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HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) is planning a virtual commencement for spring and preparing to welcome students, faculty, and staff safely back to campus for the fall 2021 semester.

HCC’s 75th-anniversary commencement will be livestreamed on Saturday, June 5 on the HCC website and the college’s social-media channels. The virtual commencement will celebrate the class of 2021 as well as the class of 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, HCC made the decision last year to recognize the class of 2020 with a virtual celebration in August 2020 and also invite graduates to participate in a more traditional graduation ceremony this year along with the class of 2021.

Planning for commencement begins months in advance, and HCC officials made their decision on this year’s ceremony based on conditions in February before new guidelines were announced allowing for limited outdoor and indoor ceremonies.

“Unlike the 2020 celebration, the 2021 ceremony will include traditional commencement moments with an emphasis on the elements our students told us matter most to them,” HCC President Christina Royal said. Those elements include having student orators from both classes and keynote speeches delivered by the 2020 and 2021 recipients of the Elaine Marieb Chair for Teaching Excellence, HCC’s highest faculty award. “We will also have a virtual procession and the traditional reading of names of graduates from both classes along with photographs submitted by members of each class.”

For the fall 2021 semester, which begins Tuesday, Sept. 7, HCC is offering a variety of class formats, including face-to-face, in-person, on-campus classes with a maximum of 10 students per classroom.

Following guidelines from the CDC and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the fall 2021 return-to-campus plan allows for maximum flexibility and adaptability, at all times prioritizing the safety and well-being of HCC students, faculty, and staff.

HCC will provide multiple course formats to suit different learning styles and personal preferences: on campus, blended on campus and remote, synchronous remote, and asynchronous online.

“HCC is paying particular attention to scheduling courses that will allow incoming students to maximize on-campus instruction if they so choose,” Royal said. “The plan provides us the flexibility to make adjustments as public-health conditions evolve over the months ahead.”

In addition to on-campus, blended, and remote offerings for fall 2021, HCC will continue to offer a full slate of fully online courses across the curriculum. As much as possible, administration offices and student services will also be open and staffed, while maintaining safe and social-distancing protocols, including mandatory mask wearing and plexiglass screens in areas where students and members of the public most closely interact with staff.

While campus offices and support services will be open to students this fall, HCC will also continue to offer services and support through online chat and Zoom for students who feel more comfortable accessing college services remotely.

“I really believe the pandemic has made HCC a better version of itself,” Royal said. “We have enhanced our support for students and have amplified student voices throughout every decision-making process, always placing students first. We have made equity a greater priority across the college, enabling us to truly and more deeply serve our community.”

Registration opens Monday, April 12 for summer and fall classes at HCC.

Daily News

WESTFIELD — The Westfield Starfires announced the addition of Annalise Eak to the staff as coordinator of Group Sales & Fan Experiences.

Eak, a Westfield native and graduate of Westfield State University, is pursuing a graduate degree at Bay Path University. For the last seven years, she has served as a marketing supervisor at Six Flags New England. She was a Starfires Game Day Operations volunteer at Bullens Field in both 2019 and 2020. She is vice president of the Westfield Babe Ruth board of directors and served on the World Series executive committee in 2019. She is a Westfield Centennial Lions Club member and Westfield Technical Academy sports volunteer.

“Annalise is a fixture at Bullens Field and a huge asset to the Starfires organization,” team owner and co-founder Christopher Thompson said. “We are thrilled to have her take on this expanded role within the front office.”

The Westfield Starfires are part of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, which offers collegiate summer baseball to fans in seven New England cities. The Starfires joined the league as an expansion franchise for the summer of 2019 and play in historic Billy Bullens Field in Westfield. The 2021 schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — “National Security Priorities in Biden’s First 100 Days” will be the topic of a discussion by Western New England University (WNEU) School of Law Dean Sudha Setty on Thursday, April 15 at noon. The cost for this virtual event, presented by the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts, is $10 (free for students).

Setty will discuss various national-security priorities of the Biden administration, including investigations into domestic terrorism, anticipated policy changes regarding targeted killings, and foreign-policy priorities.

Setty became dean of the School of Law in 2018 and has served on the faculty since 2006. She is the author of National Security Secrecy: Comparative Effects on Democracy and the Rule of Law, the editor of Constitutions, Security, and the Rule of Law), and has written dozens of articles on national-security law and policy.

She was recognized as part of the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Top Women in the Law in 2019, and the WNEU School of Law honored her with the Catherine J. Jones Professor of Year Award in 2009, 2016, and 2018. She was recognized in 2015 as a Trailblazer by the South Asian Bar Assoc. of Connecticut and received the 2017 Tapping Reeve Legal Educator Award from the Connecticut Bar Assoc. In July 2018, she was elected to membership in the American Law Institute.

The April 15 event is sponsored by Glenmeadow, Sir Speedy, and Wilbraham & Monson Academy. For more information and to register, visit the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts website at www.wacwestma.org.

Daily News

SOUTHAMPTON — DopaFit Inc., a Parkinson’s disease movement center, is known for helping people with Parkinson’s slow the progression of their disease with exercise and other non-pharmacological treatments. Those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease are often forced to stop doing the things they love. Many give up their passions, hobbies, and lose their sense of self. Limitless by DopaFit has been created to empower people with Parkinson’s disease to redefine their lives by giving them a chance to do something they once loved.

On Monday, April 5, Rick Burkhart, a current DopaFit fighter, will fly a plane with the help of Fly LUGU flight school at the Westfield Barnes Airport. Burkhart has not flown an airplane in more than 10 years since he was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Prior to his diagnosis, he was an avid pilot and owned a flight school at Westfield Barnes Airport. He often took cross-country flights, and even donated his time and planes to drop off much-needed supplies to remote areas of impoverished countries.

“Far too often, when people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, they expect to be disabled within five years,” said Chad Moir, founder and CEO of DopaFit Inc. and the Limitless project. “This does not have to be the case. With exercise, eating healthy, and keeping a positive attitude, people with Parkinson’s disease can live a long and active life. Limitless by DopaFit is meant to help people with Parkinson’s continue to live their life without limits.”

DopaFit Inc. plans to offer the Limitless program on a quarterly basis and encourages people living with Parkinson’s disease to apply for their chance to live DopaFit’s motto, “Parkinson’s without limits.” For more information, visit www.dopafit.com or call (203) 828-7189.

Cover Story

Lessons Learned from COVID

It’s been said time and again that, for businesses large and small, the pandemic provided a number of learning opportunities. Companies learned new ways to do things — mostly out of necessity — while also learning that the ‘old’ way may not be the best way. Meanwhile, the pandemic provided opportunities that didn’t exist before — especially when it comes to hiring — and accelerated the pace of needed change. All that means the landscape has been altered for the long term.

Drew DiGiorgio, president and CEO of Wellfleet

Drew DiGiorgio, president and CEO of Wellfleet, in the company’s mostly unoccupied space in Tower Square.

They’re called ‘insurance bibles.’

That’s the name those at HUB Insurance have attached to the large binders — some of them containing 700 pages or more, in the case of large commercial accounts — that tell clients everything, as in everything, about what’s in their policy, what’s covered, what isn’t, and on and on.

As he held one up, Timm Marini, president of HUB International New England LLC, noted that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, bibles only came in the printed variety. Now, if a client wants one — and some of them don’t — a digital file is sent, in part because a client can’t pick one up, and HUB can’t drop one off.

And, by and large, things will stay this way, said Marini, noting that COVID has shown those at the company that they don’t need to kill trees and use up expensive toner to provide a client with their insurance bible.

“Now, you can do it all electronically,” he explained. “And you probably could before COVID, but COVID made us do it more.”

This is just one of the many things companies large and small have learned during the pandemic, lessons that will carry over to the time when COVID is referred to in the past tense. Others involve everything from not having to scan documents for tax preparers to not necessarily limiting a candidate search to those living in the 413, to not having people travel to a conference on the other side of the state if they can instead take it in via Zoom.

“It’s a mix, but many certainly want to come back. They’re lonely … they actually want to work in more of a community setting.”

In a word, the pandemic has shown area businesses and nonprofits that they have more options than maybe they thought they had, when it comes to how and where people work and just how things are done.

For this issue and its focus on the modern office, we talked with a number of business owners and managers about what’s been learned over the past 12 months or so and how COVID has actually made companies more efficient and enabled them to reduce costs in some areas. The observations were telling.

“The audit side of our practice generally required teams of people here to go visit on site at other locations,” said Sarah Rose Stack, Marketing & Recruitment manager at the Holyoke-based CPA firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka. “Because of COVID, we learned we could do these remotely, which is something we’ve never done; this was a first-time experience not just for us, but for people in our industry. We’ve learned that it’s fine, it is efficient, and with some businesses, we’ll keep doing it this way moving forward.”

Timm Marini holds up an ‘insurance bible’

Timm Marini holds up an ‘insurance bible’ — the printed variety. Those at HUB have had to send digital documents during the pandemic, and that trend will continue into the future.

For Springfield-based Wellfleet, now with offices in Tower Square, the pandemic has provided ample evidence that employees in many positions can work effectively and remotely, and this enables the company to expand its horizons when it comes to hiring.

“You can expand your pool when it comes to workforce; we can hire someone not from the Springfield area and have them be successful with the tools that we’ve developed,” said Drew DiGiorgio, the company’s CEO, adding that the company has already hired some people from other parts of the country. Meanwhile, it is working on plans to have other employees work a hybrid schedule, with some days in the office and others remotely.

Chuck Leach, president and CEO of Lee Bank, said that, prior to COVID, HR Director Susie Brown and IT Director Drew Weibel were already hard on work on plans to position the bank to be more flexible with its workforce in terms of where and how it worked. The pandemic served to accelerate that process.

“Even though we’re Lee Bank, a lot of our employees come in from other markets,” he noted, adding that these lengthy commutes prompted talk and then creation of plans for remote work and hybrid schedules. “We were already thinking about it, and COVID forced us to be more deliberate in our approach and our policies and procedures.”

But even with these options in place and far more flexibility with work schedules than ever before, the bank is tilting strongly toward having people work on site — with some exceptions — and it’s also seeing most of its employees want to come back, which is another thing companies are learning as they work their way through COVID.

“It’s a mix, but many certainly want to come back,” Weibel said. “They’re lonely … they actually want to work in more of a community setting. They want to come back, but some find it easier to work at home until the school situation is worked out and their children are back in the classroom.”

Stack agreed. “When the shutdown first happened, everyone was excited to work from home, so a lot of people exercised that option, and some people have found they’re more efficient from home, cutting out that commute,” she said. “But while some still work from home, the majority of people, like 97% of the people at MBK, choose to come into the office every day because they don’t want to work from home.”

Work in Progress

DiGiorgio said it’s somewhat frustrating to walk around his company’s offices in Tower Square.

More than 200 employees moved into the well-appointed space covering three full floors in the late summer of 2019, only to see pretty much everyone pack up and go home to work in mid-March.

“We love it — we wish we could be in it more,” he said with a laugh. “It’s great space — open-floor design, all the things you probably don’t want with COVID. It will be great to get back to it.”

Indeed, that’s a lot of fairly expensive (for this market) downtown Springfield real estate that is not being used. But DiGiorgio doesn’t dwell on matters that are out of his control.

Instead, he’s more focused on what the future will look like — and applying all the lessons learned during the pandemic.

As for that real estate … he said this is a growing company that took three floors with the intention of perhaps soon absorbing a fourth. Need for that additional space is less likely now, he acknowledged, but the company will still need the space it’s now leasing because he fully expects most of his employees to be back in that space.

But not all will have to come back, he went on, and some, as he noted, will never have to sit at a desk there.

“We have, over the past year, hired people in Florida, Tennessee, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Upstate New York … we have a pretty remote workforce,” he said, adding that some of these hires took place before COVID because the tools were in place, but the pandemic has highlighted how effective people can be working remotely, and thus, as he said, broadened and deepened the talent pool.

“We have a billing person who’s in Tennessee. I feel more comfortable now that she can hire people in Tennessee or wherever she needs to; they may not need to be in Springfield, which is what our initial thought was. COVID has opened up our thinking to where we hire people.”

Marini agreed. “We have employees in Wisconsin who work for New England,” he explained. “We have people who decided to move to Florida and still work for New England. We had a little of that before COVID, but what we realized was that, with our ability to get our automation up and running, our digital offerings, that really expanded our talent pool; there have been some relocations during COVID and some new hires during COVID that are not Western Mass.-based. And we have some people in Western Mass. who work for some of our Eastern Mass. locations and even one in New York.”

COVID has reinforced this premise, as it has many others, while accelerating some trends and pretty much forcing companies to do some things they never considered before.

Like those virtual audits at Meyers Brothers Kalicka.

Stack said the firm’s teams have undertaken a number of them, while, in other cases, it has adopted a hybrid approach for some audits, going to the client site for some of the work while handing the rest remotely. Thanks in large part to COVID, there are now several options for handling such work, she said, adding that other lessons have been learned and other new ways of doing things revealed.

“On the tax side of our practice, we used to have clients in the building all day, every day, from February 1 through tax day, and now, maybe three people a day drop off their boxes of papers; the vast majority of people just e-mail us their material,” she explained. “They’re happy with it, it’s efficient, and it saves us a step. Instead of having to take tons and tons of paperwork and scan it into our digital system, it’s already coming to us in that format.

“We used to have to hire a scanner for tax season — a whole person whose job was to take all this paper that people would drop off and scan it,” she went on. “We didn’t have to hire a scanner this season, and that was definitely a positive change.”

Will Dávila, executive director and CEO of the Children’s Study Home in Springfield, said the pandemic has led to positive change in many forms at his agency and most all businesses and nonprofits. He echoed others when he said that COVID has served to heighten the awareness of how technology can be used to improve efficiency and save time, such as when traveling to conferences or meetings in other cities.

Will Dávila, executive director of the Children’s Study Home

Will Dávila, executive director of the Children’s Study Home, says his agency has learned a number of lessons during the pandemic, many of them involving better use of technology.

“We now have more of a comfort level with working remotely and working via Zoom,” he said, adding that this technology existed long before COVID, but few businesses took full advantage of it. “The lesson for us, and I’m not sure we have it completely figured out yet — it will likely take us some time — is that we can do more with technology than we thought we could before. I’ve been in places where we would talk about technology and teleconferencing and telehealth, and people would balk at it. And now, we’ve been forced to take another look, and we’ve embraced it.”

Looking ahead, he said that, while most people look forward to the day when they can gather and attend conferences and meetings in person, they know there are options — there’s that word again — and they won’t be hesitant to take full advantage of them if the circumstances permit.

Caution Signs

As he walked with BusinessWest through HUB’s headquarters facility on Shaker Road in East Longmeadow, Marini pointed to a number of unoccupied workstations, some of them marked off with the yellow ‘caution’ tape usually associated with crime scenes and construction sites. Such tape can be seen throughout the suite of offices, he said, noting that the space — which was occupied by just over 50 employees prior to the pandemic — has hosted around seven a day on average, with a high of 14, by his count.

Sectioning off such areas became part of life during COVID, he noted, adding that there are myriad ways the pandemic changed the landscape for the company. Overall, there’s been a huge shift; a place once teeming with employees and visiting customers now sees very few of either.

And that has brought challenges — and some opportunities, mostly in the form of learning how to do things remotely and without reams of paper. As he talked about these opportunities, Marini gave a nod — sort of, anyway — to an organization his business works closely with, obviously: the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

“Even the Registry of Motor Vehicles here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has become more digitized, more automated, and more flexible, and that’s something I never thought I’d see after 33 or 34 years of doing this,” he told BusinessWest, adding that, in some ways, his company has been inspired by the RMV, as it automates and digitizes many processes that once involved paper and in-person sessions.

As for the challenges, they came in waves, Marini explained, from equipping everyone to work at home, which was expensive and difficult logistically, to helping employees cope with everything from feelings of isolation to simply filling their days with work, even though they were home.

CHuck Leach

Chuck Leach

“Even though we’re Lee Bank, a lot of our employees come in from other markets. We were already thinking about it, and COVID forced us to be more deliberate in our approach and our policies and procedures.”

“We were too accessible when we were home, so there were no breaks for our people,” he explained. “We started having big conversations and hiring professionals to come in to coach us to make sure we took breaks and that there was separation between home and work.”

What will things look like several months from now, especially if the pandemic continues to ease? Marini isn’t exactly sure, but he acknowledged that he spends a lot of time thinking about it and working with corporate to prepare for that day.

He does know that more business will be handled virtually in the future, and there will be little, if any, need for those printed insurance bibles.

As for employees, like others we spoke with, he expected that they will come back, because the company wants them back, but also because they want to be back in that office setting.

Such sentiments were echoed by many of those we spoke with. They noted that it seem logical that, after getting a taste of working at home, many employees would prefer that option, but what employers are generally seeing is the opposite reaction.

“People are sick of remote everything,” said Stack, noting that Meyers Brothers Kalicka has a younger team within the audit department that could do its work from home, but instead it has reserved the firm’s huge boardroom for the past six weeks so the members can work together, but safely and well spread out.

“They have music playing on Spotify every time you walk in there,” she said. “They just want to be in the same space — they think they’re more efficient that way, and they can ask questions of each other faster and stay on track better because they’re all together. It’s not something we told them they had to do; they’ve chosen to do it.”

Dávila agreed, although he noted that he has some employees who are quite happy working at home, and are “working on it” when it comes to returning to the office. By that, he meant he’s offering some flexibility on this matter and not rushing anyone back who doesn’t want to rush back.

“I think it’s partly generational — people who have been in the field for 15 or 20 years or more and are used to those in-person interactions, they’re used to having that time by the water cooler when they’re getting a cup of coffee. I consider those valuable interactions that help with morale,” he told BusinessWest. “But we also have younger staff who are very comfortable with technology and embrace the idea of working remotely.”

But, ultimately, they will come back, probably by the end of the calendar year. “I don’t want to say absolutely not,” he said when asked about hybrid arrangements that offer a mix of remote and in-office work. “But my preference is that we get people back to a schedule where they can see each other and interact.”

Lee Bank’s Susie Brown agreed. “When it comes to Lee Bank, I think everyone enjoys being together,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of people who are unwilling to come back; those that are unwilling are those that have other challenges at home with their children.”

Bottom Line

COVID is far from over, and there are certainly more lessons to be learned as companies large and small continue to cope with an unprecedented challenge.

But it’s already evident that this battle has prompted changes that will live on long after the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror. As they were forced to do things differently, companies learned that, in many cases, these different ways are better than the old ways.

Like the insurance bible. Clients, at least some of them, will still need one. But they won’t need to thumb through 700 pages of printed material to find an answer.

COVID has changed all that — and it keeps on changing the landscape.

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

Coronavirus Features Special Coverage

The Shape of Things to Come

With the arrival of spring, stimulus checks, and vaccinations for growing numbers of residents, continued recovery from the steep economic decline of 2020 is in the forecast. But like the weather, economic rebounds are difficult to predict. With this recovery, there is still widespread speculation as to what shape it will take — U, V, W, K, even the Nike ‘swoosh.’ Myriad factors will ultimately determine that shape, from the ongoing threat of inflation to uncertainty about when and to what extent people will gather again, to questions about just how willing Americans are going to be when it comes to spending some of the money added to their bank accounts over the 12 months that ended in January.

$4 trillion!

That’s the amount Americans added to their bank accounts over the past 12 months or so, a savings rate perhaps never before seen in this country, which has hasn’t been known for that trait.

It came about because of all the things that people couldn’t spend money on, or didn’t see the need to spend on — everything from summer camp to vacation cruises; celebratory meals out at restaurants to new dress clothes; Red Sox tickets to visits to their favorite museum. Granted, there was some spending going on, especially when it came to things like pools, new flooring, and new deck furniture for the home — or a new home itself, be it a vacation home or a bigger primary residence.

“I am pretty optimistic that people are just to their wit’s end with being isolated; they really want to get out, do things, and buy things. They just want to live a normal life again.”

But, for the most part, Americans were saving in 2020.

And now that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it seems like people will be able to spend some of the money they saved, the speculation involves just how willing they will be to go back in the water, if you will, and do some of the things they had to forgo for a year.

That’s just one of many factors that will ultimately decide the shape of the recovery we’re now in, and how quickly the nation will get back to something approaching normal.

As several of the stories in this issue reveal, the world, or at least this part of it, is returning to a sense of normal. Hotels are booking rooms again, airports are busy (or at least busier), Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow will have seasons in 2021 — albeit different kinds of seasons — and, overall, the state has entered into what Gov. Charlie Baker calls stage 4 of his recovery plan. This final stage will allow indoor and outdoor stadiums to run at 12% capacity, the state’s travel order to be downgraded to an advisory that recommends people entering Massachusetts quarantine for 10 days, public gatherings to be limited to 100 people indoors and 150 people outdoors, and exhibition and convention halls to operate if they can follow gathering limits.

It’s a big step forward, but much will depend on how willing people will be to gather in these places, and how confident they will be to travel. Meanwhile, there’s all that money that people saved and the latest round of stimulus checks now finding their way into people’s bank accounts. Will people spend them, and what will they spend them on?

And what if there is a spending frenzy and economists’ fears of inflation, potentially the runaway variety, become realized?

These are just some of the questions hanging over the job market and this overall recovery, which will, at the very least, be unlike anything else the country has experienced. Indeed, it has bounced back from recessions, tech bubbles, a 9/11 downturn, wars, and more. But it hasn’t seen anything quite like this — a pandemic-fueled economic crisis that wiped out millions of jobs, followed by, and accompanied by, federal stimulus on an unprecedented level.

Mark Melnik

Mark Melnik

“Just because we hear, ‘get back in the water, everybody,’ it doesn’t necessarily mean that folks will. I think there’s reason to be bullish about the Massachusetts economy in the second half of 2021 and the early part of 2022 because of the pent-up demand. But so many of these issues are going directly to the comfort level that people are going to have psychologically.”

“I’m a little less cautiously optimistic than some, but I am pretty optimistic that people are just to their wit’s end with being isolated; they really want to get out, do things, and buy things,” said Bob Nakosteen, professor of Economics at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. “They just want to live a normal life again.”

Mark Melnik, director of Economic and Public Policy Research at the UMass Donahue Institute, concurred, but offered some caveats.

“There’s a psychological element to the economy,” he told BusinessWest. “Just because we hear, ‘get back in the water, everybody,’ it doesn’t necessarily mean that folks will. I think there’s reason to be bullish about the Massachusetts economy in the second half of 2021 and the early part of 2022 because of the pent-up demand. But so many of these issues are going directly to the comfort level that people are going to have psychologically.”

 

History Lessons

As they have many times over the past year, experts pointed to Worlds War II as the only recent point in history that can in any way compare with the ongoing pandemic, and noted that the comparisons hold when it comes to what happened when it was all over.

“During the war, people couldn’t buy a car, and there was a great deal of rationing,” said Nokosteen, adding that, as a result, people were saving. And while there was a lull right after the war ended, during which some feared the country would actually sink back into the Great Depression that officially ended with the war, people soon started spending — big time.

“Everyone wanted to spend money,” he told BusinessWest. “And they had some money — people started cashing in the war bonds they bought, and soldiers came home to the G.I. Bill. There were a lot of things that spurred the economy on, and it came back quickly after that initial slump.”

Experts are predicting something along those lines for 2021 and 2022, but there are a number of variables that could determine the ultimate shape of this recovery.

“In many ways, this recession has been the most unequal we’ve ever seen. And it has really exacerbated existing social inequalities, both in Massachusetts and nationally. People who were vulnerable to begin with are just made more vulnerable.”

“Looking at what’s taken place after the real substantial decrease in the first half of 2020, which was historic in terms of just how fast the economy contracted, and with the third round of stimulus hitting people’s bank accounts, we seem to have avoided some of the worst-case scenarios, which would have been a U-shaped recession, where we dragged along the bottom for a long time before we took off, or a very sharp, V-shaped recovery, which also would have been bad because of worries about inflation,” said Karl Petrik, a professor of Economics at Western New England University. “We managed to have missed both of those, and I’ve almost come to the opinion that we have a check-mark-like recovery.”

Elaborating, he said the country did see a recovery starting in the second half of 2020, and the second economic-stimulus package in January helped continue that momentum. The third stimulus package, coupled with pent-up demand and the ability to do things one couldn’t do in 2020 (spring break in Miami was one good example), should enable the economy to keep chugging, he went on, with the rosiest of forecasts calling for 6.5% growth, with the least rosy being around 4%.

