Driving Force
Alex Balise, left, and Jeb Balise with Dawn DiStefano, president and CEO of Square One, at the site of the agency’s new home.
Jeb Balise says he’s always called Springfield’s South End home.
He never lived in the neighborhood that straddles the Connecticut River and bumps up against the central business district, but, in many respects, he grew up there.
Indeed, that’s where his father and grandfather operated a Chevy dealership, and where he spent countless hours, starting in the early ’60s, when he was just in grade school, learning every aspect of the car business while also getting to know that neighborhood and the people championing it.
People like Leo Florian, president of the South End Citizens Council, and before him, and then alongside him, his aunt and mother.
“From my earliest days, I learned from them the importance of the South End and the community,” he recalled. “They were always supportive … they didn’t always agree or approve or endorse what we wanted to do, but they worked with me to find solutions.”
Today, Balise Motor Sales has dealerships across Western Mass., and also the Cape and Rhode Island. But in most all respects, the South End is still home. It’s there where the Balise company has made huge investments and built a campus that includes Hyundai and Mazda dealerships, a used-car store, a collision center, a car wash … and a laundromat. And there’s more to come, with the demolition of the Enterprise car-rental building and development of that site.
“From my earliest days, I learned from them the importance of the South End and the community.”
As for the laundromat, which we’ll get back to later, it was prompted largely by Florian, said Balise, who reminded him that, in addition to creating businesses and large parking lots, the Balise company needed to do something for the people of the South End.
Not that he really needed any reminding; Jeb Balise and the Balise company have long sought to step up and be counted in the South End, which explains that campus and that laundromat, and also why the South End Citizens Council currently resides in the former Baer Auto facility on Main Street (acquired by the Balise company) for monthly rent that doesn’t cover the electric bill, let alone the taxes paid on the property.
And it explains two recent decisions that will not only support childcare and family-services provider Square One, but also the South End neighborhood.
The first was a $1 million donation to the capital campaign to build Square One’s new facility near the site of its old home, damaged by the 2011 tornado and eventually razed. The second was the purchase of the property at 935 Main St., in front of the building now under construction, for $2 million, and the gifting of it to Square One, an acquisition that provides much-needed room for Square One while also solving what was becoming a problem.
“It was remarkable; this was a life-altering decision. I don’t think this would have happened, I believe, without that swift, remarkable gift, that gave everyone the feeling, ‘now we’re going to cross the finish line with this,’” Dawn DiStefano, president and CEO of Square One said of the $1 million gift, adding that the acquisition of 935 Main St. is equally life-altering, and, together, the gifts represent big steps forward for the agency, but also the South End community.
Balise agreed. “We decided that this would be good for the South End, tremendous for Square One, and good for South End citizens. We thought, ‘if we’re ever going to do something that’s a positive legacy and would make a difference, this was it.’”
From left, Jeb Balise, Alex Balise, Kris Allard, Dawn DiStefano, Leo Florian, and Police Commissioner Lawrence Akers.
This is an inspiring story with many themes, but mostly, it’s about a company, a nonprofit, and people like Florian, all with very deep roots in the South End (Square One has been there since 1883), who came together to make something groundbreaking happen, while also creating more momentum in an area, referred to by many as the gateway to the city, that has seen more than $1 billion in investments since the tornado tore through it, and is making tremendous strides.
Answering the Calls
DiStefano was on vacation when she got the phone call from Alex Balise almost a year ago — or what those at Square One generally refer to as the first phone call.
Balise, director of Marketing for the Balise Auto Group, and a Square One board member, wanted to know if DiStefano and Kris Allard, vice president of Development and Communication at Square One, could meet, and she suggested the following day.
Allard was also out of town, but she and DiStefano started thinking seriously about getting flights back into Springfield because there was some urgency attached to this meeting.
Indeed, while Square One was working to secure financing from PeoplesBank to construct its new home in the South End, a consultant working for the agency strongly suggested an additional $1 million in pledges to a capital campaign for the project would add strength to the loan application, as well as an application for New Markets Tax Credits.
The meeting with Alex Balise and her father, Jeb, eventually scheduled for a few days later, would be to discuss what the company might be able to donate toward that figure.
This aerial photo shows the extent of the Balise campus in Springfield’s South End.
As they walked the five blocks to Jeb Balise’s office at 1441 Main St., Allard and DiStefano discussed what might be an appropriate ask. They thought about $100,000 — or perhaps $200,000.
Maybe a day later, Allard got another phone call from Alex detailing a commitment for $1 million.
