Month: April 2007

Learning Our Lessons from the Rich and Famously Departed

However unpleasant it may be to contemplate and prepare for our inevitable departure, we must. That’s because none of us want to leave a mess for our heirs after we are gone.

Nevertheless, despite many good intentions, we hear news about repetitive estate planning fiascos involving celebrities and common folk alike.

Anyone who has opened a newspaper or has watched television recently has observed the posthumous misfortunes of the likes of James Brown, Ted Williams, Jimi Hendrix, and, most recently, Anna Nicole Smith.

In 2001, Smith executed a will leaving all of her estate to her son, Daniel, to be held in trust with her friend, Howard K. Stern, as trustee. Tragically, Daniel died in 2006 at the age of 20. Just a few days prior to Daniel’s death, Smith gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn. Shortly thereafter, Smith and Howard K. Stern had a commitment ceremony in the waters off Nassau, Bahamas.

Despite the significant changes to Smith’s circumstances, she did not revise her estate plan to leave any portion of her estate to Dannielynn or to her new domestic partner, Stern. Actually, Smith included provisions in her will preempting state laws that would have presumed that she wanted to include children born subsequent to the execution of the will. In addition, Smith did not revise her will to provide for a guardian of Dannielynn.

Similarly, James Brown did not appropriately update his estate plan prior to his death. His will names six children and calls for many of his personal possessions to be divided among them. However, 10 months after the execution of his will, Brown became a father again. He also remarried approximately one year later, and of course, the will made mention of neither the new spouse nor the new child.

Both Anna Nicole Smith and James Brown died with wills that were several years old and outdated. The probate court will now have to decide which guardian is in the best interest of Smith’s child, which may significantly differ from her intent.

A loved one dying without an updated will often results in an extended, expensive, and time-consuming trip to the appropriate state’s probate court. Although the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does have laws that provide guidelines for matters such as omitted spouses and children in a will, the testator may have intended a very different distribution of assets.

Do not make the same mistake. Review your estate planning documents periodically and upon any significant change in your life. Allow your estate plan to be flexible enough to anticipate things that may occur before you can change it. For example, in Massachusetts, if you anticipate the possibility of having another child, language can be inserted within your will allowing for the distribution of assets and a named guardian for any child born after your will’s execution.

If you anticipate problems, you may consider using a ‘no contest’ clause in your estate plan. In Massachusetts, such a clause disinherits anyone who challenges your estate. In order to make such a clause effective, you may consider leaving something to those at risk of being disinherited so that they have something to lose by challenging your stated wishes.

Jimi Hendrix’s case also illustrates the complexities of dying prior to executing a will. His untimely death at the age of 27 commenced a three-decade-long legal battle over the rights to his songs. According to a Hendrix biographer, due to the fact that Hendrix died without a formal estate plan, those who had been closest to him during his life, particularly relatives on his mother’s side, did not receive any financial benefit from his music.

There is no doubt that a minimal amount of estate planning would have avoided much of the controversy relative to his estate.

Communication about your affairs prior to your death is vital and can prevent disputes down the road when you can no longer arbitrate disputes and explain your reasoning. This is even more problematic when the events involved are highly unusual.

Consider the unpleasant dispute among Ted Williams’ children regarding his remains.

The family feud over Williams’ body commenced when his will showed that he wanted to be cremated, but the executor of his estate said that the former Boston Red Sox star later decided to be cryogenically frozen. The will read in part that he wanted his ashes “sprinkled at sea off the coast of Florida where the water is very deep.” However, the executor filed a petition asking the judge that Williams’ body remain in a cryonics lab in Arizona per Williams’ wishes. The only publicly known documentation that suggests Williams wanted to be cryogenically preserved is a piece of scrap paper stained with motor oil, executed while Williams was hospitalized.

The fact is, although Williams’ will states that he wished to be cremated, nobody really knows what he wanted. Williams did have a will, but, as is often the case, it was written more than fives years prior to his death. Many cryonics services were not even available then. The lesson learned is that it pays to review your will and funeral wishes on a regular basis.

Your estate plan should be reviewed at regular intervals and whenever there is a significant change in your personal or family situation, including the birth or death of a family member, marriage or divorce, and significant increase or decrease in your assets. Make sure that your plan does what you want and is taking advantage of recent law changes.

The celebrities cited above are not the only ones who experience long, expensive court battles over their estates; local probate courts are filled with cases of similar matters. Do not make the same mistake.

Todd C. Ratner is an estate planning, business, and real estate attorney with the law firm of Bacon & Wilson, P.C., who specializes in asset protection; (413) 781-0560;[email protected]

Some Cold Hard Facts on the Explosive Growth of Preferred Freezer

John Galiher was trying to do the math in his head.

The question was simple — ‘just how much ice cream can be stored in what is essentially an 8.2-million-cubic-foot freezer on Campinelli Drive in Westfield?’ — but the answer came in several ways, and as only Galiher, who started Preferred Freezer Services Inc. nearly 20 years ago, could do it.

“It’s about 40 million pounds,” he said, noting that weight is how this industry usually processes such information, “which corresponds to 1,000 tractor trailer loads, probably 3 million cases, or about 20 million half gallons — plus or minus a few.”

Those containers, shipped to every major supermarket chain in the country, bear some of the best-known names in the ice cream business, including Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Sealtest, Good Humor, and Klondike, said Galiher, adding that the cold storage industry is primarily about such large numbers. The two he is most preoccupied with are the company’s number of facilities — currently 18 — and total sales (roughly $130 million), which have been rising steadily since he started Preferred in 1989. And the upward trend will certainly continue in 2007, with several more plants, comprising more than 30 million cubic feet of freezer space, due to come online.

But this business is also about geography, said Galiher, which is what brought his company to Westfield. The city has direct access to the Mass. Turnpike and is close to I-91, he explained, and it has something most communities in the Northeast don’t — large tracts of permitted land, including one big enough for the company’s 150,000-square-foot freezer, which maximizes that footprint by climbing to 60 feet in height.

“So it’s really like a 300,000-square-foot building,” said Galiher, noting that there may soon be another facility built adjacent to it, as the company looks to take full advantage of the city’s location and infrastructure.

As it does so, it writes another chapter in the company’s history, and provides more evidence of a changing business landscape in Westfield. The former manufacturing center, once home to companies that made everything from buggy whips to paper to bicycles, is transforming itself into a distribution hub, with several giant warehouses or distribution centers (DCs) now doing business there.

CNS Wholesale Grocers has a giant, 15-million-cubic-foot freezer facility just a few hundred yards from Preferred’s plant, while plans are on the drawing board for a huge Target DC, also to be located on the city’s north side.

In this issue, BusinessWest looks at Preferred’s explosive growth, the reasons for it, and how the company is part of that changing scene in the Whip City.

Frozen Assets

There’s another number Galiher likes to toss around: –24, as in degrees Fahrenheit, the constant temperature kept within the Westfield facility.

That’s lower than most freezer warehouses, he said, conditions that are tough for employees (who are clothed to withstand that cold) but ideal for premium and super-premium ice cream, which have a higher fat content than regular offerings, and need it well below zero to preserve flavor and freshness. Minus 24 is actually colder than what’s required, Galiher explained, but trucks cannot maintain such low temperatures, so the added chill provides a needed head start for the products.

“If the product can start colder than it should be, it has a better chance of showing up at the distributor and the store with the quality and the hardness that the manufacturer wants to see,” he explained. “That’s the secret of that building — how consistently cold it runs.”

Such attention to customer needs has helped Preferred rise among the ranks of the nation’s, and world’s, largest public refrigerated warehouse companies, said Galiher, a former refrigeration engineer who, after working for one of the world’s largest industrial refrigeration companies, based in Malden, Mass., segued into the business of designing and building cold-storage warehouses.

He eventually started building them for himself.

Mixing his own capital with support from several silent partners, he formed Preferred Freezer Services. He started small — or at least with how small is defined in this business — with 23 employees, roughly $3.5 million in sales, and 1.3 million cubic feet of freezer space in a facility in Perth Amboy, N.J. The company now employs close to 1,000 people, has roughly 100 million cubic feet in its portfolio, and expects to more than double that number by the end of 2008.

As Galiher said, there are a lot of numbers in this business.

He started compiling them — as well as a track record for exceptional customer service — in the company’s first plant. That success formula led to continued growth and plants in several states, including New Jersey, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, as well as Massachusetts, which now hosts three facilities.

Many of the plants are in close proximity to major ports, including Boston, New York, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles, said Galiher, noting that these strategic locations allow easy access to major highways, and thus decrease transit time considerably.

How Westfield came onto the company’s radar screen is a mix of need and geography, he explained. In 2003, Preferred opened a 5.3-million-cubic-foot freezer warehouse in Raynam, Mass. that was utilized for frozen foods and other commodities, with another plant in nearby Sharon, opened years earlier, converted into an ice cream warehouse. As additional customers were added, that plant, with roughly 4 million cubic feet of space, was quickly outgrown.

After looking at several options, the company focused its attention on Westfield, which seemed to have the requisite ingredients in place — starting with location, available real estate (specifically a 35-acre parcel in the Campinelli Business Park), and a solid workforce from which to draw people for the challenging work in the plant.

The community is a little more than an hour west of several customers’ manufacturing facilities, including a Breyers-Sealtest plant in Natick, and maybe 90 minutes south of Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in St. Alban’s, Vt., Galiher explained. Those compass points, combined with available, permitted land, comparatively low energy costs — freezer warehouses consume huge amounts of electricity — via a municipal utility, easy access to major highways, and the existence of a major customer, CNS, right next door, made Westfield a logical choice.

High commercial tax rates, which exceeded those found even in California, were a drawback, he continued, but a tax incentive financing (TIF) plan made the deal doable.