“Both of which would be very good,” he told BusinessWest, adding that the expectation is that there will be a return to the ‘trend’ growth rate, which, after the Great Recession, was about 2.5%.

“One of the worries when you’re coming out of recession is that you know you’re going to go back to your trend growth rate — that’s why it’s the trend,” he explained. “You just don’t want to go back too soon because it just prolongs the pain in terms of the economy having the ability to recover; that’s what we saw after the Great Recession. We never saw the real takeoff, just a slow, steady, gradual growth rate up to 2019.”

Such fears probably fueled anxiety about going too small with recovery packages, Petrick noted, adding that he believes the $1.9 trillion bill that ultimately passed is certainly big enough.

Karl Petrick

Karl Petrick

“One of the worries when you’re coming out of recession is that you know you’re going to go back to your trend growth rate — that’s why it’s the trend. You just don’t want to go back too soon.”

But questions abound about how this recovery will play out and who will benefit most. With that, Melnik talked about the growing sentiment that the recovery has been, and will continue to be, K-shaped in nature, with lines going both up and down, depending on which income bracket you’re in.

“We’ve definitely seen a bifurcation in terms of educational attainment in industry, wages, and who’s been able to work and who’s been more likely to be unemployed, and long-term unemployed,” he explained. “Those people who tend to have limited educational attainment who were working in face-to-face industries, service-type sectors, including food service, restaurants, and hospitality, and other services like barber shops, dry cleaners, nail salons, and auto-repair places … those kinds of industries have been hurt dramatically, and they really haven’t recovered many of the lost jobs.

“In many ways, this recession has been the most unequal we’ve ever seen,” he went on. “And it has really exacerbated existing social inequalities, both in Massachusetts and nationally. People who were vulnerable to begin with are just made more vulnerable.”

Looking ahead and to what course the recovery will take, Nakosteen and others said so much depends on how comfortable people will be to go back to what life was like pre-pandemic, if you will.

“How are people going to feel going out in public when the public isn’t wearing masks?” he asked, adding quickly that he doesn’t know the answer. But whatever that answer is, it will go a long way toward determining how quickly and how profoundly the country, and this region, are able to rebound.

“It isn’t just vaccinations and dealing with these new variants,” he went on. “A lot of what will determine if there’s pent-up demand and how it’s released is truly behavioral. There’s no economic reason for there not to be a sharp rebound; I think it’s behavioral, it’s epidemiological, it’s medical.”

 

What’s in Store?

As for spending … area retailers are obviously looking for the lid to come off, although in some cases, the lid wasn’t on very hard to begin with.

Dave DiRico, owner of the golf shop in West Springfield that bears his name, said that, after a very quiet early spring last year, there was a surge in spending on golf equipment and apparel as many people picked up the game, or picked it up again, because it was one of the few things people could actually do.

It’s early in the new year, but that trend is continuing, he told BusinessWest, adding that the store has been packed with players loading up for the coming year.

“We’ve been really, really busy, even for this time of year,” he said. “A lot of people have money to spend, and … they’re spending it. We’re seeing a lot of people coming in telling us they’re spending their stimulus money, and that’s a good thing. That’s what it’s for, when you get right down to it — stimulating the economy.”

Peter Wirth, co-owner of Mercedes-Benz of Springfield, expressed similar sentiments, noting that, after sales ground to a halt right after the lockdown of last March, they picked back up as stimulus checks came in, carmakers started offering almost unprecedented incentives, and consumer confidence picked up.

Granted, lack of inventory, fueled by supply-chain issues, slowed the pace of progress somewhat, but many consumers simply ordered vehicles and waited — sometimes for months — for them to arrive at the dealership.

“The main things for us is consumer confidence,” he noted. “If the consumer has confidence in the economy as a whole and in their own situation, where they don’t feel like they’re going to lose their job next week, that’s when they’re going to spend money. And that affects us just like it impacts any other business. And I think more and more consumers feel we’re going to come out of the woods on this year, this summer, whenever it is.”

The picture is improving when it comes to inventory issues, said Wirth, who expects the numbers of new cars on the lot to continue rising through the year. Meanwhile, manufacturers are keeping their foot on the accelerator when it comes to incentives. Overall, he expects 2021 to be another solid year — one comparable to those just before the pandemic in terms of overall sales and service volume.

“We feel pretty about this year,” he said. “One news story can certainly change that, but the outlook for now is good, and that line about a rising tide lifting all boats is true, and we hope that this rising tide will help those businesses in hospitality and other sectors that have suffered so much.”

One sector certainly looking for a different kind of 2021 is the clothing industry, specifically businesses focused on dress clothes. Many workers simply didn’t have to buy any in 2020, as they working at home or still toiling in the office, often with more casual dress codes to match those of people working from their kitchen table.

“As a business owner, 2020 was my most challenging year, bar none; I was faced with more struggles and complications and challenges and problems to solve and situations to fix than I’ve ever faced before,” said William Brideau, owner of Jackson Connor, located in Thornes Market in Northampton, adding that the store has managed to keep going through persistence — and a PPP grant. But the challenges have continued into 2021.

Indeed, the first quarter of this year has in many ways been his most difficult, he said, due to a gap between infusions of stimulus, when it became more difficult to pay the bills. As more support comes in, he’s feeling optimistic about 2021, but he needs people to start investing in new threads — and not just shirts that can be seen during Zoom meetings.

William Brideau believes many people are ready to get dressed up

William Brideau believes many people are ready to get dressed up, which bodes well for his store, Jackson & Connor, which suffered through a rough 2020.

“A lot of people aren’t going for pants or more formal things below the waist,” he noted. “A lot of shirts, sweaters, and sport coats — and things have certainly veered more casual.”

But he has observed a pendulum swing of sorts, with more customers coming in recently looking for suits and ties.

“One of our really good customers came in recently and said, ‘I’ve had it — I’ve been in sweatpants for months, and I’m sick of it. I need a sportcoat, I need a shirt and tie, I need trousers. I want to look like I used to look; I miss that,’” said Brideau, adding that he believes many more people harbor similar sentiments.

 

Bottom Line

Over the past 12 months, people have come to miss a lot of the things they once enjoyed. The extent to which they’ve ‘had it’ with these matters — everything from the clothes on their back to the restaurants they haven’t been frequenting — will ultimately determine not just the composite shape of the recovery, but how, and for whom, things bounce back.

As Melnik noted, just because the ‘go back in the water’ advisories are out doesn’t mean people will heed them. And if they don’t, more of that $4 trillion will stay in bank accounts. And that might ultimately push back the date when we can really say the pandemic is behind us.

 

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

Construction Special Coverage

Building Momentum

The past year has been an unusual time for the construction industry — one marked by project postponements, soaring prices for materials, and the establishment of strict COVID safety protocols on job sites. But for most builders, it wasn’t a devastating year, and, in many cases, it led to a surprisingly promising 2021. After all, the need for projects to be completed hasn’t gone away, and the backlog is actually creating a surplus of projects to bid on. The aforementioned challenges still remain, contractors say, but the work rolls on.

Laurie and John Raymaakers

Laurie and John Raymaakers say there’s plenty of infrastructure work available — and that trend should continue in the coming years.

 

By Mark Morris

 

For Dan Bradbury, 2020 was “a year of pivoting and finding new ways to get the job done.”

As director of sales and marketing for Associated Builders, Bradbury saw a slowdown at this time last year as several projects that were scheduled to break ground were instead postponed indefinitely.

By including construction as an essential industry, Gov. Charlie Baker allowed job sites to stay open and keep workers employed while following pandemic protocols. While Bradbury appreciated the ability to keep projects moving, other slowdowns were out of his control.

“There are a lot of hurdles to get over in a large industrial or commercial project, and COVID hit the brakes on all of them,” he said, noting in particular the new challenges surrounding what in the past had been routine business with municipal governments.

“We already had some projects scheduled to start this spring, but, more importantly, we’re starting to fill our pipeline again with projects that will take us well into the fall of this year and potentially into 2022 as well.”

“Because municipalities had to move to fully remote meetings, they occurred less often, which made it difficult to get building permits, zoning-board approvals, and the other essential documents we need to start and finish a building project,” Bradbury said, adding that Associated has projects in the works in a number of different sectors. One example is a 30,000-square-foot building in Bloomfield, Conn., where a local chemical company will occupy part of the building and lease the remaining space.

His company’s experience isn’t unique. BusinessWest spoke with several area construction managers to discuss how their industry looks this spring compared to a year ago, when COVID-19 suddenly changed the world — and the main takeaway is one of optimism and promise.

A significant part of Houle Construction’s business involves interior renovations for medical facilities. Company President Tim Pelletier noted that, when COVID first struck, business came to a complete halt as medical professionals were dealing with rapidly increasing numbers of COVID patients. One year later, he’s optimistic about the increase in construction activity.

“It’s absolutely busier than last year,” he said. “We’re seeing more projects taking shape, especially with our hospital clients.” In the meantime, Pelletier has picked up renovation projects at organizations that offer hall rentals, such as the Masonic Temple in East Longmeadow.

“The temple has not been able to host gatherings for the past year, so they are using the downtime to make renovations for when they can open again,” Pelletier said, adding that it’s a way to take advantage of what everyone has gone through and find a positive side.

An aerial view of Worcester South Community High School

An aerial view of Worcester South Community High School, one of the many recent school projects undertaken by Fontaine Brothers.

Bradbury credits pent-up demand for the increase in projects his company has been taking on this year.

“As soon as the calendar page turned to 2021, our phones started ringing,” he said. “We already had some projects scheduled to start this spring, but, more importantly, we’re starting to fill our pipeline again with projects that will take us well into the fall of this year and potentially into 2022 as well.”

Dave Fontaine Jr., vice president of Fontaine Brothers, said his company has been fortunate to have several projects ongoing since before the pandemic hit. Many of his largest projects involve building schools, for which budgets are approved long before breaking ground, so funding for them was not affected by COVID concerns. Since the pandemic hit, Fontaine said some towns have delayed public funding approvals, but not as many as he had anticipated.

“In the last six to eight months, we’ve picked up more than $400 million in new work,” he noted. “Some of these projects are in pre-construction now and will start this summer.”

Among the projects scheduled to begin in June are the $75 million DeBerry-Homer School in Springfield and the $240 million Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester.

Infrastructure construction also experienced steady business last year. J.L. Raymaakers and Sons Construction specializes in installing water and sewer lines as well as site excavation for municipalities, airports, and private companies. After a busy 2019, co-owner John Raymaakers said 2020 was nearly a record year for his company, and he’s on pace to fill up the project list for 2021.

Associated Builders project in Bloomfield, Conn

In this Associated Builders project in Bloomfield, Conn., a local chemical company will occupy part of the building and lease the remaining space.

“It’s amazing the amount of infrastructure work that is out there for bid,” Raymaakers said, explaining that his company subscribes to a register that lists all the new public and private projects available for bid. Since the middle of last year, he has seen no slowdown in the volume of bidding opportunities. “Looking only at our category of construction, there were five to six new projects announced just last week.”

Raymaakers predicted bridge construction, another area of expertise for his company, will also see increased activity.

“In the next few years, I think we are going to see a lot of work on replacing aging bridges in New England,” he said, adding that this should happen even without a federal government infrastructure bill, citing two recent bridge-replacement projects his crews are working on in Stockbridge and Pittsfield. Still, he’s hopeful that some kind of infrastructure legislation passes, saying it would be “a huge boost to us and others in our industry.”

 

Help Wanted

While business activity is brisk for everyone BusinessWest spoke with, they’ve all faced recent challenges; some are unique to doing business in the COVID environment, and others are chronic problems made worse by the virus. The issue of having enough workers was a challenge on both fronts.

“We’ve definitely lost people from the workforce due to COVID concerns,” Fontaine said. “They might be taking care of a family member, or they might be in a group that has underlying health concerns.”

He added that managing COVID on the job site is also difficult. “Anytime someone tests positive for COVID, that individual and anyone in close contact with them has to go home and quarantine for the time period,” he explained. “That can result in a lot of labor disruption on a daily basis.”

COVID also exacerbated the long-running problem of fewer workers in skilled-trade and general-labor jobs. Raymaakers said finding help in construction is a constant challenge. Co-owner Laurie Raymaakers pointed out that heavy-equipment operators and construction laborers can make a good living.

“There’s a misconception that laborers aren’t paid well,” she said. “The pay and benefits at our company are pretty good; the reality is there are just fewer people who want to do this type of work.”

She added that it’s also misleading to suggest laborers are not skilled, pointing out that her company’s laborers are highly skilled at making sure pipes are situated properly and secured to withstand years of service.

“Our workers also put together fire hydrants, which require about 50 bolts that have to be tightened in a certain pattern. Hydrants are under constant water pressure, so if it’s not built correctly, parts of the hydrant will go flying in the air.”

As older craftsmen such as plumbers and electricians continue to retire, their ranks are not being filled by enough younger workers. With projects increasing, Bradbury said an already-competitive labor market gets squeezed even further.

Tim Pelletier, president of Houle Constrution

Tim Pelletier, president of Houle Constrution, at the Masonic Temple in East Longmeadow.

“Between the demand for commercial/industrial as well as residential, everyone in the trades is busy, and they can’t find enough workers,” Bradbury said. “On top of that, solar companies are hiring all the electricians they can find at a time when electricians were already in short supply.”

The biggest hurdle to doing business right now, according to Bradbury, involves managing enormous price increases for materials, in some cases rising by more than 100% compared to this time last year.

“Over a period of months, we’ve seen multiple price increases in steel and lumber products,” he said. “Those two create a trickle up that affects prices for every other building material.”

Bradbury noted that steel manufacturing has been affected by labor outages due to COVID, leading to product-supply shortages. He also pointed to increased demand for lumber, especially on the residential side, where housing starts are booming. In addition, his company and many others receive a great deal of lumber from Canada, where the U.S. still has tariffs in place on lumber.

Bradbury said COVID issues are not affecting project schedules because his firm will not start a job until it has a guarantee that materials are available. “We are also adding cost protections in our contracts as a way to guard against the constant increases in materials.”

It’s too early to determine what immediate impact the pandemic will have on building design, but Bradbury said clients from current and future projects have begun asking about air handling and filtration.

“For sure, air handling and using UV light to sanitize a space are areas where people have been putting more focus,” he said. “I think these requests will continue as there is an increased emphasis on clean air and other ways to keep facilities sanitized.”

At Worcester South Community High School, workers installed air-handling units that use bipolar ionization, or, as Fontaine described it, a system that cleans the air and removes many of the germs and bacteria from the building.

“The motivation to install this system was driven by COVID, but there are other benefits, too,” he said. “Systems like this provide a better environment for people with asthma and other health concerns.”

 

Spring of Hope

The arrival of spring and increased numbers of people receiving COVID vaccines gives all the construction managers we spoke to a sense of optimism about life and getting their projects done.

At press time, asphalt plants in the area had begun to open. Because the plants close for the winter, municipalities will not allow road construction because there is no access to repave the roads. So the plant openings are great news for companies like Raymaakers, which plans its water- and sewer-line projects around those openings.

Other managers look forward to a time when they do not have to socially distance their crews and wear masks all day.

“Masks are another nuisance to deal with,” Pelletier said. “If we can start to get distancing and masks behind us, it will speed things up on the job site.”

As part of planning for future business, Bradbury has begun to ask some fundamental questions about what lies beyond the horizon. “Where is the growth potential going to be as we come out of COVID, and which industries will still want to build and have the money to build?”

As he considers the types of industries that are prevalent in Western Mass. and Northern Conn., such as aerospace and manufacturing, he wonders if government spending will still drive those industries. He has also given some thought to the insurance industry.

“Typically, there has been a huge demand for office space for the insurance industry, and how they address that moving forward is a big question mark coming out of COVID.”

As the insurance industry reconsiders its needs, Bradbury added, there has been a sharp decline in demand for all office space. “We are definitely not building more office space anytime soon.”

But his and other firms are building — and that’s good news after a year of uncertainty and a pandemic that hasn’t yet gone away.

Special Coverage Tourism & Hospitality

Get Back Here

It’s called ‘revenge spending,’ or ‘vacation retaliation’ — the idea that people who were unable able to spend money on travel last year will go all-out this year. Surveys say it’s a palpable sentiment among Americans right now; the question is whether they will actually follow through on those plans, and how safe they’ll feel doing so. When they’re ready, area tourism and hospitality leaders say, Western Mass. will be an ideal destination, boasting the variety of indoor and outdoor experiences and affordability that travelers seek — an ideal answer to all that pent-up demand.

Gillian Amaral (left) and Stacey Warren

Gillian Amaral (left) and Stacey Warren, co-founders of Three Chics Hospitality.

Mary Kay Wydra learned a couple new phrases over the past few months.

“The buzz term is ‘revenge spending,’” the president of the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau (GSCVB) said. “That is, ‘I’ll spend more on things I was denied because of COVID.’ Things like in-person entertainment, eating at restaurants next to people, and travel.”

The other buzzword making its way around the tourism industry is ‘vacation retaliation,’ and it means roughly the same thing.

She likes those phrases — or, more accurately, what those sentiments portend. “That bodes well for us as a region,” she told BusinessWest. “We are affordable and easily accessible — a destination with a lot to offer.”

Indeed, while COVID-19 has been far from a positive for the region, it did open many people’s eyes to what Western Mass. has to offer, particularly those who migrated here to escape New York City or Boston at the height of the pandemic. That’s evident in the surging real-estate market, but also in the optimism many in the tourism and hospitality sector are beginning to feel about what lies ahead.

It can be detected in Hampden County’s hotel occupancy, which was 39% in January — down from the 49% recorded a year earlier, but significantly higher than the statewide figure of 29%, and on par with national numbers.

“A great number of people are planning to travel, and Western Mass. is well-positioned to get summer travelers. We have that combination of indoor and outdoor attractions and all this green space for recreation.”

It’s also impacting surveys, like a recent ‘sentiment study’ conducted by American Express that found that 84% of Americans have travel plans in the next six months, the highest figure since the earliest days of the pandemic. And 69% of those intend to take advantage of ‘second-city’ destinations, Wydra noted — in other words, those outside of big cities and top tourist spots.

Places, she said, like Western Mass.

“A great number of people are planning to travel, and Western Mass. is well-positioned to get summer travelers,” she added. “We have that combination of indoor and outdoor attractions and all this green space for recreation.”

One more statistic from the survey: 61% of travelers intend to spend more than normal because they couldn’t go anywhere last year.

That’s music to the ears of Stacey Warren and Gillian Amaral, two veterans of the hospitality industry who recently launched their own enterprise, Three Chics Hospitality, which seeks to market its clients to group-tour operators.

“Our clients are group-friendly restaurants and attractions interested in having motorcoach groups come to their establishments or attractions; we offer consulting and marketing for them,” said Warren, who has worked in the hotel field for 17 years.

She called such connections “vital” to the region. “Every single bus that comes in may need 20 or 25 overnight rooms, then you have 20 to 25 dinners at different restaurants, attraction tickets … one bus is really a big impact on the economy.”

Amaral agreed. “Based on multiple tours we can bring in, the economic impact to the region will be huge,” she said. “And just based on conversations I’ve had with people, they’re ready to travel, they’re ready to get out, but they’re also ready to have someone else do that for them. People are like, ‘I just want to go on a tour; tell me where to go, make it easy for me, and take me there.’ That’s our business model. It just makes sense to be ready when the environment is ready for us.”

That moment isn’t far away, Warren added. “People are ready, and we want to be here to help the restaurants and attractions capture that business while they’re here.”

Jonathan Butler, president and CEO of 1Berkshire, noted in a message to that organization’s members last week that sentiment around travel is starting to turn in a way that promises to benefit Western Mass.

“A year ago at this time, we were headed into two or three months of lockdown where nearly all economic activity ceased. A year later, we’re mostly headed in the other direction,” he said. “Vaccinations are finally beginning to add up, public-health metrics have improved, and statewide capacity and operating restrictions continue to be eased on an almost-weekly basis. Out-of-state travelers from neighboring states are now only subject to travel advisories, and within the next couple weeks, even those should continue to be relaxed.”

Sensing a changing tide, Butler noted, organizations like Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow (see story on page 39) both recently announced a return to live performances for the upcoming season, and will be joined by other institutions like Barrington Stage Co., Berkshire Theatre Group, and Shakespeare and Co. in bringing performing arts — and, in turn, visitors — back to the region.

“When you combine this exciting news with the continued momentum of the outdoor recreation economy, and our other major cultural properties operating closer to full capacity — now having a year under their belt in learning how to best operate during this pandemic — 2021 starts to feel far more exciting than a year ago.”

 

Taking the Long View

As director of Sales for Hampton Inn Chicopee/Springfield, as well as president of Hampton Inns of New England, Warren has her finger on the pulse of hospitality in the region, as does Amaral, an assistant professor of Management at Bay Path University who also runs Events by Gillian LLC, specializing in event management and consulting, and whose past event experience includes stints at the Eastern States Exposition, MassMutual Financial Group, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The third ‘chic’ in their new enterprise’s name is, well, hospitality itself, represented by the image of a pineapple. And they feel like Western Mass. has become more of a household name in tourism and hospitality — with the potential for an even broader reach.

Mary Kay Wydra says Western Mass. is well-positioned

Mary Kay Wydra says Western Mass. is well-positioned to raise its profile in the tourism world.

“A lot of the tour operators that have been bringing groups here would just use this as a stopover because they’re from all over the country, and a lot of them just think of Boston and the Cape,” Warren said. “But they’re starting to think of Western Mass., too, and wanting to do things to add on, to offer new and fun ideas for their clients and keep them coming back.

“There are so many great things they can do right here,” she went on. “We can keep them here for a couple of days and reap the rewards, and have their clients leave here happy and wanting to come back.”

Amaral said the two of them have talked about building a business around this concept for years, and felt like this was the right time — even during a pandemic.

“We felt like there was a need. People would come to the Massachusetts area and always go straight to Boston, but what about us here in Western Mass.?” she asked. “Fast-forward to a pandemic we’re almost out of, and we thought, this is the time for us to be positioned for the influx of travel that will come with group tours.”

With their deep knowledge of the region’s tourism industry, she added, they’re able to craft itineraries tour operators can sell to clients, and it’s not too soon to start making those connections, even when the economy isn’t fully opened up.

“Every single bus that comes in may need 20 or 25 overnight rooms, then you have 20 to 25 dinners at different restaurants, attraction tickets … one bus is really a big impact on the economy.”

“Everyone is poised and ready at this point to just go — let’s hit the switch and move forward,” Amaral said. “That’s why now is the time to launch, versus in July, when things are opening up and people are feeling comfortable. At that point, you’re behind.”

Wydra agreed, noting that statistic about 84% of Americans with travel plans in the near future. “People are creating destination wish lists, and simply having a future trip planned makes people happy. We’re optimistic people are going to visit this year. We pushed pause on marketing last year, but hope to start spending again.”

She said the meeting and convention business will be slower to return, simply because large events are often planned years in advance, and an organization that cancels an event here may not be able to return for a few years. Last year, 164 groups canceled or postponed events in the region, with an estimated economic impact of $97 million going unrealized. However, about half those who canceled plan to come back in a future year, she added.

In the meantime, the GSCVB is engaging in some creative sales pitches for the region by planning virtual site visits at destinations like the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, MGM Springfield, and the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“We’re showcasing the attractions because these attractions set us apart,” she said, adding that the bureau is equally intent on highlighting the many different meeting spaces available. “We want to make sure Western Mass., as a brand, stays out there in front of meeting planners.”

Lindsey Schmid, vice president of Tourism & Marketing for 1Berkshire, recently told Berkshire Magazine about a multi-pronged marketing approach, promoting all there is to do virtually in the Berkshires, as well as continuing to feed travelers ideas and imagery that will inspire them to plan a Berkshire getaway now and more extensive travel later. Part of that message is the outdoor recreation opportunities that helped the region’s tourism sector stay afloat last summer.

It’s a widely understood selling point; U.S. News & World Report’s recent “Best States” feature ranked Massachusetts the ninth-best state in which to live, based on eight factors ranging from healthcare and education to public safely. In the category of natural environment, the Commonwealth ranked fourth.