“Kris made her repeat it because she didn’t believe what she was hearing,” DiStefano said. “And then we both couldn’t speak because we were crying so hard.”
Alex called the gift a “needed boost” to give Square One some important breathing room.
“I thought this was important and that we needed to step up,” she said, adding that this was an easy sell to her father and a gift designed to inspire other groups and individuals to step up as well.
And with that gift, DiStefano said, important pieces to a project, then a dozen years in the making, quickly fell into place.
“This was one of those turning points for the project,” she said. “PeoplesBank quickly signed a $6 million construction loan with a bond from MassDevelopment; by July, we signed all the closing documents for $15.5 million.”
But, as was noted earlier, there was to be still another unforgettable phone call from Alex Balise.
This map shows the location of Square One’s current home and its new home, now under construction.
Google Maps
This one, which came several weeks ago, involved the property adjacent to Square One’s old home, directly in front of where the new one is being built. Square One had been trying to buy it for years, but the price tag was prohibitive.
Vacant since the tornado and approaching eyesore status, if not already there, the property, known to those at Square One simply as the ‘brick building,’ was becoming a problem for those at Square One. Its owners were proposing a mixed-use plan for the future, one involving retail of some kind on the first floor and apartments on the second floor.
Florian, also a member of Springfield’s Planning Board, said the plans presented to that body by the building’s owner were permitted by the zoning of that area, and thus, the board would have a difficult time rejecting them. Still, he and many others were uneasy about this planned mix of retail and residential just a few hundred feet from a childcare facility.
And Florian communicated those concerns to, among others, Jeb Balise, who soon became committed to doing something about this situation.
Fast-forward to that second phone call. Alex and Jeb wanted another meeting with DiStefano and Allard. And as the two again walked together down Main Street, they speculated as to what this was about.
A few hours later, they had a commitment from Balise to buy the brick building for $2 million and gift it to Square One on the condition that they share it with the South End Citizens Council (the Baer Auto site is in poor condition and will soon have to come down). Jeb calls it a win-win-win — for Square One, the council, and the South End.
Coming Clean
As he talked about the Balise company’s commitment to the South End, as well as his unique relationship — and friendship — with Jeb Balise, Florian started by telling the story of how the South End Citizens Council secured its current home in the former Baer Auto facility, a large, glass-fronted building on Main Street.
The agency was headquartered in a tiny office across the street from the Baer facility, but it was essentially being evicted to make way for a thrift store, and Florian started poking around for new space.
Jeb showed him space in what was known as the Saw Center, a building eventually torn down to make room for the laundromat, and Florian was intrigued.
“But then he made the mistake of bringing me into Baer Auto — he said, ‘we just bought this,’” Florian noted. “We’re walking through, and I said, ‘now this is nice — with all these windows, you can see everything.’
“So he said, ‘what are you thinking — do you want me to break this up, and you can take a piece?’” Florian went on. “And I said, ‘no, actually, I think we need it all.’ He goes, ‘are you serious? I didn’t know neighborhood councils had that kind of money,’ because he had already offered it to people who wanted to rent it at crazy rent.’
“So Jeb said, ‘what are you thinking?’” he recalled. “I said, ‘I’ll tell you what … across the street, we pay $500 a month, and at the end of the year, we always run out of money and have a fundraiser — so I can comfortably offer you $400 a month, and we’ll take it off your hands.’ He first said, ‘are you crazy?’ and then said he wanted to think about it for a while. I think it was the next day, he was driving down my street; he rolled down his window and said, ‘let’s do the deal.’”
Before doing that, Balise talked at length at how Florian, and his mother and aunt before him, had always fought for the South End and never stopped looking for ways to improve that small, mostly low-income, but very proud neighborhood.
“I said, ‘I’ll tell you what … across the street, we pay $500 a month, and at the end of the year, we always run out of money and have a fundraiser — so I can comfortably offer you $400 a month, and we’ll take it off your hands.’”
And also about how he wanted to recognize those efforts by giving back himself, and as a company. “Leo has been a steadfast champion of the South End,” Balise said. “And if he’s Batman, I’m Robin.”
As things turned out, the laundromat — much-needed in this neighborhood where there is still comparatively little home ownership — and the sentiment that led to it became a motivating force.
“As you get older, you become more focused on the things that really matter,” Balise said. “And I would say that Leo inspired me a little bit to look at things and how we can focus on making them better.”
As it turned out, that deal for space for the South End Citizens Council was a precursor to something certain to be far more impactful.
Indeed, as he talked about what the new Square One, and especially the renovations to the brick building, might mean for the South End, Springfield Police Commissioner Lawrence Akers referred to what is generally known as the ‘broken windows’ theory.
