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Golden Age of Cannabis

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Senior living facilities like the Arbors have seen residents get together become educated about cannabis products.
Cannabis Features Special Coverage

Use Rising Among Older Adults Locally, Nationally

Senior living facilities like the Arbors have seen residents get together become educated about cannabis products.

Senior living facilities like the Arbors have seen residents get together become educated about cannabis products.

In the six-plus years since cannabis became legal for all adults in Massachusetts, all demographics have increasingly used the substance in its various forms. A 2024 study published by Statista reported that almost 30% of Massachusetts residents used cannabis in 2022, the fifth-highest rate of any of the 24 states where it is legal for recreational use.

But one group, while not among the highest-rate cannabis users, has been rapidly catching up, and that’s seniors.

“We talk about it with our residents,” said Karen Walters-Zucco, executive director of the Arbors Assisted Living in Amherst and Greenfield. “A lot of people are thinking about it for relaxation, for sleep, or just to feel good, mood adjustments. Some are using it to lower anxiety, and a lot of folks have been using it for pain relief, for arthritis in their hands and joints.”

That doesn’t surprise cannabis-industry veteran Meg Sanders, CEO of Canna Provisions, which has dispensaries in Holyoke and Lee.

“I can tell you that traditional medicine has failed them in lots and lots of ways,” she told BusinessWest. “They’ve done the surgeries, they’ve done the anti-inflammatories, they’ve done all of the cortisol shots. They’re trying everything that the medical profession throws at them. And in a lot of ways, it’s just not succeeding.

“The number-one thing we hear from seniors is the inability to get a full night’s sleep,” she added. “I would say that is probably the number-one reason why we see [older] people come through our doors. ‘Is there something that will help me calm down or something that will relax me or help me sleep through the night?’”

Another interesting factor in the trend toward older adults using cannabis is postmenopausal women, she added. “That is a fascinating demographic; they are going through aches and pains that they’ve never had before because of estrogen loss. So joints hurt, and muscles aren’t recovering as fast because their hormones are diminishing. So they’re turning to cannabis for relief of aching joints and different pains that they might have, as well as the sleep aspect.”

“A lot of people are thinking about it for relaxation, for sleep, or just to feel good, mood adjustments. Some are using it to lower anxiety, and a lot of folks have been using it for pain relief, for arthritis in their hands and joints.”

But they’re also turning on because, well, it’s enjoyable.

“We are finding in assisted-living communities that this has become a social aspect of their everyday life,” Sanders said. “So they’re having gummy parties and watching movies, they’re having tinctures in their drinks, or they’re buying seltzers or various things off the shelf, and they’re having fun little parties in their group.

“And I love that it’s becoming so social for them because, ultimately, isn’t that how cannabis got started? It’s all of us standing in a circle passing a joint, right? It makes us happy,” she went on. “They’re not passing joints, maybe, but they are passing gummies. I hope they’re having a lot of fun.”

 

Higher Numbers

National statistics bear out what Sanders and Walters-Zucco are seeing locally. According to the 2024 University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, about one in five people (21%) in the 50-plus age group said they used some form of cannabis — food, drink, flower, or another type — at least once in the last year, up from 12% in the 2021 poll. Meanwhile, 12% of respondents reported using cannabis at least once a month.

In 2015 and 2016, a time when cannabis was legal in very few places, about 3% of adults 65 and older were using it, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

According to AARP, older adults are increasingly turning to cannabis to alleviate pain, help them sleep, improve mental health, or cope with other medical conditions.

Specifically, according to the poll data, adults 50 and older are turning to cannabis to relax (81%), get help with sleep (68%), enjoy the effects or feel good (64%), get help with pain relief (63%), get help for mental health or mood (53%), treat a medical condition (40%), make a social gathering more fun or connect with others (31%), celebrate (26%), or experiment (18%).

Still, the AARP notes that, while many older adults are turning to cannabis to help with health issues, 44% of people who use it regularly have not discussed that use with a healthcare provider, which health experts say they definitely should.

Meg Sanders

Meg Sanders

“We are finding in assisted-living communities that this has become a social aspect of their everyday life. So they’re having gummy parties and watching movies, they’re having tinctures in their drinks, or they’re buying seltzers or various things off the shelf, and they’re having fun little parties in their group.”

“Even if your doctor, nurse practitioner, or pharmacist doesn’t ask if you’re using cannabis products, it’s important to offer this information, no matter whether you’re using it to address a physical or mental-health concern or simply for pleasure,” Dr. Jeffrey Kullgren, a primary-care physician at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and director of the National Poll on Healthy Aging, said in a news release.

Walters-Zucco agrees.

“It has to be a coordinated effort with their primary-care physician,” she said. “They want to make sure that their PCP is aware and can effectively treat other conditions; they don’t want anything to be counteractive or interfering with other medications they’re taking.”

That said, she has spoken with doctors and communicated with residents on the topic, and she believes cannabis can be a way for older individuals to avoid the pitfalls of opioid use, which remains a massive problem in Massachusetts, among other health benefits.

“But, again, what we’re talking about with residents is, you have to have a conversation with your primary-care physician to make sure that, if you’re going to take certain dosages, it’s not going to counteract with other medications that you’re taking for, say, your liver or kidneys, and that your gut can process cannabis.”

The University of Michigan poll highlighted the types of cannabis products favored by older adults. Seventy-four percent reported consuming edibles and beverages, which, Sanders noted, offers a smoke-free alternative to those concerned about respiratory health. Meanwhile, 58% smoke the flower, 26% opt for vaping, and 19% use dabs, butane hash oil, or other concentrates.

She added that the rising trend of cannabis use among older adults presents an opportunity for dispensaries in a highly competitive market, and shops should educate their staff on the specific benefits and considerations of cannabis use for seniors, as well as curating senior-friendly products, creating gift bundles with seniors in mind, hosting educational events, and generally fostering a welcoming environment, which may include accessible facilities, comfortable seating areas, and staff training to engage respectfully with older adults.

“I have people that hug me on a regular basis, saying, ‘thank you, you’ve helped me finally sleep.’ That right there is a huge healing aspect. So I think that’s part of it.”

“Every single day, we see multi-generational shoppers come in together, and daughters are walking their mothers through, granddaughters are walking their grandparents through — ‘this is a really great thing, try this, I love this, you might love it,’” Sanders added, noting that family members are often influenced by the success and enjoyment experienced by trusted loved ones.

“I have people that hug me on a regular basis, saying, ‘thank you, you’ve helped me finally sleep.’ That right there is a huge healing aspect. So I think that’s part of it.”

 

Joint Efforts

Cannabis has taken hold across America, with those 24 states with legal recreational use joined by 14 more that have legalized for medical use. And that means more concern around using the substance safely.

In addition to possible contraindications from prescription drugs, medical professionals also caution about cannabis possibly affecting parts of the brain that are responsible for coordination and reaction time, according to the AARP, which cites a 2021 study in the journal Brain Sciences finding that older adults who used cannabis had a higher fall risk, worse balance, and slower gait speed than people who didn’t use cannabis.

The University of Michigan poll also found that 21% of older adults surveyed weren’t aware that many cannabis products available today are much stronger than they were decades ago, contributing to concerns about dose levels.

That’s why the Arbors has begun to take an educational role in residents’ cannabis use, even while acknowledging the potential benefits.

“They’re very interested in alternative medication and ways to treat diseases besides typical pharmaceuticals,” Walters-Zucco told BusinessWest. “So we ask them if they’re open to having a person come in and do a presentation about cannabis and answer any questions they may have.”

Many residents trying out cannabis have already used CBD products, she noted, but cannabis, which contains the psychoactive compound THC, is a much different animal. “We’re asking them to ask to talk to their primary-care physician before starting to take gummies, and dosages are definitely something they want to learn about.”

Walters-Zucco noted that, for some, it’s never too late to try something new.

“I talk to to residents, and one resident who’s 90 went to the pot shop for the first time — yes, she called it a pot shop. She said, ‘I can’t believe this.’ If it can help people with increased relaxation, better sleep, better pain relief, maybe elevate people’s moods, yes, absolutely — but it needs to be done safely and effectively with conversations with their primary-care physician.”

 

Enfield Is All Aboard the Development Train

By
Aaron Marcavitch
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Aaron Marcavitch

Aaron Marcavitch says Enfield would benefit from a balance of different types of new housing.

 

In a region with plenty of dying, dead, or deteriorating shopping centers, Enfield Square stands out — just Target and a few smaller retailers occupying a largely empty structure where anchors such as Macy’s, JCPenney, and Sears once thrived.

But it’s also a property with an intriguing location, sitting between two very busy thoroughfares in Elm Street and Hazard Avenue, each dotted with retail, restaurants, and plenty of traffic.

And 2024 brought a ray of hope when the mall property — all but the Target — was purchased by Woodsonia Acquisitions, which has proposed a $250 million project that will feature retail and restaurant businesses, hundreds of residential units, and a small hotel.

Woodsonia also worked with the town on an application for a $20 million Connecticut Community Investment Funds program grant. After much back and forth with the state, an amended, $10 million version was recently resubmitted.

“It was narrowed down a little bit,” said Aaron Marcavitch, who has had a busy several months since coming on board as Enfield’s Economic & Community Development director last April. “It’s a $10 million request, basically for the demolition of the building and for the critical infrastructure elements of it — pipes in the ground and some of those types of things. We should hear by March whether or not that will happen. If it goes forward, that process will take six to nine months before you might see demolition.”

He said the town and developer share a vision for the property involving the mixed-use blend of housing, a hotel, and “some upscale strip elements” on the retail side, including an organic grocery store.

“It’s been said for 50 years now that Thompsonville is going to be revitalized, but I feel like some positive movement is happening. We’re actually putting those plans into action.”

“It’s likely that the developers are a little bit more housing-focused, so they’ll get that part done, and the rest will happen as they acquire potential retailers or restaurants or whatever,” Marcavitch went on. “If the project were to go sideways, there may be other ways for us to go with this. It is a really great location for retail.”

The housing element is especially intriguing at a time when most cities and towns in the region need more of it. At the same time, a 140-unit residential development is taking shape on North River Street, near the critically important train stop project taking shape in the Thompsonville neighborhood (more on all of that later).

“I think the balance that Enfield is looking for is in truly affordable housing — really low-income versus workforce housing,” Marcavitch said, citing a term often used in the social-services world: ALICE, which stands for asset-limited, income-constrained, employed. “It basically means that you’re well above the poverty line, but it’s still hard to make ends meet. And I think that’s the area of housing we’ve been hearing about, as well as some of the 55-plus and elderly types of housing.

Enfield Square has been in decline for many years

Enfield Square has been in decline for many years, but a planned mixed-use development there has city officials excited.

“We’re a predominantly single-family type of community, but we’ve got some really interesting projects,” he went on. “I mean, the 140 apartments on the river are being built essentially as one-bedroom majority because they’re looking for the commuting professional with no kids. That’s their target audience. With demographics changing, we kind of have to stay on our toes for what the community is looking for.”

 

Train Not in Vain

The entire rail-centric project in Thompsonville has certainly made waves — with real ripple effects when it comes to development.

Late in 2023, the Connecticut Department of Transportation attached hard dates to the $45 million project to build the train station. Those dates included the summer of 2024 for the final design to be completed, the winter of 2025 for the construction bid to be awarded, the spring of 2027 for accompanying rail and bridge work to be completed, and the fall of 2027 for completion of the station and platform.

That plan is largely on track (no pun intended), though there’s plenty of bid and permit work to be completed this year, Marcavitch said, and shovels may be in the ground by September.

“If you can encourage somebody to come here, that’s great, but I don’t want you just getting on a train and disappearing every day. At the end of the day, I want you to go to a dog park, I want you to go hike a trail, whatever it is, and stay in Enfield as much as possible.”

Enfield’s station is expected to be more than a metro stop, bringing people to Hartford to work; it will also be a larger hub for Amtrak for more distant destinations, while a planned spur off the Windsor Locks stop will bring people to and from Bradley International Airport. The project has also, as noted earlier, gained the attention of the development community.

The 140-unit project on North River Street is being developed by HGRE Ventures, a partnership between Avon-based Honeycomb Real Estate Partners and GRAVA Properties of West Hartford. HGRE plans a $100 million, two-phase project that would eventually bring more than 300 units to the riverfront section of Thompsonville, near the much larger Bigelow Commons apartment complex.

