Mercedes-Benz Dealership Breaks Ground in Chicopee

CHICOPEE — Earlier this year, Mayor Richard Kos announced Chicopee’s City Council had approved an incentive for a Mercedes-Benz dealership. Peter Wirth, managing partner of Springfield Automotive Partners Inc., hired BETA Group Inc. to assist with the demolition oversight and site/civil engineering needs on the project, a 35,000-square-foot dealership to be developed on the site of the former Plantation Inn.

“The property line is unique. It runs through the middle of the building,” said John Henry, a civil engineer at BETA. On one side of the line is the site of the former Plantation Inn. On the other is AMF Chicopee Lanes, which will remain open during both the demolition and building construction phases of the project. The buildings currently share utilities such as water and sewer lines, which will be separated as part of the project.

Real-estate easement agreements and the presence of asbestos and other regulated building materials throughout the former inn has substantially delayed the project, but demolition work is now scheduled to commence by the end of this month. Groundbreaking for the demolition took place on Sept. 21.

“The project will remove a vacant building filled with hazardous materials and attract new jobs,” Kos said. The company is initially expected to hire 30 people, but that number is expected to expand as the business grows.

Demolition is expected to be completed in October, and construction of the new dealership will commence shortly thereafter. The Mercedes-Benz car dealership is scheduled to open in the summer of 2017.