“It goes back to the ’80s and ’90s, when people would look at property like that brick building; they would see it sitting there over a period of time, and they would look to see what would happen because it appeared unkept, so they would break one window,” he said, adding that this one broken window would lead to more “because no one really cared.”
The purchase of the property and the plans to renovate it show that someone cares, Akers said, noting that this is just the latest of many signs of progress in that neighborhood.
“The South End is a pretty good place to live now,” he added, noting that there is a trickle-down effect going on that has changed the look and feel of that area, and recent investments, including those at Square One, and the stability they bring to that part of the neighborhood will likely inspire more.
A Neighborhood on the Rise
There has already been a great deal of momentum seen in the South End over the past decade or so, said Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, noting that the linchpin, obviously, has been the $950 million MGM complex, which has made the South End a destination for many.
But there has been much more, he said, listing everything from the new condos on the site of the former Gemini plant, bringing more homeownership and all that comes with it to the area, to a renovated and re-energized Basketball Hall of Fame; from the arrival of national and regional chains like CVS, Wahlburgers, and Panera Bread to a host of small, local businesses.
And there is more on the way, including the much-anticipated reimagining of the Clocktower Building and nearby Colonial Block into mixed-used projects and the redevelopment of property at the corner of State and Main streets once occupied by MGM.
“There’s a lot of good things going on there, from new housing and new businesses to the expansion of existing businesses,” the mayor said. “That’s the entryway to the city, and there are many positive things happening, including what’s happening at Square One.”
Jeb Balise agreed.
“The South End has been on the rise — we’ve been part of a renaissance,” he said. “Getting Panera Bread, the expansion of AC Produce … there have been a lot of good cleanups that have made the South End more attractive and given it a much better feel. I feel like the South End is really on the upswing.”
DiStefano also agreed, noting that the new Square One building and renovation of the brick building will continue and perhaps accelerate this forward progress.
“At every step in this process, everyone has met this project with excitement, because who isn’t excited about a new building?” she asked rhetorically. “But there’s a level of rippling positivity — the noise of children re-entering that space is infectious. And from a public-safety perspective, activity is always better; there’s nothing but negativity when you have an open lot like that.”
Added Florio, “the tornado was the turning point for the South End. A lot of businesses thought that was it for the neighborhood, and some residents were looking to move out. But I met with the mayor, and he said to me, ‘we’re not giving up on the neighborhood; we’ll work together, and we’ll take care of this.
“We actually moved a couple of projects forward just to show people we weren’t going anywhere,” he went on, adding that MGM and several other projects have breathed new life into that historic area. “We’ve had millions of dollars invested in this small neighborhood over the past 10 years … and now we have developers that are listening to us and saying, ‘I’d like this whole block here — let’s tear down and rebuild.’”
Indeed, in the neighborhood Jeb Balise and Square One have always called home, more businesses and residents are now saying the same thing.
A New Chapter in the Square One Story
Balise Motor Sales’ purchase of the property in front of Square One’s new home, now under construction, presents both a huge opportunity and stern challenge for the agency.
The opportunity comes in the form of much-needed space; indeed, demand for Square One’s family-support services has grown to the point where the agency will have outgrown its new, 26,000-square-foot home before opening its doors.
The challenge comes with the significant buildout needed to accommodate both Square One’s wraparound services and the South End Citizens Council, which will also be housed in the 23,000-square-foot building at 935 Main St., and the price tag attached to it — roughly $4.7 million.
Kris Allard, vice president of Development and Communication at Square One, said the project has been jumpstarted by a $100,000 pledge from the property’s now-previous owner, Zee Raiz, as well as a $700,000 commitment from the city.
Additional donations are being sought toward the project, she said, noting that this initiative is essentially being rolled into a broader capital campaign for the new Square One, which has succeeded in raising $13 million to date.
The project to build out 935 State St. will come in phases, said Allard, noting that phase 1 will involve the first floor, which will house some Square One facilities, as well as the South End Citizens Council. Phases 2 and 3 will involve the second and third floors, respectively.
Alex Balise, director of Marketing for the Balise Auto Group, said the company’s decision to purchase the property at 935 State St., as well as commit an additional $1 million to the new Square One, were made in part to help inspire other donations to an initiative she believes will benefit not only Square One, but the South End neighborhood as well.
“This is an investment in the South End community, one we believe is a difference maker,” she said. “And we hope that it inspires others to support Square One and the South End.”
For more information on the project and the “Back to Square One” campaign, visit startsatsquareone.org or email Allard at [email protected].