Enfield at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1683
Population: 42,141
Area: 34.2 square miles
County: Hartford
Residential Tax Rate: $32.23
Commercial Tax Rate: $32.23
Median Household Income: $67,402
Median Family Income: $77,554
Type of Government: Town Council, Town Manager
Largest Employers: Empower Retirement LLC, Town of Enfield, Advance Auto Parts Distribution Center, Eppendorf Manufacturing
* Latest information available

The HGRE property sits on the former Bigelow Carpet manufacturing plant, and the developers recently secured $4 million from the state brownfields program to remediate the property, Marcavitch said. “That actually used to be the power plant for Bigelow. At one point, they were burning garbage in there. There was oil being used, coal being used, so there’s a lot of stuff on the grounds that needs to be cleaned up.”

He noted that the project will include some publicly accessible waterfront walking space, and HGRE will also seek to acquire an additional parcel at Main and North River streets, currently owned by Eversource, for the project’s second phase.

“The intention from the developer is to be able to use that area where the Eversource property is to build a waterfront restaurant location,” he said. “You get off the train, you can get something to eat, you can go to your apartment, whatever it might be, and that trail then would continue to Main Street, at least. There’s also been a long-term vision to have some sort of a pier that goes out into the river. That’s part of my job — to see if we can find funding for that and find a way to do it.”

Meanwhile, the town has received $1 million in federal funding to be used for streetscaping, from the train station up Main Street. “That’s going to trees, sidewalks, lighting, parking, striping, and making the road a bit more narrow,” Marcavitch explained.

“We’ve also been having some conversations about parking issues,” he went on. “We’ve had conversations with a group that’s being formed, a nonprofit group that would function as a Main Street program. They’re still in development.”

Taken together, Thompsonville definitely has some buzz. “It’s been said for 50 years now that Thompsonville is going to be revitalized, but I feel like some positive movement is happening. We’re actually putting those plans into action.”

 

Further Down the Track

That action has brought a sense of momentum to town, Marcavitch said, even if not everyone is feeling it yet.

“I feel there is a sense in Enfield that people don’t believe it until they start to see it. And nobody is seeing that shovel in the ground. But there are some people who know it’s happening, and they want to get ahead of it — whether it’s small developers on Main Street wanting to do small projects or big developers doing 140 apartment units.”

That said, other areas of town have seen some progress, too — even in the industrial sector, still reeling from Lego’s departure.

“We’ve had some really good conversations with the logistics industry, and we’re hopeful to see some projects that might be coming out of that relatively soon,” Marcavitch said, adding that one property owner is working with Martin Brower, the primary trucking company for McDonald’s, on an expansion and redesign of the site’s truck-management space, while USA Hauling, which owns the former Lego building, is talking to some high-tech companies.

“I have heard sometimes that Enfield is difficult to work with from a development standpoint. I don’t think that’s true, but we hear that, so I’ve been trying to be much more accessible to be that point of contact for businesses,” he added. “I was on a phone call with a gentleman who’s looking to put a restaurant in: ‘OK, great, tell me what you need. Let me know whenever you run into a snag.’ We’re just trying to be more helpful and more open.”

It’s the same with the few existing mall tenants, he added. “They don’t know what’s going to happen. So we’ve had some good conversations with those tenants. There’s only so much the town can do, but if we can at least be a receptive ear, sometimes that’s helpful.”

Since taking his role last April, Marcavitch has tried to put the same energy into other types of properties, from open spaces to historical sites.

“If you can encourage somebody to come here, that’s great, but I don’t want you just getting on a train and disappearing every day. At the end of the day, I want you to go to a dog park, I want you to go hike a trail, whatever it is, and stay in Enfield as much as possible. So it’s a multi-pronged process to bring up our sites and attractions, bring up our parks, bring up our community amenities, and bring up our businesses, too.”

 

Carr Hardware Is a Chain — and an Institution

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Bart Raser looks over the Carr Hardware location on North Street in Pittsfield.
Features Special Coverage

Hammer Down

Bart Raser looks over the Carr Hardware location on North Street in Pittsfield.

Bart Raser looks over the Carr Hardware location on North Street in Pittsfield.

While he admits to practically growing up at the Carr Hardware store in Pittsfield, working beside his father, Marshall, during the summer and school vacations, Bart Raser says he had no real interest in living in the Berkshires or making the family business a career.

That all changed when, while he was working in Boston and studying for his MBA, his father became ill with cancer. Raser came home — meaning to the store on North Street — for what he thought might be several months.

“Instead, I kind of fell in love with it and never left,” he said. “It’s a good business. It’s been fun … and it’s still fun. It’s great when you can wake up and love what you do every day.”

Indeed, working beside his father, who was very active in the business until recently (and until he was in his mid-90s), Raser has helped write the latest chapters in an intriguing story that began almost a century ago when Sam Carr put his name over a hardware store that would soon become, and always has been, an institution as much as a place to buy paint, nails, and, more recently, a leaf blower.

An institution that has not only been part of the fabric of the community — in Pittsfield and now several other cities and towns where it has locations — but a force in those communities, with Raser and many of his employees getting involved on many different levels.

“If it wasn’t for our community, we wouldn’t be here, so we support a ton of organizations, we encourage our people to get involved, and we supply our people with the time, and the money if it’s needed, to get involved.”

“It’s a big part of our culture — we’re a community business,” he said. “If it wasn’t for our community, we wouldn’t be here, so we support a ton of organizations, we encourage our people to get involved, and we supply our people with the time, and the money if it’s needed, to get involved.”

As for the business itself, it has evolved and expanded its reach — moving into equipment rentals and a strong online component, and adding stores across Berkshire County and then beyond, with a location in Avon, Conn.

And there are certainly opportunities for more of this expansion, said Raser, especially as Baby Boomers move into retirement and look to sell some of the remaining small, independent stores still to be found in the region.

Bart Raser and his father, Marshall

Bart Raser and his father, Marshall, have grown Carr Hardware to a six-location chain (and counting) over the past 30 years.

“The challenge in our industry is there’s a lot of folks who own hardware stores who are late in their careers, and their kids have no interest in working the kind of hours that are required in retail today,” he explained. “And the business is not easy — it’s capital-intensive, the margins are tight, the competition is tough … you have to work hard.

“So there are plenty of opportunities today, and there are probably more coming,” he went on, adding that plenty of people are looking for such opportunities. “There are a lot of folks who want to buy these stores.”

With that, Raser — who now has his own children working summers and vacations doing everything from making deliveries to assembling grills — effectively summed up the state of this industry as well as the challenges and opportunities facing this nearly century-old business. For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with him about all that and much more.

 

A Lightbulb Went Off

As he walked through the Pittsfield store with BusinessWest, Raser passed a row of snow throwers, an item that was in short supply and very hard to get at the height of the pandemic, but not so much the past few years.

“We have plenty of them … it hasn’t really snowed in two years,” he said with a voice that blended frustration with hard reality and an inability to do anything about it. “Let’s hope that changes this winter.”

Weather is just one of the myriad issues and challenges confronting those in the hardware business, a sector that, like many others in retail, has undergone tremendous change over the past few decades, in everything from the scope and nature of the competition — Sam Carr didn’t have Home Depot, Walmart, or Tractor Supply to contend with — to how business is done and what is sold or rented, from baby chicks in the spring to bounce houses.

“There’s all kinds of competition, and that competition has changed over the years,” he explained. “When I first came back, Sears was the big competitor, and that’s certainly evolved. Meanwhile, online is a huge competitor, Home Depot, Walmart, local chains — Rocky’s and Aubuchon — and the independents; there are several of them in the Berkshires.”

Like all Pittsfield-based businesses, this one had to cope with the downsizing of GE in the early ’90s and the huge impact it had, and still has, on the city’s central business district. And, like all retail businesses, this one faces the challenge of finding enough talent for its stores.

“The challenge in our industry is there’s a lot of folks who own hardware stores who are late in their careers, and their kids have no interest in working the kind of hours that are required in retail today.”

Before getting to all that, let’s go back to the beginning.

Calvin Coolidge was patrolling the White House when Sam Carr, a North Adams native who was working for someone else in the hardware sector, decided to go into business for himself. He started in a storefront just a few blocks down North Street, and eventually moved his venture into what had been a Sears Roebuck location, and before that a car dealership, at 547 North St., and the Carr name has been over the door ever since.

In 1962, Marshall Raser, who was already in the hardware business in Quincy with his brothers, met Sam Carr and decided to expand, if you will, into the Berkshires.

“My dad bought Carr Hardware, his brothers stayed in Quincy, and he ran Carr Hardware; together, they were all partners,” Raser noted, adding that the expansion into other Berkshire-area communities began in the ’80s with locations in Lee and Great Barrington. Eventually, what would become a chain had a presence in North Adams as well, before the venture moved into other area markets.

Including Avon in 2019, a Connecticut expansion that certainly wasn’t planned.

“I went in to buy their fixtures, and I walked out with the keys,” he said, referring to a store that was closing its doors, only to open again with a new name over the door. The search for fixtures was prompted by Carr’s purchase of an independent store in Longmeadow and the need to relocate it to make way for a Big Y expansion, a move that brought the chain to Enfield, Conn., a store that would close after seven years of operation.

 

Nailing It Down

As he talked about the company’s past expansion efforts — and also what might happen in the future — Raser referenced the attrition rate in this business, which has grown steadily higher over the years, even within his own family; indeed, in addition to the Enfield store, which suffered from a poor location, a store in Great Barrington operated by his cousins eventually failed, to be replaced by one opened by Bart and Marshall Raser.

employees take part in downtown Pittsfield’s annual spring cleanup

As part of Carr Hardware’s long tradition of being involved in the community, employees take part in downtown Pittsfield’s annual spring cleanup.

To survive and thrive these days, hardware ventures need several key ingredients, he said, starting with size. Indeed, chains have an enormous advantage over single, standalone stores when it comes to buying power and economies of scale, Raser said, adding that this is one reason why he is continually looking for expansion opportunities.

Meanwhile, a diverse portfolio of products and services is another must, he noted, adding that the company’s equipment- and event-rental business is a good example of such diversity.

“Rental is an important part of our business now,” he said. “If you had told my dad or Sam Carr that we would be renting bounce houses and cotton-candy machines, they’d think we were crazy, but it’s a great part of our business.”

The same can be said for small-engine repair and even the sale of chickens, which started in three of the stores several years ago and remains brisk.

Meanwhile, a large, effective online presence is also a must, and Carr has achieved that as well.

“It’s such a small part of our total volume, but it’s such a fast-growing piece; it grew by more than 100%,” he explained, adding that, while there’s a large volume of returns, consumers are becoming ever-more comfortable with buying hardware online.

Still, when it comes to most projects and products, consumers still need advice, which is why in-store service from qualified experts is another key to success, and Carr features that as well.

As for size, as he noted earlier, Raser said he’s continually looking for growth opportunities, but they have to make sense, and he isn’t looking to grow just for the sake of growth.

“I’ve walked away from far more than I’ve bought,” he said of stores that come on the market, adding that everything has to be right with an acquisition candidate, from the location to the condition of the store to the price, obviously.

“In many cases, people value their business for more than it’s really worth; with these small businesses, there are emotional connections, and they’re multi-generational,” he noted. “We have a lot of things we look at when considering an acquisition, and the biggest is culture, but the metrics have to make sense as well.

“We’re willing to go where there’s opportunity,” he went on, when asked where the company might go next. “But ideally, we would like to fill in the map; it would be great to have something between Great Barrington and Avon.”

Meanwhile, in the communities where it already has a presence, the company makes getting involved a huge part of its culture.

As Raser noted earlier, this is a top-down proposition. He has served, and continues to serve, on a number of different boards, and the company not only encourages employees at all levels to get involved, it gives them the wherewithal — the time off and whatever else they need — to do so.

“If they’re passionate about being a volunteer firefighter, or they want to coach a soccer team, or get involved in Little League, whatever their passion is, we really encourage them to do that,” he told BusinessWest. “And we’re happy to help them support the organization — that’s our starting point.”

It’s just one of many traditions, carried on for almost 100 years now, that promise to continue for decades to come.

 

Six Flags New England Provides Experiences for Guests, Employees

By
Peter Carmichael says Six Flags is more than an major employer
Features

The Ride Stuff

Peter Carmichael says Six Flags is more than an major employer

Peter Carmichael says Six Flags is more than an major employer — it’s a source of all-important first jobs as well as leadership opportunities for young people.

While the park’s gates are officially closed this time of year, this is actually considered busy season at Six Flags New England.

It’s just a different kind of busy, said Peter Carmichael, president of the amusement park in Agawam, adding that this is the season for getting the various rides and attractions ready for the official busy season, which starts in early April, around school-break time, and kicks into a higher gear on Memorial Day.

“Every year, we inspect and refresh the entire park,” he explained. “This is when we do all of our annual maintenance and checkups on all our rides and attractions to make sure they’re ready to go in the spring.”