The Westfield plant opened its doors in the fall of 2006, making it part of that ongoing expansion of the Preferred portfolio. The company has 18 plants operating, another seven under construction, and another nine in development, meaning the land has been purchased and plans for construction are proceeding.

Several plants are slated to open over the next few months, including ones in Philadelphia, with 7.5 million cubic feet; Atlanta, 6.6 million; Jacksonville, Fla., 7 million; Chesapeake, Va., 7 million; and Houston, 6.4 million.

Plans for a second plant in Westfield have not yet moved to the drawing board, but the question marking its construction is when, not if.

“We have some additional land there for such a purpose,” he said. “We prefer to build multiple independent facilities in a market, rather than simply adding on.”

By the end of 2008, the company should be able to move from its current fifth-place spot in terms of the largest refrigerated warehouse companies in the country up to second.

Degrees of Progress

That’s the number that Galiher seems least concerned about at this point.

Actually, he told BusinessWest that if the company remains focused on all those other numbers — as well as the all-important factor of customer service, and keeping those building temperatures lower than they have to be — then the national ranking should take care of itself.

And those are the cold, hard facts.

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

The W.O.W. Factor

Westfield on Weekends Brings Some Energy to the City’s Streets
The eye-catching logo used by Westfield on Weekends helps to draw in new supporters and volunteers.

Creating traditions.

That’s what Bob Plasse, president of Westfield on Weekends, says is the group’s most important mission.

“We’re making connections between people, businesses, and neighborhoods,” he said. “The overriding goal is to market the city as a great place to live, work, and play, and we’re employing some new, innovative concepts to do so.”

Westfield on Weekends, or W.O.W. for short, is a non-profit organization dedicated to spearheading and promoting the arts, entertainment, and culture in its home city and creating a more cohesive community feel among its many neighborhoods.

To do so, W.O.W. hosts and promotes arts and culture-based events in Westfield, both independently and in conjunction with other organizations in need of assistance.

It’s an entirely volunteer-staffed non-profit organization, currently gleaning the bulk of its funding from miscellaneous grants and contributions. But despite small beginnings, some notable developments are sprouting in Westfield with the ‘W.O.W.’ name attached, adding further weight to the notion of the arts as an effective economic driver.

The W.O.W. board of directors is a diverse, lively bunch made up of area professionals, business owners, and leaders in arts, culture, and community planning. Each member says they got involved with W.O.W. at various times and for different reasons, but agree that the organization’s primary role is to improve the arts, culture, and entertainment profile of Westfield, which had been waning in recent years, by creating unique, branded events that involve all sectors of the community.

Plasse said he was planning a series of holiday events with the Western Hampden Historical Society when he crossed paths with Chris Dunphy, senior planning manager with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and now treasurer for W.O.W.’s board of directors, who was trying to initiate a performing arts series in town.

The duo joined forces, and soon after, additional members began to add themselves to the fold – many already active members of the community, including Lisa Blouin, a psychology professor at Mount Holyoke College, Jeff Bradford, a sales manager, Kathi Palmer, a school teacher, Kate Pighetti, a Noble Hospital employee, Carl Quist, executive director of Stanley Park, and Chris Lindquist, director of the Westfield Atheneum.

“The opportunity came at the perfect time,” said Lindquist. “There were a few things going on in town that came together, and everyone seems to bring a different set of interests to the table that click together, and work.”

The Buzz Patrol

The group formalized themselves in 2003 with the help of the Westfield Community Development Corp., serving as a committee within the CDC before incorporating and securing its own non-profit status last year.

“That relationship opened us up to funding sources we wouldn’t have found on our own,” said Plasse, noting that W.O.W. continues to collaborate with the CDC.
The boost W.O.W. got from the affiliation also led to greater interest and membership, and created a backbone – and a board of directors – to strike out as an independent entity.

Gary Midura, for instance, was already involved with event planning with the Westfield High School football team, and saw an opportunity to extend his volunteerism, and that of Westfield’s students, into the greater community.

Pamela White, owner of the With Heart and Hand vintage, gift, and home décor shop on Court Street, said she was “strongly urged” by Plasse to join, and Karen Eaton, an attorney, said she’d been living in Westfield for only two months when she began volunteering, now serving as the board’s assistant clerk.

“We were looking to create broad themes, which in turn could serve as vehicles for all kinds of groups to market their events,” said Plasse. “Out of that evolved the greater mission of marketing Westfield, and out of that grew our board.”

W.O.W. secured its non-profit status and incorporated last year, and has since embarked on an extensive branding campaign.

The board enlisted the help of TSM Design in Springfield to create a cohesive identity, including a logo. To separate the new entity from the Pioneer Valley’s logo, which also used the word ‘wow,’ the group designed on a graphic treatment of just the letter ‘W’, followed by some multi-colored rectangles.

“It’s exactly what we were hoping to convey,” said Dunphy. “A spirit of movement, of a jumping, lively place.”

Brand Westfield

That logo is now the icing on the cake that is W.O.W.’s Web site, www.westfieldonweekends.org, which includes a calendar of events, a description of the many events W.O.W. has either created or participated in collaboratively, a growing list of area businesses that support W.O.W., maps and driving directions around Westfield, and a listing of places to eat, stay, and shop.

Plasse said the site is attracting a steady stream of visitors and is beginning to spread the arts and culture news of the city across the region.

“We’re really seeing the Web site take off,” he said. “When we hear of people coming in from other cities and towns to check out our events, that’s the greatest reward. That’s when we feel as though we’ve arrived.”

Dunphy said it’s also proof that the work W.O.W. has done to market Westfield as a leisure destination among its residents as well as potential visitors is beginning to take hold.

“The idea is to provide a sort of one-stop shop for non-profits, businesses, and individuals to promote their events, or to receive some assistance in planning one,” he said. “Through that process, some ideas will grow, some will change, and some might be shelved. But we welcome anyone to come to the table with an idea that, in turn, we can help to develop.

“It’s all geared toward generating interest in Westfield,” he continued, “and promoting the community as another alternative for entertainment, dining, or the arts.”

But there are a number of ancillary benefits emerging from W.O.W.’s work that also have an impact on Westfield’s overall community and cultural development.
For one, the events held throughout the year are helping to create a more lively downtown, which Eaton said is beginning to have an effect on the area’s housing market.

“Property values are rising, people are fixing their houses up, and overall it’s becoming a vibrant downtown community,” she said. “We still need to work on bringing Elm Street back to life, but already these new developments are exciting and energizing, and they add intangibles to the area that we didn’t have before.”

Dinner, Dancing, and Dickens

As Westfield on Weekends continues to mature, it’s serving as an increasingly effective umbrella for businesses, non-profit groups, community organizations, and individuals interested in planning or participating in community-wide events throughout the year.

The organization was recently written into the newly-formed Westfield Business Improvement District’s plan for the city, and will serve as a contractor with the BID to plan and host events.

In addition, W.O.W has received a handful of grants, including one from the Mass. Turnpike Authority for $50,000, shared with the city, which funded programming, Web site development, and advertising, among other operations. Sponsorships, membership fees (at different levels, similar to a public television or radio station), and private donations also fund programs, and costs are further defrayed somewhat by ticket sales.

Since its inception, W.O.W has spearheaded a number of arts and culture-inspired events, including:

Dickens Days, a holiday celebration with a literary feel, and the first month-long event produced by Westfield on Weekends;
Colonial Harvest Day, which celebrates the colonial history of Westfield as well as the autumn harvest;
Arts on the Green, a visual and performing arts festival held on Labor Day, now entering its fourth year;
Westfield in Motion, a series of events that celebrate the city’s contributions to transportation;
Westfield CommUnityfest, held for the first time last year, which celebrated diversity and local heritage through art, music, and cuisine, and
Wintergreen Fest, a month-long celebration held in March to mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

There are several other events encapsulated within those larger themes, and others that are on the drawing board now, in order to offer at least one themed event per season.

A ‘Great American Picnic’ is now being planned to coincide with Independence Day, for instance, and W.O.W. will also collaborate with the Westfield Wheelmen to host the World Series of Vintage Baseball this July and August.

Already, about two-dozen organizations and businesses collaborate with Westfield on Weekends, as volunteers, sponsors, or event planners. Those groups include churches, historical societies, booster clubs, and a few large employers, such as Noble Hospital, Westfield State College, and the Westfield School Department.

Westfield restaurants and clubs regularly participate in W.O.W. events, often providing live entertainment or menu choices to coincide with an event’s theme. Eaton said those establishments get an advertising boost from the city-wide events, and in turn W.O.W. enlists the help of area businesses to sponsor the events.

“There are also opportunities for the smaller businesses in town, which I think is important,” she said. “There’s a greater sense of inclusion and value when a smaller business can sponsor one event or one part of an event in a low-cost way.”

And in addition to business involvement, Midura, who joined W.O.W. initially to expand his own volunteerism, said the group’s year-round event-planning initiatives have also opened new doors for community service in Westfield, allowing many groups and individuals to contribute on a number of levels, and creating a cross-generation appeal.

“There are so many events in a year that volunteers can give their time during certain months – a little or a lot,” he said. “Any bit of help people can offer, we can use them.”

Midura said that model has also allowed W.O.W. to recruit Westfield students to volunteer, yet another byproduct of the organization that is bolstering its membership and its overall presence in town.

“If kids grow up not forced to volunteer, but rather shown the opportunities that abound, they start to recognize the various community resources that are open to them more quickly,” he said.

White agreed, noting that she plans on entering the schools in the fall in hopes of adding a few more volunteers to the fold, perhaps as part of a W.O.W. off-shoot for kids.

“I know that personally, I’m not just in this for the betterment of Westfield’s businesses or for the adult programming,” said White. “There is also a pride issue that’s important. We’re generating excitement about our community, and that needs to extend to our kids, because they’re the ones who will be running this city very soon.”