“Our region leans on the combination of natural beauty and cultural offerings that serve as anchors to drive economic activity; right now, those anchors are preparing for big things in the summer of 2021,” Butler noted.

He added that “the pandemic has tempted us all to lean on pessimism when thinking about the future, but the progressing conditions around us truly call for more cautious optimism. We shouldn’t be so naïve as to think that the summer of 2021 will mark a return to pre-pandemic activity, but we should absolutely be preparing ourselves for a far more robust season than a year ago.”

 

Up in the Air

Certainly, optimism is in the air, although it’s still mixed with some uncertainty. Gathering limits are still a thing, most live performances remain firmly lodged in the future, and some attractions have given no definitive answers on when they’ll open, and to what extent.

For instance, Six Flags New England held a large hiring event last month to fill 3,000 seasonal positions, but the company has issued no definite opening date yet — though it is expected to decide soon, looking to state guidance and the realities of its own business model.

It will do so with heavily publicized safety protocols, like every other tourist destination — an element of the sector Wydra is particularly proud of.

“We’re climbing out of this with precautions still in place,” she said. “I’m very proud of our attractions, with all the protocols put in place, the cleaning and everything else they’re doing to keep visitors safe. You’ll see a lot of that continue.”

Warren said visitors will want to feel safe before the sector really opens up. “There are still some people who are nervous, but we’re able to show them what we can do — what plans the restaurants and attractions have in place to keep them safe when they come — and that’s making them feel very comfortable and ready to visit.”

Amaral cited research showing that people are more comfortable and apt to travel when adequate protocols are in place.

“Being knowledgeable about what to expect ahead of time puts them at ease,” she added. “And, of course, so many people being vaccinated is helping as well. The apprehension, even from six months ago, is much different than it is now. People are just ready to go — with caution, but nonetheless, they’re saying, ‘let’s go.’”

Wydra agreed. “There’s definitely some optimism as we move forward with the vaccines. We’re always hearing about new ones being introduced, and the government keeps making people eligible for it — that’s great news.”

Butler tempered that optimism with the other side of pandemic reality — which is, we’re not out of it yet, and people shouldn’t just abandon the common-sense behaviors that keep case counts down.

“Any increase in business needs to be done with public health and safety as the foremost consideration,” he said. “But all of the larger-picture conditions that have fueled growing visitor and economic activity throughout the past two decades are aligning well.”

Warren has been in the hospitality field long enough to ride a few economic cycles, but she’s never witnessed anything like last year — “and I never want to see it again,” she said. “I’ve never had to cancel so many groups and lose literally millions of dollars in revenue. So I’m looking forward to coming back strong this year and help everyone to bounce back.”

She’s heard from tour operators that they do, indeed, want to come back. But they’ll be returning to a changed tourist economy, and change isn’t always a bad thing, Amaral said.

“This has been a wake-up call to most businesses to think differently, which is exciting to me. Let’s not wait for a pandemic or tragedy to happen to think about a different way to do business or attract a target market or a different product line. If there’s anything we can take from this, it’s don’t get into the same rut. Think about different ways to improve your business.”

Amid the changes, of course, some normalcy is more than welcome.

“Who would have thought, a year ago, that we couldn’t go into a bar and have a drink?” Wydra said. “I want to meet friends after work for drinks. And I’m excited, because I think we’ve got some positive stuff happening in the future.”

 

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Modern Office Special Coverage

Weathering the Storm

Ned Barowsky

Ned Barowsky says flexible leases, as offered in the co-working world, will be more in demand in the future, and rigid, long-term leases less so.

Since launching Click Workspace a decade ago, Mary Yun has seen nothing but growth in one of the region’s first co-working ventures.

That growth led her to abandon her original 1,000-square-foot facility in 2015 and develop a 9,000-square-foot building in downtown Northampton, which, at its peak prior to the pandemic, hosted 80 members and a host of community arts and cultural events.

“That was a good number for us, where we could operate with a full-time member advocate and myself as executive director overseeing all the operations and also working on events,” she said. “We’re mission-driven, bringing in the community through art shows and music; that was my wheelhouse.”

With 80 members, all the private offices and dedicated desks were filled, as was the shared open space, for the most part, while a meeting room holding 24 people was regularly put to use by the community. In short, Click was … well, clicking.

And then COVID-19 arrived.

“We’re finding, now that the vaccine is being distributed and the sun is shining, so to speak, we’re getting a surge of new interest recently as people are starting to feel more comfortable coming back into the world. People are sick of working from home.”

“When the closures happened, we closed down like all businesses, and we still had members supporting us, paying their monthly dues for a while. We had members who were now working remotely from home,” Yun said.

But the erosion began almost immediately.

“We had always maintained a good number of members who had private offices that were being funded by their companies. At their businesses, they were the remote workers,” she went on. “But, because everything was now remote, that benefit went away for a lot of our members, so we lost a handful.”

When Click reopened at the end of May, around 55 members were still supporting the space, paying their dues, even though not everyone was coming in regularly — usually, no more than a dozen at a time through last summer. A few members actually joined during the pandemic — some with their career situations in flux, others who needed a place to work because their homes were suddenly too crowded by partners and kids working and learning remotely.

Mary Yun expects membership to rise to its former high levels

Mary Yun expects membership to rise to its former high levels after the pandemic fades, but it may be a gradual process.

But it wasn’t enough. “Right now, we’re down to less than 30 members, which is a huge drop in revenue,” Yun said. “Right now, our membership is lower than when we first moved into this building almost six years ago.”

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

The pandemic has impacted the model in the short term, but the people operating area co-working spaces believe it’s a model with plenty of potential in the long term, and perhaps even more than before COVID-19.

“Like most businesses, we definitely lost some business,” said Jeff Sauser, who co-owns Greenspace CoWork in downtown Greenfield with Jeremy Goldsher. “No one knew what to expect, and we managed to be as flexible as possible with members; those relationships are important to us. We gave every opportunity to pause membership and make changes.

“We lost a chunk of memberships — not everybody; some stayed on, even though they weren’t coming as often — but we were able to stay afloat and survive,” he went on. “We’re finding, now that the vaccine is being distributed and the sun is shining, so to speak, we’re getting a surge of new interest recently as people are starting to feel more comfortable coming back into the world. People are sick of working from home.”

As a consultant for a Boston-based company that used to have four offices there and now maintains just one, Sauser sees first-hand the way workplaces are evolving — and in a way that may benefit co-working facilities.

“People don’t come into work every day anymore. We expect more people will have more flexible working arrangements with their employees.”

Yun agreed, noting that many of Click’s members left because their kids were learning at home — which is sure to be a temporary situation; in fact, many schools have already invited students back to campus. She believes an increase in membership at Click is inevitable, though it may take some time.

“People are saying, ‘I’m sick of living in the city and running the rat race. I can live where the living is good but keep my big-city job.’ I feel co-working spaces are an early indicator of trends that will benefit towns, especially towns with great, walkable downtowns.”

“I think what’s going to happen is, when kids go back to school in the fall full-time, parents will be like, ‘maybe I can make it work at home,’ and continue to work at home, and in a couple months, they’ll start to get lonely — professionally lonely — and start to come back, which is why they came here in the first place,” she told BusinessWest. “Really, I’m hopeful and optimistic.”

Stroke of Inspiration

Ned Barowsky was certainly optimistic when he launched a franchise of the national co-working company Venture X in Holyoke, right next to the Holyoke Mall.

He’s owned the retail and office complex at 98 Lower Westfield Road for 25 years, and faced a series of vacancies over the past couple of years the departures of Pier One Imports, Kaoud Oriental Rugs, and a series of mattress stores. For six months, two brokers assigned by a large, national real-estate firm had been trying to fill the vacancies, to no avail. That’s when Barowsky was inspired to by the co-working model.

“I had done a couple franchises in the past; I was familiar with franchising, so I started looking at co-working spaces,” he said. “I just knew that everything was being shut down, and when people come back out, they’re not going to go back to these five-year leases, 10-year leases. People aren’t going to do that anymore. They’re going to want flexible plans — ‘I want to be here for a month, three months, six months, a year, and with a smaller footprint.’”

When he started researching a few companies, he was “blown away” by Venture X, which tags itself “the future of workspace.”

“That’s our tagline, but it literally is the future of workspace. It’s flexible — you decide how many of each kind of office you want,” he said, noting that some franchisees opt to emphasize shared space, but his facility includes fewer shared stations and about 65 offices, in several sizes, to house any number of workers. “I wanted more offices, so that’s what I did — I put in more offices.”

Jeremy Goldsher (left) and Jeff Sauser

Jeremy Goldsher (left) and Jeff Sauser say robust co-working spaces can be economic drivers for communities.

Sauser sees the potential, too, in companies downsizing their space and offering more flexible arrangements to workers — partly because of what they learned during the pandemic, when they saw how productive employees could be while working remotely. And that has implications for entire communities.

“I think co-working spaces are very well-positioned to receive those people,” he said. “I’m an urban planner — I’ve been thinking about this stuff long before the pandemic hit. A lot of trends show that, if people can work more flexibly, and make decisions about where they live based on lifestyle and not where the jobs are, people can move where they want to.”

He pointed to surging real-estate sales in Western Mass. and in the suburbs outside large cities like Boston.

“People are saying, ‘I’m sick of living in the city and running the rat race. I can live where the living is good but keep my big-city job,’” Sauser said. “I feel co-working spaces are an early indicator of trends that will benefit towns, especially towns with great, walkable downtowns.”

A lot of towns in Western Mass. offer that already — Greenfield has a walkable downtown, with opportunities to work in a co-working space, so it can be more competitive attracting new residents,” he went on. “I think of it as economic development for communities, not just for businesses like ours.”

Several years ago, Sauser and Goldsher met at a Franklin County Community Development Corp. event and were soon talking about the co-work concept, which Goldsher had seen flourishing while living in New York City. They say members are attracted to co-working for a number of reasons, among them lower prices than traditional office rent, flexible leases, and shared resources ranging from a printer, projector, meeting space, and wi-fi to a kitchen with free tea and coffee.

The pandemic actually revealed new opportunities for co-working spaces, Sauser added, from remote workers who live in rural communities with poor broadband access to college students who needed the space when campuses were closed, to working parents who craved a break from their suddenly bustling house.

“And we were honored to see a lot of members choose to stick with us and extend their membership even when they weren’t using the physical space,” Goldsher added. “Before this, the concept of co-working was a novelty, but we brought an urban concept to a smaller community and showed the model does translate in a different way. Now a lot of other opportunities are presenting themselves.”

Bills, Bills, Bills

Yun had a broader vision as she grew Click — one centered around the arts as an economic driver, with gallery shows, music performances, literary events, and the like, to emphasize Northampton’s cultural heritage while exposing new faces to Click’s eclectic space. That aspect of the complex has been wiped out during the pandemic.

“It’s been a hardship for the people who have been coming in — there’s very little community left right now with so few coming in,” she said. “We’re eking by, but we’re going to make it. I think a lot of it is because we operate as a nonprofit, so we had reserves built up, and we’re dipping into those reserves now.”

PPP loans, a Massachusetts small-business grant, and rent reduction have helped, but the complex will eventually need to boost its membership back up.

“It doesn’t matter whether you have one person here or 50; you have all these fixed expenses,” Yun said. “There may be a little bit of give in the rent, but we have to pull in fiber-optic internet — that’s a huge cost for us, almost $900 a month. All the utilities are fixed. Last summer, I said to myself, we need to be able to sustain ourselves until the summer of 2022 because I felt like that was going to be when the recovery was in full swing for us.”

That timeline seems more accelerated now, but she feels like the return to normalcy will still be a gradual one. “Do all the former members come back? A lot have moved on, and co-working is such that people come and people go all the time.”

The pandemic saw an influx of residents from New York to Western Mass., but many of them have purchased large homes with home offices, so it’s unclear what effect that migration will have on co-working. “It seems daunting, but we’ve been open for over five years here now, and I feel like we’re here to stay. Who knew we’d have a pandemic?”

To counter that still-active pandemic, Click, like every other workspace, has launched a series of safety protocols, from requiring masks when moving about to regular sanitization to pumping in fresh air.

Air quality was a big concern for Barowsky at Venture X as well. “During COVID, I was very cognizant of air-filtration systems. I spent well over $100,000 on seven rooftop units,” he said, in addition to investments in touchless bathrooms, numerous hand-sanitizer stations, and a keyless entry system.

Greenspace takes safety seriously as well, Sauser said. “From a COVID safety standpoint, we follow all the state guidelines and have protocols in place — cleaning, masks, sanitizers.”

Goldsher added that the state’s rules early on made little sense, noting that Greenspace was not designated an essential business, but — unlike Click — stayed open throughout the pandemic anyway because one of the companies it houses was deemed essential, and had to continue using the space.

“While I think we proved that we are a very necessary asset in the community, there’s this strange dichotomy being open for essential business and not being considered an essential business ourselves.”

Here to Stay

But those who own co-working spaces in Western Mass. — other prominent centers include AmherstWorks, 734 Workspace in Longmeadow, and Cubit Coworks in Holyoke, to name just a few — say they are indeed an essential part of the 21st-century economy.

“I think the future of the workplace is very much up in the air. There’s no way to predict what the open concept will look like in five years time, but we have some good ideas,” Goldsher said.

Sauser agreed that the future of the workplace is in flux, but suggested that the office of the future might look much like co-work spaces of today, “where flexibility is the emphasis, in part because office managers and companies dedicate less space to individual employees when employees are not coming in every day.”

Yun added that companies have decisions to make about whether to extend their traditional leases or move toward more flexibility and smaller footprints. That, in turn, could drive the next surge of growth in co-working, and she welcomes more such facilities, because each new complex will raise awareness of the model and its benefits.

“We don’t know how all this will shake out,” she said. “But the more co-working spaces exist, the better.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Tourism & Hospitality

Big Steps Forward

The productions at Jacob’s Pillow

The productions at Jacob’s Pillow for the 2021 season will all be outdoors, many at the Inside/Out stage, seen here.

For Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, the nation’s largest and longest running dance festival, 2020 was a lost year in almost every respect.

That’s almost, and we’ll get to that silver lining, if it can be called that, shortly. First, all those losses.

Jacob’s Pillow lost an entire season of live performances and all the revenue that comes with it, forcing a 50% reduction in the budget, layoffs, and other cutbacks. It also lost some momentum when it comes to fundraising, especially for a much-needed renovation of its main stage, the Ted Shawn Theatre, or the ‘Shawn,’ as it’s known. Then, in November, the company lost its smaller, more intimate performance space, the Doris Duke Theatre, or the ‘Duke,’ to a fast-moving fire, the cause of which has still not been determined.

But from the ashes, figuratively but also quite literally, Jacob’s Pillow has plans to roar back in 2021, said Pam Tatge, executive and artistic director. It will be a different kind of year, one with performances in outdoor settings only and to limited audiences, but one in which the company plans to lay a solid foundation for its 90th birthday in 2022, and for the decades to come.

Indeed, ambitious plans are in place to modernize the Ted Shawn Theatre, add air conditioning and new ventilation, and enlarge and improve the stage. Meanwhile, plans are expected to emerge for a new Duke, one that will be conceptualized and designed with input gathered from audiences and artists alike.

“We’ve embarked on a research study to really understand what audiences and artists loved about the Doris Duke Theatre, what they want to retain, and also what artists need for works being made in the 21st century,” Tatge noted. “We’re building a space, hopefully, for the next 90 years.”

While doing that, Jacob’s Pillow will also put on a season of live performances, the pieces of which are still coming together. It will run from June 30 to Aug. 29 and, for logistical reasons and lingering restrictions on travel, feature mostly performers based within driving distance of the 220-acre campus.

Audiences will be smaller and spaced apart for safety reasons, severely limiting in-person attendance. Which brings us to what would be considered the one bright spot for 2020, a schedule of 38 performances from years past — with new pre- and post-performance talks — presented virtually and to huge, global audiences, a development that made it possible for people who could never before get to Becket to take in a performance at the ‘Pillow.’

“We realized an audience for our virtual festival that had thousands more people than we could ever accommodate on the Pillow campus,” Tatge explained. “And 80% of those people were new to us — they had not been on our list before, and that was a great revelation; people know of Jacob’s Pillow, but they haven’t been able to make their way here. So in terms of accessibility and reaching people of different economic means and physical abilities, this was an amazing way to have the magic and joy that we experience on campus at the Pillow shared far more widely.”

For the 2021 season, most performances will again have virtual access internationally, a step to broaden audiences that Tatge called a “a big experiment.”

“We’ll want to see if the audience engagement is as great — it’s summertime, and things are opening again, so we’re going to see,” she said. “But I know a virtual platform has been in Jacob’s Pillow’s mission delivery, and it will continue to be a way that we deliver our mission into the future.”

 

Staging a Comeback

Tatge was at her residence in Connecticut when she got the phone call early in the afternoon on Nov. 16, delivering the terrible news that the Duke was on fire. She raced north as fast as she could and arrived in Becket just as the last remaining portions of the wooden structure were being consumed by the flames.

The loss of the beloved theater that hosted smaller productions seemed to provide a surreal ending to a terrible year that was all too real, and all too painful.

Looking back on it, Tatge said the Pillow, like every other live performing-arts venue, was severely tested by all the pandemic bought with it.

“With the cancellation of the season, we lost all of our earned-income potential — 40% of our budget is ticket income,” she explained. “We had to lay off 35% of our staff. Ultimately, we ended the year OK because we received a PPP grant. Without that grant, we would not have made it through as successfully.”

For 2021, there will be a new, very tight budget, hopes for a second round of PPP, and some high fundraising goals, Tatge went on, adding that there are many unknowns and considerable challenges ahead even as the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the pandemic draws closer.

Ted Shawn Theatre

At right, the Ted Shawn Theatre, which will undergo an $8 million renovation this year. At left, the Doris Duke Theatre, which was gutted by fire in November. Input is being sought on a replacement, and an architect is likely to be chosen later this year.

“Because our performances are going to be shorter, we won’t have the earned-income potential to bridge the gap between expenses and revenues,” she explained. “So we really need a subsidy, and we really need our community’s support to invest in putting artists back to work — who must get back to work if our field is going to survive this — and bring audiences back together.”

Overall, though, there is considerable optimism moving forward, and Tatge said that, for her, it’s fueled by the tremendous response she’s seen from the community, a broad term she uses to describe constituencies ranging from performers to patrons who take in their work.

“What has been impressive to me is the range of people who have contributed to Jacob’s Pillow so far, from artists themselves, who don’t have much but want to share something with Jacob’s Pillow, to alumni, to our board members and our members,” she said. “Jacob’s Pillow members are a devoted bunch, and they have stepped up, and we’re going to need that to continue until we get to 2022.”

“Our first priority is to bring people back together safely, so we have rigorous protocols that are in place — for audiences, performers, and staff.”

Optimism also abounds concerning the 2021 season of performances, which, as Tatge noted, will take place outdoors — at the Inside/Out stage and other settings around the sprawling campus.

“Our first priority is to bring people back together safely, so we have rigorous protocols that are in place — for audiences, performers, and staff,” she explained, adding that these protocols are being developed in conjunction with — and will be shared by — other performing-arts institutions in the Berkshires, such as Barrington Stage, Tanglewood, and other venues.

This collaboration is in many ways unprecedented, but also quite necessary, she went on, if the the tourism-dependent Berkshires region is to battle back from an incredibly difficult 2020.

The schedule calls for all activities — performances, workshops, and pre-performance talks — to take place outdoors or under a tent, said Tatge, adding that, in addition to the Inside/Out stage, the Pillow boasts a number of other ‘natural stages’ around the campus that will enable visiting companies to stretch their collective imaginations.

“There are so many parts of our campus that we’re going to be inviting audiences to discover,” she told BusinessWest. “And artists are crafting works particularly for our site, and that’s exciting.”

These performances will also be filmed, as most have been over the years, and presented virtually — an opportunity, as she noted earlier, to greatly expand audiences.

While the shows will go on in 2021, the Pillow is also looking to make huge strides with efforts to modernize and renovate the Shawn, opened during the 1940s, and replace the Duke.

The former, an $8 million project, has been in the works for several years, she said, adding that the pandemic has only reinforced the need for air-conditioning and improved ventilation. And this simple reality helped convince the board of directors that, despite the difficult and uncertain times, the Pillow needs to push ahead with a capital campaign conceived to raise the remaining $2 million needed for the project.

Pam Tatge says the ‘Pillow’ has put a horrendous 2020 behind it, but stern challenges remain for this Berkshires institution.

“We quickly realized that the Ted Shawn Theatre will not be viable as a theater in a post-COVID world without a ventilation system and air conditioning,” Tatge said. “It’s not a viable space at present, and we made the decision to take the Shawn offline this summer so we could move ahead with the renovation, which actually began in January, with pre-planning.”

Ultimately, the plan is to have the renovated theater ready for that 90th-anniversary year in 2022.

As for the 30-year-old Duke, that research study she mentioned has been completed, with the next steps in the process being to research architects and ultimately select one, determine the full scope of the project, and pinpoint just how much money will have to be raised beyond what is covered by insurance.

 

The Next Act

Moving forward, Tatge is focused on 2021, obviously, and bouncing back in a big way from a dismal 2020.

But she’s also focused on the future — not just the 90th-anniversary celebrations that will dominate 2022, but the years and decades to come.

The Pillow is a National Historic Landmark and a tradition in Western Mass., and the ultimate mission for staff and board members is to make sure it can serve future generations.

The pandemic severely tested the mettle of this institution, in every conceivable manner. But it has been made stronger by that test and, hopefully, even more resilient.

In short, the Pillow is ready to take big steps forward in 2021 — on stage and in every way.

 

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

Construction

Firm Foundation

Mark Sullivan

Mark Sullivan says public work — his firm’s main niche — slowed down in 2020, but activity looks strong for the coming year.

Mark Sullivan wasn’t unlike countless other business owners, watching the COVID-19 story develop last February and March and wondering how his construction firm, D.A. Sullivan & Sons Inc., would fare.

While no one knew early on what the pandemic’s impact would be, the general consensus was “this isn’t going to go well at all,” he said. But the company, like all others, managed to keep moving forward, with office staff working from home and Zoom meetings a new fact of life.

“Ultimately, we were able to keep people working in whatever format worked best for the individual, and we’re thankful we didn’t have any layoffs in the field,” he went on. “We were able to employ everyone through 2020.”

What makes that notable is that this fourth-generation family business, which opened its doors in Northampton in 1897 and has been headquartered in that city ever since, relies heavily on public work, including some of the highest-profile municipal and collegiate projects in the region at any given time.

“Now it’s to the point where projects we built 30 or 40 years ago are being renovated or being torn down and replaced. It’s all cyclical.”

“We’ve always had a heavy mix of public work — probably half to 60% of what we do has been public work,” said Sullivan, who is the firm’s fifth president, while his brother, Dennis, is chief executive operator. “We certainly have private clients we do a lot of work for, and we look for that private work, but public work over the years has been the most consistent.”

When Gov. Charlie Baker shut down large swaths of the economy just over a year ago, “we were certainly fortunate we were deemed critical, or essential, and we were able to keep some projects going,” Sullivan recalled. “When COVID hit, we did lose some work; some projects were paused and some outright canceled as people tried to figure out what the pandemic was and what it meant in the near-term future.”

Some of the projects the firm completed in 2020 included a fitness center transformation at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, a new administration building at Harriman & West Airport in that city, a renovation of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority para-transit maintenance and storage facilities in Springfield, and the renovation of a mill building in Easthampton into apartments and office spaces.

“We rely on public work, and the state froze most public work after the first quarter. UMass did, too,” Sullivan said. “We had a backlog going into the year, and we finished up that work, but it was difficult getting new work toward the end of the year because everything had been frozen.”

renovation on Ferry Street in Easthampton

This mill renovation on Ferry Street in Easthampton features a mix of office space and apartments. (Photo by Leigh Chodos)

However, after the firm’s work volume in 2020 totaled about 20% from the year before, things are looking up. “What we’re seeing now is that, as the vaccine rolls out and people see the light at the end of the tunnel, those projects paused last year are coming back online.”

Considering that, he said, and the fact that new municipal projects are starting to emerge from the drawing board, “it looks to be a busy year.”