And this offseason, during which the venue formerly known Riverside Park will mark 25 years as part of the Six Flags brand, things are even busier than what would be considered usual, with the park now in the final stages of work on its first new roller coaster in nearly a decade.

It’s called Quantum Accelerator, billed as ‘New England’s first straddle coaster,’ whereby, as that name suggests, riders sit on top of the seat, rather than inside, providing a different sensation and increased thrill, Carmichael said.

The ride, which features two launches and speeds up to 45 mph, will officially launch in late spring, he said, adding that, after his engineers, he expects to take one of the first rides on the new attraction.

In addition to the new coaster, the park is undertaking what Carmichael calls the largest investment in food services in the park’s history — a renovation of the Riverboat Café in the center of the park that will provide everything from additional capacity to new menu items.

“We have dozens, probably hundreds, of leadership opportunities, between teen leads and supervisors and coordinators that are asked to step up, lead our teams, and enhance the guest experience. It’s a great development opportunity for the individual.”

Overall, he said his work comes down to continuing traditions — not just rides, amusements, food, and adding new roller coasters, but also providing first jobs to hundreds of young people each year — the park employs roughly 3,000 seasonal workers each year — as well as leadership opportunities for younger people, experience in fields ranging from accounting to healthcare to culinary arts, and chances to advance within this industry, as he did, as we’ll see.

“What we’re really most proud of is that we tend to be, for many, their first real leadership opportunity,” he said. “We have dozens, probably hundreds, of leadership opportunities, between teen leads and supervisors and coordinators that are asked to step up, lead our teams, and enhance the guest experience. It’s a great development opportunity for the individual.”

For this issue, BusinessWest talked with Carmichael, a self-described “rides guy,” about the offseason, the 2025 season to come, the new coaster, and what it all means to one of the region’s hospitality-sector institutions.

 

Speed Thrills

Carmichael told BusinessWest that he’s always been fascinated by amusement parks and the theme-park world, and it has played a huge part in his life, starting when he met his future wife while they were both operating a roller coaster called the Jack Rabbit at his hometown’s amusement park in Pennsylvania.

When he was a student at Penn State working toward a degree in commercial tourism, he sent dozens of letters to amusement and theme parks seeking internships. The park that had just been rebranded Six Flags New England was among the few that called back. Carmichael came north, and his internship, as such opportunities very often do, became a career.

An architect’s rendering of the Quantum Accelerator

An architect’s rendering of the Quantum Accelerator, now in the final construction phases at Six Flags.

“I’d always known, my whole life, that I wanted to work in the theme-park industry,” he said, adding that he got his start as opening supervisor for the Superman: Ride of Steel roller coaster, opened in 2000, which he joked was the most difficult assignment he’s had in his career.

There have been several since he first arrived in Agawam, mostly on the operations side. He eventually earned the title director of Operations in 2008, and stayed in that job for several years before leaving to become park president of Six Flags St. Louis in 2016.

He stayed in that post for two years before getting an opportunity to “come home,” as he put it, and become president of Six Flags New England.

Since taking the helm, he has led the park through the challenging COVID period and its aftermath, and now the latest course of expansion, especially a new roller coaster, giving the park 12 in its portfolio, including the wooden Thunderbolt, opened in 1941 and now one of the oldest rides within the Six Flags family of parks.

Carmichael described it as much more than a blast from the past.

“We proudly reinvest in the Thunderbolt every year — it’s one of the best rides in the region and a point of pride for us,” he explained. “There’s a certain crew and a certain amount of hard work that goes into making sure that you have a good, smooth, fun, and enjoyable ride experience on a wooden coaster, and our team of carpenters treats that like their baby.”

“We proudly reinvest in the Thunderbolt every year — it’s one of the best rides in the region and a point of pride for us.”

As for the new Quantum Accelerator coaster, it is being constructed in an area of the park known as Crack Axle Canyon, on the site of the former Goliath coaster.

A significant investment — Carmichael was not at liberty to get into specifics — the new coaster gives the park its first entry into the emerging straddle-coaster bracket, its first new coaster since the Joker opened in the Gotham City section of the park in 2017, and its 12th coaster overall.

Others include the Wicked Cyclone, originally the wooden Cyclone, which was reconstructed and retracked with steel in 2015; Pandemonium, opened in 2005; Batman: the Dark Knight, unveiled in 2002; Flashback, Catwoman’s Whip, and Superman, all opened in 2000; and Riddler’s Revenge, formerly the Mind Eraser, which dates back to 1997.

Carmichael said the Quantum Accelerator, which has been in the planning stages for several years now, is a good complement to the other coasters and rides in the park, and is seen as a family attraction. And, just as with the premieres of other coasters on that list above, the introduction of the Quantum Accelerator is expected to pique the interest of roller-coaster enthusiasts, generate new visitation, and create some strong word-of-mouth enthusiasm.

“Roller coasters are really one of the cornerstones of our investment strategy,” he explained. “That’s because they can be anchor rides; they are the type of rides that are repeater rides, ones that our guests will be wowed by, they’ll be amused by, they’ll tell all their friends and family, ‘you’ve got to come ride this.’ And there was no better example of that than when we opened the Superman ride in 2000.”

 

Bottom Line

While the park supplies experiences and lasting memories for guests, it provides the same for its employees, said Carmichael, noting that most of them are young, many of them are in their first job, and many others are certainly in their first position of leadership. In each case, work at Six Flags is a learning experience, and one they’ll remember, he noted.

“Because I’ve been at the park so long, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bumped into former supervisors, team leaders, and team members on the midway, and they always seem to have a similar narrative,” he told BusinessWest. “They say, ‘oh my gosh, that was the best time, we had so much fun back in those days.’ I’m really proud to continue the legacy of leadership development that we’ve been able to provide over the last quarter-century.”

That’s just one of the traditions that will continue in 2025 at a regional attraction that has always had the ride stuff.

 

In Agawam, Momentum Is Building

By
A architect’s rendering of the planned new Agawam High School.
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

A architect’s rendering of the planned new Agawam High School.

A architect’s rendering of the planned new Agawam
High School.

Chris Johnson called it “an easy fix.”

He was referring to his decision early in 2024 to put things back the way they were in City Hall — quite literally — the last time he occupied the corner office, some 24 years earlier.

Indeed, the three-office mayor’s suite in City Hall had been reconfigured in the intervening years, with the smallest space, which had been Johnson’s office, made into a closet; the middle space, which had been a conference room, devoted to staff; and the largest space, which had been home to the two-person staff, converted to accommodate the mayor’s office and a conference-room table.

Not long after returning to office, Johnson reshuffled the deck, claiming that the old arrangement made far more sense.

Other business hasn’t been resolved quite so easily, but Johnson has achieved progress on several fronts — especially with the building of a new high school, a project that has been discussed for decades and was resolved in resounding fashion at a special election last June, with roughly 70% of residents approving a three-stage project with a price tag of $226 million.

Johnson, who served three two-year terms in the mid- to late ’90s, and, more recently, served several terms on the City Council, sought a return to the corner office in the fall of 2023, in large part to resolve the issue of a new high school. He considers the new building (and a small saved portion of the old building) to be the best option for this community of almost 29,000.

“For the voters, it came down to this: do you want to make a significant investment and renovate what we have, or spend a few extra dollars and build a new high school?” said Johnson, in reference to what will be, by far, the largest capital-improvement project in the history of Agawam. “The right decision, from an education standpoint, but also a business and financial standpoint, was to invest in a new building that has a useful life of 50-plus years instead of major renovations in what we have that would have a useful life of probably 20 to 30 years.”

“The right decision, from an education standpoint, but also a business and financial standpoint, was to invest in a new building that has a useful life of 50-plus years instead of major renovations in what we have that would have a useful life of probably 20 to 30 years.”

The high-school vote is easily the biggest storyline in this community, but there are others, including ongoing work to transform the old HUB Insurance building on Suffield Street into the city’s new police headquarters, an intriguing conversion project that should be wrapped up next spring. There’s also the ongoing saga of the former Games and Lanes property on Walnut Street Extension — a new use for that parcel remains elusive years after the eyesore was torn down — as well as the need for new housing of all kinds, but especially the affordable variety.

There are some new businesses, including a Starbucks just over the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge from West Springfield that opened roughly a year ago, and some emerging ventures, including an urgent-care facility in a building now under construction just behind Starbucks.

As for existing businesses, the landscape is dominated — figuratively but also literally — by Six Flags New England, the giant amusement park near the Connecticut border that is not only the city’s largest employer, but a good corporate citizen, the mayor said.

The park, now 25 years under the Six Flags brand, is adding a new roller coaster and undertaking other significant expansion and improvement efforts, said Park President Peter Carmichael (see related story on page XX).

For this latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its focus on Agawam, where momentum is building — in every sense of that phrase.

 

Early Returns

The framed newspaper front pages on one wall of Johnson’s office speak to how much has changed over the past 24 years — journalistically, and in some other ways as well.

The large headlines trumpet three of his five election victories, starting in 1989. The masthead at the top of each declares that this is the Agawam/West Springfield edition of the Union News. The Springfield newspaper is now called the Republican, and there is no longer an Agawam/West Springfield edition. Meanwhile, the large headlines from the ’90s were all about Johnson because West Springfield didn’t have a mayor in those days.

But while many things have changed in a quarter-century, in Agawam, many of the issues are the same, and Johnson has been dealing with them consistently because he served on the City Council for 12 years in the interim.

Mayor Chris Johnson

Mayor Chris Johnson says resolution of the high-school issue was one of the prime motivators for his return to the corner office.

At the top of that list is the high school, he said, noting that the original building, opened in 1995, has been renovated and expanded several times over the years, with the result being a sprawling, one-story complex that was in need of another facelift — or replacement.

Johnson has long been a strong advocate of the latter, and efforts to inform the public of the available options dominated his first several months back in the mayor’s office.

“I can’t even count how many presentations I made,” he said. “I pretty much said, ‘anytime, anywhere that anyone wants one, I’ll go’ — and I did a lot of them, while also putting together educational videos to put on the town’s website and social media. My goal was to make sure people had the information they needed to make an educated decision.”

“Whether it be aging roadways or storm-drainage issues, most of our infrastructure dates back 50, 60, 70-plus years.”

Dave Fontaine Jr., CEO of Springfield-based Fontaine Bros., the general contractor awarded the project, said it is unique in that it has three phases — new construction of a ‘community wing’ on fields adjacent to the current high school; an academic wing, which will involve demolition of much of the existing high school (some will be saved) and new construction; and additional demolition as well as conversion of some of the existing high school into an early-childhood center.

The building will also use geothermal wells for heating and cooling, said Fontaine, adding that the technology is becoming more common, but still fairly rare in school buildings. It will also have sloping metal roofs, which are more durable than flat roofs and will have a longer lifespan, he said, adding that they provide an intriguing architectural element.

Johnson said ground should be broken this spring, with work on phase 1 to be completed by the end of 2026, phase 2 by the fall of 2028, and phase 3 in 2029.

Fontaine will be building the new Agawam High School at the same time it constructs a new high school in East Longmeadow, a project roughly six months further along. That will be challenging in some ways, but the company traditionally has at least two large-scale school projects occurring simultaneously.

Meanwhile, another intriguing project, this one now well underway, is the conversion of the former HUB Insurance building (before that, it was the Oaks banquet facility) into the new police headquarters.

It’s unique, said Carl Mercieri, executive vice president with Marois Construction, the contractor handling the project, because most new public-safety facilities are built from the ground up.

Agawam at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1855
Population: 28,692
Area: 24.2 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $14.54
Commercial Tax Rate: $27.54
Median Household Income: $49,390
Family Household Income: $59,088
Type of government: Mayor; City Council
Largest Employers: OMG Inc., Agawam Public Schools, Six Flags New England
* Latest information available

Because the town was able to acquire the property at an attractive price, converting it for this use emerged as the most common-sense option, he went on, adding that transforming a large (36,000 square feet) office building into a public-safety facility has required complete interior gutting and creation of a wide range of new spaces, from offices to a dispatch room to six holding cells. Meanwhile, a large sallyport had to be added to the rear of the building.

“There are several different areas to create — a detective area, a sergeant’s area, a patrolman’s area, an armory, and the holding cells,” said Mercieri, adding that the completion date for the project, like the final price tag (around $9 million), is a moving target, but work is expected to be wrapped up by late spring.

 

Forward Progress

Between the new high-school project (the town’s share of that initiative is roughly $120 million) and the new public-safety complex, the town will have little to spend on other large-scale capital projects for some time, said Johnson, adding quickly that this can’t stop the community from planning.