The Business of Traditions

Moving ahead, Plasse said W.O.W. will continue to brainstorm new events and to welcome new, partnering organizations and individuals to the fold. He said using technology as a tool is a prime focus – the Web site is updated constantly to remain up-to-date, and the group recently made itself known on the ubiquitous social networking site, MySpace.

Adding to the coffers through grants and donation is another concern, as is eventually adding paid staff to W.O.W. to streamline its many operations.

“Staff, sponsorship, and support are what we need,” said Plasse. “We are all creative, energetic people, but we need new blood to keep things running smoothly.”

Still, that’s not to say that he’s not pleased with the work W.O.W. has done in its short four-year existence. Indeed, it’s the opinions the group has changed over that time of which Plasse is most proud.

“Changing perceptions is a difficult thing,” he said. “Initially, there were some nay-sayers who said we’d never get everyone – or anyone – working together, but now we have a number of businesses working with us, faith-based organizations the boys and girls club, the YMCA, city departments, city government … the city in general has been very supportive.

“And that’s the real success.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

OPINION

Opinion

Health Care Costs are Everyone’s Concern

Suddenly, everyone is concerned about the cost of health insurance. Massachusetts municipalities are raising taxes, cutting services, and even contemplating bankruptcy because of the cost of employees’ coverage. The Commonwealth’s financial reports must soon reflect a $13 billion item for retiree health benefits, hitherto left off the books. Non-profit agencies are realizing that the new health insurance mandate applies to their employees, too. The state’s Health Care Connector Board is struggling to devise an ‘affordable’ health plan, in the face of protests about cost from future customers.

To which those in the business community can only say: “Welcome aboard.”

Employer-sponsored health insurance covers almost three-quarters of the non-elderly population of Massachusetts, and the rapid rise in insurance costs — at a rate that outpaces general inflation by a 3-to-1 margin, averaging 8.6% annually — has long been a principal issue for business owners. The high cost of health insurance, currently averaging $4,147 per year for individual coverage and $11,504 for a family plan, threatens the survival of ‘legacy’ companies (think of the automobile and airline industries) and is a major deterrent to the creation of new industries and jobs, particularly lower-skilled and entry-level positions.

If Massachusetts is serious about leading the nation on health care reform, we must expend as much effort on decreasing cost as on increasing access. The state’s new health insurance law does not take on costs directly, but by extending insurance coverage to every citizen it lays important groundwork for further steps. The individual mandate and concomitant employer responsibilities should eliminate “free riders” from the system, those who can afford health insurance but choose to go without. Fairer funding of free care provided by hospitals will reduce cost shifting and improve transparency. The anomalous tax treatment of health insurance is partially addressed. And, as we are seeing, the new law is giving the cost issue more public visibility.

It is a real, serious issue, and it is an issue for everyone. Those 8.6% average increases, with spurts into double digits, play havoc with the budgets of cities, states, non-profits, and households, as well as the budgets of businesses. There are things we ought not do to control cost, such as rationing — but there are things we can do, ranging from developing a rational health care delivery system with properly aligned incentives, transparency, and electronic medical records to tiered networks which encourage consumers to seek medical care in the most cost-effective settings.

At the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, where virtually all of our members provide the benefit, health care costs have been the number-one concern over the past 15 years. We are convening a group of the state’s leading employers to focus on cost containment, and we look forward to working with health care providers, hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, insurers, public officials, and fellow employers toward finding solutions. Failure to get this issue resolved has serious consequences, not just for the recently passed law, but also for our economic future and the well-being of our Commonwealth.

Thomas Wroe Jr. is chairman of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and chief executive officer of Sensata Technologies Inc. in Attleboro.

Peak Performance

Attic Conversions Lead to New, Innovative Living Spaces

Cecil Jacobs stands in an attic now undergoing renovation.

Sarah Moore says it was quite a sight to see her mattress hoisted into her new master bedroom via a crane parked in her driveway.

But an even better sight was that of the bedroom itself, finished and decorated with her and her husband’s own furniture, and located where holiday decorations and old sporting goods once collected dust.

Moore’s new bedroom suite, complete with a full bathroom, is the product of an attic conversion, a popular and unique way to create new living space within a home by building up, not out.

The process is seen most often in older homes, like Moore’s in Northampton, and in locales where new building lots are scarce, like much of New England.
But beyond that, attic conversions are also a study in some of the most innovative building practices today, utilizing existing features within an attic to create a room unlike any others below it.

Moore refers to her own bedroom suite as a sanctuary. Created by the design, build, and remodeling firm Barron and Jacobs in Northampton, the room was specially planned to accommodate Moore’s bedroom set, which didn’t fit anywhere else in the house.

“It was a relatively painless process,” she said. “It’s a huge space, and we really love it.”

From Storage to Safe Haven

Moore said she was impressed by the many innovative ways Barron and Jacobs addressed the unique challenges of converting an attic into a master bedroom.

“They measured our furniture and designed the room to fit particular pieces,” she said. “Now the headboard of the bed and dresser, for example, fit like hand-in-glove.”

But there were other concerns besides space planning. Heating and plumbing pipes needed to be fed upstairs, and windows needed to be replaced to provide the proper insulation. But again, Moore said the room seemed to lend itself to new ideas.

“They used the existing chimney that was used to vent the furnace as a straight conduit for electricity and pipes,” she offered as an example, noting that the furnace was replaced and fitted with a side vent. “The original attic steps are steep and narrow, so they added a railing around them, and replaced two windows and a dormer with large windows — that’s where the mattress came in.”

Cecil Jacobs, president of Barron and Jacobs, said the project at Moore’s house was indicative of both the common challenges and benefits of creating new living space on a home’s top floor.

“If the attic space is adequate, it’s really an obvious choice,” he said.

Jacobs explained that attic conversions are usually performed in older homes that have a large amount of space on the top floor, but that space is often geometrically tricky, presenting an array of challenges.

As humidity rises, for instance, proper ventilation must be installed, as well as new insulation that necessitates expanding rafters and replacing windows.

“But the big payoff is the significant increase in a home’s usable space,” said Jacobs. “An attic conversion can easily increase a house’s square footage from 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, or from a three-bedroom home to a four-bedroom home. In New England, we simply don’t have the space to build out; the existing inventory of a house has much greater value today.”

Raise the Rafters

Mary Kraus, one of two principal architects with Kraus-Fitch Architects in Amherst, said her firm has also handled or consulted on attic conversion projects, and agreed that while the jobs have their share of hurdles to clear, the end result is often a well-designed, one-of-a-kind space that increases the overall value of a home, not to mention its comfort level for its owners.

“The main issue is headroom, or a lack of it,” she began. “Existing attics often have 2×8 rafters, and subsequently, it’s a challenge to get enough insulation in and keep enough headroom at the same time,” said Kraus. “Attics often have some very nice, cozy spaces within them, but with those interesting angles can come some structural issues.

“We need to take into account the stairs to the attic, if any, and whether they are legal for residential purposes,” she noted. “If there isn’t a staircase, the questions become, ‘how do we design one, and how will that affect the space below it?’”

Kraus said she typically asks a client what their main goals are for the space and what their budget might be, and from there, she can better judge if the plan is workable, and moreover how much construction might be necessary.

“We might need to put a full dormer in the suite upstairs, or we might need to raise the roof, or rebuild the entire structure,” she said. “It depends on the individual situation.”

In keeping with that individual approach, attic conversions are also an attractive renovation choice for many because of the unique design aspects, as well as the various uses to which the space can be suited.

Kraus explained that many houses include dormers in their attics, often for aesthetic purposes on the exterior of a home, and they can be added if they don’t exist. In terms of an attic-conversion project, those dormers serve a new purpose — increasing the overall usable space and natural light in an attic and making the space ideal for both work and relaxation.

“Over the years, a number of people have approached me with ideas for attic renovations,” said Kraus. “Some are looking to create loft-type spaces, meditation rooms, exercise rooms, or writing studios.”

Upstairs, Downstairs

Attics also often have well-preserved hardwood floors and trim that sometimes differ from the wood in the rest of the home; Jacobs explained that in New England’s earlier years, attics sometimes served as living quarters for staff, and subsequently, less expensive wood like fir was sometimes used. Such natural wood is now in greater demand and harder to find at an excellent quality.

“The wood structure of an attic is quite magnificent to look at,” Jacobs said. “We try to leave some of the natural wood exposed, because it defines the lines of the room.”

In the Moore bedroom, for instance, a simple wire brush was used to clean the original wood, but little else was changed.

It’s those defined lines and versatile materials that also set attic renovations apart from other expansion projects within a home, Jacobs said, explaining that when it comes to reusing space within a home, many owners opt to renovate or finish basement space. But Jacobs said he wouldn’t compare basement renovations to attic conversions in a home, calling them two very different projects that often have a different end use.

“What generally drives people down to the basement is economics,” he said. “A basement can become an area for the kids to use, and a finished basement does increase the value of a home.

“What drives people up is often space. Attics are more appealing because they’re not below ground, there are often existing stairs to the space, and, in most cases, the space is being turned into a new bedroom or master suite.”

In Their Corner of the World

Such was the case in Moore’s home, which is now used an example of attic conversion on the Barron and Jacobs Web site. Architectural and construction concerns aside, however, Moore said the finished product is proof enough that her renovation choice was a good one.

“The room is closed off from the rest of the house, so it’s really quiet and peaceful,” she said. “It’s as though instead of closing the door to the rest of the house, we’re able to close off the rest of the world.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Family Affair

Mike and Todd Ratner, and Gary and Jeffrey Fialky

Second-generation Members Become Part of Bacon & Wilson’s Growth Pattern

There are now two father-son teams at Bacon & Wilson: Mike and Todd Ratner, at left, and Gary and Jeffrey Fialky.

Jeff Fialky didn’t plan to work a few doors down from his father when he set out on a career in law a dozen years ago.

Neither did Todd Ratner when he started work in the marketing field, starting at Anheuser Busch, before later shifting gears and entering law school.