 

Plenty to Build On

Indeed, the projects currently underway — the firm typically manages 10 to 15 each year — speak to the breadth of the opportunities available in the municipal, academic, and other realms. They include:

• General-contracting services for the construction of the Newman Catholic Center at UMass Amherst, the UMass Fine Arts Center bridge renovation, a renovation and expansion of the Worcester Public Library, and the Chicopee City Hall renovation;

• Construction-management services for a renovation of Mount Holyoke College’s Gamble Auditorium and the construction of 38 cottage-style homes at Lathrop Community; and

• Owner’s project-management services for the renovation of the Westhampton Public Safety Complex and a renovation of the historic Grafton Public Library.

“It’s cyclical,” Sullivan said of public work. “You might be doing elementary schools for a decade, then find yourself doing middle schools after that. Now it’s to the point where projects we built 30 or 40 years ago are being renovated or being torn down and replaced. It’s all cyclical. We do a lot of work for the Five Colleges, UMass especially. It’s always varied, and it’s always interesting.”

The mill renovation in Easthampton was a fun challenge because of the condition of the building when the project began, he noted, while the Worcester library project is fun in other ways.

“Our partners got a kick out of the high-end millwork installation,” he said, noting details in the children’s room like a rocket ship and an eight-foot-tall book. “Most projects are budget-driven from a carpentry standpoint and may not get a millwork package that’s particularly interesting, so to speak. But every now and then, we get a library project or private-client work — we do a lot of private work for prep schools in the area — and those are projects carpenters can really sink their teeth into; they’re a lot of fun.”

Sullivan noted that construction management is becoming more the norm in the firm’s projects than straight general contracting. What hasn’t changed, however, is a reliance on cultivating relationships with municipalities, colleges, and other types of clients over time.

“It can be difficult to be a contractor of our size in the area we’re in and sustain longevity,” he said. “Every project is different, every client has a different process, and the relationships are unique, too; we value those relationships and rely on those relationships to keep work coming.”

That stability was in direct contrast to the upheaval of COVID-19, and how that affected the way workers were able to do their jobs.

“Initially, everyone was trying to figure it out,” he said. “There was no guidebook to follow; it was being established as we went along. That was true for everyone in our industry and in other industries deemed essential, and we were able to keep some projects moving forward in the field.

“Certainly, productivity took a hit, when we were sanitizing projects twice a day, taking temperatures, and keeping logs,” he went on, noting that, when a delivery person was found to have COVID, a whole job site shut down for a few days.

“In the big picture, we got through the whole year without too many issues,” he added. “It’s literally been a year since this thing hit; everyone has the protocols down pat.”

 

Getting to Work

Now that things seem to be looking up — both in the public-sector construction world and in general, with vaccines generating positive news on the COVID front — Sullivan is ready to tackle what he sees as pent-up demand.

“The need for work didn’t go away,” he told BusinessWest. “I think there’s a lot of liquidity in the market; last year, people held on to figure out a way through the pandemic, and now that they see an end in sight, things are starting to loosen up, and we’re very busy on the building side of things.”

As his family’s business has been for more than 120 years.

“We’ve been around a long time in Western Mass. We work roughly from Pittsfield to Worcester — that’s our zone — and there aren’t many mid-size contractors of our size left in Western Mass.,” he said, noting that the firm generates about $40 million in sales each year. “There are a few bigger firms and several smaller firms out there, but we’re happy with the size we are; it’s a good size. And we’re thankful just to be able to be working every day and be around as long as we have.”

 

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Modern Office

Flexible Thinking, Nimble Action

By Susan Robertson

To survive the pandemic, companies were forced to adapt very quickly to radically new circumstances. Even large organizations — where it’s typically difficult to shift directions quickly — managed to accomplish it. Leaders discovered that, when required, their organization could act much more quickly and nimbly than they normally do.

So, the obvious questions are: what was different? And how can you ‘hardwire’ this flexibility into your organization so it continues to be stronger in the future?

 

What Was Different?

All humans have a set of cognitive biases, which are mental shortcuts used for problem solving and decision making.

To be clear, cognitive biases are not individual or personal biases. They are a neuroscience phenomenon that all humans share. It’s also important to understand that they operate subconsciously; they affect your thinking in ways that you don’t realize.

You have two different thinking systems, commonly known as system 1 and system 2, sometimes referred to as thinking fast and thinking slow.

System 1 is the intuitive, quick, and easy thinking that we do most of the time. In fact, it accounts for about 98% of our thinking. It doesn’t require a lot of mental effort; we do it easily, quickly, and without having to think about the fact that we’re thinking.

System 2 thinking is deeper thinking, the kind that’s required for complex problem solving and decision making. This deeper thinking requires more effort and energy; it literally uses more calories. Since it’s less energy-efficient, our brain automatically and subconsciously defaults to the easier system-1 thinking whenever it can to save effort.

Cognitive biases result when our brain tries to stay in system-1 thinking, when perhaps it should be in system 2. The outcome is often sub-optimal solutions and/or poor decision making. But we don’t realize we have sub-optimized because all of this has happened subconsciously.

In typical circumstances, several of these cognitive biases conspire to make us perceive that continuing as we are — with only slower, incremental changes — seems like the best decision. It feels familiar, it feels lower risk … it just feels smarter. Choosing to do nothing different is, very often, simply the default. It frequently doesn’t even feel like we made a decision; instead, it feels like we were really smart for not making a potentially risky decision.

But during the pandemic, changing nothing, or changing very slowly, were simply not options. This particular situation was so unique that our brains didn’t have the choice to stay in short-cut system-1 thinking. System-2 thinking was required. Since we consciously realized we must change — quickly — our brains literally started working harder, in system 2, and the normal cognitive biases weren’t a factor.

 

How Can We Be More Nimble in the Future?

The key to maintaining flexible thinking and nimble behavior is to not allow our brains to fall into the trap of cognitive biases. Obviously, since these are intuitive and subconscious responses, this is not an easy task. But there are proven ways in which we can better manage our brains. Here are a few ways to start.

• Knock Out the Negativity Bias. This is the phenomenon in which negative experiences have a greater impact on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors than positive experiences. So you are much more highly motivated to avoid the negative than you are to seek out positive. The way this manifests in your daily work is that you are much more prone to reject new ideas than to accept them, because rejecting ideas feels like you’re avoiding a potential negative.

Respond to “yes, but…” with “what if…?” This requires a dedicated and conscious mental effort, by everyone on the team, to monitor their own and the team’s response to new ideas. Every time “yes, but…” is uttered, the response needs to be, “what if we could solve for that?” This reframing of the problem into a question will trigger our brains to look for solutions, instead of instantly rejecting the idea.

• Short-circuit the Status-quo Bias. The status-quo bias is a subconscious preference for the current state of affairs. We use ‘current’ as a mental reference point, and any change from that is perceived as a loss. As a result, we frequently overestimate the risk of a change, and dramatically underestimate the risk of business as usual.

When weighing a choice of possible actions, be sure to overtly list “do nothing” as one of the choices, so you are forced to acknowledge it is a choice. Also include “risk” as one of the evaluation criteria, and force the team to list all the possible risks. Then comes the difficult part: remind the team that their subconscious brain is making them perceive the risks of doing nothing to be lower than the reality, so they should multiply the possibility of each of those risks.

• Curtail the Curse of Knowledge. In any subject where we have some expertise, we also have many subconscious assumptions about that subject. Under normal circumstances, this ‘curse of knowledge’ (these latent assumptions) limits our thinking and suppresses our ability to come up with radically new ideas.

Rely on advisors who don’t have the same curse of knowledge. In other words, seek out advice from people outside of your industry. When evaluating ideas or actions, these outsiders won’t have the same blinders that you have, so they will likely have a more clear-eyed view of the benefits and risks.

The bad news is that cognitive biases are always going to be a factor in our problem solving and decision making; they’re hardwired into us. The good news is that, with some dedicated and continuous mental effort, we can mitigate them and become nimbler in the face of change.

 

Susan Robertson empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to more nimbly adapt to change, by transforming thinking from “why we can’t” to “how might we?” She is a creative thinking expert with more than 20 years of experience coaching Fortune 500 companies. As an instructor on applied creativity at Harvard, she brings a scientific foundation to enhancing human creativity; www.susanrobertson.com

Community Spotlight

East Longmeadow Focuses on Improvements

By Mark Morris

From left, Michael Meunier, owner Kendall Knapik, and Orpheus Barrows from Pioneer Valley Arms.

From left, Michael Meunier, owner Kendall Knapik, and Orpheus Barrows from Pioneer Valley Arms.


When Mary McNally reflects on 2020, it’s with no small amount of gratitude for how well her town has weathered the pandemic up to this point.

“To state the obvious,” she said, “it’s been one heck of a year.”

As East Longmeadow’s town manager, she credits all the municipal staff, in particular the Health Department, for its efforts to advise and inform the public on COVID-19 matters, as well as the town’s emergency manager, Fire Chief Paul Morrissette.

“The pandemic gave people the chance to see how dedicated and committed municipal public workers are to the mission that is their vocation,” McNally said. “Their willingness to do what has to be done and go wherever they are needed is something people are aware of and appreciate. I certainly do.”

Though Town Hall has been closed since March 16 of last year, staffers have been able to meet the community’s demand for services through online meetings, e-mails, and phone calls.

“We had staff, including department heads, who met people in the parking lot of Town Hall if they needed access to a particular department for a document or other item,” she said. “It was like they were carhops at the old A&W.” Without committing to any specific timeline, she is hopeful Town Hall will reopen to the public in the next 90 to 120 days.

Though she has been the full-time town manager for only 16 months, McNally has been working on a master plan for East Longmeadow to better prioritize important projects. The town recently received a grant from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to hire a consultant to develop the plan. McNally said a recent Zoom session to plot out the vision of the master plan drew great participation from residents. Part of the grant requires the master plan to be completed by June, and she is confident about meeting that deadline.

“To state the obvious, it’s been one heck of a year.”

Back in December, the town council changed a zoning bylaw that has a direct impact on the site of the former Package Machinery. Once zoned only as industrial, the change allows for mixed use, which would allow residential as well as commercial buildings to locate there. McNally said the new zoning bylaw applies townwide.

“Previously, mixed-use zoning didn’t exist in East Longmeadow,” McNally said. “Because this zoning change applies to more than just the Package Machinery site, it opens the door for developments all over town.”

At this time, there are no formal proposals to develop the Package Machinery site, but past discussions have suggested construction of single-family homes, condominiums, apartments, and light-use business entities, she noted. “The idea would be to have a new walkable neighborhood near the bike trail and the center of town.”

 

Business Perspectives

While several businesses in East Longmeadow suffered from the pandemic, others experienced more demand for what they sell. Bobbi Hill is the fourth generation to work for W.B. Hill, a custom builder of oil trucks that has been incorporated since 1910 and located in East Longmeadow since 1965.

Hill’s title is manager, which she defines as running sales, marketing, parts, and human resources. The company primarily builds and maintains tank trucks, the kind that carry home heating oil and trailer tanks (known as ‘trailers’ or ‘tankers’) that connect to a truck cab, most often associated with hauling gasoline. Despite the world burning less petroleum during the pandemic, Hill said she saw only minor impact in a couple areas of business.

“The pandemic had a little impact on service work for tankers that needed repair,” she noted, quickly adding that COVID has not affected sales of new tank trucks, which have a backlog of orders. “If a customer walked in today to order a tank truck, I probably wouldn’t be able to deliver it until September.”

In the only consumer-facing part of the business, W.B. Hill is an official vehicle-inspection station. At the beginning of the pandemic, it shut down the consumer-vehicle business but continued with tanker inspections. “Pandemic or not, tankers need to be inspected,” she said. “They go through a lot of rigorous testing every year and cannot travel with an expired sticker.”

Though business is brisk right now and there is still plenty of demand to transport heating oil and gasoline, Hill has begun looking to the future.

“With electricity being pushed all over the country, I’m looking for us to become more of a parts business,” she said. By purchasing a building next door from Northeast Wholesale Lumber, she conceded that her “big dreams” of increasing the parts business is not happening right away because of high startup costs. Until then, Northeast continues to lease half the building.

“We are experiencing a bit of a boom in housing due in large part to the low interest rates.”

“We sell parts now, but I’d like to do more online and on a much larger scale,” she said. “There really isn’t anyone in New England who sells parts for these vehicles.”

Though a relatively new business in East Longmeadow, Pioneer Valley Arms (PVA) is another business that remained active during the pandemic. Owner Kendall Knapik, who opened the shop two years ago, had to shut down in the early days of the pandemic. A lawsuit by other gun stores claiming infringement of Second Amendment rights forced Gov. Charlie Baker to deem gun stores an essential business. When she reopened, Knapik’s already-successful shop saw a jump in sales.

“After the pandemic hit, our customer volume tripled,” she said. “We’ve increased our clientele tremendously, and we’re teaching many more safety classes.”

The combination of COVID-19, protests that took place in different parts of the country, and the presidential election all played a role in driving sales, she added. “Uncertainty and election years tend to drive sales more than a typical year.”

Knapik talked about a new wave of people coming in to protect themselves, their homes, and their loved ones. After 10 years in an industry she described as most often serving middle-aged male clients, Knapik opened her business to counter what she called the “usual gun-shop attitude.”

“It’s an attitude where shop owners and employees tend to be closed off to new clientele such as females,” she explained. “I wanted to have a shop where women and men would feel welcome and not afraid to come in.”

E. Longmeadow at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1894
Population: 15,720
Area: 13.0 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $21.06
Commercial Tax Rate: $21.06
Median Household Income: $62,680
Median Family Income: $70,571
Type of Government: Town Council, Town Manager
Largest Employers: Lenox; Cartamundi; CareOne at Redstone; East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation
* Latest information available

Her strategy seems to be working, as female customers to the store have increased 30%. “I’ve done more background checks on gun sales for women in the past few weeks than ever before.”

Knapik made it clear that proper training and gun safety are the top priorities for PVA. She and her staff now hold safety classes every night of the week and, since the pandemic, have increased the number of classes during the day on Sunday.

“Our store draws many who are first-time buyers, so we get a lot of new people who just want to come in to learn about getting their gun license and what’s involved,” she said. “It’s something we definitely encourage.”

A potential gun owner must take a safety course in order to apply for a license-to-carry permit in Massachusetts.

“Some people are ready to pursue the process right away, while others need to mentally prepare themselves for it,” Knapik explained. “We’re just happy to be there to help them, whether they decide to pursue a license or not.”

 

Community Focus

Knapik credits her involvement in the East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce for helping to establish her business in town, and called joining the chamber “the best marketing decision we made.”

“Customers have really responded to the small shop and family-owned feel of PVA,” she said, adding that she and her staff are on a first-name basis with many of their customers.

While Knapik praised East Longmeadow as a welcoming place to do business, increasing numbers of people are finding it a good place to call home as well. McNally said 28 new houses and condominiums were completed in 2020, and an additional 19 homes and condos are currently under construction.

“We are experiencing a bit of a boom in housing due in large part to the low interest rates,” she said. Three developments — Bella Vista, Hidden Pond, and Fairway Lanes — have added 45 new building lots to the town.

Looking ahead, East Longmeadow continues to work with the Massachusetts School Building Assoc. to study whether the town needs to replace the 60-year-old high school with a new building or if the existing facility can be renovated to suit educational needs for the future. McNally sees the potential for a new high school as a key to keeping the community vital.

“If people have confidence in the educational system, it inspires them to be happy citizens who want to contribute to the betterment of the town.”

McNally concluded that, while many of the projects in town have not been completed, all are progressing. “We have several big projects that all require lots of time, attention, and planning. I’m pleased because we have a dedicated staff working on them full-time.”

Clearly, despite enduring “one heck of a year” marked by a worldwide pandemic, East Longmeadow is staying on track with important projects that promise to add economic vibrancy and quality of life.

Construction

Starts and Stops

Total construction starts fell 2% nationally in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $797.3 billion, according to the latest report from Dodge Data & Analytics. Non-building construction starts posted a solid gain after rebounding from a weak January; however, residential and non-residential building starts declined, leading to a pullback in overall activity.

“With spring just around the corner, hope is building for a strong economic recovery fueled by the growing number of vaccinated Americans,” said Richard Branch, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. “But the construction sector will be hard-pressed to take advantage of this resurgence as rapidly escalating materials prices and a supply overhang across many building sectors weighs on starts through the first half of the year.”

Non-building construction starts gained a robust 20% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $200.3 billion. The miscellaneous non-building sector (largely pipelines and site work) surged 76%, while environmental public works increased 26%, and highway and bridge starts moved 11% higher. By contrast, utility and gas plant starts lost 17% in February.

For the 12 months ending February 2021, total non-building starts were 13% lower than the 12 months ending February 2020. Highway and bridge starts were 4% higher on a 12-month rolling-sum basis, while environmental public works were up 1%. Miscellaneous non-building fell 26%, and utility and gas plant starts were down 37% for the 12 months ending February 2021.

The largest non-building projects to break ground in February were the $2.1 billion Line 3 Replacement Program, a 337-mile pipeline in Minnesota; the $1.2 billion Red River Water Supply Project in North Dakota, and the $950 million New England Clean Energy Connect Power Line in Maine.

Non-residential building starts fell 7% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $208.1 billion. Institutional starts dropped 8% during the month despite a strong pickup in healthcare. Warehouse starts fell back during the month following a robust January, offsetting gains in office and hotel starts, and dragging down the overall commercial sector by 8%.

For the 12 months ending February 2021, non-residential building starts dropped 28% compared to the 12 months ending February 2020. Commercial starts declined 30%, institutional starts were down 19%, and manufacturing starts slid 58% in the 12 months ending February 2021.

The largest non-residential building projects to break ground in February were Ohio State University’s $1.2 billion Wexner Inpatient Hospital Tower in Columbus; ApiJect Systems’ $785 million Gigafactory in Durham, N.C.; and Sterling EdgeCore’s $450 million data center in Sterling, Va.

Residential building starts slipped 7% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $388.9 billion. Both single-family and multi-family starts fell during the month, with each losing 7%.

For the 12 months ending February 2021, total residential starts were 4% higher than the 12 months ending February 2020. Single-family starts gained 12%, while multi-family starts were down 15% on a 12-month sum basis.

The largest multi-family structures to break ground in February were Bronx Point’s $349 million mixed-use development in the Bronx, N.Y.; the $215 million Broadway Block mixed-use building in Long Beach, Calif.; and the $200 million GoBroome mixed-use building in Manhattan, N.Y.

Regionally, February’s starts fell lower in the South Central and West regions but moved higher in the Midwest, Northeast, and South Atlantic Regions.

Earlier this month, Dodge Data & Analytics released its Dodge Momentum Index, which rose 7.1% in February. The Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for non-residential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for non-residential buildings by a full year. The institutional component of the Momentum Index jumped 26.3% during the month, while the commercial component was essentially flat.

February’s Momentum Index marked the highest levels in nearly three years as a result of a surge in large projects that entered planning. It remains to be seen if this level of activity, especially in the institutional sector, is sustainable given the tenuous economic recovery and rising material prices. Institutional planning projects in February were concentrated in large hospitals and labs, while commercial planning projects primarily included data centers, warehouses, and office projects. Compared to a year ago, the overall Momentum Index was up 9.2%; the commercial component was 15.2% higher, while the institutional component was down 3.3%.

Opinion

Editorial

Every sector of the economy, and every business, large or small, has been impacted by this global pandemic. But this region’s large and important hospitality and tourism sector has easily been the hardest-hit.

The hotels, restaurants, tourists attractions, event venues, and cultural institutions have been pummeled by this crisis. Some have not survived; those that have are battered and bruised, and that goes for small mom-and-pop operations, the $1 billion MGM Springfield resort casino, and everything in between.

As the calendar turns to April, though, there can finally be sentiment that the very worst is behind this sector and that better times are to come — though myriad challenges remain.

First, the good news. As various stories in this issue reveal, there are positive signs and ample amounts of optimism about what’s in store for this sector. Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, and other renowned cultural institutions have announced that, after canceling everything (or staging only virtual performances) in 2020, they will have schedules of live offerings this year — although they will be different.

Meanwhile, there is a great deal of talk of pent-up demand, and new terms working their way into the lexicon like ‘revenge spending’ and ‘vacation retaliation.’ All this points to a summer — and a year — when people who spent their time off in 2020 (if they had any) on the back deck, might instead be spending some money taking in all that Western Mass. has to offer.

This good news is tempered by the hard reality that we just don’t know what this year portends when it comes to people getting back in the water — literally and figuratively. There is pent-up demand, yes, and many people certainly have money to spend. But when the time comes, will people be willing to gather in large numbers? Will there be a Big E, and if so, how many people will attend? Will people return to the casino? And when can MGM again stage the live events that bring so many people to downtown Springfield? Can the Basketball Hall of Fame bounce back from a dismal year? Will people have an appetite for crowded (or more crowded) restaurants? When will conventions return?

These are just some of the questions that will determine the short-term fate of the region’s tourism and hospitality industry. For the long term, we know the health and well-being of this sometimes-overlooked sector is absolutely critical to the economy of this region, and to its quality of life.

Thankfully, there are many signs that it’s ready to officially roar back to life.

Opinion

Opinion

By Sandra Doran

Work has always been a women’s issue. Whether we work or not, the types of jobs we do, how much we are paid, and how far we can advance, it’s all shaped by our experiences as women, and this, in turn, shapes the central mission at Bay Path University. Therefore, it has been hard to see how deeply the pandemic has thwarted working women. In January, the National Women’s Law Center calculated the percentage of women working at 57%, the lowest it has been since 1988.

As the conversation grows louder, and the issues more pressing, this is our moment to seize, for making changes that are long overdue. At Bay Path, we’re doubling down on our commitment to preparing women for the career world, but the pandemic has confirmed it’s high time that businesses, organizations, and policymakers get on board with preparing the career world for women. Here are a few places to start.

• Support mothers. Over the last 30 years, childcare costs have increased by 70%, while real median wages have increased by a scant 7%. The cost of childcare in the U.S. and the allegiance to traditional gender roles still forces women into the slow lane of career growth and pushes many to take the off-ramp. Taking time away from one’s career puts women at risk of re-entering the labor market at a lower entry point than when they left, a scenario that underlies our persistent wage gap. The experiences of mothers during the pandemic has led to renewed calls for subsidized childcare, something every other industrialized country in the world offers. At the same time, the nearly universal pivot to remote work arrangements should inspire us all to develop schedules and create resources that expand the flexibility we can offer.

• Expand access to degrees for more women. It’s never been more important for women to get their degrees. It still holds true that women with bachelor’s degrees will earn $630,000 more over the course of their careers than high-school graduates. Women with graduate degrees earn $1.1 million more. Most women who left the workforce exited the hospitality, health-services, and retail sectors, where the majority of jobs do not require a degree and the majority of workers don’t have one. Due to their disproportionate representation in these sectors, fewer black and Hispanic women are working now than any other demographic. Creating access to degrees and providing the support to help women complete them can have a transformational impact on the types of jobs women fill and the amount of money they earn.

• Put more women in charge of more companies. Today, there are actually fewer women in rising management roles than there were in 2019, even though having more women in leadership roles isn’t just good for women, it’s better for business. Although men and women start in roughly the same positions, by age 30 to 44, 36% of men become supervisors or managers, compared to 30% of women. By age 45 and older, 12% of men ascend to an executive-level role, while only 6% of women do. A Harvard Business School study found that having women represent 30% of corporate leadership leads to a 15% increase in profitability for a typical firm. Researchers attributed this to “increased skill diversity within top management,” which translates to an ability to encourage better employee performance and stronger recruitment, promotion, and retention of talent (the women who otherwise would have left due to gender discrimination).

• Shift the ways we define ‘women’s work’ and what it’s worth. In 2017, 64.2% of mothers were the primary or co-breadwinners for their families. Our jobs are central to supporting our families and ourselves, yet they are routinely undervalued and underpaid (see teachers, 76% women; social workers, 83% women; and healthcare workers, 85% women). Questions to consider: if more men entered these fields, as they did with computer programming, a skill once tied to women’s secretarial roles, would wages go up? If they did, would more men opt to enter these fields? This chicken-egg scenario inevitably leads to the same takeaway: these critical roles need higher pay to truly represent their value to our society.