And he summed up what’s next on the proverbial to-do list with a single word: ‘infrastructure.’

“Whether it be aging roadways or storm-drainage issues, most of our infrastructure dates back 50, 60, 70-plus years,” he explained. “But we need to come up with a plan, and then match a funding mechanism to a plan to be able to move forward so that we’re not faced with dealing with crisis situations.”

Coming up with these plans — while also building the new school — will be the next challenges for Johnson in what can be called a second tour of duty in the corner office.

Or corner offices, to be more precise.

He’s put things back the way they were before in that suite, but for other, much larger issues, there is no going back — just moving forward. In the larger scheme of things, that is the plan.

In South Hadley, It Takes a Village — Literally

By
Karia Youngblood says Mount Holyoke College’s $175 million geothermal project is a bold move for the institution.
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Karia Youngblood says Mount Holyoke College’s $175 million geothermal project is a bold move for the institution.

Karia Youngblood says Mount Holyoke College’s $175 million geothermal project is a bold move for the institution.

At its core, Mount Holyoke College’s $175 million geothermal energy initiative is an infrastructure project.

But, by design (in most cases, anyway), it has become much more than that.

Indeed, the massive undertaking, soon to enter its third phase, has become a living laboratory for many students, engaging them in learning opportunities involving everything from geology (during test-well drilling) to sustainable landscaping to humanities.

Meanwhile, the project has provided a captivating glimpse into the college’s past, with excavation work uncovering part of the foundation of the college’s original structure, the Seminary Building, which dates back to 1837, a find that provides some poignant symmetry, said Karia Youngblood, associate vice president of Facilities Management at Mount Holyoke.

“I worked with our archivist, and we overlaid the footprint of the Seminary Building and determined that foundation was actually the corner of the original boiler room of that building, which also explains why we found some fire bricks in that area,” she explained. “It felt like a really sweet, full-circle moment.”

Such symmetry is one intriguing aspect of this closely watched project, which is just one of many storylines unfolding in South Hadley.

“With our 19 units historically at 100% occupancy, with minimal opportunity to reside here due to lack of turnover, we believe the best way to sustain long-term success is to open the door to more housing.”

Others, said Town Administrator Lisa Wong, include everything from progress toward building a new elementary school to work toward development of a strategic plan for the town’s municipal golf course, to planned infrastructure work — and economic-development initiatives — in the community’s historic Falls section, which includes Town Hall.

“We’re hoping to raise some money and do some projects in that area, which is along the river,” she explained. “There are some businesses there, but we’re looking to attract more.”

As for established businesses that call South Hadley home, many can be found in the Village Commons, a setting unlike anything else in Western Mass. — a collection of buildings that has won awards for its design and is known for constant change, but also, in some ways, remarkable stability.

The Village Commons

The Village Commons has historically had a high occupancy rate for its retail and office space, and there’s a lengthy waiting list for its residential units.

Indeed, many of the commercial tenants have had this mailing address for decades, said Jeff Labrecque, chief operating officer of Center Redevelopment Corp., which manages the Commons for its owner, Mount Holyoke College, noting that the same is true for those occupying the 19 coveted residential units as well.

“We have one woman who has lived here for 36 years,” said Labrecque, noting that there is a waiting list for the units, one that people stay on for several years, on average, before there is a vacancy.

This lengthy waiting list helps explain why the Village Commons is actively looking to expand and add additional residential units, Labrecque told BusinessWest, adding that South Hadley, like most area cities and towns, has a critical need for housing, especially of the affordable variety.

“I’m an alum of the college, and the day the board approved this project, I felt so much pride in my institution that they had the courage to take such a bold step to preserve the environment, to preserve the legacy of Mount Holyoke.”

“We’re continuing to focus on residential expansion opportunities,” he said. “With our 19 units historically at 100% occupancy, with minimal opportunity to reside here due to lack of turnover, we believe the best way to sustain long-term success is to open the door to more housing.”

Meanwhile, one of the long-time commercial tenants in the Village Commons, the Bean Restaurant Group, founded by the Yee family, has continually expanded its presence within the complex. Three of the group’s 13 restaurants — Johnny’s Bar & Grill, IYA Sushi and Noodle Kitchen, and Johnny’s Tap Room, a banquet and events facility — are located within the Commons.

Overall, the group continues to grow in size, with the most recent addition being the Crush Wine Bar in West Hartford, Conn. but also in prestige, recently garnering the 2024 Restaurant of the Year Award from the Retailers Assoc. of Mass. (RAM), recognizing the company’s longstanding dedication to hospitality excellence, culinary creativity, and community engagement.

“It’s a feather in the cap, not for the Yee family, but really for our teams in every restaurant, because they’re the ones that build the relationships,” said Edison Yee, son of Johnny Yee, who laid the cornerstone for what would become a chain with the opening of the famed Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee. “They’re the ones table-touching every day, and they continue to bring that culture that my father instilled in all of us to our restaurants every day.”

 

Things Are Heating Up

Numbers certainly help tell the story of Mount Holyoke’s geothermal system. And there are quite a few of them.

When completed, there will be 26 miles of geothermal piping to be installed under the campus. The project also entails the drilling of 230 bores, each of them 600 feet deep, that will heat and cool 43 buildings covering 1.6 million square feet of real estate.

The most important numbers, though, are 2037 and 100% carbon neutrality. The former is a date, the college’s 200th birthday, and the latter is a goal to be reached by that date, a goal that in many ways inspired the geothermal project, said Youngblood, adding that this goal coincided with another one — to replace a 100-year-old, highly inefficient steam-distribution system.

Members of the second and third generations of the extended Yee family

Members of the second and third generations of the extended Yee family now managing the Bean Restaurant Group: from left, Matt Yee, Nathan Yee, Sonny Wae, Bonnie Wae, Emma Yee, Nick Yee, and Edison Yee.

Tracing the genesis and progression of the project, Youngblood, an alum who has been working in her current position for three years, said the college made a climate commitment in 2016, and in 2018 a sustainability task force was formed to look at how the college could reduce its carbon emissions.

That group’s work soon focused on the school’s fossil-fuel-powered heating plant and five large steam boilers, which produced 80% of those emissions. And it led to an energy master plan that looked at a handful of different technologies and was guided by several criteria, including cost, greenhouse-gas reduction, and technology that was both adaptable and able to offer engagement opportunities for on-campus researchers and students.

These and other guidelines were met by geothermal heat-exchange technology, she went on, adding that Mount Holyoke took inspiration — and some lessons — from a similar project at Carleton College in Minnesota, and commenced work in 2022.

“This is a bold step for the college,” Youngblood said as she put the many aspects of this initiative into perspective. “I’m an alum of the college, and the day the board approved this project, I felt so much pride in my institution that they had the courage to take such a bold step to preserve the environment, to preserve the legacy of Mount Holyoke. We’re a small liberal-arts college in Western Massachusetts, and many of our peers with larger endowments have yet to take such a step.”

As Wong noted, the geothermal project is one of many developing stories in South Hadley. Others include early-stage work to replace Mosher Elementary School; recent improvements to Buttery Brook Park, including wildly popular pickleball courts; the launching of an affordable housing trust to address that pressing issue; creation of a Human Services department; gaining designation from the state as a green community; and planned infrastructure work on Main Street.

Meanwhile, the town is also launching a strategic plan for its municipal golf course. Conceived in the late ’90s, when golf was enjoying a Tiger Woods-inspired boom, the course, called the Ledges, struggled for many years, but has fared better recently as golf has enjoyed another surge, this one fueled in part by the pandemic.

“The course is operating in the black, but it’s not covering all the debt right now,” said Wong, noting that the debt incurred to build the course and clubhouse will be paid off in four years, and the town wants a plan in place for maximizing that asset. A major focus will be on open space for the public, such as accessible walking trails.

 

It Takes a Village

While Labrecque takes the title COO of Center Redevelopment Corp., he likes to refer himself as an ‘innkeeper.’

In fact, at least one tenant calls him that, he said, adding that the hospitality-toned title is a better reflection of what he does day in and day out — and also what the Village Commons was designed to be and has certainly become.

“When you’re managing more than 70 tenants, and most of them are mom-and-pops, you really have to take on the innkeeper mentality, almost as if you’re running a bed and breakfast,” he explained. “And it’s always hands-on, very different from a commercial mall environment.”

As noted earlier, the Commons is noted for both its stability — some tenants go back to the very beginning in 1987, and many have called the complex home for 30 years or more — but also for the change that comes to any facility that is home to retail and office tenants.

That stability is marked by 100% occupancy on the retail and hospitality side of the equation, and 92% on the office side, which is strong compared to many office facilities in the post-pandemic, remote-work era, but still down from the Commons’ history of full occupancy, Labrecque noted.

“Hybrid work schedules continue to impact the office market, therefore creating an abundance of nationwide vacancies, leading to a heated and competitive leasing environment,” he said, adding that, while, these and other headwinds continue to present challenges to the Commons, the facility continues to more than hold its own.

Recent additions include Kiao Wan Thai restaurant, which opened its doors in October, and Eliza Moser Fine Art. Moser is an internationally trained oil painter, art instructor, and gallerist, and her facility hosts a broad range of weekly classes, paint nights, and one-day workshops that are routinely sold out.

Meanwhile, established tenants cover many sectors and include Odyssey Bookshop, Darby O’Brien Advertising, HUB International, Ochoa Day Spa, and Tower Theaters, which, like most cinema operations, is still in recovery mode from the pandemic, but making strides and continuing to be a destination that brings people to the Commons and its many restaurants.

“When you’re managing more than 70 tenants, and most of them are mom-and-pops, you really have to take on the innkeeper mentality, almost as if you’re running a bed and breakfast.”

Looking forward, the Commons is looking to advance what would be its first real expansion in more than 30 years, said Labrecque, adding that this expansion will come on the residential side, and with the twin motivations of meeting the town’s glaring need for more housing, while also providing more revenue with which to meet the growing costs of maintaining a complex now approaching its 40th birthday.

Additional residential units would constitute phase 3 of the Commons project, and it has been talked about for at least 20 years, he noted, adding that efforts have been slowed by the Great Recession, the pandemic, and other forces, but he expects some movement on this front within the next year.

 

Next on the Menu

Meanwhile, the Bean Group works to balance its ongoing efforts to expand with the day-to-day work of managing and operating 13 restaurants — and, during September, three more operations at the Big E.

It’s a complicated balancing act, said Nate Yee, a member of the third generation of the family now managing the group.

“We put a lot on our managers; we have a great amount of trust in them,” he told BusinessWest. “It comes with a lot of communication and checkpoints — that’s really how we do it. What sets us apart is that family touch where we’re in the units; we try our best to get to every restaurant at least once every week. It doesn’t always happen, and we rely on our managers.”

While the group is spread out across Western Mass. and now into the Hartford area, roughly half its restaurants are in South Hadley. In addition to those at the Commons, there are also the Halfway House Lounge, Johnny’s Roadside (a diner focusing on breakfast and lunch), and the Boathouse, located on the Connecticut River.

The 13 restaurants in the group run the gamut, from sushi to cheeseburgers and milkshakes at the two White Hut locations, and this diversity certainly makes it interesting, said Nick Yee, another of Johnny’s sons, noting that, beyond the wide variety of restaurants, the group is also coping with changes in eating habits, including a tendency among the younger generations to eat earlier and get home earlier.

“In South Hadley, our busiest time starts at 5, and it goes until 8,” he noted, adding that only a few years ago, peak time was closer to 7. “In South Hadley, we used to be open until midnight; now, we’ve cut that down to 9:30, 10.”

As for opportunities for expansion, there are many of them, said Nick, noting that “every restaurant is for sale, really.”

Nate agreed, adding that the group looks at many factors when it explores opportunities — from the lease conditions to parking; from the talent pool to the condition of the building in question — but, ultimately, it comes down to leadership and whether it would make a good fit with the group’s culture.

Maintaining that culture is job one, they agreed, adding that doing so contributes to awards like the one from RAM, but mostly leads to continued growth and success for a group that started nearly 60 years ago and is still thriving, especially in this town that’s progressing right along with it.

 

Challenges Persist for the Business Community as 2025 Begins

By
George Timmons
Features Special Coverage

Reflecting on the Year That Was

 

George Timmons

George Timmons calls education “the great equalizer,” and MassEducate a very effective way to achieve that.

In many ways, 2024 didn’t provide much clarity regarding economic questions we posed a year ago in our annual year in review. Inflation and interest rates remain high (if not historically so), while remote work, a housing shortage, and some sector-specific challenges continue to make the news.