But through a blend of fate and geography — specifically a mutual desire to return to the Pioneer Valley — they are practicing law at the Springfield offices of Bacon & Wilson, where their fathers, Mike Ratner and Gary Fialky, have logged more 50 years between them.

Both members of the second generation applied for openings at the company — there have been several due to an aggressive expansion effort — and prevailed in a hiring process that, by all accounts, granted them no favors because of their last names.

The younger Fialky, who joined the firm last year, is now a member of the firm’s Commercial/Business, Municipal, and Real Estate Groups, handling a wide array of work, while the younger Ratner, who came on in 2003, is now a member of the firm’s Estate Planning & Elder, Real Estate and Business & Corporate departments, spending much of his time in the burgeoning specialty of estate planning.

Their fathers say they neither encouraged their sons to enter law, nor to seek employment at the firm where they’ve been partners for many years, but welcomed the developments as they unfolded.

“They’re both great additions to the firm,” said the elder Fialky, noting, especially in his son’s case, that the timing of the recent openings coincided nicely with the experience he had gained working for large telecommunications companies. “There was a good fit between our needs and his career intentions.”

Said the elder Ratner, “the firm has been in a real growth pattern; the volume of work has increased steadily, and so has the number of attorneys working here. It just so happens that talented people named Fialky and Ratner wanted to be a part of that growth.”

The two members of the second generation, who grew up together in Longmeadow, said essentially the same thing when asked about how they arrived at the same work address as their fathers. They said they chose Bacon & Wilson because the assignments they took made good career sense, and they like the quality of life available here.

Overall, the two new associates’ stories speak to the growth of the firm, but also offer some evidence of a trend that area economic development leaders would like to see more of — young people who leave this region to start their careers but later return for the quality of life in the Pioneer Valley and, while doing so, givie back to the community.

Jeff Fialky, who described his path to Bacon & Wilson — and his focus on corporate law — as a circuitous route, majored in English Literature at the University of New Hampshire but always knew that he would make law his eventual career.

He graduated from Western New England College in 1994 (he clerked at Bacon & Wilson while attending school), and, several months later, became an assistant in the Hampden County District Attorney’s office. After two years there, he shifted gears and started what would be a 10-year stretch with the cable television industry at several Boston-area firms. He worked first at AT&T Broadband, where he eventually became senior operations counsel, before moving on to AT&T Corp. and a position as senior attorney, focusing on regulatory matters and litigation.

In 2004, he went to work for Andover-based Adelphia Communications as senior operations counsel, thus handling most commercial legal matters for the cable television provider.

The work was rewarding on several levels, but the younger Fialky desired a shift into private practice, a stated goal that coincided with a posting in Mass Lawyers Weekly for a position at Bacon & Wilson, one to which he thought he could easily transfer the skills he had acquired in regulatory work and business transactions.

“When I decided to leave the telecommunications industry, I was looking for an opportunity to be in private practice, and started talking to a number of Boston firms,” he said. “But when talking to them and meeting with various personalities and looking at the quality of life that type of situation would afford, and comparing it to this firm and the quality of people and the quality of life here, it was essentially no contest.

“My return to the firm, and my return to the Pioneer Valley, has been much more than I expected,” he continued, adding that he eventually had two solid offers, one in Boston and the other with Bacon & Wilson, and chose the latter. “It’s met, actually, it’s exceeded, every expectation.”

Ratner’s arrival at Bacon & Wilson has some different story lines, but many similarities, especially the part about wanting to return the Springfield area.

He took a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Studies at Babson College and went to work for Anheuser Busch, first as part of something called the Contemporary Marketing Team, which coordinated creative brand promotions of both new and existing projects. He then served as marketing supervisor, working in Chicago, and later as market manager (the company’s youngest) in Bloomington, Ind.

The work was intriguing and rewarding, but Ratner soon had concerns about many aspects of the ladder-climbing nature of the corporate world he was now part of.

“When I spoke with senior vice presidents and talked about their family life and children, they had mentioned that their 15-year-old sons and daughters had been in four or five different school systems,” he explained, adding that he had already moved four times in six years. “And I realized that, while I loved the company, this wasn’t the way in which I wanted to raise a family.”

After earning an MBA at Boston University, he enrolled at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law and eventually transferred to the University of Connecticut School of Law. While in law school, and after graduation, he clerked at Bacon & Wilson, and while in that role he gained an appreciation for the company and its team of lawyers.

He was weighing a possible return to corporate marketing work when a position became available at Bacon & Wilson, he said, adding that he believes his years of experience as a clerk there helped him in his quest to join as an associate.

Both of the new associates say their return to Bacon & Wilson affords opportunities to develop friendships and become involved in the community in ways that likely would not have been possible in either Boston or Hartford.

“My wife is a transplant; she came here from Newton,” said the younger Fialky, who recently joined the board of directors of the American Red Cross. “She’s already feels a sense of attachment to the community that is something which she didn’t experience to the same extent while growing up in Boston. And I feel that same sense of attachment.

“One of the things I really like about being in this area is that you have the ability to immediately effectuate change to the extent that you can become part of the community, join groups, and do things,” he continued. “That’s because organizations in this area are looking for people to raise their hands and get involved. That was really attractive to me.”

The younger Ratner concurred, noting that he and his wife are actively involved with Baystate Childrens Hospital, the American Cancer Society, and other institutions. “I’m just proud to continue the tradition of giving back that was started by those who came before me.”

HOUSE MONEY

Cover Story

Keller Williams Realty and Its Unique Business Model Find a Home in Western Mass.

April 2, 2007 Cover

When Texas-based Keller Williams Realty launched a franchise in Western Mass., some competitors openly conjectured that the venture wouldn’t last 90 days. Four years later, the KW franchise is moving up in the rankings and is within sight of a very ambitious goal — becoming the number one broker in the area. This explosive growth results from many factors, but especially a unique operating model that places the agents, not the broker, at the center of the home-selling universe.

Laura Stevens says she went, but with the thought that the meeting would be little more than an intelligence-gathering mission on what would inevitably become a new, potentially troublesome competitor.

That’s how she recalls the invite she accepted in March 2003 from officials with Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams Realty to discuss the possibility of a franchise in Western Mass., with her playing a lead role in that venture. Stevens, then an agent with Coldwell Banker, had met representatives of KW, as it’s called, at the annual convention of the National Assoc. of Realtors in New Orleans five months earlier, and told them that when they were ready to make their move into the Greater Springfield market they should give her a call.

They did, and she agreed to talk.

“I basically was only going because I figured, ‘if they’re coming into the market, I need to know everything I can about them,’” she admitted. “I went in essentially to spy; my goal was to find out who they were and what they had to offer the client so that if I had to sell against them I would know what I was up against. But they had me in about five minutes.”

That’s how long it took to explain and sell Stevens on what was then — and is still now — a fairly radical concept in the world of residential real estate: an operating structure in which the agent, not the broker, runs the store.

“I thought, ‘this is the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” she told BusinessWest. “They flip the industry upside-down; in the traditional model, it’s the broker as boss, broker as king, the ‘if you’re going to live in my house, you’re going to live by my rules’ way of thinking.

“At Keller Williams, the broker is a subservient leader, and the agents are the boss, and as an agent that appealed to me,” she continued. “I think that agents are in the best position to know what’s best for their business; the people from Keller Williams were essentially reading my mind.”

What took much longer to sell Stevens on, however, was the concept of her becoming the operating principal in Western Mass, or, in essence, the franchisee. She liked the Keller Williams model, but at first, and for some time after being introduced to it, she envisioned herself experiencing it from the agent side of the equation.

But when no one came forward to take the operating principal, or broker role — one that requires a sizable investment — Keller Williams officials pressed Stevens to consider assuming that risk, and opportunity, herself.

She did, and she’s never looked back.

She took the equity she had in two properties she owned, as well as most of her life savings, and, with some financial backing from several partners, took a somewhat daring entrepreneurial gamble, one that is thus far paying off handsomely and surprising many competitors who didn’t share the view that this was a good risk.

Along the way, she’s had to suffer many slings and arrows. In fact, KW’s business model was and is so foreign — and the Keller Williams corporate value statement, ‘God, Family, then Business,’ is so different and religion-oriented — that some competitors have taken to referring to the company as a cult, said Stevens.

“One area manager told people that we pray at our meetings,” she explained, adding quickly that there are no prayers and no Kool-aid. But there is that unique agent-centered view of the home-selling universe that is still difficult to explain and often hard to sell to agents.

But it is gaining results — across the country and especially in the local market. Nationally, the firm is well ahead of goals to have 70,000 agents by then end of this year, and has re-calibrated that number to 90,000. Regionally, the most recent statistics supplied by the Greater Springfield Board of Realtors show that Keller-Williams is growing steadily and gaining ground on the top firms in the market. The Longmeadow office was slotted second (up from third a year earlier) in terms of total sales and dollar volume for the first three months of the year, behind the Longmeadow office of Coldwell Banker, while the Agawam office was eighth, up from 17th a year ago.

There are several other yardsticks for measuring success, including the number of agents now with the local franchise — 130 (it started with 12) — as well as the opening of a second office in Agawam last year, and a third in Northampton last month. Meanwhile, the Longmeadow office will be moving soon to quarters on Dwight Road that are nearly double the current space on Shaker Road.

In this issue, BusinessWest looks at what Keller Williams has been able to accomplish in only four years in this market, and, more importantly, how it has made such a prominent mark.

Going Through the Roof

Stevens used many words and phrases to describe the agent-centered focus at Keller Williams, including some that were rather direct and reflected her many years of experience and frustration in her chosen field.

“They treat agents like intelligent people with ideas, not like idiots,” she said of KW, adding that she views the traditional plight of agents as the real estate business equivalent of taxation without representation. “I can remember once saying, ‘I have a good idea,’ and my broker replying with, ‘why don’t you let us do the thinking, and you just go do the selling.’ That was the attitude; here, the attitude is, ‘if you have a good idea, we’ll hear it; maybe it will help all of us.”

