
Seller: Peter A. Gerry
Date: 05/31/18

175 West Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $174,900
Buyer: Daniel J. Quinn
Seller: Lisa M. Cameron
Date: 05/30/18

72 West Orange Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Scott P. Medeiros
Seller: David M. Sakowicz
Date: 06/01/18

226 West River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $163,500
Buyer: Jean M. Kandrotas
Seller: Russell C. Jardine
Date: 05/31/18

SUNDERLAND

124 North Silver Lane
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $300,550
Buyer: Steven R. Unkles
Seller: Sean G. McCallen
Date: 05/24/18

61 Plumtree Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Nigel Brissett
Seller: Gordon Kramer
Date: 05/22/18

56 South Plain Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $300,900
Buyer: Eric M. Toia
Seller: Linda Brown Wilcox RET
Date: 05/22/18

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

319 Barry St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $164,481
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Richard W. Shays
Date: 05/29/18

69 Brookline Ave.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Aaron J. Samuelsen
Seller: Ramona M. Cavallini
Date: 05/25/18

26 Colonial Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $163,000
Buyer: Peter E. Rizzo
Seller: Danielle Petrangelo
Date: 05/25/18

20 Family Lane
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $320,500
Buyer: Craig A. Goodrow
Seller: James W. Horne
Date: 05/31/18

54 Glendale Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $293,000
Buyer: Samuel G. Johnson
Seller: Micki Choi
Date: 05/31/18

30 Halladay Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Shaun L. Cummings
Seller: Steven P. Merhar
Date: 06/01/18

190 Mill St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $190,159
Buyer: Bayview Loan Servicing
Seller: Roger H. Leroux
Date: 05/29/18

61 Parker St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $228,200
Buyer: Andrew Lopez
Seller: Diane M. Goodrow
Date: 05/31/18

28 Ramah Circle North
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: G&K Properties LLC
Seller: Daniel H. Burnett
Date: 05/31/18

89 River Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Joanna Stone
Seller: Don Donahue
Date: 05/31/18

11 Silver St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Alyssa D. Goss
Seller: Anthony Grassetti
Date: 06/01/18

460 Southwick St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $363,000
Buyer: Matthew J. Koons
Seller: Terriann Morin
Date: 05/25/18

24 Sunset Terrace
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $194,000
Buyer: Zachary K. Dulka
Seller: Erin C. Hurley-King
Date: 05/29/18

16 Sycamore Terrace
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Zachary J. Bussiere
Seller: Valeriy Kuznetsov
Date: 05/25/18

24 Sylvan Lane
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Joseph Maldonado
Seller: Fay, Samuel P., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/18

59 Western Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Diane G. Pomeroy
Seller: Kayla M. Cummings
Date: 06/01/18

2 Westview Lane
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $341,500
Buyer: Derek Kresiak
Seller: FHLM
Date: 06/01/18

47 Willow Brook Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: ATR Realty LLC
Seller: Gregory S. Moran
Date: 05/25/18

BLANDFORD

82 Curtis Hall Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Adam Gonska
Seller: Gregory R. Sykier
Date: 05/31/18

BRIMFIELD

49 Haynes Hill Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $545,000
Buyer: Kevin O’Malley
Seller: Eric J. Emanuel
Date: 05/24/18

51 Knollwood Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Michael J. Neely
Seller: FNMA
Date: 05/21/18

260 Warren Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Stephen Taricano
Seller: Bayview Loan Servicing
Date: 05/30/18

CHESTER

259 Route 20
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $227,500
Buyer: Antonio J. Boucher
Seller: Thomas E. Beeman
Date: 06/01/18

CHICOPEE

17 Artisan St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Houssam M. Abdul-Baki
Seller: Pennymac Loan Services
Date: 05/25/18

160 Asselin St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: William T. Purchase
Seller: Ghislaine M. Ricardi
Date: 05/25/18

154 Blanan Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $198,900
Buyer: Lilliam I. Colon
Seller: Nilton D. Rosa
Date: 05/31/18

20 Bonner St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $179,000
Buyer: Przemyslaw Szura
Seller: JPNTT Real Estate LLC
Date: 05/30/18

170 Crestwood St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Lewis J. Taylor
Seller: John W. Taylor
Date: 06/01/18

19 East Street Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Matthew J. Sarnelli
Seller: Lise Patry
Date: 05/29/18

57 Dayton St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: Kaitlin Buckley
Seller: Derick J. Samson
Date: 05/25/18

53 Edgewood Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Krzysztof Gorczak
Seller: Alan Jahsman
Date: 05/21/18

58 Edward St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Holyoke Management LLC
Seller: Robert C. Leduc
Date: 05/23/18

21 Harrison Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Stanley A. Pierce
Seller: Christopher C. Steele
Date: 05/30/18

59 Hawthorn St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Marc A. Mailhott
Seller: Paul Mailhott
Date: 05/31/18

14 Hillcrest St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Jake W. Flaucher
Seller: George Hollister
Date: 05/25/18

26 Jeanette Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $220,500
Buyer: Terry Eaddy
Seller: Kimberly A. Anderson
Date: 05/31/18

111 Lachine St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Angela R. Zucco
Seller: Mulak, Steven J., (Estate)
Date: 05/30/18

135 Lukasik St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: James M. Wozniak
Seller: Dorothy P. Hilton
Date: 05/31/18

65 Main St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Jahjan LLC
Seller: Koziol LLC
Date: 06/01/18

11 McCarthy Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $171,100
Buyer: Craig A. Duffy
Seller: Robert D. Butler
Date: 05/25/18

1765 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $194,000
Buyer: Julia Guerrero
Seller: Scott C. Darcy
Date: 05/29/18

36 Oakwood St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Robert D. Baldwin
Seller: Laing, Janet A., (Estate)
Date: 05/21/18

429 Oldfield Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: David J. Zagula
Seller: Rhonda Marchetti
Date: 05/30/18

20 Park St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Open Sesame Real Estate
Seller: DB Properties LLC
Date: 05/25/18

23 Royalton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Victor Surreira
Seller: Donna M. Cerez
Date: 06/01/18

31 Saratoga Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Jodi O’Malley
Seller: Jason A. Szumski
Date: 05/29/18

6 Sesame Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Haleigh R. Scott
Seller: Jeffrey P. Scott
Date: 05/25/18

1040 Sheridan St.
Chicopee, MA 01022
Amount: $4,200,000
Buyer: A3 Sheridan LLC
Seller: We 1040 Sheridan LLC
Date: 05/23/18

17 Sullivan St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Jordan J. Deshais
Seller: Michael P. Lafleur
Date: 05/31/18

128 Sunnymeade Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $187,900
Buyer: Ruthie M. Therrien
Seller: Rick Denoncourt Carpentry
Date: 05/30/18

18 West St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Open Sesame Real Estate
Seller: DB Properties LLC
Date: 05/25/18

205 Wildermere St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: Angel Rodriguez-Inserni
Seller: Kevin J. Fonseca
Date: 05/31/18

EAST LONGMEADOW

30 Allen St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Antonella Raschilla
Seller: Francesco Raschilla
Date: 05/21/18

102 Braeburn Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $135,800
Buyer: 88 Casino Terrace LLC
Seller: Richard A. Beron
Date: 05/25/18