We’re living in remarkable times, when we’re not just dreaming of change, we’re demanding it — for our daughters, sisters, friends, co-workers, and, obviously, our students. Women’s employment isn’t expected to return to pre-pandemic rates until 2024 (men will get there in 2023), and the road back can’t be paved only with good intentions. A recovery won’t do — what we really need is a reimagining.

Sandra Doran is president of Bay Path University.

Picture This

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

 

 

Students Serving Students

 

The Springfield College Center for Service and Leadership and the Humanics in Action Club recently delivered more than 200 fire-safety kits to Rebecca M. Johnson Elementary School, and 100 incentive kits to both Elias Brookings Elementary School and William N. DeBerry Elementary School. The fire-safety kits (top) include washcloths, emergency whistles, water bottles, granola bars, a face mask, soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste, as well as donated items from the Springfield Fire Department, including a fire hat and a fire-safety booklet. The intention behind the fire-safety kits is that, in an emergency, the kids could grab the bag and have emergency supplies. The incentive kits (bottom) include an activity book, notebook, crayons, slime, DIY slap bracelets, positive notes, and erasers.

 

 

Fatal Rewards

 

The Holyoke Community College Theater Department’s fall 2020 production, a live-streamed virtual play called “Fatal Fisticuffs,” won two awards at this year’s Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. The original work, written by HCC alumnus Tom Roche, was recognized with a merit award for innovation in digital theater. HCC student Nanette Mendieta of Holyoke won an award for excellence in stage management. Pictured: HCC Theater Professor Tim Cochran, right, directs a fight sequence with HCC alumnus actor Mike Pray for “Fatal Fisticuffs,” as streaming coach and HCC alumnus Cory Missildine, left, records the action against a green screen.

 

 

Agenda

Difference Makers

April 1: BusinessWest will celebrate its Difference Makers class of 2021 with a virtual celebration from 6 to 8 p.m. The 2021 Difference Makers include Kristin Carlson, president of Peerless Precision; EforAll Holyoke; Janine Fondon, founder of UnityFirst.com and professor at Bay Path University; Harold Grinspoon, philanthropist and founder of Aspen Square Management; Chad Moir, founder and owner of DopaFit Parkinson’s Movement Center; Bill Parks, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield; and Pete Westover, founder and partner at Conservation Works, LLC. Like the Women of Impact celebration in January, this event will be presented using the REMO platform, and will feature networking, videos of the event sponsors, introductions of the honorees, and comments from the Difference Makers themselves. RSVP at live.remo.co/e/difference-makers-2021. The sponsors for this year’s program are Burkhart Pizzanelli, the Royal Law Firm, TommyCar Auto Group, and United Way of Pioneer Valley. The Tom Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament is a nonprofit partner.

 

Institute for Trustees

Starting April 7: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (BTCF) announced it is partnering with the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF) in presenting the 2021 Institute for Trustees, an annual conference inviting nonprofit leaders to gather together for educational workshops and networking opportunities. Building on the success of BTCF’s 2018 Board Leadership Forum and designed for board leaders and executive directors, the event features 24 virtual workshops from leading nonprofit experts and opportunities to connect with hundreds of peers equally committed to their leadership roles. This partnership is part of a broader effort between BTCF and ECCF to leverage resources in support of building capacity and leadership within the nonprofit sector, given the challenges facing organizations due to the pandemic and its economic consequences. The Institute for Trustees kicks off on April 7 with a keynote address by Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, titled “Leading for Nonprofit Impact Amid Unprecedented Challenge.” Beginning April 9, workshops and opportunities to connect with fellow attendees through topic-driven, informal peer discussions will be spread over the course of four weeks. Workshop topics include racial equity, endowment building, crisis planning, governance, advocacy, finance, and much more. To register for the program, visit eccf.org/ift. Registrations will be accepted at a discounted early-bird rate of $110 until March 7. After that, registration will cost $130 and will close April 7.

 

Winnie Film Festival Tour

April 9-11: The Therapeutic Equestrian Center (TEC), located in Holyoke, is hosting a virtual fundraising event featuring the 2021 Winnie Film Festival Tour. This film fest will feature exclusive, world-premiere short documentary films that celebrate the healing powers of the horse. Attendees will enjoy two hours of inspiring and heartwarming films anytime from 5 p.m. on Friday, April 9 until 10 p.m. on Sunday, April 11. A fee of $25 is requested to register, and participants will be provided a link to stream to any smart device, such as phones, tablets, and TVs. Binge in one sitting, or stretch the viewing out over the entire weekend — the choice is yours. To register for this virtual event, visit tecriders.org. Gary Rome Hyundai is the exclusive event sponsor. TEC has been closed during the pandemic but hopes to open later this year. Proceeds from this event will help feed and care for its stable of horses and provide necessary materials needed for a safe reopening. The Therapeutic Equestrian Center empowers children and adults with physical, emotional, and developmental needs to live their best lives. Through a range of individually designed, equine-assisted programs, lessons, and recreational activities, TEV enhances the bodies, minds, and spirits of riders, creating a stronger, more compassionate and inclusive community in which every member is encouraged and able to thrive.

 

Country Bank Shred Day

April 10: Country Bank is partnering with PROSHRED Security for its annual Shred Day to allow the public to discard their documents safely and securely. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were 1.4 million identity theft reports in 2020, and that number continues to rise. Country Bank offers this free shredding service to the public because it understands the importance of helping consumers keep their identity safe. All visitors are asked to practice social distancing and will be required to wear a mask. Country Bank’s free Community Shred Day will take place at the following branch locations: 155 West Street, Ware, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.; 2379 Boston Road, Wilbraham, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; 1084 Main St., Leicester, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.; and 37 Worcester Road, Charlton, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Items to consider for shredding include old documents, tax returns, bank statements, receipts, bills, or anything that contains personal, identifiable information.

 

‘Establishing Resilience: Building Happiness’

April 10: Holyoke Community College (HCC) is partnering with Pam Victor, president and founder of Happier Valley Comedy, to offer “Establishing Resilience: Building Happiness,” a Zoom workshop, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The cost of the class is $99. To register, visit hcc.edu/happiness. Victor, a comedian and improv facilitator who prefers the title ‘head of happiness,’ will lead participants on an experiential exploration of happiness and resilience building to enhance their joy and ease at work and home. She will share stress-relieving exercises and techniques to help people bring more well-being, laughter, gratitude, and play into their daily lives. Happier Valley Comedy, based in Hadley, is the region’s first and only comedy theater and training program.

 

Nominations for Ad Club Creative Awards

Through April 18: The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts invites the community to apply for its 2021 Creative Awards. The club has simplified the rules and eliminated physical entries entirely, due to COVID-19 restrictions. As always, Ad Club members will receive a discounted rate; members will receive a personalized discount code via e-mail. Participants will have the opportunity to virtually meet the agencies, marketing departments, and freelance artists behind the work. Award winners will be announced at the Ad Club’s Creative Awards show scheduled for Thursday, May 20. Categories that qualify participants for entry include advertising, copywriting, design, interactive and web media, photography, video and motion, and student work. Visit www.adclubwm.org/events/creativeawards2021 for the guidelines and application form, or contact the Ad Club at (413) 342-0533 or [email protected].

 

Alumni Achievement Award Nominations

Through April 23: When BusinessWest launched its 40 Under Forty program in 2007, it did so to identify rising stars across our region — individuals who were excelling in business and through involvement within the community — and celebrate their accomplishments. In 2015, BusinessWest announced a new award, one that builds on the foundation upon which 40 Under Forty was created. It’s called the Alumni Achievement Award (formerly the Continued Excellence Award). As the name suggests, it is presented to the 40 Under Forty honoree who, in the eyes of an independent panel of judges, has most impressively continued and built upon his or her track record of accomplishment. To nominate someone for this award, visit businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty-alumni-achievement-award. The deadline is Friday, April 23 at 5 p.m., no exceptions. The 2020 honoree will be announced at the 40 Under Forty gala in June. Candidates must be from 40 Under Forty classes prior to the year of the award — in this case, classes 2007 to 2020. A list of 40 Under Forty Alumni can be found at businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty.

 

Springfield Partners for Community Action Scholarships

Through April 23: Springfield Partners for Community Action announced it will award a number of $1,000 scholarships that can help recipients with tuition and alleviate the cost of going back to school and investing in bettering themselves. All applicants must be Springfield residents, and income-eligibility guidelines may apply. Scholarships will be awarded to those attending accredited/licensed schools in Massachusetts. Applications must be received by April 23. Late entries will not be considered. If selected, recipients must be available to attend an awards event (most likely virtual) in June. Visit www.springfieldpartnersinc.com/whatwedo/scholarshipsprogram for the application form and information on how to apply.

 

VA Healthcare Virtual Summit

May 24-26: The Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA) announced plans for the IDGA VA Healthcare Summit. HCN is sponsoring this event, at which attendees will have the opportunity to meet with the leaders positioned to provide substantive change across the department, with a particular focus on advancing patient advocacy and experience, digital transformation, community and vendor engagement, e-learning, the VA’s innovation ecosystem, and more. IDGA’s summit will highlight these areas across the agenda, as well as include enabling VA initiatives currently underway to advance the most critical needs for veterans across the U.S. This year’s agenda, developed through indepth research by IDGA, covers a range of topics, including VHA innovation ecosystem initiatives, VA telehealth capabilities, financial management and business-transformation efforts, and a deep dive into clinical delivery. For more information and to view the agenda, visit www.idga.org/events-veteransaffairshealthcare-spring. To join and receive a 20% discount, register at bit.ly/3sts2FV and quote code VAH_HCN. All federal, state, and local government, as well as military and law enforcement, can attend at no cost.

People on the Move
Briana Wales

Briana Wales

Emma Mesa-Melendez

Emma Mesa-Melendez

Keith McKittrick

Keith McKittrick

Ullapi Shrestha

Ullapi Shrestha

The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (CFWM) announced the appointments of Briana Wales as vice president for People and Culture, Emma Mesa-Melendez as director of Communications, Keith McKittrick as Development coordinator, and Ullapi Shrestha as program assistant. These appointments are the latest example of CFWM’s ongoing commitment to expand its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts internally and within the nonprofit sector. Wales will focus on a wide scope of DEI initiatives to guide both the foundation’s external and internal DEI work, training, and development of best practices. She has an extensive career in workforce development for youth and adults and has provided leadership in both nonprofit and quasi-public settings. In her efforts to serve communities, she has fostered partnerships and programming to increase equity and access for underrepresented or marginalized groups. She received her bachelor’s degree in social justice education from UMass Amherst and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Mount Holyoke College. Mesa-Melendez will be responsible for CFWM’s communications strategy and will assist with DEI initiatives. In recent work, she has consulted in marketing and graphic design, and previously served as vice president for Community Relations, Human Resources, and Marketing Management for New Valley Bank & Trust. She received her MBA from Southern New Hampshire University and her bachelor’s degree in critical social thought from Mount Holyoke College. She has worked with several nonprofits as both a board member and volunteer, including the Minority Inclusion Project, Farmington Valley YMCA, Vet Air, and the Performance Project. McKittrick comes to the foundation with 25 years of experience in philanthropy. He has held positions at UMass Amherst, Western New England University, and Holyoke Community College, where he has worked with donors to establish scholarships and fundraise for educational initiatives. He received his master’s degree in public administration from Framingham State University and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Westfield State University. Shrestha has worked as an interpreter at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and as an intern at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. She has volunteered with the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity. She received her master’s degree in management from Saint Joseph College and her bachelor’s degree in business marketing from the Institute of Technology in Carlow, Ireland.

•••••

Marianna Roy

Marianna Roy

Jodi Giustina

Jodi Giustina

OMG Roofing Products has hired Marianna Roy as a customer service representative and Jodi Giustina as a sales and marketing assistant. Roy is responsible for assisting customers in placing orders and in funneling customer inquiries to the organization. She is initially responsible for handling the Firestone account, the company’s Northeast Region, and a portion of the Mid-Atlantic Region. She began her career at OMG Roofing Products as a temporary customer service representative in July 2020. Prior to joining OMG, she was with the Law Offices of John E. Miller. She holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State University. Giustina is responsible for a wide assortment of administrative duties to support the company’s sales and marketing team, customer service department, as well as key account managers. She joined OMG Roofing Products from PNC Business Credit, where she was a senior business development associate. Earlier, she held several positions with BKM, most recently as a project coordinator. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Simmons College in Boston.

•••••

The Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce has named Jordan Hart its new executive director. Hart will replace Andréa Marion, who recently announced her departure to pursue other opportunities. Hart has served in a variety of roles in the past eight years at the chamber, most recently as program coordinator. She is a board member at Enchanted Circle Theater and was a leader of the “Have a Ball in Holyoke” public art effort through Leadership Holyoke. She holds an associate degree from Holyoke Community College and is currently taking courses at Greenfield Community College. Among the top priorities for the 131-year-old chamber moving forward are re-establishing a solid suite of programming and seminars to support local businesses in their success, continuing to serve as a cheerleader for economic development and job growth in the city, and working with leaders throughout the area to bolster civic pride and quality of life in Holyoke and surrounding communities. Key to Hart’s responsibilities will be collaborating closely with partners throughout the region, including leaders at City Hall.

•••••

Michele Snizek

Michele Snizek

River Valley Counseling Center (RVCC) named Michele Snizek its senior program director. Snizek will oversee RVCC’s school-based health centers and HIV/AIDS Project to ensure that these grant-funded programs are responsive to funder terms and conditions and compliant with grant rules and regulations. Snizek received a bachelor’s degree in social work from Elms College and a master’s degree in public administration from Westfield State University. She has extensive experience managing federal and state grants in the Greater Holyoke community, development and writing of grant proposals, managing grant compliance, and reporting and budget management for both federal and state applications. She is also a licensed social worker. Prior to joining RVCC, Snizek was the director of Retention at Holyoke Community College. A key focus of her work was closing HCC’s equity gaps, which were further widened during remote operations this year. This put a spotlight on the need for enhanced mental-health services for students. She started her career at HCC as a Title III activity director, managing a five-year, $1.8 million Department of Education grant focused on first-year students. For more than 20 years, she held two different positions, director of Planning and Development and director of Program Operations, at Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield Head Start Inc.

•••••

Michelle Baity

Michelle Baity

BFAIR announced the promotion of Michelle Baity to the position of senior vice president of Human Resources. Baity joined BFAIR’s senior-management team three years ago and brought with her numerous years of experience in human resources as well as the human-services field. Since joining the team, she has formed a strong Human Resources department that has been invaluable with assisting the agency to manage the enormous challenges it has faced over the past year. According to Ethel Altiery, BFAIR’s executive director, “Michelle has been with BFAIR for three years, and working closely with her has been a wonderful experience for me. She has brought my level of knowledge and experience in the world of human resources to a new level. I look forward to working with Michelle for many more years to come.” Baity is directly responsible for crafting employee-benefit offerings and developing an educational-assistance policy to support skill development in pursuit of an organization focused on creating opportunities for advancement.

•••••

Melissa Blissett

Melissa Blissett

Square One announced the promotion of Melissa Blissett to vice president of Family Support Services. A native of Springfield, Blissett joined Square One in 2014 as a Springfield College School of Social Work intern. Upon graduation in 2015, she joined the agency’s Healthy Families and Supervised Visitation programs. In 2017, she went to work as a Child and Family Law Division social worker for the Committee for Public Council Services in Springfield. In 2018, she returned to Square One as assistant vice president of Family Services. Blissett graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in psychology and developmental disabilities. She earned her master of social work degree from Springfield College, where she currently serves as an adjunct professor. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and actively volunteers for the Reading Success by 4th Grade initiative.

•••••

Thomas Hull, associate professor of Mathematics at Western New England University (WNEU), recently published his latest book, Origametry: Mathematical Methods in Paper Folding. In his book, Hull takes a deep dive into the math behind origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. His research uses graph theory, combinatorics, geometry, and other areas of math, with applications in engineering, materials science, art, and education. He is a leading expert on the mathematics of origami, having given talks on this topic all over the world. Hull has been practicing origami since he was 8 years old and studying the mathematics behind origami for the past 30 years. He holds both a PhD and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Rhode Island and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Hampshire College. Several of the origami models he has invented are well-known among origami artists, including his ‘five intersecting tetrahedra’ model, a star-like structure, featured on the cover of his new book, which the British Origami Society voted as being one of the top 10 origami models of all time.

Company Notebook

STCC Named Fourth-best Community College in U.S.

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) was ranked as the fourth-best community college in the nation and second-best in Massachusetts, according to Academic Influence (click here), a college ranking system. On March 4, the website released its first-ever ranking of the 50 best community colleges in America. STCC is one of six Massachusetts community colleges listed in the top 20. STCC, the Commonwealth’s only technical community college, offers comprehensive workforce and technical education in fields that include manufacturing; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); healthcare; business; human services; and the liberal arts. The college is federally designated as a Hispanic-serving institution, with more than 30% of students identifying at Latinx. Academic Influence considered 839 community colleges in the U.S. that were fully accredited, enrolled at least 1,000 students, and provided primarily two-year associate-degree programs along with certificate credentials in most cases. In a separate recognition, STCC’s online business degree program was recently ranked as the second-most-popular in the New England region, according to Business Degree Central, an online resource for students. The website ranked STCC’s program second out of 11 colleges in New England. The business program was also ranked second-most-popular in Massachusetts.

 

HCC Ranked Among Best Community Colleges in U.S.

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) ranks among the best community colleges in the U.S. for 2021, according to Academic Influence, a technology-driven education-evaluation group. HCC was listed 20th out of 839 community colleges nationwide. In particular, HCC was noted for the strength of its academic programs in criminal justice, nursing, computer science, business, education, and engineering. “In rankings on other sites, students typically see only the largest community colleges. We believe we take a smarter and more comprehensive approach,” said Jed Macosko, academic director of Academic Influence and professor of physics at Wake Forest University. Criteria for the schools in this ranking include a minimum of 1,000 enrolled students, full accreditation, and exclusively two-year (or associate) degree programs. “We look at how influential the school’s faculty is and then factor in the student-body size. We call this metric ‘concentrated influence,’” Macosko said. “Those community colleges with a strong faculty but comparatively fewer students, schools that might otherwise get lost in the shadows of their larger competitors, now have an opportunity to shine. Because students often choose to attend a school nearby, this kind of illumination provides a truer view of how influential their neighborhood community college may actually be, regardless of its size.”

 

Serve Food Opens Shared Kitchen to Aspiring Restaurateurs

HOLYOKE — Serve Food, a new business in Holyoke, recently hosted its grand opening at its 112 High St. location. Serve Food, a shared-use kitchen, is a certified commercial kitchen in which individuals or businesses prepare value-added food products and meals using a monthly membership. Because expenses are shared, the costs are significantly lower than if an entrepreneur started a kitchen on his or her own. All utilities, maintenance expenses, equipment repairs, sanitation, and cleaning supplies are included in the membership fees, allowing members to focus on their product. With membership in the Serve Food kitchen, members can get access to a kitchen almost immediately at little to no risk or extra expense, and have an opportunity to learn and collaborate with other local chefs and food makers. Serve Food’s website, servema.com, also plans to sell members’ products on its website.

 

Turning Leaf Centers Opens Dispensary Doors to Public

NORTHAMPTON — Turning Leaf Centers opened its doors on 261 King St. in Northampton on March 15. The dispensary features a ‘craft bar,’ experience, which will allow patrons to be educated on everything marijuana, have rolling parties, and participate in flower talk. “We believe the large, curated space will allow people to have an experience nobody has seen with the craft bar, live music days, and seating areas,” co-owner Stephanie McNair said. “Supporting our local community is something that is very important to us as a company. We are looking to display and promote local artists and have event demonstrations and educational seminars in our space.” Turning Leaf Centers Northampton has cultivated an eclectic menu from every product category and price point for every type of cannabis consumer.

 

UMass President to Again Recommend Tuition Freeze

BOSTON — University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan announced he will recommend that the university’s board of trustees freeze tuition for in-state undergraduates for the academic year beginning in September. If approved by the UMass board, this would be the second straight year of a tuition freeze at the Commonwealth’s 75,000-student national public research university system. The average pre-financial-aid in-state undergraduate tuition at UMass was $14,722 for academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21. UMass has the fifth-lowest tuition among the six New England public universities — University of Vermont ($19,062), University of New Hampshire ($18,938), University of Connecticut ($17,834), University of Rhode Island ($15,004), and the University of Maine ($11,712) — this academic year. UMass awarded $971 million in federal, state, institutional and other financial aid in FY20. Since FY15, institutional aid — funds set aside by the university to decrease actual student costs — has increased 49% to $351 million per year.

 

Florence Bank Opens Third Hampden County Branch

CHICOPEE — Florence Bank opened its third Hampden County branch at 705 Memorial Dr. in Chicopee on March 22, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony is slated for Wednesday, May 5. The Chicopee branch has an open floor plan with two teller pods and innovative technology for quick cash handling. The location will also feature a drive-up ATM with SMART technology for easy depositing. Kimberly Downing will serve as assistant vice president and branch manager for the new location. Other employees who will staff the new location are Diane Afonso, assistant branch manager; Tracy Keefe, customer service representative and senior teller; Kiara Sonoda, teller operations manager; and Karen Willemain, senior teller.

Jake’s Barber Shop Celebrates Five Years with Community Contribution

GREAT BARRINGTON — As Jake’s Barber Shop commemorates the start of its fifth year in the community, owner Jake Hunker is marking the moment by supporting Railroad Street Youth Project, a local organization that encourages focus and commitment for others. RYSP is a Great Barrington not-for-profit organization that encourages community teenagers to meet, learn, talk, and focus on the future. For the week of Tuesday, March 30 through Saturday, April 3, the barber shop will donate $5 from each haircut to RSYP. Appointments for RSYP-benefiting haircuts from Hunker can be made online through booksy.com, and customers can also call (413) 717-4238 for an appointment. Railroad Street Youth Project is a nonprofit organization helping young people bring their ideas and inspirations to fruition and discover their place in the world. Its Youth Operational Board continues to fund youth-inspired projects, run ongoing mentoring and apprenticeship programs, provide sexual-health programming through local schools, offer job training and career counseling, and staff an active drop-in center that provides counseling, mediation, referrals, and advocacy services for young people in need.

 

Springfield College Recognized for Community-college Transfer

SPRINGFIELD — For the sixth consecutive year, Springfield College has been named to Phi Theta Kappa’s Transfer Honor Roll, which identifies the top four-year colleges and universities for creating dynamic pathways to support community-college transfer. Springfield College is one of only 150 colleges and universities in the country to be recognized for this honor, including one of only six colleges and universities in Massachusetts. “We are very honored once again to be among a small, select group of colleges recognized nationally by Phi Theta Kappa for our high level of commitment to the success of transfer students,” said Stuart Jones, vice president for Enrollment Management at Springfield College. “Educating students in spirit, mind, and body for leadership in service to others is the hallmark of who we are and what we do best.”

 

Bradley Airport Launches Non-stop Service to Nashville, Miami

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) announced the launch of non-stop flights from Bradley International Airport (BDL) to Nashville International Airport (BNA) in Tennessee on Southwest Airlines, and non-stop flights from Bradley to Miami International Airport (MIA) on JetBlue. “We are excited to launch Southwest Airlines’ non-stop service to Nashville from Bradley International Airport,” said Kevin Dillon, executive director of the CAA. “Nashville is a popular destination that also offers key connectivity to major destinations across Southwest’s West Coast network. The launch of this service significantly enhances our non-stop offering for our travelers, and, with its introduction, we are pleased to strengthen our long-standing partnership with Southwest Airlines.” In addition, “we welcome JetBlue’s expansion at Bradley International Airport and the addition of new, non-stop service to Miami,” Dillon said. “This new route, which follows JetBlue’s other recent route launches, is a significant vote of confidence in our airport and the market we serve.”

Incorporations

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

EAST LONGMEADOW

Fortini Construction & Remodeling Inc., 46 Center Square East Longmeadow, MA 01028. Mathew L. Fortini, 138 Feeding Hills Road, Westfield, MA 01085. Home construction and remodeling.

Via Appia Ristorante, Inc., 46 Center Square East Longmeadow, MA 01028. Jorge Alexander Gomez, 21 Bruce St. Springfield, MA 01119. Restaurant.

DALTON

My Fantasy Band Inc., 609 Main St. Dalton, MA 01226. Elizabeth A. Sharp, same. Online entertainment.