But perhaps her most effective effort to get her point across came when she gave a quick tour of the Longmeadow headquarters facility, starting with her office — such as it is. Small, oddly shaped, and tucked toward the back of what was once a suite of physicians’ offices, it has no windows. It does, however, have a second door — the one people go through to get to the Dumpster.

“I have the smallest and worst office here,” she said without any hint of regret, embarrassment, or indication that this was in any way improper. “And that’s the way it should be — the agents run the show here; our philosophy is that people do business with people, not companies.”

This was the model on which Gary Keller and Joe Williams started the company that bears their last names in 1984, and it has carried them to meteoric growth and a presence in all 50 states since they started franchising in 1993.

Stevens knew only a little about Keller Williams when she ventured to the NAR conference in late 2002. But it was enough to intrigue her and prompt a visit to the KW booth. And what she heard at that initial meeting on a planned Western Mass. franchise piqued her curiosity and eventually triggered her entrepreneurial tendencies.

Stevens, who first started considering a career as a Realtor while still in high school, had spent 15 years in the business and nearly 20 years in sales by then. She started with George & Green Real Estate in 1987, and spent seven years there before moving on to Coldwell Banker. She wasn’t really looking for a new opportunity when she sat down with KW officials, but she was certainly willing to listen.

And so, eventually, were several other agents she worked with at Coldwell Banker. They, too, liked the business model, enough to become agents and partners. Stevens was joined by Denise Vaudrin, Linda Santinello, Bino Wrona, Kathy Neilson, and Donna Taylor. They invested some money to help get the venture off the ground, and considerable effort in making it a force within the market.

But Stevens assumed the lion’s share of the risk, moving, by her estimates, from an annual salary approaching $200,000 to “zero.”
“It was more than a little scary,” she said of the transition from agent to entrepreneur, adding that she was helped in a way by the fact that agents are, by the nature of their work, independent contractors. “Agents are, in essence, entrepreneurs, but this was going a step further; it was a big risk for all of us, but one we felt good about.”

Stevens said area competitors didn’t give her and her team of partners solid odds for survival. “Many people said we wouldn’t last 90 days,” she said. “And when we did, they said we wouldn’t make it through the winter.”

The unique operating model is the primary reason why, she said, summing it up rather concisely: “Our agents are fully empowered to do whatever it takes to sell real estate — within the confines of the law.”

Seller Dwellers

Elaborating, she said the agents have the right to set policy — on everything from the hours of operation at a given office to the commission rates paid to co-brokers.

All this is done through a body known as the Agent Leadership Council, comprised of an office’s top performers, who, says Stevens, have the best business sense. “So they should have the right to run the company.

“At the beginning of each year, the council sits down, and together we figure out how much it’s going to cost to run the company each month,” she continued. “They submit a budget to me, which I then approve, and I hand over the money to them; they can do whatever they want with it. If they don’t pay the bills, we’re going to go out of business.”

While what the Agent Leadership Council does is noteworthy, why this group is in power is what competitors and area agents should come to understand, said Stevens, adding that it comes down to basic common sense. And for agents, it’s also a matter of basic mathematics.

Indeed, to show why agents are better off with the Keller Williams system than the traditional way of doing business, Stevens used her last year with Coldwell Banker as a working example, and said the KW MO would have put roughly an additional $50,000 in her pocket. She arrived at that estimate though a complicated compilation of numbers, including the amounts paid by agents to brokers, the parent company, and others. But the bottom line is, quite literally, the bottom line.

And that’s roughly the same number arrived at by Carol Roy Bright, an agent who joined KW nearly a year ago after working for Coldwell Banker and, before that, owning her own company, Real Estate Solutions. She told BusinessWest she joined Keller Williams because she could add, but there was more to it than that — specifically the fact that KW does more to help agents succeed than companies using more traditional methods.

It offers ongoing education, for example, she said, noting that classes amount to what she called a Ph.D. in home selling. Also, the company takes an approach that brands specific agents, not the company, which is logical because clients essentially do business with an agent, not with a company, she said.

“The Keller Williams model highlights the agent and puts the company in the background, which is as it should be,” she explained. “That’s because it’s the agent who gets hired, not the company. And in realty, it’s the top producers that clients are hiring, and not the firm, so if they stay with a traditional company, they’re not being properly compensated for what they bring to the table.”

Roy Bright says the KW model provides her with something else as well — a voice in how the company is run.

“We have open-book management, so everyone can see what everybody makes, and we can see what the owner is taking; we decide on equipment … we decide on everything,” she said. “I didn’t have a voice like that when I was with a traditional company.”

Yard Sale

Looking back on the franchise’s first year in business, Stevens said sales goals were exceeded by some 50%, a number that reflects some rather conservative projections.

“We didn’t know how to think big back then,” she recalled. “We’ve learned how since.”

Indeed, Stevens and her team have their sights set firmly on becoming number one in this market, and to Stevens’ way of thinking, it’s not a question of if, but when that will happen — a question she won’t answer because she doesn’t want to throw a date out there for the competition to see.

But she expects that it won’t be too long.

“We’re ahead of schedule; we’re currently No. 3 in this market in terms of gross sales, and we’re competing against some major players that have offices that have been established for 15 or 20 years,” she said. “We’re confident about moving up to number one.”

Thinking big at Keller Williams relates mostly to numbers related to unit sales, total sales volume, number of agents, and revenue-sharing payouts, said Stevens, but not necessarily to the number of offices across the region.

The company generally rejects the ‘office on every corner’ mentality that still prevails in some corners of this industry, in part because technology, primarily the cell phone, enables agents to do the bulk of their work from almost anywhere, but also because a large volume of offices creates redundancies that a cost-efficient operation will seek to minimize.

However, most consumers still want and need that office setting, Stevens continued, adding that this phenomenon explains the expansion in Agawam — an office that can help the company better serve Western Hampden County and Northern Conn. — and the most recent push into Northampton, which provides a more visible presence in Hampshire County and the hot spots in that region, including Amherst.

With the territorial expansion comes more work to sell the KW operating model, said Stevens, who admitted that it has been a harder sell in Northampton than she anticipated.

“To some, it sounds like it’s almost too good to be true,” she explained, adding that some individuals need convincing that what they’re hearing is the real deal.

Agents working for traditional brokers are way overpaying for the services that they’re getting from their brokers. Our model is so different that some people have a hard time believing it.

But ultimately, she believes top producers in the Northampton area will do the same math, and come to the same conclusion, that Roy Bright and 130 or so other individuals have.

“People have come to us from as far away as Brimfield and West Hartford,” she explained. “That’s because they recognize that it’s the right business model and they’re willing to travel for it.”

Window of Opportunity

Stevens said she does not yet know specifics on the layout of the Longmeadow office’s future home — to be part of a new office building going up on Dwight Road.

What she does know is that she will still have the smallest, worst office in the place, because while the facility’s mailing address will change, it’s unique approach to doing business will not.

That’s because successful companies don’t attempt to fix what isn’t broken, and KW’s track record for success is hard to argue with.

But maybe Stevens won’t have to contend with a door to the Dumpster.

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

Bird’s Eye View

Chris Willenborg, administrator for Barnes Municipal Airport, said all of the developments at the airfield are aimed at long-term growth.
Barnes Municipal Airport Sees Blue Skies Ahead

There are a number of improvement projects on deck at Barnes Municipal Airport, ranging from building renovations and replacements to ongoing plans for increased traffic. The goal is to create a bustling aviation and business center in Westfield, and, as the airport’s administrator points out, activity is already more brisk than many people realize.

Chris Willenborg has to remember a lot of names and numbers as part of his job as airport administrator at Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield.
There are aircraft models to memorize and wind gusts to track, dollar figures to record as part of ongoing capital improvement campaigns, and runway lengths and taxiway widths to remember when planning renovations.

Willenborg also has to recall, in the middle of budget planning, marketing initiatives, and infrastructure development, that there are two endangered species populating the airport — the vesper sparrow and the upland sandpiper.

“They like the sandy terrain that surrounds us,” he said, as two of the Air National Guard’s A-10 Thunderbolts prepared for landing on Runway 15-33, the shorter of the airport’s two at 5,000 feet.

While the vesper sparrow and the upland sandpiper are two lesser-known inhabitants of Barnes, the A-10 Warthogs are certainly recognizable in Westfield’s skies — they’ve been part of the landscape at the airport for nearly 30 years. However, Willenborg said that between wildlife and military jets lies a much bigger pocket of activity than most realize, and it’s in this area that he hopes to see the greatest improvement in both services and perception in the coming years.

“People often associate the airport with its military presence, but in actuality Barnes is home to about 700 employees,” he said, adding that the airport is a center for economic development in the purest sense of the word.

Air Apparent

Those employees work within a number of privately-owned businesses, both aviation-related and otherwise.

Four aircraft maintenance companies do business at Barnes: AirFlyte, General Dynamics Aviation Services, Aero Design, and Five Star Jet Center, which also offers charter flights, as do Air Fleet Management, the Aviation Management Group, and Charis Air.

Charis and the Five Star Flight Academy offer both flight instruction and programs directed by Holyoke Community College, Westfield State College, and J.P. Adams, a private firm that also provides aerial photography. In addition, the two tenants, along with ADUP, also offer aircraft for rent. Meanwhile, aerial advertising (banners) is offered by ADUP and Airborne Ads, Midwest ATC provides air traffic control services, and various hangar operators provide aircraft storage.

In terms of non-aviation businesses, limousine and taxi services are based on the Barnes property, and the Whip City Race Track is located on its grounds, as is the Pioneer Valley Military and Transportation Museum.