23 Day Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $229,900
Buyer: Cariel Wilkinson
Seller: Dennis M. Ducharme
Date: 05/21/18

15 Harmon Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Emiliana Rivas
Seller: Kenneth S. Malone
Date: 05/25/18

17 Hillside Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Charles Kalomeris
Seller: Annker Jr LLC
Date: 05/25/18

68 Holland Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $187,000
Buyer: Heather Spera
Seller: Katie M. Lane
Date: 05/25/18

14 Lasalle St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Jonathan Guinipero
Seller: Sidney M. Preman
Date: 05/31/18

3 Robin St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $188,900
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: William E. Hurlburt
Date: 06/01/18

242 Somers Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Michael Ziyadeh
Seller: Jeremy J. Seymour
Date: 05/30/18

347 Somers Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $253,000
Buyer: Brandy A. Hartz
Seller: Anthony V. Trovato
Date: 05/25/18

80 Somersville Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $278,000
Buyer: Nicholas P. Rosati
Seller: Laurie J. Rosati
Date: 05/23/18

41 Taylor St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $189,000
Buyer: Demetrios Sotiropoulos
Seller: Sarah C. Sterlacci
Date: 05/31/18

33 Villanova St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01108
Amount: $259,900
Buyer: Chinh D. Pham
Seller: Leng Jiang
Date: 05/29/18

GRANVILLE

88 Crest Lane
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Wells Fargo Bank
Seller: Bella Akinyr-Windoloski
Date: 05/21/18

HAMPDEN

17 Baldwin Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Steven A. Whelihan
Seller: Christopher P. Lizotte
Date: 05/22/18

53 Meadow Brook Lane
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Abigail R. Perreault
Seller: Brian C. Hourihan
Date: 05/31/18

48 Old Coach Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Maura Stack
Seller: Scott P. Bacon
Date: 05/30/18

51 Scantic Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $214,400
Buyer: Bruce M. Hubbard
Seller: Gordon J. Willcutt
Date: 05/31/18

346 Somers Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $329,000
Buyer: Thomas Cardano
Seller: Wayne D. Augusto
Date: 05/23/18

335 Wilbraham Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $197,000
Buyer: Matthew E. Lambert
Seller: Brenda Lee-Lambert
Date: 05/30/18

HOLLAND

6 Roberts Park Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Bennett Wightman
Seller: Ulrike Brisson
Date: 05/25/18

HOLYOKE

275 Apremont Hwy.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $142,500
Buyer: Eugene J. Borowski
Seller: Paul E. Bluemer
Date: 05/29/18

190 Essex St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $136,700
Buyer: Reni Baez
Seller: Sunlight Properties LLC
Date: 05/30/18

29 Fenton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Louis T. Grueling
Seller: Angel M. Cruz
Date: 05/31/18

19 Greenwood Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Brett A. Scott
Seller: Sara Jones
Date: 06/01/18

40 Lenox Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Brianne N. Deflumeri
Seller: Jennifer Cook
Date: 05/30/18

252 Pine St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Audrianna Rigney
Seller: Ignacio Rivera
Date: 05/31/18

11 Richard Eger Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Rita Miller
Seller: Peter Breton
Date: 05/31/18

248-250 South St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: Jose A. Robles-Lopez
Seller: Edward D. Piedra
Date: 05/22/18

397 South Elm St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Jaime J. Montanez
Seller: Erick Vazquez
Date: 05/30/18

156 Suffolk St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $118,400
Buyer: David Taber
Seller: Daphne Board
Date: 06/01/18

21 Taylor St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Marissa M. Montemagni
Seller: William S. Gruszkos
Date: 05/30/18

73 Walnut St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $510,000
Buyer: Albert E. Paone
Seller: Rose Property Management
Date: 05/23/18

238 West Franklin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: David M. Lally
Seller: Daniel B. Lally
Date: 05/30/18

24 West Glen St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $199,900
Buyer: Patrick W. Nietupski
Seller: Michael K. Fern
Date: 05/25/18

LONGMEADOW

65 Arlington Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Bay Path University
Seller: Kessler, Dolores L., (Estate)
Date: 06/01/18

34 Ellington St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $382,450
Buyer: Clayton C. Schettler
Seller: Gerald M. Green
Date: 05/29/18

46 Erskine Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $395,000
Buyer: Wilmington Savings
Seller: Mark D. Sullivan
Date: 06/01/18

20 Green Willow Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: Francis J. Smith
Seller: Betty H. Herman
Date: 05/31/18

191 Greenacre Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Jennifer M. Carroll
Seller: Ralph V. Budington RET
Date: 05/22/18

223 Kenmore Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $326,500
Buyer: Tara J. Laviana
Seller: Keith S. Maynard
Date: 05/31/18

664 Longmeadow St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $295,800
Buyer: Khushboo Gupta
Seller: William B. Miller
Date: 05/30/18

980 Longmeadow St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: David Chapdelaine
Seller: John J. Rapalus
Date: 05/21/18

232 Longview Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Michael S. Richmond
Seller: Carla J. Szczepanek
Date: 05/25/18

119 Maple Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: David A. Dupuis
Seller: Kylee C. Granfield
Date: 06/01/18

637 Maple Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $313,000
Buyer: Thanh V. Nguyen
Seller: Denis O. Petrov
Date: 05/30/18

8 Mohawk Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $402,500
Buyer: Edward Steiger
Seller: Linda D. Glenn
Date: 05/21/18

47 Oakwood Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $260,500
Buyer: Thomas P. Meara
Seller: Stephen A. Morowsky
Date: 05/31/18

5 Pinelawn Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Julian R. Ortiz
Seller: Ruben Cruz
Date: 05/31/18

185 Redfern Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $312,500
Buyer: Ruslan F. Babayev
Seller: Ronda G. Parish
Date: 05/23/18

97 Wimbleton Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: James G. Card
Seller: Seunghee Kim
Date: 06/01/18

550 Wolf Swamp Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $462,150
Buyer: Jason M. Rosewell
Seller: David J. Devivo
Date: 05/24/18

LUDLOW

Autumn Ridge Road #42
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $134,900
Buyer: Isidoro R. Ganhao
Seller: Whitetail Wreks LLC
Date: 05/31/18

Harvest Dr. #26
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $139,500
Buyer: Timothy W. Whitney
Seller: Whitetail Wreks LLC
Date: 06/01/18

32 Lawton St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $249,000
Buyer: Francesca B. Cust
Seller: Billie P. Wilson
Date: 05/31/18

Lyon St. #9
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Derek D. Vigneault
Seller: Grabowski, Antoni F., (Estate)
Date: 05/30/18

25-27 Maple St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Alan T. Kelliher
Seller: Dmitriy Papeko
Date: 06/01/18

275 Miller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Kelly Butler
Seller: Cheryl A. Bouyea
Date: 05/30/18

280 Moody St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $850,000
Buyer: MFB Realty LLC
Seller: MNL Management LLC
Date: 05/31/18

91-93 Motyka St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Daniel Dos-Santos
Seller: Jose F. Mateus
Date: 05/31/18

469 Munsing St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Richard J. Chenier
Seller: Raymond G. Chenier
Date: 05/23/18