But there was some good news, too, and some encouraging progress on fronts ranging from rail development to educational access to some intriguing high-tech developments. As 2025 dawns, BusinessWest presents its year in review, noting some of the stories and issues that shaped our lives, and will, in many cases, continue to do so.

 

The High Cost of Everything…

The Federal Reserve has been on a mission over the past two years — to tame inflation without putting the country into recession. By and large, the latter part has been accomplished, but inflation remains a thorny challenge.

Consumer prices were up 2.7% for the 12 months that ended in November, but stubborn inflation in housing (up 0.3% for the month in November) and food (up 0.4%) continue to hit people where they notice it most, while the price of cars and energy also rose in November. Economists are also unsure how President-elect Trump’s promised tariffs will impact inflation.

Meanwhile, some economists expect some relief in interest rates, and a chance that the Fed may go as low as 4% in 2025.

Still, Bob Nakosteen, semi-retired professor of Economics at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, recently told BusinessWest that “the economic numbers don’t look bad at all. The labor market has weakened a little bit, but it’s not weak; it’s just not as strong as it had been. And most of the other indicators are strong, including GNP. It’s about where it had been, and in some ways, it’s above trendline.

“This is not breaking news,” he added, “but the economy has held up really well in spite of a lot of pressure, especially from a rapidly rising interest-rate environment. The consumer has really rolled with the punches.”

 

…Except Community College

MassReconnect, a program the state launched in 2023 to fully fund tuition, books, and supplies at community colleges for students over age 25, has, to hear college presidents tell it, been a game changer, significantly boosting enrollment and getting more students into a pipeline that will hopefully bring more new blood to the region’s workforce.

“The economic numbers don’t look bad at all. The labor market has weakened a little bit, but it’s not weak; it’s just not as strong as it had been. And most of the other indicators are strong, including GNP.”

This past summer, state lawmakers went further by implementing MassEducate, a $117.5 million annual investment that covers tuition and fees for all students, plus books and supplies for some. The program aims to support both economic opportunity for students and workforce development across a Massachusetts economy that has struggled, sector by sector, to recruit and retain talent in recent years.

Importantly, the program is a ‘last dollar’ investment, meaning students will still access federal funds, like Pell Grants, as well as state aid and scholarships, and MassEducate will pay the costs that remain, so it’s not funding anywhere near the full cost of a student’s education.

“I’m so passionate about this work of education,” Holyoke Community College President George Timmons said. “It is the great equalizer. Once you have an education and all the rights and privileges of that degree, you can earn a livable, sustainable wage, you can take care of yourself and your family, and you can literally change the trajectory of a family.”

 

Productivity in Pajamas?

A report last year by McKinsey Global Institute suggested that remote work risks wiping $800 billion from the value of office buildings in major cities worldwide by 2030 as the post-pandemic trend pushes up office vacancy rates and drives down rents.

Large employers are fighting back. In September, Amazon President and CEO Andy Jassy informed tens of thousands of workers that they will be back in the office five days a week come January. That was good news for commercial real-estate owners and developers, who hope other employers follow suit.

But while remote-work critics claim improved collaboration and communication, as well as the learning opportunities that come when everyone is together, outweigh any benefits that might come from remote work and hybrid schedules, the fact is that the hybrid movement, at least, seems entrenched for now — and also puts employers who nix all remote work at a competitive disadvantage when recruiting in an already-tough talent market.

But Evan Plotkin, president of Springfield-based NAI Plotkin, told BusinessWest that he sees a partially offsetting force in east-west rail, which has the potential to drive development in areas near the rail stops, and even prompt some businesses to realize they don’t have to be in Boston anymore. “It could be transformative; in Springfield, for example, it could drive development in the Union Station area and make that area much more attractive.”

 

Working on the Railroad

So, is east-west rail finally becoming a reality, connecting Springfield and Boston? Well, the money being put behind what’s known as the Compass Rail project is certainly real.

At the end of October, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal announced the latest $36.8 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant by the Federal Railroad Administration, following a $108 million CRISI grant — the third-largest in the nation — late last year. Since Union Station reopened in 2017, more than $200 million has been allocated toward east-west rail, both from federal grants and MassDOT funding.

The latest funding will support the Springfield track-reconfiguration project, which is designed to increase capacity to accommodate both freight and increased passenger rail service. The project will include building new crossovers and layover tracks, upgrading platforms around Springfield Union Station, and modernizing track and signal systems.

“With the substantial progress that has been made with west-east rail, the Commonwealth is well-positioned to pursue additional funding for years to come.”

Since the station’s reopening, Neal said, “the investments that have been made in passenger rail have been extraordinary,” adding that, “with the substantial progress that has been made with west-east rail, the Commonwealth is well-positioned to pursue additional funding for years to come.”

Meanwhile, MassDOT is conducting a study focused on the restart of passenger rail along the Route 2 corridor, a project whose public advocates include dozens of municipalities, regional planning agencies, and state legislators.

 

SOC It to Springfield

Speaking of Union Station, in September, it officially became home to the Richard E. Neal Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, one component of a multi-million-dollar series of investments, announced in 2022, to bolster cybersecurity resilience — and the related workforce — across the state.

These awards included a $1,086,476 grant to support the launch of CyberTrust Massachusetts, a nonprofit that works with business and academia statewide to grow the cybersecurity talent pipeline while promoting local security operations.

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal joins a host of local dignitaries

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal joins a host of local dignitaries in September to cut the ribbon on his namesake cybersecurity center.

The state also awarded $1,462,995 award to Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) and $1,200,000 to Bridgewater State University to establish a security operations center (SOC) and cyber range in each city. The Neal Center at Union Station, managed by STCC, also benefited from $500,000 in ARPA funding from the city of Springfield.

Springfield’s 6,000-square-foot center — a collaboration between STCC, the Springfield Redevelopment Authority, and CyberTrust Massachusetts — aims to be a hub for advancing cybersecurity awareness, education, and innovation while battling global security threats. Its cyber range is a simulated, hands-on training environment, and its SOC is envisioned as a support service for Massachusetts municipalities, as well as regional businesses, to detect cybersecurity events in real time and respond quickly.

 

Tackling the Housing Crisis

One of the dominant stories of 2024 was a continuing housing shortage that touches virtually every community.

With that in mind, over the summer, Gov. Maura Healey signed into law the Affordable Homes Act, which aims to support the production, preservation, and rehabilitation of more than 65,000 homes statewide over the next five years. It is the largest housing bond bill ever filed in Massachusetts, at more than triple the spending authorizations of the last housing bill passed in 2018.

The legislation authorizes $5.16 billion in spending over the next five years along with 49 policy initiatives to counter rising housing costs caused by high demand and limited supply. Key spending authorizations and policy changes include allowing accessory dwelling units, an unprecedented investment in modernizing the state’s public housing system, boosts to programs that support first-time homebuyers and homeownership, incentives to build more housing for low- to moderate-income residents, support for the conversion of vacant commercial space to housing, and support for sustainable and green housing initiatives.

“The Affordable Homes Act creates homes for every kind of household, at every stage of life, and unlocks the potential in our neighborhoods,” Healey said. “We are taking an unprecedented step forward in building a stronger Massachusetts where everyone can afford to live.”

 

High Risks for Cannabis Operators

According to a new report in the Boston Business Journal, cannabis businesses are surrendering licenses at an alarming rate in Massachusetts. Since September 2023, four retail licenses have been either surrendered, not renewed, or revoked, and so have 26 non-retail licenses, which include growers and manufacturers. In the five years before that, just five retail and 11 non-retail licenses were surrendered.

The green rush is clearly over; more than 700 cannabis businesses have opened or received licensing approval, and prices have fallen sharply amid stiffer competition — which makes running a business much more challenging.

Springfield Mayor Sarno recently cut the ribbon opening EMBR Springfield, a cannabis dispensary at 461 Boston Road.

Springfield Mayor Sarno recently cut the ribbon opening EMBR Springfield, a cannabis dispensary at 461 Boston Road.

So does a still-unresolved disconnect between state and federal law that has thrown a number of wrenches into cannabis businesses, which, among other hurdles, grapple with an onerous tax burden since they can’t write off many of the costs other businesses can. Federal laws also impact elements from transportation to banking. And while federal rescheduling of cannabis has bipartisan appeal, it’s uncertain whether the next Congress will have the appetite for it.

There may be some potential good news for dispensary owners: a newly established regulatory framework for operating ‘social consumption sites’ in Massachusetts, potentially allowing public use of the drug. The Cannabis Control Commission is currently receiving public comment on the draft and will take the issue up in the new year.

 

Data Center Clears Tax Hurdle

Two years ago, Westmass Area Development Corp. helped Servistar Realties secure approval from the Westfield Planning Board, as well as a major tax break from the City Council, for a large, high-tech data center near Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport that could attract some of the largest tech companies in the world. Servistar even negotiated a power-purchase agreement with Westfield Gas & Electric allowing it to access below-market electric rates.

“The challenges in healthcare over the past five years have shifted, but they have not let up. And they ultimately result in financial challenges that are stressing the ways in which we collectively provide access to care in our communities.”

One hurdle remained to move the $3 billion project — which will feature 10 buildings going up over two decades — off the ground, and that was a state sales-tax exemption commonly offered to data centers in other states. Last month, that exemption became a reality as part of a larger economic-development bill on Beacon Hill, and because of it, the Westfield project could start progressing soon.

Analysis from McKinsey & Co. shows demand for data-center capacity in the U.S. more than tripling by 2030, according to the Boston Globe. Meanwhile, the sales-tax exemption could save the future Westfield park owners up to $30 million per year. Construction could start early in 2026, with the first building completed 18 months later.

 

Diagnosing the Problem

In a recent interview with BusinessWest, Mercy Medical Center president Dr. Robert Roose used the word ‘relentless’ to describe the current headwinds in medicine, which include everything from spiraling costs and inflation to persistently inadequate reimbursements from payers; from continuing workforce challenges to access and capacity issues — not to mention the overriding issue of caring for a population that is older and sicker than what has been seen historically.

“The challenges in healthcare over the past five years have shifted, but they have not let up,” Roose said. “And they ultimately result in financial challenges that are stressing the ways in which we collectively provide access to care in our communities.”

Baystate Health, in a remarkable show of transparency, recently went public to detail its struggles — including $300 million in operating losses over the past few years — and its response, which includes the sale of its lab, the pending sale of Health New England, and, most recently, the elimination of 130 administrative positions.

Those steps are part of what Baystate’s new president and CEO, Peter Banko, called a “transformation plan, one that calls for making hard decisions, relieving cost pressures, some cuts, but also investments in the years to come and greater financial stability.”

Expect more hard decisions across the healthcare spectrum in the year to come.

 

Music Lives Again at the Iron Horse

Finally, a positive note — many notes, in fact.

When music venues began to reopen in the wake of the pandemic, the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton was not among them, and owner Eric Suher didn’t have immediate plans to unshutter the venerable Center Street storefront.

Chris Freeman says he wanted to “bring back the glory days” of the Iron Horse.

Chris Freeman says he wanted to “bring back the glory days” of the Iron Horse.

In stepped the Parlor Room Collective, a nonprofit that operates the nearby Parlor Room music space, which purchased the Iron Horse and set about raising $750,000 to renovate it, maintaining its intimate feel but improving facets like its famously inadequate green room and restrooms, while expanding into adjoining space for a dedicated bar and community events. The venue reopened on May 15 and has hosted a robust lineup of concerts ever since.

“We have witnessed the magic of our local music scene and its ability to fuel the engine of our economy, enhance the overall well-being of our community, and contribute to our cultural vitality,” said Chris Freeman, executive director of the Parlor Room Collective.

“I live here, and part of the reason Northampton has become a great food scene and a great downtown culture is the arts,” he also told BusinessWest. “I’ve made it my life’s mission to make sure that never goes away, and we can bring back the glory days of such a legendary venue.”

Longmeadow Emerges as Dining Destination

By
Ralph Santaniello, right, with executive chef and co-owner (and brother-in-law) Michael Presnal
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

 

Ralph Santaniello, right, with executive chef and co-owner (and brother-in-law) Michael Presnal

Ralph Santaniello, right, with executive chef and co-owner (and brother-in-law) Michael Presnal at the recently opened Lola’s at the Longmeadow Shops.

Ralph Santaniello was gushing about the Longmeadow Shops as the location for a restaurant — specifically the one operated by his family, Posto, which features Italian cuisine.

“It’s just ideal,” he said, listing everything from location — it’s in Longmeadow, but just a stone’s throw from East Longmeadow, Enfield, Springfield, and other communities — to its many shops, which draw people for an extended stay that could include a meal; from the strong support for local businesses from the Longmeadow community to the growing number of restaurants in or near the shops, creating a dining destination of sorts.