Barnes Airport itself employs eight people, six of whom are full time. It’s a lean operation, said Willenborg, especially in a workplace that encompasses 1,200 acres of land and can accommodate planes as large as a C-5 military craft or a commercial Boeing 47.

But the airport is currently seeing some activity aimed at growth, Willenborg explained, which is breathing new life into its facilities.

A new administration building is being constructed to replace an outdated facility, built in 1939. Willenborg said talk of replacing the building began more than 30 years ago, but when the project finally began to take shape in 2002, the process was kicked into high gear.

“We’re looking forward to being in the new building by May 1,” he said, noting that the $6.3 million project was financed largely by a state grant from the Mass. Aeronautics Commission, secured in 2005 with the help of state Sen. Michael Knapik.

Beyond replacing a building that has “outlived its useful life,” as Willenborg put it, the new administration building, along with other improvements, will help Barnes handle an increasing number of operations on the field — in layman’s terms, the number of takeoffs and landings at the airport.

“We see about 65,000 to 70,000 operations a year,” he said, “both military and civilian — but 86% are civilian. We had a 12% increase in traffic from 2005 to 2006, and we’re also seeing an increase in corporate traffic, which is industry-wide.”

However, when those planes land, Willenborg said their first view is currentlyof the old, worn-out administration building, which he feels affects overall confidence in the airport.

“When a corporate plane lands and its management steps off, we don’t want the first thing they see to be this ugly little building,” he said.

But soon, the view will improve. The new administration building, nearing completion, features glass and brick architecture similar to many newer buildings in Westfield, and is also double the size of the former offices, at 17,000 square feet.

The building will house airport management and a number of private businesses that will lease space, as well as lounge space and new showers and locker rooms for pilots. A new restaurant, to be announced, will also be added to replace the existing Flight Deck, which will be closed by its owners.

Development is also taking place in other areas of the airport, including a 20,000-square-foot hangar expansion taken on by AirFlyte, along with the construction of a new fueling station.

And on the military side of things, the two units housed at Barnes — the Air Guard’s 104th Tactical Fighter Group, and the MA Army National Guard Aviation Support Facility #2, a fleet of helicopters – will be undergoing some changes as part of the recent base realignment and closure initiative spearheaded by the U.S. government.

“There’s an aircraft transition going on — the 104th’s A-10s will be replaced by F-15s, and their missions are changing,” said Willenborg.

On the Fly

Even with these expansions now underway, however, Willenborg added that there is plenty of room for continued growth at Barnes. There are several developable lots on its acreage, and the airport also has an extensive master plan in place, which is guiding it through a long series of improvements and additions.

“It’s a pretty aggressive capital improvement plan,” he said, noting that improvements are separated into three categories: short-term, mid-term, and long-term, and represent a 20-year bracket of time, from 2002, when improvements began, to 2022, when the last projects are slated for completion.

The estimated cost for all of the projects, which range from security and safety measures to new hangar construction, environmental safeguarding, and general maintenance, is about $59 million, with 90% of that figure is expected to be covered by federal assistance, and the remainder through state (about $10 million) and local funding (about $2 million).

“A big part of that will be runway construction,” said Willenborg.

According to the master plan’s list of capital improvements, the airport’s two runways — 15-33 and 2-20, 5,000 and 9,000 feet in length, respectively — will be rehabbed, including a $34,000 re-marking project to begin soon. New taxiways will be constructed to augment the current taxiways — which just underwent a $4 million renovation — and aprons reconstructed. Hazard beacons will be replaced, new T-hangars constructed (the most common type of storage space for aircraft with wingspan up to about 40 feet), and fuel storage expanded, among other projects.

All of the initiatives are geared toward one goal, said Willenborg: to make Barnes as self-sufficient as possible. Currently, the city of Westfield contributes between $60,000 and $70,000 a year to the airport’s operation, down from $120,000 when he took his post in 1999.

“We’re chipping away at it,” Willenborg said of the cost to the city, adding that through capital improvements, new development, and some existing initiatives in place to generate revenue, he hopes to whittle that number down to zero within the next three to five years.

Revenue-producing ventures already in place at Barnes include a stretch of self-storage units for rent on the property, and billboards that stand on the outskirts of the field. Those billboards are owned by Barnes Airport and leased regularly to the tune of about $32,000 a year.

Willenborg said that, in the coming years, he’d like to see a few specific types of businesses recruited to Barnes, such as a firm specializing in avionics (aviation electronics). He said he’d also like to see a greater number of corporate jets housed on-site; costs at Barnes are less than at similar airports in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut, for example, but the distance to major destinations is still minimal.

Willenborg is also focusing attention on the tourism market, promoting the airport as a hub adjacent to a number of destinations, including the Berkshires, Northampton, and the Basketball Hall of Fame, and as a stopping-point on the way to other popular tourist spots, such as Cape Cod and the Islands.

“People don’t realize the level of air activity that exists,” said Willenborg. “There are a lot of people flying, for business, tourism, or recreation, and we want to show that this airport is an excellent stop for them, whether they’re visiting Western Mass. or passing through.”

Touching Down

But even with those matters weighing heavily on his mind, Willenborg said environmental issues are still a concern. About $900,000 is allotted for environmental filings and compliance processes in the Barnes master plan, which take into account the safety of the wetlands on which the airport sits.

The filings were also necessary due in part to some of the planned construction, such as a safety area around runway 15-33.

“We’re looking to grow revenue, but also to remain environmentally conscious,” he said. “We are located on top of the aquafer, and we have endangered species living here in addition to the wetlands.”

Indeed, the key to survival and success at the airport, he said, is keeping all of the birds in the air — large and small.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Natural Living

Habitat Post and Beam Offers Form and Function

Huckle, right, and Peter May

Whether supplying the necessary materials for a home, a business, or an addition to either of the two, Habitat Post and Beam in South Deerfield has been adhering to strict standards for quality since 1972. Those standards have led to success in the niche post-and-beam market, culminating recently with a workload that is steady and growing.

On a two-lane roadway with industrial overtones, Mann Orchards wanted its new location in Methuen, Mass. to stand out from the rest of the big-box franchises and convenience stores. It did so by commissioning a massive post and beam facility from Habitat Post and Beam in South Deerfield, thus creating a warm, family feel in a sea of concrete.

And on Dog Island in Florida, the owners of a new, contemporary post-and-beam house watched safely from inside as their boathouse washed away in a hurricane; their home, thankfully, suffered little damage.

These are just two of the stories Huckle May, vice president of Habitat, likes to tell to illustrate the draw of post-and-beam homes (spaced columns and beams for structure), which Habitat has been pre-fabricating, designing, selling, and delivering to locales across the country since 1972.

“It’s a style of home that I think a lot of people like, but in the past, didn’t know a lot about,” said May. “But post-and-beam homes are only increasing in popularity, and I think the industry is going to keep expanding considerably.”

Habitat’s current book of business could be proof of that upswing in awareness of post-and-beam homes, additions, and commercial properties, all of which are part of the company’s suite of services. Over the past 10 years, Habitat has seen consistent growth, averaging about 10% over the previous year annually in revenue, and last year recording $5 million in sales.

“We are a manageable size and have a history of quality,” said May, noting that Habitat employs 15 people, five of whom work in the company’s shop manufacturing post-and-beam components, and the remainder in sales and administration, design, and engineering. “Some of our clients have been with us since the 1970s; it’s definitely a business that will last longer that the people now running it.

“But as things stand now, I think the best way to put it is we would welcome a steadying of business,” said May. “We’re a very streamlined operation, and very process-oriented. But we’re also constantly swamped, and that’s a unique challenge.”

The First Cut

Habitat was one of the early purveyors of so-called ‘kit homes’ — a term that sometimes carries a negative connotation, said May, but still best describes the types of pre-fabricated lumber and materials that create a Habitat Post and Beam structure.

May explained that his father, Peter, a former contractor, bought the business 15 years ago from Edgeco Inc., and remains its president today; five years after that, his son entered the business with the initial idea that it would be a temporary gig.

But with a decade under his belt, Huckle May said his job has since become permanent, and the brisk rate of business has also kept it interesting.

Habitat’s strong sales record, for instance, has necessitated an expansion to its Elm Street manufacturing facility, to be built on an adjacent piece of property.

“The expansion is extremely important, as it will allow us to improve quality and maintain a competitive advantage,” said May, who added that, while the post-and-beam industry is subject to the same economic cycles that affect other building sectors, Habitat has seen steady, constant improvement, and the reasons why are varied.

First, Habitat can design and provide materials for a myriad of projects, from various sizes of homes to additions to commercial and specialty projects, including the Yankee Candle flagship store’s main building in South Deerfield, Gledhill Nursery and Landscape Center in West Hartford, Conn., and the Church of the Messiah in Chester, N.J.

“It goes up and down,” said May. “We typically handle one major commercial project a year, and, depending on the market, homes and additions alternate in frequency. Currently, about a third of our jobs are additions; when the value of residential homes is stable, people tend to add on.”

Lean and Green

In more general terms, post-and-beam homes appeal to an environmentally conscious audience and fit well into the current trend toward ‘green building.’

“Post-and-beam homes are generally more green,” said May, adding that Habitat also procures its lumber from a family-managed forest in the Pacific Northwest, which provides Douglas fir through sustainable logging practices.

“They will last for generations, are very thermally efficient, and are built tighter — often better than conventional framing. Owners also tend to use less carpeting and wood finishes, to maintain that natural look.”

But beyond being environmentally sound, post-and-beam homes also satisfy a wide range of aesthetic tastes.

“Post-and-beam homes use space more efficiently, in general,” said May. “They have a good layout, usually with a common room with a high ceiling surrounded by cozy areas everywhere else. They lend themselves to one-level living.”

That’s a benefit that appeals to Baby Boomers, a group that is now leading the ‘aging in place’ home building and design phenomenon, and also younger homeowners, who may want to expand their property at a later date.