143 Nash Hill Road
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Danny P. Rebelo
Seller: Benjamin N. Michalski
Date: 05/29/18

48 Pine Glen Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $505,000
Buyer: Jeffrey N. Leandro
Seller: Raymond F. Catuogno
Date: 05/31/18

39 Salli Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $284,900
Buyer: Jason A. Szumski
Seller: Ronnie R. Lamontagne
Date: 05/29/18

MONSON

2 Crest Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $221,500
Buyer: Jacob Watkins
Seller: Louise C. Fleck
Date: 05/30/18

15 Heritage Lane
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Anthony M. Trojanowski
Seller: Audrey D. Carabetta
Date: 05/25/18

110 Thayer Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: William C. Moynihan
Seller: H. & L. Tassinari Builders Inc.
Date: 05/29/18

5 Valley View Hts.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $231,000
Buyer: Joshua E. Flieder
Seller: Joanne Soukup
Date: 05/25/18

PALMER

20 Arnold St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: NRZ REO VO Corp.
Seller: Heather A. North
Date: 05/30/18

1036 Central St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $157,363
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Ruth A. Manning
Date: 05/30/18

25 North St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Sarah Gould
Seller: Michael R. Stallings
Date: 05/31/18

18 Paul St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Troy Santerre
Seller: Bruce N. Cabrini
Date: 05/23/18

2025 Pine St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: James Jaron
Seller: Sophie Chudy RET
Date: 05/30/18

4014 School St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $264,000
Buyer: Central MA Properties LLC
Seller: Tracy M. Hibbard
Date: 05/29/18

50 South High St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Eric Gulbrandson
Seller: Richard H. Walder
Date: 05/31/18

3026 South Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Joseph Malloy
Seller: Warren M. Coughlin
Date: 05/25/18

46 Smith St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Jason W. Bessette
Seller: Kristin L. Converse
Date: 05/24/18

48 Walnut St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $148,700
Buyer: Joseph D. Morin
Seller: Joanne L. Haley
Date: 05/31/18

37 Ware St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Jean A. Moran
Seller: Jason W. Bessette
Date: 05/24/18

RUSSELL

275 Dickinson Hill Road
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $283,750
Buyer: Bryan A. Canterbury
Seller: Daniel M. Krupa
Date: 05/22/18

303 South Quarter Road
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $199,501
Buyer: Dan W. Gordner
Seller: US Bank
Date: 06/01/18

SOUTHWICK

365 College Hwy.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: RE Inspired LLC
Seller: Edward C. Hildreth
Date: 05/21/18

43 Fernwood Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Peter A. Trimboli
Seller: Lawrence P. Boisjolie
Date: 05/25/18

199 Hillside Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: John F. Decaro
Seller: Kathleen S. Sobczyk
Date: 05/24/18

36 North Lake Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $167,900
Buyer: Stefanie Davignon
Seller: Steven R. Ferrari
Date: 05/21/18

87 Powder Mill Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $187,500
Buyer: Lucas M. Cimmino
Seller: Todd M. Crevier
Date: 05/31/18

16 Sheep Pasture Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Paul H. Whalley
Seller: Kevin C. Saunders
Date: 05/22/18

86 South Longyard Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Timothy J. Lynch
Seller: Barrett S. Lynch
Date: 05/21/18

SPRINGFIELD

228 Acrebrook Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $184,900
Buyer: Larry J. Cole
Seller: Ivette Diaz
Date: 05/31/18

28-30 Ainsworth St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $181,000
Buyer: Anthony Molina
Seller: Elaine B. Scalia
Date: 05/25/18

135 Aldrew Terrace
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Folly Brook Associates
Seller: Patricia P. Ross
Date: 05/22/18

65-67 Ardmore St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $227,500
Buyer: Jonathan J. Lepper
Seller: Michael J. Keane
Date: 06/01/18

642 Belmont Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $209,000
Buyer: Danai S. Macridi
Seller: Belmont Rentals LLC
Date: 05/29/18

452-472 Bridge St.
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $615,000
Buyer: Apremont Properties LLC
Seller: John R. Spano
Date: 05/30/18

486-496 Bridge St.
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $615,000
Buyer: Apremont Properties LLC
Seller: John R. Spano
Date: 05/30/18

209 Bristol St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Pgaye Thompson-Lawrence
Seller: Sandro Gonzalez
Date: 05/31/18

48 California Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $156,000
Buyer: Ernie Toussaint
Seller: James A. Ryan
Date: 06/01/18

64 Canterbury Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $127,835
Buyer: Benjamin J. Krolicki
Seller: Patricia Courtney-Croken
Date: 05/24/18

74 Carew Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $156,000
Buyer: Johanna Guzman
Seller: Elizabeth A. Heacock
Date: 05/24/18

1594 Carew St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $169,000
Buyer: Vanessa Torres
Seller: Anna M. Acevedo
Date: 06/01/18

154 Carnavon Circle
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Lien Baker
Seller: Robert W. Walker
Date: 05/25/18

56-58 Chester St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: An H. Duong
Seller: Full Service Real Estate
Date: 05/21/18

141-147 Chestnut St.
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $615,000
Buyer: Apremont Properties LLC
Seller: John R. Spano
Date: 05/30/18

130 Connecticut Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $145,200
Buyer: Robert J. Dupuis
Seller: FNMA
Date: 05/21/18

355 Cooley St.
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Jeitza N. Sanabria-Guzman
Seller: Jomarie Ramirez
Date: 05/25/18

66 Curve St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $119,701
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Daniel Methot
Date: 05/29/18

146 Davis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Efrain Rivera
Seller: Jeannette R. Crawford
Date: 05/31/18

178 Davis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $116,500
Buyer: Emilee Brunelle
Seller: Hector Sanchez
Date: 05/29/18

30 Daytona St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Sumayya M. Ghalaini
Seller: Rosetta Piecuch
Date: 05/21/18

24 Derryfield Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $284,900
Buyer: Aleksey Deykin
Seller: Adam M. Tarquini
Date: 05/23/18

630-632 Dickinson St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $115,600
Buyer: 196-198 Bowdoin St. Realty
Seller: Western Mass Realty LLC
Date: 05/25/18

109 Dimmick St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Salvador Zayas
Seller: Rox-Dot Rehab LLC
Date: 05/21/18

81 Dorset St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Bevin C. Morrissey
Seller: Adam J. Seegars
Date: 05/24/18

25 Driftwood Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Juan E. Quiles
Seller: Aguasvivas Realty LLC
Date: 05/31/18

47 East Drumlin Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Ann M. Basile
Seller: Jeffrey D. Nashville
Date: 05/22/18

208 Ellendale Circle
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Jane E. O’Neil
Seller: Jeffrey M. Picariello
Date: 05/31/18

88 Fair Oak Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $124,800
Buyer: Anthony Bourget
Seller: Lakeview Loan Servicing
Date: 05/25/18

40 Farnsworth St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $173,000
Buyer: Matthew Mosher
Seller: Daniel R. Torres
Date: 05/23/18

70 Firglade Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Neil G. Greene
Seller: William C. Bowie
Date: 05/23/18

37 Flint St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $203,000
Buyer: Jose A. Mojica
Seller: Brahman Holdings LLC
Date: 05/24/18