“It’s becoming a little like West Hartford or Northampton years ago,” said Santaniello, noting that this combination of factors led his family to double down, if you will, and convert the former Umi’s Asian restaurant (and, before that, a Friendly’s) at the shops into Lola’s, described as a ‘coastal Mexican’ restaurant.

“Mexican is now the most popular food behind Italian food in this country,” Santaniello said. “And we’re taking a different look at Mexican food; for years, it was what Mexican-American food was; now, you’re getting more authentic Mexican food from different parts of Mexico.”

Lola’s adds this authentic Mexican eatery to a growing, diverse roster of restaurants in town that also includes Posto, Max Burger, and Delaney’s Market, all in the shops, as well as the Meeting House, featuring ‘creative New American’; Royal Spice, an Indian restaurant; and a Jersey Mike’s, all in the plaza across Williams Street from the Longmeadow Shops, and Fletcher’s barbeque restaurant on Longmeadow Street.

This steady progress toward becoming a dining destination is one of many storylines in this residential community of roughly 16,000 people.

Another is the relatively new ownership at the Longmeadow Shops. It was acquired roughly a year ago by Regency Properties, which saw a unique asset — what Jack deVilliers, managing director of the company’s Northeast region, called “the heart and soul of the community.”

“This has the DNA that we really like — it’s a community shopping center,” he said, noting that the shops, fully leased for as long as anyone can remember, is a gathering spot, not just for Longmeadow residents, but those in neighboring communities as well. “This property checks all the boxes — location, tenant mix, access, visibility, parking; it’s all there.”

On the municipal side, the town is making progress with plans to consolidate its two middle schools and construct a new facility at the site of one of them, Williams Middle School, Town Manager Lyn Simmons said. This is a $150 million project, according to the latest estimates, expected to open its doors in the fall of 2028 if all goes according to schedule.

Meanwhile, plans are moving forward for work at a major intersection, and for improvements at one of the municipal parks, projects that will now be coordinated by employees working at a new complex of town offices in the former Greenwood Park Elementary School.

“This has the DNA that we really like — it’s a community shopping center.”

That move leaves the former offices, in the Community House on Longmeadow Street, available for reuse, said Simmons, adding that the town will be commissioning a study to determine the best uses of not only the Community House, but Town Hall, located next door, and Old Town Hall, located about a half-mile down Longmeadow Street.

On the business side, all eyes are on the former First Church of Christ Scientist property on Williams Street, just east of the Longmeadow Shops. The property, unused for several years now, has been acquired by the Springfield-based Colvest Group. While no specific plans have been announced, Colvest has said the planned development, to be called Towne Shoppes of Longmeadow, will include retail (high-end shops) and one or more restaurants to complement the town’s growing mix.

Jack deVilliers

Jack deVilliers says the Longmeadow Shops checks all the boxes for him, from location and tenant mix to access, visibility, and parking.

deVilliers said the development, which has been several years in the making, will in many ways be an extension of the shops, one that will complement that complex and make it even more of a magnet for diners and shoppers.

“This will only strengthen the gravitational pull of that area,” he said, adding that Regency is already working with Colvest on upgrades to access where the properties join.

Meanwhile, three years after fire destroyed the Maple Shopping Center at the corner of Maple and Shaker roads near the Enfield line, the shell of a new plaza has been constructed, said Simmons, adding that its owners have not announced any tenants to date.

She noted that both commercial projects are important developments for the town, which has very few developable parcels — meaning few opportunities for business growth.

For this latest installment of its Community Profile series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Longmeadow and the many developing stories there.

 

Food for Thought

As he talked with BusinessWest at a table in Lola’s, Santaniello said there is a considerable amount of dining history at that site.

Indeed, for several decades, this was a flagship location for Friendly’s, the chain started by Longmeadow Shops developer S. Prestley Blake and his brother Curtis.

Later, it was Umi’s, which essentially “papered over and bricked over” the Friendly’s as it installed its own look.

“This certainly provides an opportunity for development, job creation, and new growth, which is not something we see very often, especially to the extent we can see from this parcel.”

“As we dug through, we saw different iterations of Friendly’s, including a fireplace,” said Santaniello, adding that his family essentially took the storefront down to the studs in creating Lola’s, which opened in March and is off to a solid start.

“We had a great launch, and we’ve settled in,” he noted. “Everyone rushes in to try a place at first — every night is like Saturday night when you first open up. That tapers off eventually, and then you build it back up, and that’s where we are now.”

This success has not come at the expense of Posto, or probably any of the other restaurants in town, he said, adding that the emergence of a “restaurant community,” as he put it, helps bring more people from across the region to the town.

Longmeadow at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1783
Population: 15,853
Area: 9.7 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $20.68
Commercial Tax Rate: $20.68
Median Household Income: $109,586
Median Family Income: $115,578
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting; Town Manager; Board of Selectmen
Largest Employers: Bay Path University; JGS Lifecare; Glenmeadow
* Latest information available

Meanwhile, for the family, which is selling the third restaurant it owns, the Federal in Agawam, Lola gives them two operations about 250 yards apart, which brings several advantages, as well as lots of steps for Santaniello, who will go back and forth between the two spots at least a few times each day.

He passes an eclectic mix of shops and eateries, one that is historically stable, a retail property where vacancies — and pending vacancies — are filled quickly.

Such is the case with one storefront, soon to be available as its owners retire, that will be filled by Warby Parker, the manufacturer and retailer of eyeglasses, contact lenses, and other products.

“When you look at the lifestyle centers that Warby Parker has been going into … they saw this, loved the community-center aspect of this, and jumped on it,” said deVilliers, adding that the location is slated to open in the summer of 2025.

Meanwhile, Longmeadow’s stable of restaurants should have at least one addition with the development of the neighboring church property, said Simmons, adding that the project is an important development for the town, which has little in the way of developable land or property.

“We have very few parcels that can be redeveloped,” she noted, adding that a measure was passed at the Nov. 12 town meeting to update the town’s zoning map to reflect an article passed at an earlier town meeting to change the zoning of the property from residential to business. “This certainly provides an opportunity for development, job creation, and new growth, which is not something we see very often, especially to the extent we can see from this parcel.”

 

Developing Stories

As for the Maple Road plaza, known to most locals as the Armata’s Plaza, for the supermarket that was located there, the shell of a new facility has been constructed, as well as a new parking lot, said Simmons, adding that the owners have not provided information on potential new tenants, which will not include Armata’s.

As these commercial developments unfold, there are several municipal projects advancing as well, starting with the new middle school.

The town’s two middle schools, Williams and Glenbrook, are aging structures, opened in the ’60s, noted Simmons, adding that the trend in communities of this size is toward one middle school, which in this case would be built on the athletic fields adjacent to Williams, with the existing structure then demolished.

“Our population at each school is about 330 students, so when we consolidate, we’ll have 660 at one site, which is the standard model used in many districts across the state,” she explained, adding that the town will gain efficiencies, and certainly reduce costs, by operating and maintaining one school instead of two.

The project has received approval from the state and is the queue for funding, said Simmons, noting that a town-meeting vote will take place in the fall of 2025.

Meanwhile, the consolidation of the middle schools would give the town an opportunity for redevelopment of the Glenbrook site, said Corrin Meise-Munns, assistant town manager and director of Planning & Community Development, adding that talks about what to do with that property are still in the very early stages.

Other municipal projects include a state Land and Water Conservation Fund grant, the first one the town has received in 30 years, to be used for renovations of the playground at Bliss Park.

The project comes with a $1.6 million price tag, with the grant covering just over half that total. The work involves replacing the playground, benches, and picnic tables and making them all ADA-accessible. The work complements significant investments in the park’s pool, including upgrades to the pump room, said Simmons, adding that the next phase of that initiative is a liner.

The town has also received its first-ever MassWorks grant, $285,000 to design improvements to the intersection of Williams Street, Redfern Drive, and Frank Smith Road, site of the church adjacent to the Longmeadow Shops that is slated for redevelopment.

“It’s a heavily trafficked area, and there have been discussions for some time about the need for pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular improvements, and this will fund that design work,” Simmons said, adding that the town will look for additional grant monies to help pay for the recommended improvements.

History, Culture, Nature Converge in Sturbridge

By
Michael Harrington, left, seen here with Michael Glick
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

James Donahue says visitation at Old Sturbridge Village has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels.

James Donahue says visitation at Old Sturbridge Village has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels.

‘Converge.’

That’s the word you hear probably most often when people talk about Sturbridge. And with good reason.

That’s what families, wedding guests, members of trade associations, tourists, and other constituencies do. They converge here because … well, it’s easy to, given that this community of almost 10,000 residents is located at the intersection of I-84, the Mass Pike, and Route 20; sits just a short distance from Worcester Municipal Airport; and is not far from both Worcester and Springfield.

“Sturbridge has an amazing location — it’s right in the heart of Massachuetts,” said Monique Joseph, president and CEO of Discover Central Massachusetts, the regional tourism bureau for a 35-community area that includes Sturbridge. “It’s a very popular location for the meeting planner or the event planner, and for bus tours, and for weddings.”

But this convergence quality, if you will, is just part of the story in Sturbridge. Another part — and it’s related, and a reason why people meet here — is everything they can do after they converge.

They can take in some history — at Old Sturbridge Village (OSV), which recreates life in rural New England in the early 19th century, but also the historic town common and other spots. They can hike — there are dozens of miles of trails in this rural community, as we’ll see. They can shop and enjoy fine dining, craft beer, and some locally distilled spirits. They can camp, bicycle, and kayak. They can buy antiques — Brimfield is one town over. They can even do some axe throwing (although that’s mostly a ‘locals’ thing), and soon, they’ll be able to take in a movie with new ownership of an eight-screen complex at the Center at Hobbs Brook set to open later this year.

“It’s called Sturbridge Luxury Cinemas, a dine-in theater with luxury seating,” said Alexandra McNitt, executive director of the Chamber of Central Mass South, which includes 12 communities, including Sturbridge. She said the theater complex comprises one of several new businesses, including some retail, that will provide still more for visitors to do.

There wasn’t much converging — or much of anything listed above — during the pandemic, so Sturbridge suffered as much as any community in this region during the pandemic, losing several hospitality-related businesses, including the movie complex and the Stageloft Repertory Theater, while countless others experienced severe setbacks. But the town has made what most would say is an almost full recovery from COVID and the workforce challenges that followed, said Mike Harrington, a principal at the Publick House, an historic inn and restaurant known for its history, holiday-season activities, and even the occasional rumored ghost sighting.

“Our rooms business has been very good, up 6% from last year,” he said. “We see a lot more activity on weekends with people stopping through Sturbridge on their way to Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont — they stay overnight — and we’re seeing corporate business come back, which is very helpful. We’re on a good path.”

James Donahue, president and CEO of OSV, agreed, noting that, while school field trips, a significant portion of total visitation, have not fully come back to pre-pandemic levels (transportation costs are certainly a factor), overall numbers are approaching those posted in 2019 and before, despite ever-growing competition for the time — and spending dollars — of families.

“Our rooms business has been very good, up 6% from last year. We see a lot more activity on weekends with people stopping through Sturbridge on their way to Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont — they stay overnight — and we’re seeing corporate business come back, which is very helpful. We’re on a good path.”

“Technology plays a much bigger role in what people are doing now, and there continue to be more demands on families; the station-wagon trip isn’t as common as it was when I was growing up,” he said, adding that, despite these headwinds, ‘the Village,’ as it’s called, continues to draw visitors from across the region — and across the country.”

For this latest installment of our Community Spotlight series, we turn the lens on Sturbridge, where there’s a whole lot of converging going on.

 

Walking the Walk

McNitt told BusinessWest she recently welcomed an addition to the family, a new puppy.

Among other things, this canine companion has provided her with a greater (let’s say even greater) appreciation of the trail network in this community.

“The Sturbridge Trails Committee has created some really vast, fun, passive-recreation networks,” she said. “And they’ve made them accessible.”

Monique Joseph says Sturbridge’s location at the crossroads of New England makes it the ideal spot

Monique Joseph says Sturbridge’s location at the crossroads of New England makes it the ideal spot for weddings, association meetings, family reunions, and other types of gatherings.

There are more than 50 miles of trails in Sturbridge. They include the Grand Trunk Trail, also known as Titanic Railroad, because it follows the path of an old railroad bed, a project that was abandoned after its founder perished on the ill-fated ocean liner.