LANESBORO

Walter Tool Distributor, Inc., 30 Scott Road, Lanesboro, MA 01237. Jeffrey M. Walter, same. Tool sales.

LEE

Hare Krishna Inc., 155 Summer St., Lee, MA 01238. Gaurang Panwala, same. Wholesale.

LENOX

Sadhi Corp., 659 Prospect St., Apt. A1, Chicopee, MA 01020. Ankit Patel, same. Package store.

PITTSFIELD

G.B. Cleaning Services Inc., 483 Tyler St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Gladis M. Bravo, same. House and office cleaning.

GetLofty Inc., 82 Wendell Ave., Suite 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Caribell Burgos, 405 Newbury St., Apt. B Springfield, MA 01104. Bakery.

SANDISFIELD

Charles Pease Plumbing & Heating Inc., 31 South Main St., Sandisfield, MA 01255. Charles A. Pease, 102 South Main St. Sandisfield, MA 01255. Plumbing and heating services.

SPRINGFIELD

J & E Transport Inc., 100 Garvey Dr., Springfield, MA 01109. Anibal Collazo, same. Transportation.

J & L Transport Express Inc., 172 Davis St., Springfield, MA 01104. Maria Pagan, same. Trucking.

Majestic Barber Shop Inc., 51 Willow St., PO Box 2622 Lynn, MA 01901. Misael Colon Andino, 74 Monmouth St., 1st Fl. Springfield, MA 01109. Barber shop.

S & F Investors Inc., 254 Worthington St., Springfield, MA 01103. Dominga Vasquez-Pujols, 63 Wilson St. Springfield, MA 01104. Restaurant.

WESTFIELD

R & W Transport, Corp., 549 Russell Road Unit 6C Westfield, MA 01085. Wilmary Martinez, same. Transportation.

VikVik Transportation Inc., 23 East Silver St. Westfield, MA 01085. Viktor Babinov, same. Trucking.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Best Out of State Movers Inc., 203 Circuit Ave., Suite 104 West Springfield, MA 01089. Michael Peri, same. Moving & storage services.

WILBRAHAM

Firefly Landscapes, Inc., 278 Soule Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095. Brian Tassinari, same. Landscaping.

WILLIAMSBURG

Ambika, Inc., 35 Main St. Williamsburg, MA 01096. Aarti D. Patel, 431 East St. Easthampton, MA 01027. Liquor Store.

DBA Certificates

The following business certificates and/or trade names were issued or renewed during the month of March 2021. (Filings are limited due to closures or reduced staffing hours at municipal offices due to COVID-19 restrictions).

NORTHAMPTON

Anderson Hardwood Floors
477 Burts Pit Road
David Anderson

Bridget Mulkerrins, LICSW
26 Harold St.
Bridget Mulkerrins

Cautina Hospitality, LLC
203 King St.
William Georgas

The Death Set
178 Island Road
Johnny Siera

Jack’s Cannabis Co.
34 Bridge St.
Jack Carney

Kungbao, LLC
16 Crafts Ave.
Bao Tsai Huang, Kunghuan Chen

Maple and Main, LLC
28 North Maple St.
Kathleen Iles, Julia Held

MEAI
80 Damon Road, #7205
Robert Soliwoda

Northampton Veterinary Clinic
190 Nonotuck St., Suite 105
Northampton Veterinary Clinic, LLC

Penguin Place
26 Main St.
Eric Bennett

Petals and Clay
719 Park Hill Road
Priscilla Touhey

Re-Set School
408 Fairway Village
Jennifer Bryan

Robot Tree
145 South St.
Nathan Medlock

Volvo Cars Pioneer Valley
48 Damon Road
TNM Auto Corp.

SOUTHWICK

Brinkmann Constructors
686 College Highway
Andrew Lucas

Open Arms Child Care Center
568 College Highway
Jeffrey King

Southwick Nutrition
108 Congamond Road, Suite 110
Gloria Mendoza

WESTFIELD

AC Auto Sales
766 Southampton Road
Angel Cotto

Bergeron Renovation & Remodeling
1106 East Mountain Road
N.R. Bergeron Drywall Contractor

Bitcoin Depot
286 Southampton Road
Lux Vending, LLC

Fresh Look Interiors
350 Montgomery Road
Lou Sirois

Full Render Design, LLC
77 Mill St., Suite 12
Michael Michon

I Buy Stuff
53 Pontoosic Road
Bob Plummer, Susan Plummer

Swords Home Improvement
173 Highland Ave.
Keith Swords

Take Charge Nutrition
285 Elm St.
Tina Gonzalez

Tammy’s VIP Nails & Spa
47 Southwick Road
Tammy Gilmore

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Arnold’s Auto Body Service Inc.
400 Main St.
William Bushey

Bella Napoli
185 Elm St.
Gennaro Moccia

Elms Cleaners & Expert Alterations
245 Elm St.
Urszula Maiysiak

Jiffy Lube #2561
788 Memorial Ave.
Albert Chance

NTYR Soul
155 River St.
Charles Christian

Old Time Errand Service
282 Morton St.
Robert Polverari Jr.

A Pro’s Touch Cleaning Service
155 River St.
Danny Dominguez

Red’s Towing
1554 Riverdale St.
Chad Willard

Bankruptcies

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

Brehaut, Cynthia L.
a/k/a Larivee, Cynthia Louise
157 Wilder Ter.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/17/2021

Cable, Beverly A.
274 Mohawk Forest Blvd.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/22/2021

Devlin, Kai Markas
11B Couture Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/26/2021

Faughnan, Kymberli Sophia
1040 Williamsville Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/26/2021

Fleagle, Robert D.
Fleagle, Christina J.
21 Raymond Circle
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/25/2021

Hyytinen, Dawn E.
200 Lower St.
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/22/2021

Kolek, Walter Stanley
Kolek, Joette A.
a/k/a Mitera, Joette A.
77 Edbert St., Apt. D
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/26/2021

LaMountain, Steven W.
LaMountain, Katherine
35 Cooley St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/19/2021

Liska, Lori Ann
139 Feeding Hills Road, Apt. A
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/27/2021

Longs, Isaiah A.
72 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/15/2021

O’Connor, Timothy C.
O’Connor, Karen E.
243 Woodhill Road
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Date: 02//2021

O’Keefe, Elizabeth
3 Apache Dr.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/28/2021

Patnode, Eileen Marie
161 East St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/26/2021

Reveliotis, Lynne-Marie
PO Box 68
Heath, MA 01346
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/26/2021

Rozenblyum, Larisa
70 Perrine Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/17/2021

Russo, Joseph A.
10 Meadowbrook Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/22/2021

Terrero, Ana F.
672 Alden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/15/2021

Thomas, Joseph J.
Thomas, Nancy, L.
366 Acrebrook Dr.
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/24/2021

Torres, Julio A.
Diaz, Evelin D.
105 Oswego St., Apt. 1A
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/25/2021

Vila, Veronica, M.
155 White St., Apt. B,
Springfield, MA 01108,
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/18/2021

Real Estate

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

FRANKLIN COUNTY

ASHFIELD

719 Barnes Rd
Ashfield, MA 01370
Amount: $740,000
Buyer: Elena Oxman
Seller: Marie Stella 2012 RET
Date: 03/05/21

139 Williamsburg Rd
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Catherine S Cantler
Seller: Michael Z Edelstein
Date: 02/24/21

CHARLEMONT

165 Main St
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: John Dunphy
Seller: Meeting House Const LLC
Date: 03/02/21

COLRAIN

206 East Colrain Rd
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Casey L Chadwick
Seller: Ryan C Castine
Date: 02/26/21

CONWAY

150 Ashfield Rd
Conway, MA 01341
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Kara T McGillicuddy
Seller: Benjamin Winsor
Date: 02/26/21

DEERFIELD

10 Hoosac Rd
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Erin E Obrien
Seller: Jackson, Sylvia J Est
Date: 02/25/21

25 Jones Rd
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $262,850
Buyer: Benjamin D Lambert
Seller: Ralph F Jelley
Date: 02/26/21

River Road #C
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: John L Bussard
Seller: Bonita J Weeks
Date: 03/04/21

16 Yankee Candle Way
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $22,300,000
Buyer: LML Yankee Candle Way LLC
Seller: Yankee Candle Way LLC
Date: 02/26/21

27 Yankee Candle Way
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $22,300,000
Buyer: LML Yankee Candle Way LLC
Seller: Yankee Candle Way LLC
Date: 02/26/21

GILL

23 Oak St
Gill, MA 01354
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Sara M McMahon
Seller: Robert A Mattson
Date: 02/26/21

GREENFIELD

69 Burnham Rd
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $271,000
Buyer: Laura C Dowling
Seller: Viorika Nelson
Date: 03/05/21

33 Devens St
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: John V Crowe
Seller: 33 Devens RT
Date: 02/26/21

139 Elm St
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Kathryn Ball
Seller: Jamie M Picard
Date: 03/05/21

28 Forest Ave
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Jason Haskins
Seller: Greenblatt 2014 IRT
Date: 02/26/21

Laurel St. (rear)
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Laurel Street Greenfield LLC
Seller: John Karakla
Date: 03/01/21

242 Mohawk Trail
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $2,062,500
Buyer: 242 Mohawk LLC
Seller: FMI US Property Holdings LLC
Date: 02/25/21

124 Petty Plain Rd
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $296,900
Buyer: Benegan 2 LLC
Seller: H Robert Birdsong
Date: 02/22/21

MONTAGUE

71 7th St
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Eduard N Bublik
Seller: Robert E Facto
Date: 02/26/21

32 Central St
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $221,000
Buyer: Carole Roy
Seller: Pilgrims Of Saint Michael
Date: 02/23/21

NORTHFIELD

50 Glenwood Ave
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Natalie J Larsen
Seller: Wallace, Mary L Est
Date: 02/26/21

ORANGE

475 East River St
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $146,000
Buyer: Jamie Powell
Seller: Peggy L Peirce
Date: 03/05/21

52 East Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Noble Manna Farms LLC
Seller: 0 East Road RT
Date: 02/24/21

7 Eddy St
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $178,000
Buyer: Justin M Frost
Seller: Tracy Rothstein
Date: 02/26/21

16 Hillside Ter
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $256,000
Buyer: Pamela A Knapp
Seller: Christopher Chadwick
Date: 02/26/21

415 Tully Rd
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Dora P Tasso-Costello
Seller: Norman H Gates
Date: 02/26/21

SHELBURNE

253 Colrain Shelburne Rd
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $364,000
Buyer: Virginia H Vogt
Seller: Ann Dore
Date: 03/02/21

62 Mechanic St
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Timothy McCrory
Seller: William D Umstatter
Date: 02/26/21

SHUTESBURY

58 Old Egypt Rd
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $302,000
Buyer: Suzanne E Rataj
Seller: Caleb G Truesdell
Date: 02/23/21

SUNDERLAND

14 North Plain Rd
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Elizabeth H Wassmann
Seller: Jeffrey B Hubbard
Date: 03/01/21

300 North Silver Ln
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: Alexander D Will
Seller: Mark T Fabianowicz
Date: 02/26/21

WENDELL

71 West St
Wendell, MA 01380
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Michelle E Leh
Seller: Edgewater Construction Inc
Date: 02/23/21

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

22 Florida Dr
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Huy Ton
Seller: Joy L Benoit
Date: 02/26/21

76 Fordham Ave
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $306,000
Buyer: Joseph Chambers
Seller: Matthew T Moskey
Date: 03/05/21

14 Forge St
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $484,900
Buyer: R J&D A Guggino RET
Seller: Joseph A Frigo
Date: 02/26/21

32 King St
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Round 2 LLC
Seller: Property Advantage Inc
Date: 02/23/21

321 Leonard St
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Maura Archuleta
Seller: VIP Homes & Associates LLC
Date: 03/01/21

24 Maple View Ln
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $267,500
Buyer: Jordan C Visconti
Seller: Marc A Gendron
Date: 02/26/21

198 Mill St
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: William C Tragakis
Seller: Jose Quinones
Date: 02/26/21

19-21 Orlando St
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Kendall Hill-Manning
Seller: Jeffery C Hill
Date: 02/22/21

229 Pineview Circle
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Maraya Sanderson
Seller: Persio Salvatore Est
Date: 02/26/21

1169 River Rd
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Bryan Cunningham
Seller: Norma I Moreno
Date: 02/25/21

93-95 Sheri Ln
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Chubchek K Muradova
Seller: Mark J Danalis
Date: 03/03/21

119 Shoemaker Ln
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Petr Yurchenko
Seller: Virginia M Berger
Date: 02/25/21

22 Sunrise Ter
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $249,900
Buyer: Daniel Mastroianni
Seller: Paul J Traska
Date: 03/05/21

105 Walnut St
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: 105 Walnut Realty LLC
Seller: Susan Robinson
Date: 03/05/21

BRIMFIELD

12 3rd St
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Rocha REI & Home Improvement
Seller: Regina L Ryan
Date: 03/01/21

Devils Lane
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $319,900
Buyer: Michelle M Dunfield
Seller: Sean E Downey
Date: 02/25/21

131 East Brimfield Holland
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $259,875
Buyer: Woodstock Golf LLC
Seller: US Bank
Date: 03/02/21

CHICOPEE

43 Archie St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Terrence F Szcygiel
Seller: Jared S Debettencourt
Date: 03/03/21

36 Bell St
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $486,000
Buyer: Tihwdi LLC
Seller: Paul Sowa
Date: 03/05/21

59 Brightwood St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Waldo Portillo
Seller: Joejoe Properties LLC
Date: 03/02/21

139 Chapel St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Sefunmi L Ogunmola
Seller: Lorraine C Hundley
Date: 03/02/21

471 Chicopee St
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $486,000
Buyer: Tihwdi LLC
Seller: Paul Sowa
Date: 03/05/21

Clarendon Ave
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Volodymyr Boyko
Seller: Antonio Fonseca
Date: 03/03/21

162 Clarendon Ave
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $156,000
Buyer: Edwin E Diaz
Seller: Maria Uzun
Date: 03/05/21

130 Delaney Ave
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Cassidy Carpenter
Seller: Alexander Merkulov
Date: 02/25/21

32 Empire St
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Jake J Thibault
Seller: Mark J Guertin
Date: 02/25/21

30 Everett St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $243,500
Buyer: Colton J Duxbury
Seller: Kelly Kendall
Date: 02/25/21

600 Granby Rd
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Natasha Falcon
Seller: Shawn S Smith
Date: 03/04/21

19 Grove Ave
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Christopher Quinones
Seller: Onyx Investments LLC
Date: 03/03/21

185 Grove St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: RT Commercials LLC
Seller: ALP Of Chicopee Inc
Date: 03/05/21

Grove St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: RT Commercials LLC
Seller: Laurence L Wojcik
Date: 03/05/21

197 Hampden St
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: Daniel N Aguilar
Seller: William R Bury
Date: 03/05/21

185 Irene St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $192,250
Buyer: Jesse Geary
Seller: Kevin J Shea
Date: 02/26/21

199 Jacob St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Richard Alvarado
Seller: Ozkan Yagan
Date: 03/02/21

62 Lukasik St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $224,999
Buyer: Elizabeth Cebula
Seller: Timothy Fournier
Date: 02/26/21

232 Montcalm St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Amanda L Carlson
Seller: Round 2 LLC
Date: 02/26/21

15 Muzzy St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Denia M Perez-Salas
Seller: Jean P Gauthier
Date: 03/04/21

70 Narragansett Blvd.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Helen Turner
Seller: Sergey Sevostyanov
Date: 03/05/21

149 Rolf Ave
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Tabitha L Christian
Seller: George K Labonte
Date: 02/26/21

51 Schley St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Nestor G Ramos
Seller: Manchester Enterprises
Date: 02/25/21

26 Sesame Dr
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $445,000
Buyer: Jon J Edwards
Seller: Martine Iampietro
Date: 03/01/21

61 Shepherd St
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Sherri Moquin
Seller: John J Rivard
Date: 02/24/21

Sheridan St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: DGL Properties LLC
Seller: Westside Housing Inc
Date: 03/05/21

5 Stockbridge St
Chicopee, MA 01103
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Bruce J Mailhott
Seller: Waycon Inc
Date: 02/26/21

45 Sycamore Lane
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Timothy J Fournier
Seller: Grandview Development Assocs. LLC
Date: 03/02/21

63 Whittlesey Ave
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Douglas D Benoit
Seller: Robert Opsitnick
Date: 02/23/21

44 White St
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Leo E Fugler
Seller: US Bank
Date: 03/05/21

19 Willette St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Jesus S Munoz-Laviena
Seller: Eduard Yanyuk
Date: 02/26/21

102 Winthrop St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Megan K Sullivan
Seller: Yelena Kulakova
Date: 02/25/21

111 Woodlawn St
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Michelle M Dostie
Seller: Erin Bernashe
Date: 02/23/21

EAST LONGMEADOW

14 Bella Vista Dr
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $599,900
Buyer: Alexandra Szawlowski
Seller: AC Homebuilding LLC
Date: 02/26/21

10 Bunker Circle
East Longmeadow, MA 01108
Amount: $369,000
Buyer: Sylvia Inserni-Vazquez
Seller: Antonio Calabrese
Date: 03/04/21

114 Canterbury Circle
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $570,000
Buyer: Gregory Webster
Seller: Stephen A Crane
Date: 03/05/21

130 Elm St
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Quazi K Uddin
Seller: Forrest Devine
Date: 02/22/21

159 Elm St
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $163,000
Buyer: RC Builders LLC
Seller: Brahman Holdings LLC
Date: 02/26/21

40 Fairview St
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Sarah Parker
Seller: Walter J Esposito
Date: 03/05/21

37 Greenacre Ln
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Sarah J Wells
Seller: Michael F Farrell
Date: 03/02/21

51 Hillside Dr
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Joan Calderon
Seller: Jennifer L White
Date: 02/26/21

67 John St
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: Alfonso Gioiella
Seller: Patrick F Eckert
Date: 02/22/21

40 Linden Ave
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $175,010
Buyer: William Raleigh
Seller: FNMA
Date: 02/26/21

6 Old Pasture Dr
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $750,000
Buyer: Manu Sachdev
Seller: Michael J Kane
Date: 02/26/21

162 Pease Rd
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $369,000
Buyer: Jeffrey Pike
Seller: Jeffrey S Morneau
Date: 03/01/21

112 Porter Rd
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Amanda A Torcia
Seller: Doyle Porter Road LLC
Date: 03/01/21

43 Powder Hill Rd
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Juan Esteves
Seller: Patricia A Ahern
Date: 02/26/21

15 Ridgewood Rd
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $565,000
Buyer: John J Kelly
Seller: John J Kelly
Date: 03/05/21

24-26 School St
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Hugh C Scott
Seller: Julianne Socha
Date: 02/24/21

28 Taylor St
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $216,850
Buyer: John F Shevlin
Seller: Michael A Perkins
Date: 03/02/21

5 Voyer Ave
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $359,900
Buyer: Van T Nguyen
Seller: Michael White
Date: 02/26/21

20 Westminster St
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Annamaria Wynne
Seller: Stephen A Bourque
Date: 02/26/21

HAMPDEN

350 Chapin Rd
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $630,000
Buyer: Jared M Duff
Seller: David B Paradis
Date: 02/26/21

33 South Monson Rd
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Corey O’Keefe
Seller: Brett S Purchas
Date: 03/02/21

 

HOLLAND

61 East Brimfield Rd
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $204,000
Buyer: Bank Of America
Seller: Gloria T Kay
Date: 02/24/21

8 Forest Court
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $116,000
Buyer: Mark Santore
Seller: US Bank
Date: 03/05/21

HOLYOKE

205 Beech St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Brendan H Shea
Seller: Samantha Bousquet
Date: 02/26/21

22 Bemis Rd
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $337,000
Buyer: Michaela R Schwartz
Seller: Robert Zucker
Date: 03/05/21

7 Clark St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $209,200
Buyer: Evilin Lopez
Seller: Lasca Hoey
Date: 03/05/21

1312-1316 Dwight St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: Giovanni Cotto-Colon
Seller: Alan L Betournay
Date: 02/26/21

1035 Hampden St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $253,750
Buyer: Christopher W Butler
Seller: Marven Realty Corp.
Date: 02/25/21

233 Huron Ave
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Amy M Craig
Seller: John E McMahon
Date: 02/26/21

120 Middle Water St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $800,000
Buyer: WTM SM LLC
Seller: E&L Corp.
Date: 03/05/21

2054 Northampton St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Riley P Provost
Seller: Rowinski, Leokadia Est
Date: 02/26/21

2 Orchard St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Helson Morales
Seller: Revampit LLC
Date: 02/23/21

425 Pleasant St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $137,300
Buyer: RC Builders LLC
Seller: Brahman Holdings LLC
Date: 03/05/21

47 Ridgewood Ave
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $198,650
Buyer: Jessica Morales
Seller: Harold F Skelton
Date: 02/22/21

31 Sunset Rd
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $279,900
Buyer: Lillian K Krause-Ely
Seller: Lunardini, Adam J Est
Date: 02/24/21

44-46 Vernon St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $247,500
Buyer: Gildaly Negron-Correa
Seller: Kevin M Murray
Date: 03/01/21

3 Wall Rd
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Diana T Olsheski
Seller: Andrew J Farr
Date: 03/01/21

19 Willow St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $207,500
Buyer: Austin J Fuller
Seller: Miriam I Allam
Date: 02/26/21

LONGMEADOW

130 Arlington Rd
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Isabel Dubrinsky-Clayton
Seller: Alexander J Zayac
Date: 02/26/21

203 Captain Rd
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $413,500
Buyer: Seth A Stutman
Seller: Adam Weinberg
Date: 03/02/21

64 Clairmont St
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $336,000
Buyer: Nadin Sozudogru
Seller: David C Merrill
Date: 02/23/21

535 Converse St
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Donna A Bertolotti
Seller: Peter A Bonavita
Date: 02/26/21

30 Lorenz St
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Yong J No
Seller: Mary E David
Date: 03/03/21

39 Robin Rd
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Paul F Liebman
Seller: Venessa O’Brien RET
Date: 02/26/21

LUDLOW

258 Fuller St
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Chandler C Noga
Seller: Homer J Foucher
Date: 02/24/21

Harvest Dr. #38
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $139,900
Buyer: Brian T Donovan
Seller: Whitetail Wreks LLC
Date: 03/05/21

95 Higher Brook Dr
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Tymothy C Mills
Seller: Higher Brook LLC
Date: 03/01/21

61 Lillian St
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Isabel Soares
Seller: Fernando J DosSantos
Date: 02/24/21

30 Oakridge St
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Nathan J Pereira
Seller: Joan M Simao
Date: 03/05/21

32 Reynolds St
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Jason R Riether
Seller: Tymothy C Mills
Date: 03/01/21

Sunset Dr. #18
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Ryan Mickiewicz
Seller: Jeremy J Procon
Date: 02/26/21

903 West St
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Daniel M Marra
Seller: Carol E Aurnhammer
Date: 02/22/21

261 Woodland Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $441,000
Buyer: Stephen D Audette
Seller: Frank J Gallo
Date: 03/05/21

MONSON

180 Hovey Rd
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $492,500
Buyer: David B Paradis
Seller: Christopher N Russell
Date: 03/01/21

239 Hovey Rd
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $478,000
Buyer: Tymmothy Dore
Seller: James S Beniamino
Date: 02/26/21

34 Paradise Lake Rd
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Paradise Lake Road LLC
Seller: Lisa Borlen
Date: 02/22/21

21 State St
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Rose Was
Seller: Cara A McIntire
Date: 03/05/21

27 Thayer Rd
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Justin A Melbourne
Seller: James A Dirico
Date: 03/03/21

85 Upper Palmer Rd
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $195,700
Buyer: Argolica LLC
Seller: Mary E Barker
Date: 03/05/21

PALMER

1 Bowden St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: James R Morway
Seller: Richmond E Young
Date: 02/25/21

275 Breckenridge St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $217,000
Buyer: Jacob Korzec
Seller: Paul E Holloway
Date: 03/05/21

1217 Calkins Rd
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $157,500
Buyer: John P Galarneau
Seller: Paul Bukowski
Date: 02/26/21

22 Griffin St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Heidi D Gotthoffer
Seller: Natalie Smalley
Date: 03/05/21