24 Forbes Circle
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $204,000
Buyer: Orlando Marrero
Seller: Sharon A. Goodman
Date: 05/29/18

82 Garfield St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $146,000
Buyer: Mohammed Taqi
Seller: Orlando Delgado
Date: 05/22/18

392 Gifford St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Omar Silva-Charbonier
Seller: Gregory Judge
Date: 05/31/18

37 Glen Albyn St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $170,250
Buyer: FHLM
Seller: Ann M. Jackson
Date: 05/30/18

82 Hampshire St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Jennifer Andrews
Seller: Luis F. Santos
Date: 05/22/18

199 Harkness Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Norma I. DeLaCruz
Seller: James Niedbala
Date: 05/22/18

43 Hollywood St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $241,000
Buyer: Muhammad Taqi
Seller: Ambrose I. Mwea
Date: 05/22/18

171 Jasper St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $138,000
Buyer: Carmen M. Ortiz
Seller: Chris Wiernasz
Date: 05/24/18

80 Jeanne Marie St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Angela V. King
Seller: US Bank
Date: 05/25/18

34 Jonquil Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $171,000
Buyer: Carlos A. Torres-Gonzalez
Seller: Emiliana Rivas
Date: 05/25/18

47 Kazbeck St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $203,500
Buyer: Detric Watkins
Seller: Robert D. Sleeper
Date: 06/01/18

72 Kenway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Yanaira L. Valentin
Seller: Anna M. Perez
Date: 05/30/18

102-104 Kenyon St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: 196-198 Bowdoin Realty
Seller: Geneva H. Moore
Date: 05/30/18

917-919 Liberty St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Carlos E. Restrepo
Seller: Casiano R. Lozada
Date: 05/25/18

16 Louis Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Kimberly M. Hill
Seller: Michael Barbarisi
Date: 06/01/18

57 Middlebrook Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Hubert R. Scott
Seller: FNMA
Date: 05/25/18

62 Midway St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Jose M. Bermudez
Seller: Zachary Cortis
Date: 05/21/18

75 Montrose St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Liem Pham
Seller: JLC Realty Group LLC
Date: 06/01/18

11 Murray Hill Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $168,900
Buyer: Roque M. Perez-Gomez
Seller: James S. Gordon
Date: 05/23/18

306 Naismith St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Elsa Arias
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 05/30/18

814 Newbury St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Joshua D. Rosario-Matos
Seller: Luis E. Correa
Date: 05/30/18

315 Newhouse St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Alexa J. Diaz
Seller: Christine J. Forgotch
Date: 05/29/18

100-102 Odion St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $207,900
Buyer: Suwanee Moon
Seller: Deutsche Bank
Date: 05/24/18

233 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Ali Elzinji
Seller: Duc H. Truong
Date: 06/01/18

37 Palmer Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Antonia Ramos
Seller: Anthony Grassetti
Date: 05/31/18

688 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Daniel Cotter
Seller: Angelica Rodriguez
Date: 06/01/18

378 Parkerview St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $176,000
Buyer: Jason L. Arnold
Seller: Miguel A. Colon
Date: 05/31/18

66 Pasco Road
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Alfonso R. Fernandez
Seller: Home Equity Assets Realty
Date: 05/22/18

68 Pembroke Circle
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $149,500
Buyer: Erika Serrano
Seller: Luz N. Garcia
Date: 05/21/18

42-44 Phoenix St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Elmer R. Diaz-Verduo
Seller: Anthony S. Marangoudakis
Date: 05/30/18

15 Pine Acre Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $229,950
Buyer: Sandro Gonzalez
Seller: Thomas S. Halgas
Date: 05/31/18

52 Pinecrest Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Connors
Seller: Justin A. Biccum
Date: 05/25/18

61 Plumtree Circle
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $129,900
Buyer: Tyrone M. Williams
Seller: Colin M. Arnold
Date: 05/23/18

72 Prospect St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Kelvin Lopez
Seller: Ahmed M. Aljashaam
Date: 05/29/18

30 Rachael St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $173,000
Buyer: Katie Meleleu
Seller: Frances Castor
Date: 06/01/18

5 Randall Place
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $189,900
Buyer: Jose Ortiz
Seller: Madison Property Investors
Date: 05/31/18

149 Rocus St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: NFSAJ LLC
Seller: Kenneth Bousquet
Date: 06/01/18

155 Rocus St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: NFSAJ LLC
Seller: Kenneth Bousquet
Date: 06/01/18

183 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $118,710
Buyer: 183 Roosevelt Avenue RT
Seller: NSP Residential LLC
Date: 05/22/18

718 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $208,000
Buyer: Edward Clemons
Seller: Nadine S. Michel
Date: 05/21/18

193 Roy St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Lynn A. Thompson
Seller: Judith Harpin
Date: 05/25/18

367 Saint James Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $162,900
Buyer: Janie Diaz
Seller: Justo Martinez
Date: 05/31/18

160 Shady Brook Lane
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $171,900
Buyer: Heather M. Leone
Seller: Joseph Swift
Date: 05/24/18

142 Shefford St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Evelyn Liriano
Seller: Aguasvivas Realty LLC
Date: 05/31/18

45 Slumber Lane
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Sean P. Garvey
Seller: Vincent N. Santaniello
Date: 05/29/18

173 Stapleton Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Ashley A. St.Amour
Seller: Anthony Rodrigues
Date: 05/25/18

10 Surrey Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $182,000
Buyer: Anthony Ott
Seller: Anthony Bourget
Date: 05/21/18

75 Surrey Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Bekele E. Oyomo
Seller: Dionne Real Estate LLC
Date: 05/24/18

118 Tamarack Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $233,000
Buyer: Sidney M. Preman
Seller: Michele Pepe
Date: 06/01/18

15 Texel Dr.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $196,000
Buyer: Christopher P. Lizotte
Seller: Craig C. Moore
Date: 05/22/18

25 Tiffany St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $163,000
Buyer: Yesenia Toribio
Seller: Kevin M. Camara
Date: 06/01/18

581 Tinkham Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Madeleine Cadorette
Seller: James W. Fiore
Date: 06/01/18

4 Tumbleweed Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Quinton Rogers
Seller: Phillip Prouty
Date: 05/22/18

72 Victoria St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $139,110
Buyer: Nora W. Kamara
Seller: Dina Grossi
Date: 05/25/18

89 Wallace St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $249,900
Buyer: Jonathan Pumarejo
Seller: Nu-Way Homes Inc.
Date: 05/29/18

105 Welland Road
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $164,495
Buyer: Wells Fargo Bank
Seller: Jose Soto
Date: 05/29/18

70-72 West Alvord St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Ivan Carrasquillo
Seller: Ronald J. Sarnelli
Date: 06/01/18

73 West Crystal Brook Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Ryan J. Murphy
Seller: Siraco, John M. Jr, (Estate)
Date: 05/30/18

705-707 White St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Geovanni Montesino
Seller: Ray E. Gilman
Date: 05/23/18

730-732 White St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Wells Fargo Bank
Seller: Victor M. Ortiz
Date: 05/31/18

1349 Worcester St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $269,900
Buyer: Victor I. Rivera-Santiago
Seller: Aleksandr Chuduk
Date: 05/25/18