“It’s always cheaper to build up instead of out,” May said, “and building lots are increasingly scarce, especially in the Northeast.”

May noted that post-and-beam homes are actually a very small fraction of the entire construction market, similar to other niche offerings like log or timber-frame homes. But they are sturdy, quality structures that age well, and an increasingly savvy consumer base is turning its attention to them, in part with the help of the World Wide Web.

“Customers are more educated about their home-building options,” he said. “Once, we got 1,000 calls from people just looking for more information, before we were contacted by a real, potential client. But now, the Internet does a lot of that work for us, and people call us much more prepared.”

Still, May said the biggest draw of a post-and-beam home is one that has been a strength of the design since its early years as a building option — its characteristic cathedral ceilings and wide, open spaces carry a certain cache, and often translate into one’s dream home.

“We have a largely high-end clientele,” he said, “and we send most post-and-beam homes to areas that already have great views; places with lakes, rivers, and mountains. They fit very well into natural landscapes, but post-and-beam homes can also be designed to look very contemporary.”

Station Identification

To illustrate that point, Habitat added model rooms to its Elm Street location in spring 2004, constructing one that represents more traditional post-and-beam design, and another that is more modern, with soaring windows and curved track lighting.

Touring the space the company dubbed ‘Habitat Station,’ in part for the exterior’s resemblance to train platform, Peter May told BusinessWest that the rooms often help clients decide which design they prefer, or create a hybrid of the two.

“It’s funny; often, a husband and wife will come in, and one will go to one room and say, ‘this is exactly what I was thinking,’ while the other goes to the second room and says the same thing. They definitely help people visualize, but they also help people see where the compromises can be made.”

The showrooms also effectively translate the quality and versatility of post-and-beam homes, without overwhelming a client with the particulars of the design-and-build process, which is a detailed one.

“It has worked out really well for me because I love process and project design work,” said Huckle May, “ and I get to do a lot of that here. But it is a long, technologically-based process.”

Indeed, as a business that manufactures not one component of a building project, but rather the entire project itself, there are plenty of steps to be taken. May explained that a job usually begins with an initial idea or vision from a potential client, and continues to develop with the help of an independent architect or by matching needs, wants, and budget to one of Habitat’s in-house designs.

From there, three-dimensional drawings and floor plans are created by members of the Habitat design team, and a ‘virtual tour’ is created with the help of software programs. Once the engineering plans necessary to secure a building permit are completed, final plans and contracts are drafted.

Most components of a Habitat home are cut and prepared at the South Deerfield facility, including walls, floors, and roofs. Once a foundation is poured at the construction site, a delivery is made — everything from walls, roof, and floors to the necessary fasteners — via a tractor-trailer dispatched from Western Mass. to anywhere in the country.

The homeowner can then contract with a builder to complete the project, and can opt to work with some of the suppliers that partner with Habitat, such as Anderson windows, or to handle some or all of the details themselves.

May said that about 70% of Habitat’s clients hail from the Northeast, and the remainder are scattered across the country.

“The Berkshires are very strong, and we’re seeing more and more interest in the Pioneer Valley,” he said. “I think that’s because we can handle such a wide range of projects. People do all sorts of things; we’ve had people approach us to build an entire post-and-beam house and add it on to an existing house, or just for a 12 x 12 room.”

The Kit and Caboodle

Even as such a small part of the building sector, post-and-beam homes are beginning to make a name for themselves as a sought-after design scheme with limitless possibilities, said May, and that is creating a firm foundation for Habitat.

“Over the years, more people have realized that post-and-beam homes are one solution to designing a home that fits their various needs,” he said.

And whether that need is to stand out from the crowd or simply stand the test of time, somehow, the term ‘kit home’ seems to no longer apply.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

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

Allgaier, Paul J.
Allgaier, Louise M.
103 Meadowbrook Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/22/07

Ashe, Virginia D.
307 Breckenridge St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/23/07

Basiner, Michael Sean
484 Skyline Trail
Chester, MA 01011
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/20/07

Burgess, Shelby J.
11 Wilfred St.
Rodriguez, Shelby J.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/20/07

Butler, Lisa Mae
768 Church St.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/22/07

Clapper, Randall J
Clapper, Shayna M
331 North Brookfield Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/22/07

Colon, Noelia
567 S. Canal St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/25/07

Davis, Patrick D.
171 Leopold St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/21/07

Fennell, Halimah G.
131 Bloomfield St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/26/07

Fortunato, Ermelinda M.
28 Highland Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/21/07

Jacques, Anita B
23C Elm Ter.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/19/07

Lee, Kimberly H.
Lee, Hyeyoun
174 Wimbleton Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/26/07

Mayhew, Gerald L
43 Maple St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/19/07

Mousseau, Lori A.
Mousseau, William A.
116 South Main St.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/20/07

Murray, Madeline Irene
118 Ave. A
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/22/07

Perez, Maira Y.
85 Amity St., 102
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/26/07

Pregozen, Neil
P.O. Box 252
Sheffield, MA 01257
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/16/07

Ramirez, German A.
600 Western Ave.
Lynn, MA 01904
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/25/07

Ricketts, Richard
34 Sterling St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/20/07

Rodriguez, Bladymir
58 Grand St., Apt. 2F
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/22/07

Salsbury, Roseanne Marie
945 Saint James Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/19/07

Scott, Hilary
2052 Main St.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/16/07

Smith, Joanne
70 Shumway St., A1
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/25/07

Snyder, Lisa M
PO Box 856
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/16/07

Stadig, Fritz C
88A Mount Herman Station
Northfield, MA 01360
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/19/07

Suckau, Carol Lynn
70 Broadway St., 104
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/23/07

Sullivan, Hazel F.
143 Davenport St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/16/07

Torres, Yumara
58 Grand St., Apt. 2F
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/22/07

Vautrin, Kenneth P.
30 Bardwell St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/20/07

Woodward, Star L.
15 Baglee Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/26/07

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of March 2007.

Agawam

Anthony Malone Investigator
324 Silver St.
Anthony Malone

O’Dyssey II
339 North Westfield St.
Deborah Carney

Online Computers Inc.
638 Springfield St.
Catherine Byrne

Overlook Home Improvement LLC
67 Hunt St.
Mark Simons

Studio 108
156 Suffield St. #109
Jennifer Cohen

Amherst

Fancy Fingers Nail & Skincare Salon
835 Main St.
Sandra Goss

Chicopee

A & H Service
376 Broadway
Joseph Rzeszutek

All American Drywall
94 Forest St.
Clifton D. Hall

European Goods Company
165 Front St.
Eugeniusz Wargulewski

EZ Mart
345A Chicopee St.
Zahoor Mian

Luz O Enterprise
62 Rivers Ave.
Luz M. Ortega

Easthampton

Continental Cleaning
41 Ridgewood Ter.
Raul Lopez

D.J. Thonsey
116 Pleasant St.
Thonsey Keopanya

Everything Retail
8 Beechwood Ave.
Joseph Rich

Jordin Chatterton Handcrafted Basketry
75I Parsons St.
Joyce Luciano

That’s a Wrap
2 Oliver St.
Mike Kerr

East Longmeadow

M. Scott Investments Inc.
51 Prospect St.
Michael S. Poggi

Shaker Road Animal Hospital
108 Shaker Road
Ryan Johnsen

Greenfield

Betty at Elizabeth Allison’s
54A School St.
Elizabeth A. Bellows

Doria’s at Wilson’s
258 Main St.
Doria Cotter

Gates Healing and Cooling
15 Sunset Square
John Michael Gates

Kim’s Upholstery
162 Federal St.
Kimberley Bonaiuto

Salon@Wilson’s
258 Main St.
Mariette Poginy

Styles by Beverly@Wilson’s
258 Main St.
Beverly Suchanek

ThatsOnMe.com
55 Orchard St.
Andrey Agapov

Hadley

Alabaster Financial Planning
4 Bay Road
Susan Wennemyr

Class Action
245 Russell St.
Felice Yestel

Long Radio
30 Russell Road
Keith & Matthew Imbriglio

Maple Farms Foods
10 South Maple St.
Steve Ozcelik

Holyoke

5-7-9
50 Holyoke St.
Fashion Gallery Inc.

Bluemoon Coffee Roasters
50 Holyoke St.
Daniel Higgins

Capital Motors
829 Main St.
Rolando O. Farrill

Safe Towing & Auto Sales
9 Avon Place
Myrna Cruz

Longmeadow

Caldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Real Estate School
136 Dwight Road
NRT New England Inc.