4001-4003 Hill St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Jose Miranda
Seller: Glenn R Hanson
Date: 03/02/21

1682 North Main St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $131,600
Buyer: Birtal 1987 LLC
Seller: Laelia LLC
Date: 02/22/21

4013-A-D Pine St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $406,000
Buyer: 4030 Pine Street LLC
Seller: Paul J Corrow
Date: 03/01/21

1289 South Main St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $132,450
Buyer: John W Lech
Seller: Erin C Johnson
Date: 02/25/21

239-A Stimson St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Mark Iodice
Seller: Glenn R Hanson
Date: 02/26/21

239-B Stimson St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Mark Iodice
Seller: Glenn R Hanson
Date: 02/26/21

70 Water St
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Anthon Quenneville-Burke
Seller: Nicholas Garceau
Date: 03/01/21

SPRINGFIELD

92 Alden St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $242,000
Buyer: Abdulrahman F Naser
Seller: Martha A Collins
Date: 03/04/21

185 Ambrose St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Samuel Waruingi
Seller: Joanuel Claudio
Date: 03/04/21

88 Ardmore St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Angel T Catala
Seller: Daniel M Moriarty
Date: 02/22/21

104 Ashbrook St
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $227,000
Buyer: Jennifer T McDiarmid
Seller: Kelley Diederich
Date: 03/05/21

28-30 Aster St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Reymer Perez-Jimenez
Seller: Arnold Construction Inc
Date: 02/26/21

150 Bairdcrest Rd
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Marie Osorio
Seller: Quang K Tran
Date: 02/24/21

24 Beechwood Ave
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Daniela F Esteban
Seller: William G Smith
Date: 03/05/21

46 Benton St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $172,500
Buyer: Mitchell Glucksman
Seller: Wayne F Trahan
Date: 02/26/21

13 Biella St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $192,000
Buyer: Yessinia M Reyes
Seller: Blanco Realty LLC
Date: 02/24/21

9-11 Bloomfield St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $186,000
Buyer: Juan C Garcia-Cortez
Seller: Lachenauer LLC
Date: 02/25/21

77 Bretton Rd
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $224,250
Buyer: Sonya L Bosworth
Seller: Joshua R Sprague
Date: 03/05/21

179 Cabinet St
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $273,000
Buyer: Rayana T Williams
Seller: Charlette A Scott
Date: 02/26/21

95 Campechi St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $232,500
Buyer: Nelmarie Rivera-Rosado
Seller: Jose Diaz
Date: 02/25/21

157 Canterbury Rd
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Samantha M Thompson
Seller: Moltenbrey Builders LLC
Date: 02/26/21

40 Chalfonte Dr
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Paul J Desrosiers
Seller: Carlos E Martinez
Date: 02/23/21

31 Colonial Ave
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Anderson Guzman
Seller: Chad Lynch
Date: 03/05/21

219 Cooley St
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Preston R Delvalle
Seller: Patriot Living LLC
Date: 02/26/21

18 Dell Place
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $247,400
Buyer: Ronnie Williams
Seller: Daniel V Walsh
Date: 03/01/21

483 Dickinson St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $124,000
Buyer: Joseph Santaniello
Seller: Deborah A Kenefick
Date: 02/22/21

817 Dickinson St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: William R Godin
Seller: Laura M Deluca
Date: 03/03/21

121 Dorset St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $117,000
Buyer: Vy Lefebvre
Seller: Todd Lefebvre
Date: 02/25/21

109-111 Dwight Rd
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $253,000
Buyer: Ellie Larson
Seller: Mengru Li
Date: 02/25/21

52 Eleanor Rd
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Dilip Biswa
Seller: Eric F Abel
Date: 02/23/21

67 Ellsworth Ave
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Jean E Donnelly
Seller: Michelle J Wynne
Date: 02/26/21

86 Emerson St
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Juan Mosquea
Seller: Carrasquillo Fix Up LLC
Date: 03/03/21

51 Ferncliff Ave
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $217,500
Buyer: Adam McNulty
Seller: Michael J Cross
Date: 03/04/21

41 Garcia St
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Cassandra Proulx
Seller: Gary W Proulx
Date: 02/25/21

38 Grattan St
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Sean P Garcia
Seller: Melissa C Brown
Date: 03/05/21

81 Haskin St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $199,000
Buyer: Eduardo Rodriguez
Seller: JJJ 17 LLC
Date: 02/24/21

54 Homestead Ave
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: CIG 4 LLC
Seller: Mohamed A Kibodya
Date: 03/05/21

50-52 Humbert St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Shamier Lindo
Seller: Sandra I Roman
Date: 02/25/21

109-111 Kensington Ave
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Oscar Naula
Seller: Theocles, Charles A Est
Date: 03/01/21

28 Kenwood Park
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $200,217
Buyer: Sunshine Homes LLC
Seller: Sunshine Homes LLC
Date: 03/03/21

112 Lake Dr
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Jennifer M Donoso
Seller: Paul Bernardes
Date: 03/04/21

124 Longhill St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Mimi F Pezzuto 2020 RET
Seller: Gilberto E Ramirez
Date: 03/03/21

134 Longhill St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: Siobhan Silver
Seller: Gregory J Leishman
Date: 03/03/21

45-47 Los Angeles St
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Kathyria B Rodriguez
Seller: Fred D Sousa
Date: 02/25/21

1592-1596 Main St
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: 1670 Main Street LLC
Seller: New England Farm Workers
Date: 02/26/21

1600 Main St
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: 1670 Main Street LLC
Seller: New England Farm Workers
Date: 02/26/21

4-20 Maple St
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $930,000
Buyer: Tree House Properties LLC
Seller: Caserta Co LLC
Date: 03/01/21

71 Margerie St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $186,000
Buyer: Luz M Merced-Figueroa
Seller: Lachenauer LLC
Date: 02/23/21

91 Mulberry St
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $249,040
Buyer: Deutsche Bank
Seller: William G Duquette
Date: 03/03/21

132-134 Noel St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $303,000
Buyer: David Feliciano
Seller: Klaire Bielonko
Date: 02/26/21

27 Northway Dr
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Tascon Homes LLC
Seller: Hosten, Reed D Jr Est
Date: 02/26/21

178 Nottingham St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Fernando Laboy
Seller: Andrew Allen
Date: 02/22/21

19-21 Nye St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $197,000
Buyer: Joel Duran
Seller: Anderson, Margaret M Est
Date: 03/05/21

255 Oak St
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $147,263
Buyer: RE Legacy Investments LLC
Seller: Deutsche Bank
Date: 03/05/21

261 Oakland St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $289,000
Buyer: Jose Lopez
Seller: HAJ Group LLC
Date: 03/01/21

272 Old Farm Rd
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Bryan Mahoney
Seller: Daniel T Mahoney
Date: 02/25/21

211 Osborne Ter
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Irina Buynovskaya
Seller: Peter Stefanyszyn
Date: 03/02/21

387-389 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $263,000
Buyer: Jose M Vazquez-Roman
Seller: JJJ 17 LLC
Date: 02/26/21

1222-1224 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Vincent Nazario
Seller: Eduardo G Casanova
Date: 02/22/21

170 Paridon St
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Richard Asencio
Seller: Zadkiel RT
Date: 02/26/21

1457 Parker St
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Nancy Cunningham
Seller: Alan R Barrett
Date: 03/03/21

109-111 Pearl St
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: 121 Spr St Enterprise LLC
Seller: 121 Spr St LLC
Date: 02/26/21

260 Pheland St
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $145,377
Buyer: Marco Scibelli
Seller: James A Sansalone
Date: 03/01/21

125 Pilgrim Rd
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Aguinaldo C Lomba
Seller: Sergio Hernandez
Date: 03/05/21

6-8 Pinevale St
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Jeremy Arsenault
Seller: Paulo M Fragoso
Date: 02/26/21

320 Plumtree Rd
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jordyn L Moquin
Seller: Revitalized Renovations
Date: 02/26/21

24 Ramah St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Svetlana Barrios
Seller: Sergio L Hernandez
Date: 02/22/21

32 Randall Place
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Ramon Garrick
Seller: Phoenix Development Inc
Date: 03/01/21

263 Redlands St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Jaqueline Luna
Seller: Timothy Brown
Date: 02/22/21

50 Riverview Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Fatema M Alhussein
Seller: Anthony A Sergentanis
Date: 02/26/21

500 Roosevelt Ave
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $332,500
Buyer: Dana Delgardo
Seller: Karoline Syner
Date: 02/22/21

863 Roosevelt Ave
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Laura Cunningham
Seller: Jayce Barr
Date: 02/26/21

127 Sawmill Rd
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $262,000
Buyer: Nakisha A Williams
Seller: Gregory Webster
Date: 03/05/21

97 Sherwood Rd
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $233,000
Buyer: Mark J Cianciola
Seller: Corina Brouder
Date: 02/22/21

76-78 Somerset St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $268,200
Buyer: Wilmer A Santos
Seller: Vieira Family Prop LLC
Date: 02/23/21

58 South Tallyho Dr
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Novlette Wilson
Seller: Slepchuk, Walter Est
Date: 03/05/21

250 Spikenard Circle
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Matthew Holmes
Seller: Jeffrey R Smith
Date: 03/05/21

109-111 Spring St
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: 121 Spring St. Enterprise LLC
Seller: 121 Spring St. LLC
Date: 02/26/21

117 Spring St
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: 121 Spring St. Enterprise LLC
Seller: 121 Spring St. LLC
Date: 02/26/21

177 Springfield St
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: Spencer J Johnson
Seller: Thomas K Reen
Date: 02/22/21

181 State St
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $930,000
Buyer: Tree House Properties LLC
Seller: Caserta Co LLC
Date: 03/01/21

33 Warner St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Edgar Ramos
Seller: Linda L Meehan
Date: 02/26/21

120-122 West Alvord St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Samuel Saillant
Seller: Jala Wallace
Date: 02/23/21

413 White St
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: Nhu Nguyen
Seller: Long D Duong
Date: 03/05/21

145 Wildwood Ave
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Jonathan Barnhart
Seller: John W Russell
Date: 02/22/21

22 Windemere St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Marva J Charles
Seller: Jose M Lopez
Date: 02/26/21

191 Windemere St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Humboldt Realty LLC
Seller: Charles A Platten
Date: 03/03/21

8-10 Wolcott St
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $199,900
Buyer: Margarita Santiago
Seller: Jonathan Lurie
Date: 03/03/21

1307-1309 Worcester St
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: 8868 Realty LLC
Seller: 1307-1309 Worcester St. LLC
Date: 02/26/21

SOUTHWICK

822 College Hwy.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Angelo S Melloni
Seller: Theresa A Lecrenski
Date: 03/01/21

17 Fred Jackson Rd
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Austin Carmel
Seller: Patricia Davis-Mocarsky
Date: 03/05/21

294 Granville Rd
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Kevin J King
Seller: Tadeusz J Filipiak
Date: 02/26/21

12 Knollwood Rd
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Ronald Vandervliet
Seller: Leah Fish
Date: 02/26/21

4 Mayflower Lane
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $535,000
Buyer: Erika Ryan
Seller: Daniel R Hess
Date: 02/26/21

281 South Longyard Rd
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Andrew S Felix
Seller: Doris A Parentela
Date: 02/22/21

WESTFIELD

288 Buck Pond Rd
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $147,900
Buyer: Yevgeniya Gnidenko
Seller: St.Marie, Mary Ann J Est
Date: 02/25/21

21 Charles St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Fatumo M Sidow
Seller: Yevgeniy Sevostyanov
Date: 02/23/21

1761 East Mountain Rd
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Alan P Desrohers
Seller: US Bank
Date: 02/26/21

55 East Silver St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: TM Properties Inc
Seller: Joseph G Lucas
Date: 02/26/21

12 Fremont St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $138,975
Buyer: Yelizaveta Belyakova
Seller: FNMA
Date: 02/26/21

62 Granville Rd
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $318,000
Buyer: Mechanic Man LLC
Seller: Joseph G Flahive
Date: 03/05/21

3 Lathrop Ave
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $298,000
Buyer: Robert Wensley
Seller: Catherine A Bannish
Date: 03/05/21

4 Michael Dr
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $262,000
Buyer: Seth N Clark
Seller: Mario Santaniello
Date: 02/23/21

14 Morgan Ave
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Richard K Dazelle
Seller: Melanie J Brochu
Date: 02/26/21

12 Otis St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $171,500
Buyer: Tiara Johnson
Seller: Paul G Fortini
Date: 03/05/21

106 Park River Dr
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Vitaliy Kazimirov
Seller: Collier, Paul F Est
Date: 03/05/21

15 Riverside Dr
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Richard J White
Seller: Logan A Morton
Date: 03/05/21

53 South Maple St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $296,000
Buyer: Grace M Taylor
Seller: Jacqueline Marciano
Date: 02/26/21

298 Sackett Rd
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $349,900
Buyer: Eunice A Coutinho
Seller: Lawrence P Boisjolie
Date: 02/26/21

10 Sherman St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $214,000
Buyer: Beth Sager
Seller: Richard Ringer
Date: 02/26/21

247 Springdale Rd
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $271,000
Buyer: Alberto Rodriguez
Seller: Elizabeth M Pedersen
Date: 02/26/21

19 State St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Noemi Ramos
Seller: Lynn M Kaczman
Date: 03/02/21

187 Tannery Rd
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $337,000
Buyer: Gerald R Dorval
Seller: Israel Real Estate Co. Inc
Date: 02/24/21

30 White St
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Ivan Volchanov
Seller: Oleg Shevchenko
Date: 03/04/21

WILBRAHAM

2589 Boston Rd
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $393,532
Buyer: Nathan J Servidio
Seller: Aljera Inc
Date: 02/25/21

19 Chapin Dr
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Evan J O’Brien
Seller: Jason P Donovan
Date: 02/26/21

16 Danforth Farms Rd
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: John M Biela
Seller: Dan Roulier & Assocs. Inc
Date: 02/26/21

4 Forest Glade Dr
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Richard Grono
Seller: Wayne E Wilder
Date: 02/23/21

2 Kensington Dr
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Karl Brown
Seller: Valerie Duvall-Bernardo
Date: 03/03/21

5 Kensington Dr
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $625,000
Buyer: Amandeep Guliani
Seller: Gerard Langlais
Date: 03/04/21

15 Old Boston Rd
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Aja N Miller
Seller: Justin A Melbourne
Date: 03/03/21

6 Parkwood Dr
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Jake T Janas
Seller: Jared M Duff
Date: 02/26/21

7 Parkwood Dr
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Andrew A Wall
Seller: Sonja K Wall
Date: 03/05/21

7 Shady Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Kelley A Diederich
Seller: Tovan Nguyen
Date: 03/05/21

96 Stony Hill Rd
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Courtney Kotfila
Seller: Joseph Butts
Date: 02/25/21

7 Wildwood Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $140,500
Buyer: Kurt J Macdonald
Seller: Kurt J Macdonald
Date: 02/24/21

WEST SPRINGFIELD

31-33 Ames Ave
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Christopher Cole
Seller: Michael Tourville
Date: 03/05/21

32 Angeline St
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $189,000
Buyer: Artem Slivka
Seller: Ryan Spencer
Date: 03/03/21

45 Belle Ave
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Mikhail Saykin
Seller: Anatoliy Petrenko
Date: 03/03/21

134 Dorwin Dr
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Robert Contant
Seller: Jeanne S Goodsell
Date: 03/01/21

136 Galaska Dr
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Michael Kane
Seller: Michael P Kane
Date: 02/24/21

312 Memorial Ave
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $1,200,000
Buyer: SNZ Realty LLC
Seller: Kquad LLC
Date: 02/25/21

338 Memorial Ave
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $1,200,000
Buyer: SNZ Realty LLC
Seller: Kquad LLC
Date: 02/25/21

1510 Morgan Rd
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $512,000
Buyer: Matthew T Moskey
Seller: Gerald L Krywicki
Date: 03/05/21

426 Rogers Ave
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $276,000
Buyer: Kayla R Lusnia
Seller: Stanley M Lusnia
Date: 03/05/21

42 Sean Louis Circle
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $685,000
Buyer: Sayeda N Alam
Seller: Kirk D Jonah
Date: 02/26/21

10 Shadow Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $470,000
Buyer: Andrew J Cox
Seller: Jacqueline S Tellier
Date: 02/25/21

628 Springfield St
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $231,900
Buyer: Frank D Wilson
Seller: Joecreative Inc
Date: 03/01/21

53 Warren St
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $243,000
Buyer: Felecia Montiel-Yager
Seller: Gene Davis
Date: 02/22/21

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

270 East Leverett Rd
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $725,000
Buyer: Timothy Woodbury
Seller: Tanya J Hart
Date: 02/25/21

234 Market Hill Rd
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Lori A Stosz
Seller: John J Stosz
Date: 03/01/21

155 Northampton Rd
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $545,000
Buyer: Meghan MacFadden
Seller: William J Crotty
Date: 03/01/21

205 Shays St
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Daphne Lamothe
Seller: Andrew J Cox
Date: 03/01/21

551 West St
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $352,000
Buyer: Klajd Kovaci
Seller: Jing-Hua Liang
Date: 02/24/21

 

BELCHERTOWN

191 East St
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $311,000
Buyer: Teresa Waybrew-Zucker
Seller: Jay A Elfenbein
Date: 03/01/21

100 Federal St
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Shane E Ryan
Seller: Timothy E Fitzemeyer
Date: 02/25/21

786 Franklin St
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Mariah McCaughey
Seller: EPB RE Services LLC
Date: 02/22/21

101 Howard St
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Bonnie S Mcintosh
Seller: Mung Pham
Date: 02/26/21

225 Mill Valley Rd
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $268,000
Buyer: Robert J Stedtler
Seller: Kathleen E Hodgen
Date: 03/05/21

324 Springfield Rd
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $412,000
Buyer: Ramona Pond-Blais
Seller: Randy J Dimitropolis
Date: 02/26/21

136 Summit St
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $319,500
Buyer: Rasidi O Akodu
Seller: Emerald City Rentals LLC
Date: 02/26/21

6 Trillium Way
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $418,000
Buyer: Andrew J Swafford
Seller: Matthew Shadeed
Date: 02/26/21

EASTHAMPTON

10-12 Searle Ave
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Jonathan Soto
Seller: Mountain View Investors LP
Date: 02/22/21

GRANBY

286 Batchelor St
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Marisa A Morin
Seller: Gregory J Pion
Date: 03/05/21

107 Carver St
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $545,000
Buyer: Cara McIntire
Seller: Lora P Os
Date: 03/05/21

9 Circle Dr
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $279,000
Buyer: Erin K Murphy
Seller: Robert E Lepage
Date: 02/24/21

100-102 New Ludlow Rd
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: T Noble Property Group LLC
Seller: Michael Mclain
Date: 03/04/21

17 Sherwood Dr
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $226,000
Buyer: Jason A Dufault
Seller: Richard Nastrom
Date: 02/26/21

HATFIELD

12 Mountain Rd
Hatfield, MA 01066
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Michael G Thurber
Seller: L R & Rose H Kubilis LT
Date: 02/26/21

24 Plain Rd
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Kelly L Gaus
Seller: Danny R Love
Date: 03/01/21

148 West St
Hatfield, MA 01088
Amount: $422,000
Buyer: Elyse Bianchet
Seller: Gerald R Dorval
Date: 02/26/21

NORTHAMPTON

243 Bridge St
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $140,500
Buyer: RC Builders LLC
Seller: Brahman Holdings LLC
Date: 02/22/21

994 Florence Rd
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Jeremy D Ober
Seller: Matthias Kaindl
Date: 03/03/21

65 Gothic St
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $1,190,000
Buyer: Alexander G Theodoridis
Seller: James W Hagadorn
Date: 02/26/21

26 Hatfield St
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $745,000
Buyer: Ryan Gorman
Seller: McCutcheon Development LLC
Date: 03/01/21

24 Haydenville Rd
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $690,000
Buyer: PRP RT
Seller: Richmond Big Sky LLC
Date: 02/25/21

10 Laurel St
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $300,500
Buyer: Christopher Freeman
Seller: Janice Denno
Date: 03/01/21

23 Myrtle St
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $451,000
Buyer: Ryan Richardson
Seller: Siobhan Silver TR
Date: 03/03/21

22 Old Wilson Rd
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $662,300
Buyer: Joanna Smith
Seller: Lisa M Lebiecki
Date: 03/02/21

117 Olander Dr. #17A
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $433,210
Buyer: Jessica L Kenney
Seller: Sunwood Development Corp.
Date: 02/26/21

117 Olander Dr. #17B
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $312,572
Buyer: Kathryn B Tracy
Seller: Sunwood Dev Corp
Date: 02/23/21

35 Park St
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: Sara Luria
Seller: Elizabeth E Vizentin
Date: 03/01/21

279 State St
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $263,000
Buyer: Anna M Martinez
Seller: Sarah E Peters
Date: 02/25/21

7 Summerfield Dr
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Robin C Parsons
Seller: Parsons, C Robin Est
Date: 02/25/21

305 Westhampton Rd
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $362,500
Buyer: Ronald E Sheffer
Seller: Lisa M Lococo
Date: 03/05/21

SOUTH HADLEY

9 Atwood Rd
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $283,000
Buyer: Courtney Mattingly
Seller: Maura Campbell
Date: 02/26/21

25 Berwyn St
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Dhrumil Swadia
Seller: James M Whalen
Date: 02/25/21

3 Brock Way
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Daniel R Phakos
Seller: Michael R Chunyk
Date: 02/26/21

365 East St
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $449,900
Buyer: Zachary M Hay
Seller: Oak Ridge Custom Hm Builders
Date: 02/26/21

16 Hollywood St
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Jeffery Thibault
Seller: April A Hough
Date: 02/25/21

5 Lyon Green
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: J N Duquette & Son Construction
Seller: Montain Brook LLC
Date: 02/25/21

9 Lyon Green
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: JN Duquette & Son Construction
Seller: Mountain Brook LLC
Date: 02/25/21

514 Newton St
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Jeremiah D Shrum
Seller: David A Macko
Date: 03/05/21

4 Plainville Circle
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $388,000
Buyer: John W Bauman
Seller: Stanley J Czerwiec
Date: 03/01/21

10 River Lodge Rd
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Vanessa Bartolo
Seller: Amanda C Stutmay
Date: 02/25/21

110 River Rd
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $141,500
Buyer: Denise Swahlan
Seller: William T Lyle
Date: 03/05/21

10 Tigger Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $610,000
Buyer: Natasha Z Matos
Seller: Michael F Werenskin
Date: 02/25/21

SOUTHAMPTON

8 Bluemer Rd
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Vitaliy Panchenko
Seller: Anne E Buscher
Date: 02/26/21

22 Camp Jahn Rd
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Laura A Paul
Seller: Kathleen Morin-Paul
Date: 03/03/21

79 Glendale Rd
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $537,000
Buyer: Joshua Muszynski
Seller: Abdallah Hage-Sleian
Date: 02/24/21

19 Lead Mine Rd
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Vladimir Bondar
Seller: Anne E Kochan Family LP
Date: 02/24/21

47-A Strong Rd
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $540,000
Buyer: William Delgado
Seller: John D Geeleher
Date: 02/25/21

2 Sophie Circle
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $336,000
Buyer: Scott Lessing
Seller: Marian Matosky
Date: 03/05/21

WARE

42 Dunham Ave
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Meiling Shi
Seller: Philip P Dion
Date: 03/05/21

25 Fisherdick Rd
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Alex M Adamsky
Seller: Jane H Letendre
Date: 03/05/21

4 Gwen Circle
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Robert A Gerulaitis
Seller: Robert L Gould
Date: 03/05/21

49 Lois St
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $163,265
Buyer: David Annunziata
Seller: Court, Docket H P Est
Date: 02/26/21

65 Old Poor Farm Rd
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $277,000
Buyer: Michael Lavalley
Seller: Robert A Gerulaitis
Date: 03/05/21

152 Upper Church St
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $174,000
Buyer: Deborah A Terrien
Seller: Kristine Barnes
Date: 03/01/21

WILLIAMSBURG

12 Main St
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Heather Majercik
Seller: 41 Lyman Road NT
Date: 03/05/21

7 Williamsburg Rd
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $399,000
Buyer: Gary Listug
Seller: Craig R Collins
Date: 02/23/21

WESTHAMPTON

124 Chesterfield Rd
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Christopher M Kelly
Seller: Marcus C Holt
Date: 03/05/21

153 Northwest Rd
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Brittany Butler
Seller: Lee A Craig
Date: 02/26/21

WORTHINGTON

252 West St
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Jackson Mansfield
Seller: Lemaire, Theodora A Est
Date: 03/05/21

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Zoo in Forest Park will host its annual Eggstravaganza on Saturday, April 3 and Sunday, April 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The event will include socially distanced grab-and-go stations with pre-packaged candy bags, take-home crafts, goody-filled Easter eggs, and books and coloring books for children (while supplies last). There will also be socially distanced animal encounters and enrichment that allow guests to get a closer look at some of the animals.