178 Wrentham Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $153,340
Buyer: Citizens Bank
Seller: Adan A. Rivera
Date: 05/24/18

45 Wrona St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $183,900
Buyer: Patricia C. Rivera
Seller: Patricia A. Cennerazzo
Date: 05/29/18

WEST SPRINGFIELD

89 Baldwin St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $219,250
Buyer: Derdy LLC
Seller: Zak Smith
Date: 05/24/18

188 Falmouth Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $283,750
Buyer: Ashley Antoine
Seller: Laguercia, Frederick P., (Estate)
Date: 05/21/18

41 Lancaster Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $169,500
Buyer: Joseph D. Gagnon
Seller: Cynthia A. Sullivan
Date: 05/30/18

55 Lyman St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: Konstantinos Tsavidis
Seller: Zhi Tan
Date: 05/22/18

119 North Blvd.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $182,555
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Franky M. Sanchez
Date: 05/25/18

57 Oak St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $202,000
Buyer: Jeremy W. Bourke
Seller: Ashley McGurn
Date: 05/21/18

12-14 Sprague St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Krishna L. Kharel
Seller: Kuta, Joanna, (Estate)
Date: 06/01/18

91 Woodmont St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $226,900
Buyer: Purna B. Tamang
Seller: Bobin Gurung
Date: 05/25/18

WESTFIELD

10 Bush St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $182,000
Buyer: Stephanie Smith
Seller: Scott N. Madrid
Date: 05/31/18

133 Colony Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Kristylyn B. Jackewich
Seller: Noreen E. Jachym
Date: 05/21/18

41 Dartmouth St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Nathan R. Porter
Seller: David J. Lewis
Date: 05/31/18

10 Day Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $242,950
Buyer: Mechanic Man LLC
Seller: Joseph G. Flahive
Date: 05/31/18

110 Elm St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Camia LLC
Seller: Cloverleaf Realty Group
Date: 06/01/18

105 Franklin St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Ilya A. Katykhin
Seller: Allan Young
Date: 05/31/18

28 Hancock St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $222,500
Buyer: Kristina L. Leighty
Seller: Tracy Mountain
Date: 06/01/18

77 Heggie Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Amy K. Scarpa
Seller: Union Crossing Realty LLC
Date: 05/25/18

25 High St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $182,500
Buyer: Jacob V. Lane
Seller: Irene L. Buckowski
Date: 05/22/18

22 Hillary Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $429,900
Buyer: Travis Rogers
Seller: Maria S. Valliere
Date: 05/21/18

20 Hopkins Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: John J. Sapelli
Seller: David G. Brill
Date: 05/24/18

105 Long Pond Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $358,100
Buyer: David Garstka Builders
Seller: Hampton Ponds Realty LLC
Date: 06/01/18

16 Meadow St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Hector O. Miranda
Seller: Hector L. Miranda
Date: 05/31/18

625 Montgomery Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Thomas S. Albano
Seller: Ryan N. Wheeler
Date: 05/22/18

89 Montgomery St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $149,900
Buyer: Justin C. Wild
Seller: Dolat, Doris L., (Estate)
Date: 05/22/18

40 Murray Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $194,900
Buyer: Scott A. Miles
Seller: Bryan A. Canterbury
Date: 05/22/18

11 Noble Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $146,002
Buyer: Cedar Investment Group
Seller: Deutsche Bank
Date: 06/01/18

287 Notre Dame St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $193,000
Buyer: Nathaniel P. Munson
Seller: Robert P. Southworth
Date: 05/25/18

17 Parker Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $167,900
Buyer: Marc A. St.Pierre
Seller: Christopher Gibbs
Date: 05/31/18

34 Pine St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Vyacheslav Katko
Seller: Eric D. Meyers
Date: 05/25/18

136 Pontoosic Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Aleksandr S. Shtyba
Seller: FHLM
Date: 05/31/18

151 Rachael Terrace
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: James A. Cook
Seller: Calvin C. Fletcher
Date: 05/30/18

16 Ridgecrest Circle
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $256,600
Buyer: Andrey Gokhgalter
Seller: FHLM
Date: 06/01/18

165 Russell Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Christine A. Towle
Seller: Francis D. Towle
Date: 05/31/18

150 Sackett Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Vitali Ievdoshenko
Seller: Erin L. Morin
Date: 05/25/18

298 Sackett Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $304,000
Buyer: Lawrence P. Boisjolie
Seller: Nicole Leja
Date: 05/25/18

22 Saint James Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $212,000
Buyer: Nathan C. Ryan
Seller: James J. Palumbo
Date: 05/31/18

5 Sherman St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $192,000
Buyer: Morizio Brothers Mgmt. LLC
Seller: Randy Arkoette
Date: 05/30/18

7 Springdale St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Angela S. Bolduc
Seller: Laura Vaniderstine
Date: 06/01/18

20 Stephanie Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $279,900
Buyer: Multi-Cultural Community Services
Seller: Christopher Wiggs
Date: 05/31/18

9 Union Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $142,500
Buyer: CIG 4 LLC
Seller: Wells Fargo Bank
Date: 05/25/18

51 Yeoman Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Randy Arkoette
Seller: Diamond Investment Group
Date: 05/30/18

WILBRAHAM

6 Brooklawn Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $274,000
Buyer: Lorraine M. Adamz
Seller: AEM Property Investment
Date: 05/30/18

15 Circle Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $252,500
Buyer: Nuno M. Marques
Seller: High Ridge Real Estate
Date: 06/01/18

312 Glendale Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $168,000
Buyer: Mario Tascon
Seller: USA VA
Date: 05/31/18

611 Glendale Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Town Of Wilbraham
Seller: Silo Farm Associates LLC
Date: 06/01/18

42 Oakland St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Ashley D. Kunz
Seller: Geary, Daniel M., (Estate)
Date: 05/30/18

4 Springfield St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $162,500
Buyer: Nancy Jodoin
Seller: Thomas J. Martin
Date: 05/29/18

707 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: James M. Davis
Seller: Holly L. Attridge
Date: 05/30/18

985 Tinkham Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $231,900
Buyer: David E. Nicoll
Seller: Nancy C. Cullinan
Date: 05/24/18

5 Wellfleet Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $275,900
Buyer: Ann M. Belden
Seller: Virsna K. Mompho
Date: 05/24/18

53 Weston St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $169,900
Buyer: Cassandra A. Dias
Seller: Linda E. Bourcier
Date: 06/01/18

3 Willow Brook Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $432,400
Buyer: Jeremy J. Seymour
Seller: AC Homebuilding LLC
Date: 05/30/18

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

3 Bayberry Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $547,888
Buyer: Raymond J. Rennard
Seller: David E. Hayes
Date: 05/22/18

552 Flat Hills Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Matthew J. Turcotte
Seller: William W. Kramer
Date: 05/25/18

29 Harris St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $386,500
Buyer: Jeffrey J. Clark
Seller: Thomas M. Scriver
Date: 05/22/18

65 High St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $640,000
Buyer: Faye J. Crosby RET 2005
Seller: Margaret M. Bouvier
Date: 05/31/18

43 Jeffrey Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Jonathan M. Sivel
Seller: Matthew W. Dufresne
Date: 06/01/18