There’s also the Burgess Discovery Trail, located on the grounds of Burgess Elementary School, a short, family-friendly walk that offers many opportunities to interact with nature, including a wetland bog bridge, glacial boulders, and local wildlife; as well as the Tantiusques Reservation, where hikers can see remnants of New England’s first mining operation, a graphite mine operated by the native Nipmuc tribe and local English colonists until it was abandoned in the late 1800s.

The walking and biking trails, which often combine nature and history, are just one of the many converging (there’s that word again) stories in Sturbridge, where the phrase ‘something for everyone’ is certainly not hyberpole, Joseph said.

“It’s a charming town that strikes the perfect balance; it’s rich in history, and it’s modern-day fun, so it is a wonderful location to attract families,” she noted. “Whether you’re looking for history or outdoor activities, or you just want great food, Sturbridge has it all.”

One of the main attractions, of course, is OSV, the largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast, which includes more than 40 structures, everything from several houses and a law office to a bank and a blacksmith shop.

Donahue told BusinessWest that the Village had to close for several months at the height of the pandemic, a scary time during which gifts from donors helped the facility keep its employees, many of them with unusual skills, on the payroll.

“It’s a charming town that strikes the perfect balance; it’s rich in history, and it’s modern-day fun, so it is a wonderful location to attract families.”

“My fear was that, if I have to lay people off and I lose a blacksmith or a tinsmith or someone who’s an expert in textiles … those are difficult skills to find in the marketplace,” he said. “So the key, to me, was keeping everyone whole until we opened again.”

OSV has certainly been helped by the fact that it is mostly an outdoor museum, and over the past few years, it has seen overall attendance rise steadily — it was up 8% for the fiscal year that just ended in September — and approach the 250,000 mark that was the annual average pre-pandemic.

More recently, it’s been aided by several months of cooperative weather — a streak that has continued into November.

Sturbridge at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1738
Population: 9,867
Area: 39.0 square miles
County: Worcester
Residential Tax Rate: $16.49
Commercial Tax Rate: $16.49
Median Household Income: $56,519
Family Household Income: $64,455
Type of government: Town Administrator, Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: OFS Optics, Old Sturbridge Village, Arland Tool & Manufacturing Inc., Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center
* Latest information available

“I wrote a quick update to our board recently talking about the success of October, and one of the members said, ‘you’re doing a great job.’ I said, ‘it wasn’t me — it was Mother Nature all the way,” said Donahue, who is now gearing up for the holidays, perhaps the busiest time of year at OSV. Indeed, Christmas by Candlelight at the Village begins the day after Thanksgiving and includes decorations in all the houses, special food, bonfires, carolers, and, a new addition this year — a show in the museum’s theater on the history of Christmas carols called “Upon a Midnight Clear.”

 

If the Spirit Moves You

In addition to history, Sturbridge has a large and diverse hospitality sector that boasts several restaurants, lodging facilities, wedding venues, breweries, and a recent addition, Deep Roots Distillery, which is now also home to Into the Grain Axe Throwing.

Keith Devarenne, co-owner of both ventures, said the distillery, like many other recent entrepreneurial ventures, came about as a result of some soul searching during the pandemic.

“I retired from the Department of Corrections in Connecticut in 2020, and my wife started working at home,” he recalled. “She said, ‘we should open a distillery.’ I said, ‘you’re crazy.’ She told our other partner that, and he said ‘you’re crazy,’ too.”

They would put down the idea, but also research it — and that research told them there weren’t many distilleries in the area, which posed a business opportunity.

Michael Harrington, left, seen here with Michael Glick

Michael Harrington, left, seen here with Michael Glick, general manager of the Publick House, says 2024 has been a solid year for the Sturbridge landmark, marked by an increase in business gatherings.

They seized it, moving from home experimentation to buying an old cotton mill, where they now produce a wide variety of rums, vodkas, whiskeys, and liqueurs.

“The hardest thing was making the jump to doing this professionally and opening the doors,” he said, adding that the venue draws visitors from across this region and well beyond, including many stopping at Tree House Brewing Co. in neighboring Charlton.

The axe-throwing facility, which opened in May 2023, came about through a desire to provide something else for locals — and maybe some visitors — to do, said Devarenne, adding that a portion of the old mill behind the distillery’s tasting room was renovated for that purpose, and they made a fairly modest investment in axes, targets, and the lanes that keep participants safe.

As in the few other locations where such facilities have been created, axe throwing is catching on in Sturbridge, said Devarenne, noting that groups will often come in after dinner at one of the local restaurants (including the one at the distillery), on weekend afternoons, or for the league on Thursday nights.

“We’re very weather-dependent — if it’s rainy on Friday and Saturday, we’re usually very busy,” he said. “So far, so good; people are coming in and giving it a try.”

While axe throwing is new to Sturbridge, the Publick House is quite old, dating back to 1771, when it was a stagecoach stop. Harrington’s family acquired the property in 2003 and has made significant investments in new rooms and renovations to existing facilities.

The complex is one of several lodging destinations that play host to a wide range of different events, from business and trade-association meetings to family gatherings to weddings, which are a huge business in this community — again, partly because of its location in the middle of the state and the middle of New England, right off major highways.

Each of those segments is solid, if not booming, said Harrington, noting that the facility is on pace to handle 153 weddings this year, which is about average, although it has done as many as 180.

Meanwhile, corporate business is coming back, to about 70% of what it was before the pandemic, he added, noting that, after years of meeting by Zoom, business groups and associations are meeting in person again, and taking advantage of Sturbridge’s central location — which remains, as always, an ideal place to converge.

Faces of Finance

By
Faces of Business Features Special Coverage Special Publications

Financial services is a broad and robust sector in Western Mass., running the gamut from banking and lending to insurance and accounting to wealth management.

On the following pages, meet leaders from two local institutions — Matt Lauro, senior vice president and Western Massachusetts Commercial Lending team leader at MountainOne, and Deb Esposito, senior vice president and Business Banking officer at Greenfield Cooperative Bank.

We asked these financial leaders to share why they were first drawn to their work, how their journeys brought them to their current leadership roles, how the rewards and challenges of banking and finance have evolved, and why this sector presents attractive options for young people seeking a meaningful career.

Faces of Finance is part of BusinessWest’s Faces of Business series, which was launched with Faces of Construction earlier this year. So read on as these hardworking and thoughtful professionals tell you what they love about their work, what they do for fun, and why they’re deservedly proud of the success they’ve built.

 

Matt Lauro

Senior Vice President, Western Massachusetts Commercial Team Leader, MountainOne

Matt Lauro, Senior Vice President, Western Massachusetts Commercial Lending Team Leader, MountainOne

Matt Lauro, Senior Vice President, Western Massachusetts Commercial Lending Team Leader, MountainOne

Matt Lauro says he’s the product of “outstanding mentorship.”

That started the summer before his junior year of college, when he interned at Fidelity Management and Research Co., which encouraged networking and collaboration, setting an example of the kind of leader he would eventually be.

“I fell in love with analyzing different industries and businesses and listening to executive management speak about all the changes that would exist in my career lifetime,” Lauro recalls. “I loved the hybrid challenge of communicating with people and utilizing analytic abilities.”

In 2021, his career brought him back to Western Massachusetts. Through his network, he was introduced to Robert Fraser, president and CEO of MountainOne. “Bob was looking to add depth to our commercial lending team. I met with Bob and Richard (Dick) Kelly, our senior commercial risk officer, and the rest is history.”

These days, as MountainOne’s commercial leader for Western Massachusetts, Lauro is responsible for motivating, managing, and expanding a team of commercial bankers, as well as growing the region’s commercial portfolio. In addition, he oversees a diverse portfolio of clients across the Commonwealth.

“I am lucky,” he says. “I have an incredibly talented team in place with many years of experience, and we have built an outstanding portfolio of high-quality companies and individuals.”

He has achieved this during a time of significant challenge and opportunity in the financial-services sector. “The economic environment and the industry are evolving rapidly. The key opportunity is for banks and bankers to lead these changes,” he explains. “For instance, a banker who stays updated on economic trends can engage in more informed conversations with clients, fostering stronger, long-lasting relationships. It’s not just about making loans; it’s about managing relationships over the long term and helping clients navigate through periods of uncertainty.

“Additionally,” Lauro adds, “investing in new technology, introducing innovative products, and enhancing the customer experience are crucial for offsetting the long-term trend of rising costs.”

In all, it’s been a gratifying career, one he says young people would be wise to consider. While there’s no straight-line path to success, he offered some advice to anyone pursuing this field.

“Maintain intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn from the right people. Create a network of individuals that you can rely on for advice and lean on for their own expertise. Create mentorship opportunities for yourself, and identify people that you look up to and aspire to have careers similar to. Work tirelessly to master the skills most important in your path.”

Lauro’s life is much more than his work at MountainOne, of course.

“My family is my biggest motivation, and spending time together is my favorite hobby, whether that be on long drives, walks, or dinners,” he tells BusinessWest. “Between my wife Susanna, my daughter Annie, and our dog Nipsey, we have created an incredible support system for one another, and we’re very grateful for our lives together.”

He added that his parents instilled a sense of civic involvement while growing up, and he saw how committed they were to causes they were most passionate about — an example he has followed with his own family. He and his wife serve on several nonprofit boards and donate countless hours to charitable foundations; Lauro currently sits on the boards of Grit & Gratitude Wrestling Academy, Pittsfield Affordable Housing Trust, and Berkshire County Education and Correction.

“Overall, we are interested in continuing our involvement with youth and animal-welfare causes across the Commonwealth,” Lauro adds. “We take tremendous pride as a family with our charitable giving, nonprofit involvement, and community involvement.”

While his long-term professional goal is to be president of a financial institution, Lauro says he’s focused on helping to make MountainOne the best commercial banking organization it can be, and takes pride in that work.

“Personally, I am most proud of the flexibility I have in my career. I have been a peak performer at every level and have been flexible and curious enough to be a part of multiple different banking teams with different goals and accomplishments,” he notes. “Professionally, I am most proud of our portfolio of clients that our team has built. We have developed an outstanding commercial portfolio comprised of accomplished business owners, investors, and developers. I have spent countless hours with many of these individuals and have learned a great deal from them myself.”

In short, “our team plays to win,” Lauro says. “We win when our customers excel, when we forge new relationships, and when we collaborate creatively to develop effective solutions. The most gratifying part of the job is working with our customers to find ways to add value. As a team, we take great pride in being able to create tailored solutions for each client.”

 

Deb Esposito

Senior Vice President – Business Banking Officer, Greenfield Cooperative Bank

Deb Esposito, Senior Vice President – Business Banking Officer, Greenfield Cooperative Bank

Deb Esposito, Senior Vice President – Business Banking Officer,
Greenfield Cooperative Bank

Young people have plenty of options when it comes to choosing a career. For Deb Esposito, the factors were simple.

“I had an interest in business and finance, and a passion for everyone to enjoy a better financial future,” she says of her entry into the world of financial services — a path that has led to her latest role as senior vice president and Business Banking officer at Greenfield Cooperative Bank (GCB).

“As a senior in high school in the Midwest, I was recruited out of a business program, hired into a local bank, and worked there until I graduated from college,” she recalls. “After my college graduation and my foundation in banking, it was a natural career path for me to continue in.”

In her current role — a newly created one at GCB — Esposito leads the growth and development of new and existing business relationships in partnership with the Commercial Lending, Government Banking, and Retail departments. She also takes an active role implementing marketing strategies to strengthen the bank’s brand awareness across Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties.

The bank offers some explanation why that new role is important. “As a community bank, Greenfield Cooperative Bank strives to provide a full compliment of products and services to our customers. Debbie is a terrific addition to GCB’s team and will ensure we continue to provide excellent service to the businesses throughout Western Mass.”

That service, Esposito notes, includes “the ability to host consultative conversations with clients, companies, and organizations and walk away with a business plan of action for them. I’m able to guide them on banking solutions they need for efficiency, their cash flow and lending needs, challenges they may be facing, the growth or sale of their company, and so much more.”

To do that, she says, she needs to stay current in terms of financial matters such as the economy, the Federal Reserve and potential rate adjustments, stock-market activity, and banking regulation changes. “As a subject-matter expert, clients seek our guidance on managing their financial affairs, both on a personal level and business level.”

Esposito holds a bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, and marketing from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater and a nonprofit certification with a financial focus from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. With more than two decades of experience in the financial industry, she brings a wealth of expertise in business, commercial, and cash-management solutions. Prior to joining GCB, she served as vice president of Cash Management Sales for PeoplesBank and vice president, senior Treasury Management relationship manager for Citizens Bank.

She is also committed to community involvement, actively volunteering for various organizations across Western Mass.

“A recent favorite was our team build day for children play homes with Habitat for Humanity,” she notes. “An annual favorite includes my husband and I volunteering at the Boston Marathon finish line, scoring all runners and interacting with the press and media from various countries.”