Curves For Women
791 Maple Road
Dinah Merchant

Home Styling Solutions
133 Elmwood Ave.
Carrie Burke

Travel Associates of Longmeadow
80 Ridge Road
Allen H. Grosnick

Ludlow

Advantage Tire
State St. Bldg. 120
Mark Bongiorni

D&C Gravel & Marble
100 State St.
Luis Serrazina

Genesis Massage Therapy
123 Center St.
Christine Pietrowski

Northampton

Big Buss Graphics
23 Ryan Road
Brad Edwin Bussler

Green Meadow Farms
131 Fair St. Ext.
William Karparis

Kristy’s Nails
137C Damon Road
Chi Kim Do

Personal Touch Pilates
33 Hawley St.
Nadya Kostek

Palmer

Mangos
233 Wilbraham Road
Cheryl Whitcomb

South Hadley

Crooked Rails
14B Main St.
Susan Smith

Cycle Stop
459 Granby Road
Ray Smith

Daniels Painting and Wallpaper
525 Hadley St.
Daniel Daniels

TSP Painting
54 Bridge St.
Todd St. Pierre

Southwick

Fox Vision Realty
135 Berkshire Ave.
Nicholas Boldyga

Springfield

Coast to Coast Janitorial
45 Collins St.
Clyde Ratcliff

Connections Transportation
687B State St.
Ayyub Abdul-Alim

D B Publishing
315 Bridge St.
Dennis Brown

Dillomart
118 Victoria St.
Keiko Ardolino

Downtown Convenience Store
160 Worthington St.
Nafees A. Chaudhary

George’s Auto Clinic
403 Walnut St.
Juan J. Gonzalez

Go Go Towing and Auto Repair
462 Central St.
Oscar Rodriguez

Helen Hairum
1500 Main St.
Helen D. Johnson

Junior Auto Repair and Towing
151 Pine St.
Catalino Maldonado

L G Gift Stop
69 Upland St.
Lois Gordon

LC3 Enterprises LLC
154 Kimberly Ave.
Leon Cosby III

MarcusMadeMeFit
59 Sterling St.
Marcus Austin

Patriot Fence
91 Pondview Dr.
Tonya Marie Simmons

R & R Construction
191 Lexington St.
Lazaro R. Riera

R.J.S. Enterprise
93 Grochmal Ave. Lot 13
Ronald H. Stager

That’s Hot Gift Shop
7 Noel St.
Leeshona Barr

Tony Russo Marketing
11 Howes St.
Thomas Angelo Raschi

Westfield

B. K. House Cleaning Services
20 Old Holyoke Road
Brad Kriekamp

Colo Consulting
51 Oakcrest Dr.
Peter Colo

Complete Home Inspections
330 Buck Pond Road
John R. Borges

General Dynamics Aviation Services
3 Elise St.
Gulfstream Aerospace Services

R & C Countertops & Installation
9 Bartlett St.
Randy Arkoette

Thingreen Computing
42 Dickens Dr.
Briand LaForest

V.P. Heating and Cooling, LLC
61 Prospect St.
Tomas Petrowick

West Springfield

Lynch Flooring
115 Frederick St.
Peter Lynch

R Page Electrical Service
67 Kings Highway
Robert Page

R.A. Foresi Associates
680 Westfield St.
Robert Foresi

The Olde Barn Property Services
20 Laurel Road
Robert Gallant

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

AGAWAM

Chase Enterprises Corp., 590 Meadow St., Agawam 01101. Donald R. Chase, 39 Timber Ridge, West Springfield 01089. Real estate holding.

Easterntronics Inc., 312 Springfield St., Agawam 01001. Dang Huynh, 166 Hancock St., Springfield 01009. Electronics repair and sales.

V&R Photography Designs Inc., 55 Rosie Lane, Agawam 01001. Vanessa Rossini, same. Wedding, special event, and portrait photography.

XLSpan Inc., 318 Leonard St., Agawam 01001. Benjamin N. Koenig, 32 West Main St., Westborough 01581. To offer telecommunications services to the commercial and residential markets.

CHICOPEE

BF Inc., 1271 Memorial Dr., Chicopee 01020. Frank Brooks, 282 Narragansett Blvd., Chicopee 01013. To sell a full line of shipping and packaging services.

Gary’s Auto Sales Inc., 125 Broadway, Chicopee 01020. Gary A. Lopuk, same. Purchase and sale of automobiles.

FLORENCE

O-Live Foundation Inc., 680 North Farms Road, Florence 01062. Steve Frank, same. (Nonprofit) To fund research leading to the prevention and cure of genetic cancers, etc.

GRANVILLE

Stopa Roofing Inc., 99 Reagan Road, Granville 01034. Travis Stopa, same. Roofing construction on homes.

GREENFIELD

Friends of the New England Peace Pagoda Inc., 98 Conway St., Suite 1, Greenfield 01301. Robert Lowry, 8 North Leverett Road, Leverett 01054. (Nonprofit) To help strengthen former community relationships and create new relationships toward building knowledge, understanding and support of Nipponzan Mychaji, Buddhist Religious Society-New England Sangha and the Peace Pagoda in Leverett, etc.

Tallk Inc., 23 Woodland Dr., P.O. Box 90, Greenfield 01302. Lisa M. Kovalski, same. To conduct a restaurant business.

HOLYOKE

JRE Masonry & Restoration Inc., 87 Pearl St., Holyoke 01040. Jerome Robert Ezold, same. Construction.

HAMPDEN

E-Scrap Removal and Recycling Inc., 42 North Monson Road, Hampden 01036. Chris Lomascolo, same. Recycling electric components.

HOLYOKE

Igl.Casa de Restauracion Levantando Al Caido (House of RestorationLifting TheFalling Inc. Luis A. Cortes, 70 David St., Holyoke 01040. (Nonprofit) To provide civic, social, and educational welfare for people in need of supportive services, etc.

HOLLAND

The Wicket Grounds Inc., 1043 Burt Hill Road, Holland 01034. Joseph Clark, III, same. To promote recreational and historical activities and property management, The Wicket Grounds Croquet Club and Rifle Range, airsoft military simulation games, and military reenactments.

HUNTINGTON

Word Alive Christian Fellowship Inc., 75 Worthington Road, Huntington 01050. Reverend Jeffrey Dean Adkins, same. (Nonprofit) To foster acts of charity, fellowship and other religious, educational, social and recreational activities as would enrich the lives of its members, etc.

LONGMEADOW

Character for Kids — Team Kids Inc., 96 Redfern Dr., Longmeadow 01106. Deborah S. Han, same. (Nonprofit) To promote, supervise the interest of the public in martial arts, etc.

LUDLOW

DeMone Electrical Inc., 39 Sawmill Road, Ludlow 01056. Gregory G. DeMone, same. To perform electrical installation, repairs services, etc.

MONTGOMERY

Sinigur Concrete Pumping Inc., 37 Main Road, Montgomery 01085. Victor Sinigur, same. To pump concrete.

MONSON

Viewsource Technogies Inc., 139 McBride Road, Monson 01057. Steven Curtis Howland, same. Internet services.

ORANGE

Athol-Orange Lodge #1837, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America Inc., 92 New Athol Road, Orange 01364. Clyde Woodbury, 581 Barre Road, Templeton 01468. (Nonprofit) To inculcate the principles of Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love, and Fidelity, enhance the welfare of its members, etc.

SOUTH HADLEY

Legrandice Audio Inc., 8 Roundelay Road, South Hadley 01075. James Carl Legrand, same. On location/studio audio recording.

SOUTHWICK

Bill’T Well MFG Inc., 23 Hudson Dr., Southwick 01077. William H. Vredenburg, same. Machine shop.

Gogri Family Inc., 3 Robin Road, Southwick 01077. Hasmukh Gogri, same. To sell food and fuel at retail.

SPRINGFIELD

Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services Co., 1500 Main St., Suite 1200, Springfield 01115. Peter S. Novak, 168 Colony Road, Longmeadow 01106. Insurance producer.

Everyday Electronics Inc., 75 Pilgrim Road, Springfield 01118. Kathryn Elizabeth Chianciola, same. Electronic sales.

Financial Answers Inc., 119 Maplewood Terrace, Springfield 01108. Charmaine White, same. Real estate investment, management and financial consulting.

Leahy & Brown Insurance & Realty Inc., 535 Allen St., Suite 1, Springfield 01118. Joseph P. Leahy, Jr., 83 Barrett St., Northampton 01060. Insurance agency and real estate broker.

New England Labsystems and Mobility Inc., 38 Van Buren Ave., Springfield 01104. Fritz Bosquet, same. Medical supplies and service.

SUNDERLAND

That’s My Carpenter Inc., 52 Kulessa Crossroad, Sunderland. Bruce Rondeau, same. Carpentry and construction.

WARE

Heat Pro Inc., 133 Greenwich Road, Ware 01082. Peter D. Harper, same. To provide heating and cooling services to the general public, etc.

WILBRAHAM

J & V Company Inc., 420 Monson Road, Wilbraham 01095. Metyu Chen, same. Restaurant and retailing business.

Everyday Heroism

The fifth annual Hometown Heroes breakfast, a program of the American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter, was held recently at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield and catered by Max’s Tavern. Newscaster Sy Becker and recording artist Ashley Gearing co-hosted the event, which honored everyday people who performed heroic, selfless, and often life-saving actions this past year.

Frank Anderson, Red Cross board chair; Jack Robinson of Longmeadow; honoree Jared Bertuzzi, Robinson’s grandson, who cared for him after a stroke; and Gerry FitzGerald, Red Cross board member.

Wilbraham police officer Christopher Doyle, left, and honoree Bruce Westcott of East Longmeadow, who aided Doyle following a car accident.

Betti Boggis, left, one of the event’s Big Y volunteers and a 2005 honoree, with Dana Smolokoff, Westfield State College intern for the Pioneer Valley Chapter.

Going Digital

Nearly 100 people attended the March 14 open house for Wing Memorial Hospital’s digital mammography suite. Wing Memorial is the first hospital in the Quaboag Hills region to offer digital mammography. At the open house, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to dedicate the new mammography suite. As Elaine Anderson, second from right, a member of the Wing Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, cuts the ribbon, looking on are, from left, state Sen. Brian Lees; Hampden County Clerk of Courts Edward Noonan, chairman of the Wing Memorial Hospital Board of Directors; and Dr. Charles Cavagnaro III, president and CEO of Wing Memorial Hospital and Medical Centers.

Everything’s on the Table

Several area chambers of commerce recently collaborated to host the 13th annual Table Top Exposition, a business networking event, staged March 21 at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke. Several dozen area companies exhibited at the show, gaining needed exposure and new business leads. Some scenes from the event,

Carol Moore Cutting, president and general manager of radio station WEIB in Northampton

Chats with Melissa Hallock, sales coordinator at BusinessWest; Staffing the Marcotte Ford table are Christopher Rawson, Advertising and Marketing director, and Jasmine Rodriguez, rental consultant; the Puffer Printing table was well-represented, with owner Don Puffer and associates Kristin Salois, center, and Jessica Patterson; Joshua Vassallo, general manager, greets visitors to the table for the Country Inn & Suites in Holyoke.

Keeping Young Talent in the Pioneer Valley