659 South East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Margaret Kroeplin
Seller: Kathryn E. Marciano
Date: 05/24/18

598 South Pleasant St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Amherst Rental Properties
Seller: Gedmin, Ann M., (Estate)
Date: 05/30/18

75 Sunset Ave.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $540,000
Buyer: Jackson T. Katz
Seller: Jacquelyn H. Wolf RET
Date: 06/01/18

5 Teaberry Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $445,400
Buyer: Peter Beltramo
Seller: Alisa J. Braverman
Date: 05/31/18

BELCHERTOWN

40 Aldrich St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Joshua A. Ryan
Seller: Terry Avery
Date: 06/01/18

33 Brandywine Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Steven A. Fernandes
Seller: Donna Sims-Boisvert
Date: 05/24/18

780 Franklin St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $199,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Perusse
Seller: Lynn Crowfoot
Date: 05/24/18

9 Meadow Pond Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $332,500
Buyer: Nilton D. Rosa
Seller: Dawn M. Demerchant
Date: 05/31/18

243 Michael Sears Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Brad Richardson
Seller: Theodore Nicholson
Date: 05/30/18

321 North Washington St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Daina Davenport
Seller: Whitcomb, Harlan, (Estate)
Date: 05/24/18

41 Old Bay Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Marc S. Paquet
Seller: Daniel Aube
Date: 06/01/18

16 Old Sawmill Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Joseph E. Conroy
Seller: Patricia B. Light
Date: 05/24/18

18 South Main St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $316,000
Buyer: Thomas J. Pelissier
Seller: Joseph M. Jones
Date: 05/31/18

59 Spring Hill Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Jon A. Zulkiewicz
Seller: Mark Zulkiewicz
Date: 05/29/18

330 Springfield Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $465,500
Buyer: Peter J. Billman-Golemme
Seller: Mary E. Fioravanti
Date: 05/31/18

CHESTERFIELD

4 Willicutt Road
Chesterfield, MA 01012
Amount: $214,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Norman E. Boutwell
Date: 06/01/18

EASTHAMPTON

15 Arthur St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Phillip G. Hurteau
Seller: Robert T. Lamothe
Date: 06/01/18

16 Bayberry Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $419,000
Buyer: James D. Molitoris
Seller: Patrick S. Connor
Date: 05/29/18

1-3 Cherry St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $290,200
Buyer: Kevin Netto
Seller: Shauneen M. Page
Date: 05/24/18

6 Chestnut St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $236,000
Buyer: Shirley L. Vankainen
Seller: Joseph J. Dushane
Date: 05/31/18

442 East St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: Jonathan M. Schmidt
Seller: Bresnahan, Joan C., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/18

41 Florence Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Michael K. Fern
Seller: Edward B. Fallon
Date: 05/30/18

3 Fugere Court
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Revampit LLC
Seller: Esther Vekakis
Date: 06/01/18

60 Highland Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: David R. Boyle
Seller: Lamoureux, Elizabeth H., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/18

67 Highland Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Michael Klein
Seller: Kevin C. Netto
Date: 05/21/18

26 Kingsberry Way
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Cory A. Staples
Seller: David G. Tse
Date: 05/31/18

325 Main St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Hayley M. Singleton
Seller: Watson FT
Date: 05/31/18

27 Mayher St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $154,500
Buyer: Mary C. Bordewieck
Seller: Deanna L. Moore
Date: 05/31/18

12 McKinley Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $343,500
Buyer: Amy E. Richane
Seller: Bradford W. Osgood
Date: 05/30/18

5 Monska Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Sarah E. Eisenberg
Seller: Elizabeth B. Staples
Date: 05/31/18

9 Pomeroy Place
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $212,000
Buyer: Michael O. Budnick
Seller: Susan E. Bancale
Date: 06/01/18

53 Pomeroy St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $276,000
Buyer: Jan C. Sullivan
Seller: Timothy P. Marquis
Date: 06/01/18

34 Water Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: F&G LLC
Seller: O’Donnell, John J., (Estate)
Date: 06/01/18

GRANBY

112 Cold Hill Road
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $180,750
Buyer: Christopher J. Enyart
Seller: Macmonegle, Joan M., (Estate)
Date: 05/21/18

19 Deerbrook Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: Anthony D. Lauzon
Seller: Ronald E. Smigiel
Date: 05/21/18

29 Forge Pond Road
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Matthew C. Smith
Seller: Patricia E. Brochu
Date: 05/25/18

100 West St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Stephen C. Smith
Seller: David Cyr
Date: 05/29/18

HADLEY

278 Bay Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $403,000
Buyer: Andrew K. Lapre
Seller: Sarah-Marie Belcastro
Date: 05/21/18

3 Laurel Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Eliza Dagostino
Seller: John J. Pipczynski
Date: 05/30/18

18 Newton Lane
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Lauren C. Ostberg
Seller: Adylson Rodrigues
Date: 06/01/18

20 River Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $387,500
Buyer: Michael Colwell-Lafleur
Seller: Charles J. Szafir
Date: 05/30/18

105 Roosevelt St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $424,671
Buyer: Stacy Simin
Seller: James L. Cuomo
Date: 05/31/18

HATFIELD

24 Depot Road
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $525,000
Buyer: Darryl Williams
Seller: Sanford A&E G. Belden RET
Date: 05/31/18

144 Pantry Road
Hatfield, MA 01088
Amount: $274,000
Buyer: Megan Wendolowski
Seller: William J. Kennedy
Date: 05/25/18

72 West St.
Hatfield, MA 01088
Amount: $190,625
Buyer: Adam J. Barker
Seller: Joseph S. Barker
Date: 05/21/18

HUNTINGTON

41 Allen Coit Road
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $287,000
Buyer: Melissa A. Tse
Seller: Andrew M. Dunn
Date: 05/31/18

MIDDLEFIELD

24 Alderman Road
Middlefield, MA 01243
Amount: $190,500
Buyer: Adam J. Simonowicz
Seller: Cody P. Paschal
Date: 05/31/18

NORTHAMPTON

219 Audubon Road
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $389,000
Buyer: Mark M. Pompian
Seller: Susan E. Etzel
Date: 05/30/18

4 Barrett Place
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $715,000
Buyer: Lawrence P. King
Seller: Georgia Barwick
Date: 05/30/18

591 Coles Meadow Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $765,000
Buyer: Elise Starr
Seller: Barbara B. Reitt
Date: 05/31/18

468 Elm St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $242,000
Buyer: Peter Thomas-Melly
Seller: Keith D. Rodgers
Date: 05/29/18

41 Holyoke St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: William G. Sherr
Seller: 41 Holyoke Street RT
Date: 05/29/18

19 Lexington Ave.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $262,500
Buyer: Sarah T. Harvey
Seller: Nu-Way Homes Inc.
Date: 05/21/18

21 Terrace Lane
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $264,000
Buyer: Devon St. Martin
Seller: Joseph Usaforest
Date: 05/31/18

63 Ward Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $635,000
Buyer: Pranay M. Parikh
Seller: Melinda E. Blau
Date: 05/31/18

123 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $229,900
Buyer: Brian F. Donnelly
Seller: Nicholas J. Kelley
Date: 05/24/18

851 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Mandana Marsh-Szkotak
Seller: Kristofer P. Demasi
Date: 05/23/18