“Last season, we provided many families with a fun, safe experience outside of the home,” said Gabry Tyson, development associate at the Zoo in Forest Park. “We are looking forward to kicking off our 2021 season with Eggstravaganza, once again welcoming the community into the zoo.”

Pre-registration is required for all attendees, and tickets are limited. No additional tickets will be sold at the door. Registration closes April 1 or when all tickets are sold. To purchase tickets, visit www.forestparkzoo.org/buytickets. Library passes and Groupons cannot be used for this event.

After Eggstravaganza, the Zoo in Forest Park will officially open on Saturday, April 10 and remain open, seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., for the remainder of the season (weather permitting). Due to Gov. Charlie Baker’s COVID-19 guidelines enacted for zoos across the state, all admission tickets this season will be available online only, in advance. No admissions will be sold at the Zoo’s ticket booth.

Daily News

NORTHAMPTON — The Western Mass Business Show, the WHMP radio program showcasing business leaders of the Pioneer Valley, will have a new host, Tara Brewster, beginning May 1.

The show explores the experiences and perspectives of entrepreneurs, delving into their aspirations, strategies, and evolution in friendly but probing conversations. It is intended to be both entertaining and instructive, whether the listener runs a company or not. The show airs on WHMP on Saturdays at 11 a.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Brewster is vice president for Business Development at Greenfield Savings Bank (GSB). It is her mission to form many trusted relationships with business and organizational leaders and help guide them toward how GSB can be a resource and solution for what ails them.

She serves on the boards of several nonprofits, including Double Edge Theater, the Downtown Northampton Assoc., the David Ruggles Center, Hampshire Regional YMCA, MassHire Franklin Hampshire Workforce Board, and North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens. The Smith College alumna is also the co-founder and former co-owner of Jackson & Connor, the upscale menswear store in Thornes, in downtown Northampton.

Brewster takes the microphone from Ira Bryck, who started the show in 2014. Bryck ran the Family Business Center for 25 years and now consults with the leadership-coaching firm Giombetti Associates.

“Tara naturally builds huge and effective networks of colleagues, is a number-one fan of Pioneer Valley, and is wise and funny and curious,” Bryck said. “I will be glad to be a big fan of her show, as I have been a big fan of her.”

Brewster is excited for this new outlet for her enthusiasm and people-connecting skills. “I can think of nothing more exciting than broadcasting the conversations I enjoy having with my area colleagues to a greater number of ears in the region,” she said. “This opportunity will create a larger stage for more voices to be heard and thus find their way into the hearts of our community members. I am grateful to my friend Ira, who is always providing occasions for others to find their voice and new pathways to higher ground. Thank you, Ira — I look forward to having you on the show one day in the near future.”

Interested prospective guests can reach out to Brewster at [email protected].

Daily News

FLORENCE — Florence Bank promoted Anita Sedlak to the position of vice president, branch manager of the Easthampton office.

Sedlak brings extensive knowledge and skill to her new role. Prior to her recent promotion, she was the senior assistant branch manager at the Easthampton office. During her tenure at the bank, she has been the recipient of the Florence Bank Community Support Award, which is granted to employees who demonstrate superior levels of involvement in the community. She is a graduate of the New England School of Financial Studies.

Sedlak serves her community as treasurer of Easthampton Dollars for Scholars, finance committee member for the Easthampton Helping Hand Society and a board member of the Florence Bank Easthampton Branch Charitable Foundation.

“We are happy to have Anita take on this new role as vice president, branch manager,” said Kevin Day, president and CEO of Florence Bank. “Her knowledge of the Easthampton community and rapport with our customers make her the perfect choice to serve in this capacity.”

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield (YPS) and Dress for Success Western Massachusetts have partnered to provide networking and career-advancement opportunities to local women working to establish careers.

This partnership is timely, as women have been disproportionately impacted by job loss related to COVID-19. According to the National Women’s Law Center, female workforce participation has dropped 57%, to its lowest level since 1988. McKinsey and Oxford Economics projects that employment for women may not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 — a full two years after a projected recovery for men.

Dress for Success Western Massachusetts, whose mission is to help women achieve financial independence, has been working to address this reality. Its Professional Women’s Group, with the support of Eversource, launched immediately before the pandemic in early 2020, was intended to support women who have attained employment with continuing education, career-development programs, and leadership training.

While remaining true to its intent, the program has also come to support women who have lost their employment due to the pandemic and are struggling to juggle the demands of work, loss of childcare, virtual schooling, and other COVID-specific challenges. The program is focused on keeping the determined participants not just afloat, but moving forward in spite of these challenges.

YPS, a community-minded organization that focuses on business and career development, networking, and community involvement, will provide the Professional Women’s Group with complimentary YPS memberships, which will enhance access to each of these focus areas to provide new and expanded career opportunities.

“YPS is thrilled to partner with Dress for Success,” said Amie Miarecki, YPS president. “It’s a natural fit because we are focused on career development and creating connections, especially during this time when we are all seeking new ways to network. We welcome these new members and want them to take advantage of our unique events.”

Margaret Tantillo, executive director of Dress for Success, agrees that this is a natural partnership. “Giving our participants access to the expanded opportunities and new networks that YPS provides just makes sense. It’s a perfect next step for women who are looking to develop or redevelop their career. YPS membership will open doors, foster relationships, and expand upon what the Professional Women’s Group can offer in a seamless way. We’re grateful for their support.”

Business Talk Podcast Special Coverage

We are excited to announce that BusinessWest, in partnership with Living Local, has launched a new podcast series, BusinessTalk. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with local industry leaders, providing thoughtful perspectives on the Western Massachuetts economy and the many business ventures that keep it running during these challenging times.

Episode 58: March 29, 2021

George O’Brien talks with Judy Matt, president of the Spirit of Springfield

Bright Nights will go on in 2020

On this installment of BusinessTalk, BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien talks with Judy Matt, president of the Spirit of Springfield. The two have a lively discussion about the toll the pandemic has taken on this nonprofit and the many types of events it stages for the region, and how, if all goes well,  2021 could be a bounce back year for this important institution. They also talk about just how critical SOS events, like Bright Nights, the Fourth of July fireworks, the pancake breakfast, and the  Big Balloon Parade are to the quality of life in this region. It’s must listening, so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

Also Available On

Daily News

BOSTON — The state’s total unemployment rate was down 0.7% in February at 7.1%, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary job estimates indicate Massachusetts gained 14,100 jobs in February. This follows last month’s revised gain of 37,900 jobs. Over the month, the private sector added 22,300 jobs as gains occurred across all sectors, led by leisure and hospitality and professional, scientific, and business services.

From February 2020 to February 2021, BLS estimates Massachusetts lost 325,100 jobs. Losses occurred in each of the private sectors with the exception of mining and logging, with the largest-percentage losses in leisure and hospitality, with 30.1% of the jobs lost; other services, with 19.0% of the jobs lost; and education and health services, with 8.9% of the jobs lost.

The February unemployment rate was 0.9% higher than the national rate of 6.2% reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The labor force dropped by 11,900 from 3,756,700 in January, as 15,700 more residents were employed and 27,600 fewer residents were unemployed over the month.

Over the year, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up by 4.3 percentage points.

The state’s labor-force participation rate — the total number of residents 16 or older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks — was down two-tenths of a percentage point at 66.3%. Compared to February 2020, the labor-force participation rate is down one-tenth of a percentage point.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College will welcome Holocaust survivor, author, and human-rights activist Marione Ingram on Thursday, April 8 from 4 to 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the college and local community.

In this lecture, Ingram will share excerpts from her memoirs, The Hands of War and The Hands of Peace. She will discuss the failure to respond to fascism and racism in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, and the non-violent responses to those evils in the U.S. in the 1960s. She will then try to relate her experiences to the challenges that students face today.

Ingram is a writer, artist, and human-rights activist who experienced the Holocaust, Europe’s deadliest bombing, and the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. Throughout the turbulent ’60s and ’70s and into the 21st century, she continued to protest racism, war, sexism, Apartheid, and police violence. Ingram’s Holocaust memoir, The Hands of War, became a New York Times bestseller in 2014 and was followed by a companion memoir in 2015, The Hands of Peace, which celebrates the countless acts of non-violent defiance that culminated in the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965.

Event sponsors include Springfield College’s Office of Spiritual Life; Holocaust Remembrance Committee; Department of Literature, Writing, and Journalism; Department of Humanities and Social Sciences; and Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) honored two faculty members as this year’s 2021 Endowed Chairs, awards named for two of the college’s founders. In a video sent to the STCC campus community, President John Cook congratulated this year’s recipients, Professors Ann-Marie Simao and Joshua Carreiro.

Carreiro received the Anthony M. Scibelli Endowed Chair, and Simao received the Joseph J. Deliso Sr. Endowed Chair. They received a monetary award — $3,000 each — and wooden chairs with plaques inscribed with their names. They can apply $1,500 to professional development and $1,500 to their academic department.

Cook said the awards are a way to “recognize significant accomplishment and excellence in teaching. As we know as a community college, this is fundamental to us and to our work, and I’m thrilled to once again help congratulate our recipients.”

In announcing the Deliso recipient, Barbara Washburn, interim dean of the School of STEM, said Simao, a mathematics professor, is known for her early adoption of open education resources (OER), which allows students to access textbooks and other resources for free. She uses OER for all of her math courses.

“She designed her math courses to be very hands-on and interactive,” Washburn said. “Her passion for teaching, her innovative ways for learning math, and her commitment to serve the college make her a great asset to the Math Department and STCC. “

Simao, who has taught full-time at STCC since 2012, said she was honored and humbled to receive the award. “One of the things I love about teaching is watching the ‘aha’ moment when the students finally get it. With math, we find that a lot of students who walk into the classroom are completely fearful of math. Part of my job is to explain math in a way that students can understand it and make them love it, and make them want to delve deeper into learning about math and how fun it can be.”

Simao earned a master’s degree in education from Fitchburg State University and in math from Central Connecticut State University. She received a bachelor’s degree from Providence College.

Richard Greco, dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, announced the Scibelli Endowed Chair recipient, Carreiro, who has been teaching at STCC since 2012 and serves as chair of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Greco said Carreiro has shown strong leadership in online education, and has helped faculty transition to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Josh has been a leader in the development of curriculum here at STCC, beginning with creating the Urban Studies program, which is a unique program that allows students to delve into problem solving in regard to real-life problems within our cities. Josh is a leader in the classroom, always employing the newest technologies.”

Carreiro said he was surprised and excited to receive the award. “It’s a great honor, and I definitely feel it represents not just my own hard work at the school but all of the great work that everybody is doing on campus, and especially within my own department. When I think about teaching and what drives me as an educator, I really do think about the larger community — how students can not only transform their own lives, but how they can strengthen their communities.”

Carreiro earned his PhD in sociology from UMass Amherst. He started his college pathway at Manchester Community College in Connecticut, where he earned an associate degree. He then transferred to University of Connecticut in Storrs, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and philosophy.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Since 2009, BusinessWest has been recognizing the work of individuals, groups, businesses, and institutions through a program called Difference Makers.

The 2021 Difference Makers include Kristin Carlson, president of Peerless Precision; EforAll Holyoke; Janine Fondon, founder of UnityFirst.com and professor at Bay Path University; Harold Grinspoon, philanthropist and founder of Aspen Square Management; Chad Moir, founder and owner of DopaFit Parkinson’s Movement Center; Bill Parks, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield; and Pete Westover, founder and partner at Conservation Works, LLC.

The 13th annual Difference Makers celebration will be a virtual event taking place on Thursday, April 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. This event, like our hugely successful Women of Impact celebration in January, be presented using the REMO platform, and will feature networking, videos of the event sponsors, introductions of the honorees, and comments from the Difference Makers themselves.

RSVP before March 30 by clicking here. For a helpful tutorial on working with REMO, click here. For more information and links to the stories about our honorees, click here.

The sponsors for this year’s program are Burkhart Pizzanelli, the Royal Law Firm, TommyCar Auto Group, and United Way of Pioneer Valley. The Tom Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament is a nonprofit partner.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Out of some 8,000 breweries in the United States, only 60, or fewer than 1%, are black-owned businesses. In Massachusetts, which boasts more than 200 breweries, only about a half-dozen are black-owned. One of them is White Lion Brewery in Springfield.

“The fabric of the craft-beer trade doesn’t mirror the fabric of the communities we work, play, and live in,” said Berry, White Lion’s owner and founder, who sits on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild.

In response, Berry and the owners of three other Massachusetts breweries — Arcpoint in Belchertown, Crue Brew in Raynham, and 67 Degrees in Franklin — have banded together on a project they hope will draw more people of color to the industry.

The project is called “As One.” Fittingly, it’s a beer — specifically, a juicy New England IPA. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this limited-release brew will go toward the creation of a scholarship at Holyoke Community College (HCC) for students of color who enroll in its beer, cider, and winemaking program.

“Throughout the country, there have been a number of initiatives driven by breweries, trade stakeholders, and guilds who recognize the diversity and inclusion deficits and want to be change agents,” Berry said. “Some of those initiatives happen to be scholarship-driven.”

The idea for “As One” came from C.J. Eldridge, co-owner of Arcpoint, who had read an article about the experiences of black Massachusetts brewery owners in an historically white-dominated industry. The story featured interviews with Berry and Kevin Merritt, owner of Crue Brew, and also mentioned 67 Degrees, which is co-owned by Arnold Cruzeau.

“I saw all those guys in the article, and it inspired me to want to get together with them and brew something and also bring some awareness,” Eldridge said. “We want to attempt to spread brewing out to more people of color, not necessarily just black, but people of color in general, and get them into the business — let them know what it’s about.”

HCC debuted its beer, cider, and winemaking program in the fall of 2020, so the decision to partner with the college made sense, Berry added. “Craft beer is all about local. If we want to expand the conversation, this is a perfect opportunity for us to align ourselves with a great local institution.”

The label for “As One” includes the names and logos of all four breweries plus HCC’s, along with this description: “As One, a collaboration of unity, is just that. We came up with a conversation starter, something to bring people together.”

It continues, “As many of you may or may not know, people of color make up approximately 1% of ownership in the craft-brew industry. To this end, we have teamed with Holyoke Community College to create a scholarship for their brewing program. The financial aid will help people of color break into the industry that is far underrepresented. We hope you enjoy this beer with open minds and open hearts.”

Katie Stinchon, executive director of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild, noted that “we are very excited about the pipeline of talent that this scholarship program could generate while also helping to break down barriers, open doors, and hold them open for people of color in our community. As an industry we are very aware that the makeup of our brewery owners, staff, and consumers are predominantly male and pale. This is a great step to work to change that, and something that can be emulated in other regions and institutions across Massachusetts.”

The scholarship, as yet unnamed, will be administered by the HCC Foundation.

“Every scholarship tells a story about why someone feels it’s important to give back, or what they hope to make possible with the establishment of the fund,” said Amanda Sbriscia, HCC’s vice president of Institutional Advancement and executive director of the HCC Foundation. “The scholarship that will be created as a result of this brewery partnership is so powerful because it’s all about creating opportunity, and it’s a real example of people coming together to create positive change. HCC students can see themselves in each of these business owners and realize that they, too, can chase and achieve their dreams.”

Sbriscia joined Berry, Eldridge, Merritt, and Cruzeau on March 11 at White Lion Brewery in Tower Square in Springfield for the one-day brewing of “As One.” Canning is scheduled for Monday, March 29. The beer will be available starting Wednesday, March 31, during White Lion’s weekly “Cans to Go” sessions at the brewery, which run every Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m., and every Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

“Springfield has a lot of diversity, so it’s great that we’re doing this in the heart of Springfield,” Eldridge said. “A lot of people of color, they’re gonna be like, ‘oh, damn, look at these guys here, just like me. They’re pumping out beer and working together for something like that.’”

Although the batch is small, the goal is to make the brewing of “As One” a special, annual event that will continue to seed the scholarship fund at HCC over the years. “It’s not a one and done, that’s for sure,” Berry said.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Home City Development Inc. (HCDI) is celebrating the start of construction of the Elias Brookings Apartments. The groundbreaking will take place today, March 26, at 2 p.m. at 367 Hancock St. in Springfield. A small group of elected public officials will gather for the event, rain or shine. The event will include speakers and a short tour, and will be livestreamed to www.facebook.com/homecitydevelopment. A video of the event, including messages from funders and partners, will be widely circulated soon afterward.

Home City Development has begun construction to adapt and reuse the former Elias Brookings School into 42 mixed-income rental apartments. Elias Brookings Apartments will contain a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and on-site parking for 61 vehicles. The property will have an elevator, laundry room, and management office. The 4,000-square-foot former gymnasium will be used as a multi-purpose resource center and community room for athletics, theater, youth and adult training and education, supportive services for residents, and other events.

Elias Brookings School was built in 1925 and opened in 1926. The school was damaged in the June 1, 2011 tornado and closed. A new Elias Brookings School was built nearby on Walnut Street, and in 2018 the former school building was purchased by Home City Development. In recognition of Home City Development’s preservation efforts, upon completion, the building will be nominated for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

Funding for the redevelopment is provided by TD Bank, National Equity Fund, Community Economic Development Assistance Corp., the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, MassHousing, the Springfield Community Preservation Committee, the Springfield Office of Housing, and Dorfman Capital.

Davis Square Architects is the project architect, and Allegrone Construction Co. is the general contractor. Construction is scheduled for completion in March 2022. The completed property will be managed by Housing Management Resources. Tenants will be selected by lottery, and lottery applications will be accepted beginning in late 2021. E-mail [email protected] to request a tenant-selection lottery application.

Home City Development Inc. is a nonprofit, resident-centered developer of multi-family and mixed-use properties in Western Mass. HCDI was founded as Better Homes Inc. in 1968 by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Over more than 50 years, HCDI has worked to facilitate community stability and growth in collaboration with numerous partners and residents.

Daily News

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Visiting Angels of West Springfield donated 200 St. Patrick’s Day goody bags to Mont Marie Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center located in Holyoke. These bags included St. Patrick’s Day treats and a little leprechaun for some festive spirit. These donations were distributed to the staff and residents of the healthcare center for their holiday party.

Mont Marie Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center offers clinical services and specialized programs for the rehabilitation of their residents.

Visiting Angels is a home-healthcare service that offers senior in-home care, elderly care, and care for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s. It serves towns across the Pioneer Valley and the Greater Springfield area, including Springfield, West Springfield, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, Agawam, Ludlow, Westfield, Southwick, Chicopee, Feeding Hills, Indian Orchard, Holyoke, Southampton, and Montgomery. To learn more about its in-home care services or to schedule a free assessment, call (413) 733-6900.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Since 2009, BusinessWest has been recognizing the work of individuals, groups, businesses, and institutions through a program called Difference Makers.

The 2021 Difference Makers include Kristin Carlson, president of Peerless Precision; EforAll Holyoke; Janine Fondon, founder of UnityFirst.com and professor at Bay Path University; Harold Grinspoon, philanthropist and founder of Aspen Square Management; Chad Moir, founder and owner of DopaFit Parkinson’s Movement Center; Bill Parks, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield; and Pete Westover, founder and partner at Conservation Works, LLC.

The 13th annual Difference Makers celebration will be a virtual event taking place on Thursday, April 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. This event, like our hugely successful Women of Impact celebration in January, be presented using the REMO platform, and will feature networking, videos of the event sponsors, introductions of the honorees, and comments from the Difference Makers themselves.

RSVP before March 30 by clicking here. For a helpful tutorial on working with REMO, click here. For more information and links to the stories about our honorees, click here.

The sponsors for this year’s program are Burkhart Pizzanelli, the Royal Law Firm, TommyCar Auto Group, and United Way of Pioneer Valley. The Tom Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament is a nonprofit partner.

Daily News

LONGMEADOW — Bay Path University announced plans to welcome students back to a fully operational, in-person campus for the fall 2021 semester. This decision is based on the increase and availability of COVID-19 vaccines, the continued decline in COVID cases, and the steps put in place at Bay Path over the past year to keep the campus safe. The university will continue to follow guidelines, take precautions, and prepare with all necessary contingencies for reopening as guided by the CDC and state requirements.

“Over the past year, as we managed the many implications of the pandemic, our number-one guiding principle has been the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff, and this will continue to be our priority,” said Sandra Doran, president of Bay Path University. “In looking ahead, we are very optimistic about the fall. As students and parents are making decisions about college enrollment and housing, it’s important we share our plan for in-person learning and our commitment to maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for our returning, new, and prospective students on campus.”

The university’s initial fall plans include the opening of all residential halls, increasing the number of classes held in-person, a fully operational dining common, on-campus student clubs and activities, as well as a fall athletic season.

“There is no greater joy than connecting and meeting with our students,” Doran said. “We are ready, eager, and excited to have more students join us on campus this fall for their educational journey.”

Bay Path University accepts students on a rolling admission. For information regarding enrollment for the fall semester, visit the university’s website, or contact the Office of Admissions at (413) 565-1331 or [email protected]. In addition to the on-campus, in-person option, Bay Path will continue to offer online learning and hybrid models to meet students’ needs.

Daily News

WARE — Country Bank announced that Russ Fontaine has been promoted to senior vice president, Customer Experience. He is a seasoned banking professional with 30 years of experience in key management and leadership roles in consumer sales and service.

Fontaine previously held the position of first vice president, Sales and Market Management with Country Bank, where he oversaw sales and service. One example of a new program introduced by the bank, as a result of Fontaine’s recommendation, was the deployment of a “Voice of the Customer” program that enables the bank to measure and better understand the overall customer experience through various survey metrics.

In his newly created role, Fontaine is tasked with leading a bankwide collaborative effort to view things from the customer’s perspective; this applies to both the bank’s external customer and its internal customer. “This increased focus of looking at things through the lens of the customer will strengthen Country Bank’s ability to deliver a best-in-class customer service experience and, as a result, attract new customers for the bank while deepening the relationships of existing ones,” he said.

Mary McGovern, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Country Bank, noted that, “for over 170 years, providing excellent customer service has been a hallmark value and priority for Country Bank. In today’s ever-changing, dynamic customer-service landscape, customer-facing companies must ensure that the entire customer experience is a primary focus. Russ exemplifies Country Bank’s iSTEP corporate values of integrity, service, teamwork, excellence, and prosperity, and is the perfect person to fill this new role.”

Fontaine is active within the community, serving on the board of directors for the Central/Western Massachusetts March of Dimes and as a 2021 co-chair for the March for Babies fundraising event in Massachusetts. He has also served on the Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity board of directors, including holding the chair role for the organization’s Restore committee. Additionally, he has been an avid supporter of the United Way and the Western Massachusetts Special Olympics.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Strain LLC, a minority-led corporation, has proposed a 2,500-square-foot adult recreational marijuana dispensary at 711 Boston Road (lower level) in Springfield’s Pine Point neighborhood. Springfield Strain has met all the criteria set forth by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission for a social/equity empowerment program dispensary with 100% minority investors. The dispensary will be locally owned and operated.

According to the company, the dispensary will offer sales of high-quality cannabis products as well as product consultation and education in a safe, secure environment.

Eddie Corbin, president of the Springfield Strain board of directors and former chief Procurement officer for the city of Springfield, noted that investors, the board of directors, and construction contractors are all minorities, adding that, “in my professional experience, this may well be a first.” In addition, all but one of the board members are Springfield residents.

As part of a host-community agreement, Springfield Strain will give 30% of its net profits to the city of Springfield and 3% to the Pine Point Citizens Council. The organization also plans to establish educational trade programs for local students.

The city of Springfield plans to announce the marijuana companies selected for negotiations on April 12.