SOUTH HADLEY

34 Harvard St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Danalyn Bahosh
Seller: Steven A. Fernandes
Date: 05/24/18

110 Lincoln Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $251,000
Buyer: Joshua J. Savoie
Seller: Rita C. Chrobak
Date: 05/30/18

156 Lyman St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Rebekah M. Wilder
Seller: David C. Leiman
Date: 05/30/18

10 Oak Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: Brian T. Dooley
Seller: Christopher Worthington
Date: 05/30/18

79 River Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $143,850
Buyer: Gilroy Property Renewal
Seller: US Bank
Date: 05/25/18

24 Washington Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $137,500
Buyer: Holly K. Stolarski
Seller: Thomas M. Stolarski
Date: 05/24/18

4 Wellington Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $269,900
Buyer: Arthur W. Pontbriant
Seller: Leo A. Deschenes
Date: 05/25/18

SOUTHAMPTON

80 Crooked Ledge Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $469,000
Buyer: Denise L. Dupelle
Seller: Jonathan H. Marsh
Date: 05/21/18

95 Moose Brook Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $208,000
Buyer: Viktor N. Gorobinskiy
Seller: Frary IRT
Date: 05/25/18

79 Strong Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Malaina M. Hollister
Seller: Gregory J. Kwolek
Date: 05/25/18

4 Wallace Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Karen B. Brunette
Seller: Gail A. Trudell
Date: 05/30/18

5 Woodmar Lane
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Lindsay R. Barron
Seller: G&F Custom Built Homes
Date: 05/25/18

WARE

1 Briar Circle
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Carl R. Waal
Seller: J. Harder Construction LLC
Date: 05/24/18

144 Church St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Theodore C. Nicholson
Seller: Bothwell, Claire R., (Estate)
Date: 05/21/18

48 Old Belchertown Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $164,000
Buyer: Tammy L. Salsbury
Seller: Christopher M. Malcuit
Date: 06/01/18

6 Pleasant St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $263,456
Buyer: USA HUD
Seller: Flagstar Bank FSB
Date: 05/25/18

37 Warebrook Village
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $123,850
Buyer: Bryce D. Haley
Seller: Assist Realty Group LLC
Date: 05/25/18

15 Webb Court
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $117,836
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Phillip V. Harper
Date: 05/29/18

WILLIAMSBURG

37 Goshen Road
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Vanessa E. Coates-Cooney
Seller: Megan E. Pelis
Date: 05/29/18

10 Judd Lane
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Kyle J. Schwartz
Seller: Barbara W. Carr
Date: 05/25/18

Building Permits

Building Permits

The following building permits were issued during the months of May and June 2018.

AGAWAM

Baldwin Street Realty, LLC
253 Silver St.
$1,700,000 — Build warehouse and office facility

CH Realty VII/CG Mact Bird, LLC
6 Lealand Ave.
$2,200 — Install two wall signs on building

CHICOPEE

Dimeo Properties
70 Broadway St.
$8,400 — Strip and re-roof pavilion

Elms College
291 Springfield St.
$45,000 — Demolish and remove power house chimney

Viktor Lapik
425-429 Front St.
$12,000 — Roofing, install windows, build deck

Prem, LLC
1175 Grattan St.
$10,000 — Repair building after car strike

Solenis, LLC
1111 Grattan St.
$40,850 — Roofing

Stephen Reilly Sr.
29 Grove Ave.
$23,495 — Install new siding

DEERFIELD

Deerfield Academy
4 Little River Road
$397,000 — Reslate roof on Barton dorm

Deerfield Academy
114 Old Main St.
$12,000 — Repairs to house and garage

PVMA
107 Old Main St.
$7,000 — Insulate exterior walls and attic slopes

EAST LONGMEADOW

Cartamundi
443 Shaker Road
$438,000 — Roofing

HADLEY

63 East Realty, LLC
63 East St.
$13,500 — Remove half-walls in reception area and fix ceiling at River Valley Dental

Shipman Realty Trust
140 Russell St.
$10,500 — Replace six windows at Greenfield Savings Bank

LUDLOW

Basics Mini Mart
192 East St.
$1,500 — Illuminated sign

Dowd Insurance Agency
563 Center St.
$4,800 — Illuminated sign

SPRINGFIELD

Albany Road – Springfield Plaza, LLC
1284 St. James Ave.
$77,000 — Alter tenant space for Quest Diagnostics

Baystate Medical Center
3350 Main St.
$367,000 — Alter interior space for new linear accelerator in D’Amour Cancer Center

Blue Tarp Redevelopment, LLC
12 MGM Way
$144,915 — Tenant fit-out for Western Mass News at MGM Springfield

Blue Tarp Redevelopment, LLC
99 Union St.
$640,000 — Alter existing building for use as maintenance shops for MGM Springfield

CH Realty VII/CG Mact Bird, LLC
827 East Columbus Ave.
$15,000 — Exterior facade modifications and new entry arcade

City of Springfield
1600 East Columbus Ave.
$1,200 — Alterations for new office space on second floor of City Hall annex building

Aurelio Daniele
883 Main St.
$240,000 — Repair fascia and install covered outside dining at La Fiorentina’s

Frank DeMarinis
339 State St.
$3,820,000 — Alter interior space for use by Conservatory of the Arts School

Lingo Associates, LLC
20 Carando Dr.
$650,000 — Install structural foundation and slab for refrigeration vessel skid for Smithfield Foods

Walgreen Eastern Co. Inc.
615 Chestnut St.
$60,000 — Alter space to install compounding room at Walgreens pharmacy

WEST SPRINGFIELD

DDR Riverdale Shops, LLC
935 Riverdale St.
$66,413 — Roofing

DDR Riverdale Shops, LLC
935 Riverdale St.
$177,000 — Remodel storefront for existing tenant

Key Bank
1063 Riverdale St.
$74,537 — Interior renovation, including ceiling replacement, finishes, and alteration to entrance for ADA compliance

Purple Diamond Realty
80 Baldwin St.
$25,000 — Install new siding, windows, and front porch

Shechtman
124 Ashley Ave.
$9,000 — Roofing

Work & Gear
218 Memorial Ave.
$3,000 — Install new anchor bolts for new wooden plate for roofer, repair parapet wall cap

WILBRAHAM

Cumberland Farms
105 Post Office Park
$30,000 — Signage

Stony Hill Road Realty, LLC
805 Stony Hill Road
$25,000 — Replace three antennas

The Academy of Music Has Seen Its Share of Cultural Shifts

Creative Economy

Behind the Curtain

Debra J’Anthony says the Academy of Music’s history speaks to the commit-ment of its community to the arts over the decades.

During a decade of renovations at Northampton’s Academy of Music, few proved more surprising than the sailcloth canvas that lined the theater’s century-old curtain.

“We’ve put a lot of attention on maintaining the historic integrity of this building,” said Debra J’Anthony, the facility’s executive director since 2008. “There’s a lot of mindfulness and thought in this space. We’ve tried to get state-of-the-art technical equipment and at the same time preserve the historical integrity of the space.”

The sailcloth, as it turned out, was actually a massive landscape painting of nearby Paradise Pond. It was restored by a Vermont company called Curtains Without Borders, which specializes in preserving historic stage scenery, and now hangs high in the Academy’s rafters upstage.

As historical fragments go, it’s actually a relatively minor one in the 127-year-old facility’s rich story. Edward H.R. Lyman opened the theater in 1891 as a building “suitable for lectures, concerts, opera, and drama for the public good.” Remarkably, the Academy’s priorities have changed very little since then.

“There has been a mix of activity, but depending on the year, there has been a weight toward one medium or another,” J’Anthony said. “In the beginning, it was just performing arts and lectures; then, starting in the 1930s, it was weighted more heavily toward film. We actually had a film distributor out of Boston that leased the building for about 10 years, so the Academy actually did quite well during the Depression because they had a renter in here.”

During the first few years of J’Anthony’s tenure, she led another transition, from what was largely a first-run film house, with occasional live performances, to what it is today, a performing-arts venue that hosts scores of shows — national touring acts, presentations by local companies, and sometimes the Academy’s own productions — throughout the year.

Efforts to fill that calendar have been boosted by a series of renovations to the theater, from shoring up the envelope of the building — including new roofing and replacement of leaky windows and doors — to launching the organization’s first-ever capital campaign to pay for a major renovation of the theater space itself.

“There were seats upstairs dating from 1947, and there were seats downstairs that were bought used during the 1960s,” J’Anthony said, noting that the Academy worked with Thomas Douglas Architects to re-establish a period look, and received a Preservation Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission for its efforts. “We’re hoping to continue to renovate, finish the renovations in the hall, then go out into the lobby areas. We’re hoping to receive some Community Preservation Act funds soon to complete the opera boxes and add architectural lighting.”

In addition, because the Academy had mainly been a film house during the tenure of Duane Robinson, who ran it for more than 35 years before J’Anthony’s arrival, there wasn’t much modern theatrical equipment on hand. So the theater recently installed a new sound system, replaced some outdated theatrical lighting with LED lighting, and installed new flooring for theatrical productions.

Those efforts have helped make the Academy of Music a more attractive venue for national touring acts. The theater’s relationship with Signature Sounds led to a relationship with Dan Smalls Presents, which represents many of the the national touring bands that come through Northampton.

“We’ve got the attention of AEG and Live Nation as well,” she added. “The model is definitely working. There’s usually somebody in here most days. We have a wide range of offerings, from hip hop to ballet, from opera to Americana music, film, comedy, dramas, musicals — so there’s something for everybody.”

Rich History

Looking back to the beginning, Lyman had the foresight to purchase a lot of land on Main Street that would eventually be one of Northampton’s main crossroads. Working with well-known architect William Brocklesby of Hartford, Lyman had the two-story Academy built for $100,000, plus $25,000 for interior decoration and equipment.

It opened in 1891 with a sold-out concert featuring four solo artists backed by the Boston Orchestra. But Lyman’s fondest interest, opera, never really caught on at the center.

He eventually gifted the theater to the city, and it remains the only municipally owned theater in the U.S. — and a largely self-sufficient one. Aside from occasional help from the city to make needed repairs, the facility has never had a line item on the Northampton budget, surviving on box office and donations.

Throughout its first 15 years, the Academy became a popular stop for drama troupes and traveling road shows, attracting some of the top talent of the day, including Sarah Bernhardt and Ethel Barrymore.

With the economy shifting and top acts harder to come by, the Academy’s trustees went in a different direction in 1912, establishing a resident dramatic company, the Northampton Players. Although their shows were popular, especially with the Smith College crowd, they didn’t make enough money, and the group was disbanded a few years later. Various efforts to revive resident theater were reattempted throughout the 1920s, but none of the companies survived for long.

Opened in 1891, the Academy of Music’s iconic building has been a prominent fixture at one of Northampton’s busiest intersections.

That era saw visits to the theater by the likes of Frank Morgan and William Powell, among other names who later made the transition into motion pictures — which would be the Academy’s direction as well.

In fact, it had presented its first moving picture in 1898, shortly after the ‘projectiscope’ technology was introduced to the world. By 1921, the Academy was showing films three times a week, and by 1930, the facility was run primarily as a moviehouse. The trustees made the sea change permanent in 1943 by spending $40,000 to modernize the theater.

During that period, the Academy had a falling-out with the film distributor who leased the building through the 1930s, J’Anthony noted. When theater manager Frank Shaughnessy was called to military service, he recommended that his clerk, Mildred Walker, who had been working alongside him for 16 years, mind the shop while he was serving in the military.

“And the board agreed,” she went on. “She was a local resident and known entity to the organization. However, the film distributors were upset that the board would allow a woman to run the theater. So they took the Academy to court — and the Academy lost. That’s why their relationship discontinued; they didn’t re-up the lease.”

Walker, in the meantime, proposed a new governance model whereby the board would run the building, but would hire a manager. “And she recommended herself,” J’Anthony said. “They agreed to her governance model; however, they hired Clifford Boyd to run the theater.” Decades later, in 2014, following the spate of renovations, the Academy commissioned and presented a new work, Nobody’s Girl, that told Walker’s story.

Boyd, a veteran of the theater industry, oversaw a shift at the Academy of Music to live performing arts. Later, under Robinson’s tenure, from 1970 through the early part of the new millennium, the facility reverted to mostly film, as well as undergoing a series of needed renovations in the ’70s and ’80s. But that business model, too, was set to change.

“Film distribution changed in the 1980s with the rise of the megaplex,” J’Anthony said, “so one-screen venues across the nation had to make changes. Either they turned into megaplexes or became performing-arts centers.” The latter, of course, continues to be the Academy’s path today.

Into the Future

When J’Anthony came on board in 2008, the Academy was primarily renting the hall to community-based organizations, but soon established a series of resident companies and partners that supply regular programming.

“However, we needed to look at producing our own shows during the recession, when many of the opera companies folded, and so we started producing our own shows here, which led us into youth programs.”

Those include three sessions of summer musical theater workshops for ages 7 to 14, and in January, the Academy conducts rehearsals for a youth production in March.

“In addition, we have been producing plays,” she continued. “We started focusing on women’s works — being in Northampton, and being connected to Smith College, that just made sense. And we’ve been adding more presentations and productions each year.”

The theater, with a capacity of just over 800, welcomes some 60,000 visitors each year for performances, so it’s still a cultural force in the city after so many decades of change.

“Certainly, there’s a sense of place within this community for the Academy of Music. It is a place of gathering, of sharing ideas,” J’Anthony said, adding that its blend of big-name attractions and community-based productions make for an intriguing mix. “Somebody can be out in the audience and see a national touring show one night and be on stage the next night.”

That said, the Academy also strives to be sensitive to its market, she noted. “We do things that are a little more edgy than other venues. We keep our ear to the ground in regard to the values of our community, what is relevant to them, and making sure we bring art forms that can engage them in further discussions and offer new perspectives.

“A building like this is a valued asset, and it takes a large community to maintain this building and the programming we have here,” she went on. “So we’ll keep working with the city, the state, and Community Preservation Act funds, as well as individual contributions, to keep this space going. It’s all hands on deck.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

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By BusinessWest Staff June 25, 2018