It makes sense that she seeks roles that get her outside. “I am a outdoor enthusiast, originally from the Midwest, who loves the Northeast and the four seasons,” she tells BusinessWest. “Family time includes biking, hiking, traveling to Maine to enjoy the coastal beaches, Vermont and New Hampshire for the mountains, and so much more.”

In addition, “I’m an avid fan of all Boston sports as we are nicely spoiled by the success of our New England teams.”

That sense of gratitude extends deeply into Esposito’s work at GCB.

“I am pleased to have worked with a variety of excellent mentors who shaped my financial career to where I am today,” she says. “In my new role as senior vice president with Greenfield Cooperative Bank, I’m proud to be a part of a local community bank that mirrors my vision of helping people achieve their financial goals.”

It’s a challenging but satisfying career she says would be suitable for any young person with a desire to learn — and help people.

Her advice for them? “Be patient — very patient — in your career, and the rewards will follow. Enlist a good mentor and be a sponge to absorb knowledge in each of your roles. Enjoy being a professional networker and stay active in your community.”

Esposito’s recognition that each client is unique, and their banking services should never be one-size-fits-all, as well as her ability to listen to her customers and develop tailored financial solutions, is clearly the right fit for this important new position.

“We are thrilled to welcome Debbie to the Greenfield Cooperative Bank team,” says Tony Worden, president and CEO of GCB. “Her extensive experience and deep understanding of the local business landscape will be a tremendous asset as we continue to provide our customers with innovative financial solutions.”

Pittsfield Focuses on the Future, Not the Past

By
The return of First Fridays at Five
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Mayor Peter Marchetti says several projects in various stages of development should help ease a critical housing shortage in Pittsfield.

Mayor Peter Marchetti says several projects in various stages of development should help ease a critical housing shortage in Pittsfield.

Starting early in his career in financial services at Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, Peter Marchetti, like many of his colleagues, made it a point to get involved in the community.

He donated time and energy to everything from the United Way to youth bowling; from Pittsfield Community Television to the Pittsfield Parade Committee.

But starting in the late ’90s, he took that involvement to a higher plane, running, successfully, for a seat on the City Council. In 2011, he sought to take things to a still higher level, running for mayor, only to lose a very tight race. After a hiatus from elected office, he returned to the City Council, and in 2023 launched another bid for the corner office, this one successful.

When asked why, he indicated that there was still much work to be done as this city of roughly 44,000, the largest in the Berkshires, continues its transition from being, in essence, a company town — in this case General Electric — to a city with a far more diverse economy, and one that has moved on from GE in every way, including a reimagining of the huge, mostly undeveloped tract that was its massive transformer-manufacturing complex.

“I saw our city at a crossroads, where we have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves; there are many people who still look at us as the old GE manufacturing community. I think we have some opportunities to turn the corner, and I wanted to lead that turnaround,” said Marchetti, who retired from Pittsfield Co-op as senior vice president of Retail Banking Operations. Ten months into his first four-year term, he can cite progress on several fronts.

These include the William Stanley Business Park, created at the GE site, where work is set to commence on a 20,000-square-foot facility that will provide room to grow for many of the startups that now call the Berkshire Innovation Center home.

And also the city’s downtown, still evolving from the GE days, where new businesses have landed and much-needed housing initiatives are taking shape (more on these later).

Beyond Marchetti’s first year in office and his emerging agenda, there are plenty of other developing stories in Pittsfield, many of them taking place downtown, where several issues and trends are colliding, and where that ongoing process of evolution continues.

The expansive downtown area, while now home to several new business and with a falling vacancy rate, continues to experience fallout from the emergence of remote work and a broad decline in daily foot traffic, which is impacting many hospitality and service-oriented businesses.

“Downtown has shifted away from some of our larger companies that would have people here during the day and out for lunch, grabbing coffee, or going out to a bar after work. Now that they’re remote, we’re definitely in need of people downtown regularly. The addition of housing in our downtown will make that difference.”

This decline has been one of the driving forces in the return of First Fridays at Five and other events geared toward generating additional foot traffic, while also helping to inspire efforts to redevelop some downtown properties into housing, which is in short supply and thus a negative force in economic development and business growth.

Indeed, like other communities facing this challenge, Pittsfield is looking at ways to convert office and retail spaces into housing — opportunities that will help meet the need for housing while also bringing back some of the vibrancy lost to remote work.

The return of First Fridays at Five

The return of First Fridays at Five has helped bring more foot traffic to downtown Pittsfield.
Photo by Autumn Phoenix Photography

“Downtown has shifted away from some of our larger companies that would have people here during the day and out for lunch, grabbing coffee, or going out to a bar after work. Now that they’re remote, we’re definitely in need of people downtown regularly,” said Rebecca Brien, managing director of Downtown Pittsfield Inc. (DPI). “The addition of housing in our downtown will make that difference.”

Jonathan Butler, president and CEO of 1Berkshire, the county-wide economic-development agency, agreed.

“I think it’s naive to think that everyone is going to go back to 9-to-5 at the office,” he said. “So what we’re doing throughout the Berkshires, with downtown Pittsfield being a centerpiece of this, is looking at the housing crisis, how we can get more housing built, and looking at some of this commercial space in our downtown.”

For the latest installment in its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its lens on Pittsfield, a city that continues to move on from its GE-dominated past and put the focus squarely on the present and future.

 

Progress Report

Marchetti grew up in Pittsfield, and, like everyone his age who did, he has fond memories of life in the city when GE was bustling and employing north of 10,000 people, most of whom would be spending their paychecks in a thriving downtown dominated by all kinds of retail, including several large department stores.

Like his immediate predecessors in the mayor’s office, Marchetti stresses a need not to look back, but to instead continue turning the pages on an ongoing evolution.

“People can’t find quality housing in the rental market that is desirable enough for them to stay here. Or, when you’re recruiting and looking to bring transplants to the region, they’re not able to buy a home at a price point that’s realistic, or find quality rental housing that meets their expectations. That’s a huge issue for us.”

He noted progress in many corners of the city, including the former GE site. Once a huge and imposing mass of concrete, the site is being made less intimidating and more ready for redevelopment, one parcel at a time.

Indeed, the parcel known as site 9, has been “completely rehabilitated,” said Marchetti, meaning there has been landscaping and other improvements designed to make it shovel-ready. Meanwhile, $500,000 in grant funding has been received to do the same for sites 7 and 8.

Plans are also moving forward for the construction of a new facility near the innovation center, one that will accelerate new-business development in the park, he noted.

“We have several businesses that have started in the innovation center, and they’re running out of space at that location. This is their opportunity to expand and allow space to be cleared up for additional incubator companies.”

Meanwhile, there has been progress on the housing front, the mayor said, noting that, like most Berkshires communities, Pittsfield is suffering from a shortage of housing, especially of the affordable variety, which is making it increasingly difficult for many to live — or stay — in the city, while also impacting businesses already facing challenges with building and maintaining a workforce.

First Fridays at Five is just one of many initiatives undertaken by Downtown Pittsfield Inc.

Rebecca Brien says the return of First Fridays at Five is just one of many initiatives undertaken by Downtown Pittsfield Inc. to bring foot traffic, and vibrancy, to the downtown area.
Photo by Autumn Phoenix Photography

Within the downtown, there are two projects in early-stage development. One involves conversion of the Wright Building on North Street and an adjacent shoe store, formerly home to a candlepin bowling alley and several offices and shops, into roughly 30 units of affordable housing. The other involves redevelopment of the White Terrace apartments, which will bring another 25 to 30 units online.

Meanwhile, two transitional housing projects are slated to be underway in the coming months, and plans are being forwarded for conversion of a former elementary school into housing, said Marchetti, who said projects currently in the pipeline will add another 100 units, but the city needs another 250 to 300 units, minimum, to meet the growing need.

“The hardest part of bringing new housing online is the millions of dollars it costs to redevelop these properties,” he said, adding that the price tag for the Wright Building project exceeds $17 million.

Butler concurred, but noted that housing is critical to Pittsfield’s ongoing efforts to reinvent itself and sustain the businesses that now call it home.

“Housing is the issue contributing to the workforce problems facing employers today,” he explained. “People can’t find quality housing in the rental market that is desirable enough for them to stay here. Or, when you’re recruiting and looking to bring transplants to the region, they’re not able to buy a home at a price point that’s realistic, or find quality rental housing that meets their expectations. That’s a huge issue for us.”

 

Downtown Developments

Additional housing is expected to bring more vibrancy and new opportunities to the downtown area, said Brien, noting that there are already several initiatives in various stages of development to bring more foot traffic to the area.

One has been the return of First Fridays at Five, which is an amalgam of the former Third Thursday and First Friday Artswalk events, aimed at bringing back what Brien called a “street-festival vibe.”

Pittsfield at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1761
Population: 43,927
Area: 42.5 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $18.45
Commercial Tax Rate: $39.61
Median Household Income: $35,655
Median family Income: $46,228
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Berkshire Health Systems; General Dynamics; Petricca Industries Inc.; SABIC Innovative Plastics; Berkshire Bank
* Latest information available

“We started small,” she said, referring to what was essentially a one-block initiative that started in May and featured everything from musical performers to a small-vendors market; from a beer garden hosted to Hot Plate Brewing to restaurants with on-street dining.

In September, the concept grew with something called Taste of Pittsfield, which featured additional music, dancing, art, food trucks, and activities stretched over another block, from Park Square to Columbus Avenue.

That larger footprint will be used next year, said Brien, adding that the goal moving forward is to continue to add new draws, such as a car show, to bring individuals and families into the downtown and let them experience all that is happening there.

And there is quite a bit in that category, she told BusinessWest, adding that downtown continues to change, evolve, and present a solid mix of anchors (the Colonial Theater and Barrington Stage Co.), long-time businesses such as Carr Hardware and Museum Outlets, and new or relatively new additions, such as Hot Plate; Thistle and Thorn, a gift shop; Witch Slapped, a “haven for all things metaphysical and mystical”; and the Plant Connector, which has a mission “to connect people to the joy of plants and foster a thriving green community.”

Meanwhile, the roster of restaurants continues to grow and evolve, she went on, listing a new steakhouse in Hotel on North; BB’s Hot Spot at the Lantern Bar, a Jamaican restaurant on North Street; and Marie’s North Street Eatery and Gallery, a contemporary deli located in the historic Shipton Building.

This mix is succeeding in making downtown more of a destination for locals and tourists alike, Brien said, adding that one challenge moving forward is to grow a steady pace of foot traffic that extends well beyond First Fridays and other event days.

Another challenge is sustainability, she went on, adding that DPI has created educational opportunities for business owners with the goal of helping them work on, though not necessarily in, their businesses to help ensure continued success.

“Stability is something we need to be focused on, with both existing businesses and the businesses that are coming in,” she explained. “We had a grant opportunity for some of our existing businesses this past summer that enabled them to work with a consultant on such things as marketing and workflow and accounting systems. And next year, we’ll be offering some co-op marketing dollars. We’re great at telling people downtown that we’re here, but we need to make that sure that word is getting out beyond us.

“And in January, we’ll be offering seminars on things like how to read a P&L sheet and how to use Facebook,” she went on, adding that DPI is committed to providing members with educational opportunities to help ensure that they thrive.

That’s just one of many examples of how leadership in this community, on many different levels, is indeed focused on the future and not on the past.

 

Tad Tokarz Helps Kids Envision a Bright Future

By
Tad Tokarz
Where Are They Now?

Where Are They Now?

 

Tad Tokarz

Tad Tokarz in 2007 as a 40 Under Forty honoree (right) and today in his office at Springfield Central High School.

Tad Tokarz

Tad Tokarz

Only a few months after being named to BusinessWest’s inaugural 40 Under Forty cohort in 2007, Tad Tokarz won a promotion.

At the time of that first award ceremony, he was wrapping up another school year as assistant principal and director of Athletics at Springfield’s Central High School. But then-Principal Dick Stoddard retired, and Tokarz, then just 33 years old, applied for and won the job.

It altered his life’s course in some ways, but has impacted the lives of young people in far more meaningful ones.

As for his career, he was the owner of the Western Mass. Sports Journal at the time, which covered sports at a variety of levels, but always with a Pioneer Valley slant. Operating out of the Scibelli Enterprise Center at Springfield Technical Community College, it was, in essence, a second full-time job, and one he couldn’t keep going after his promotion at Central.

“Once I became principal, it was just too much work. So we had to shut it down,” Tokarz recalled. “But it was good while it lasted. The experience that I got from from running my own business has helped me tremendously here, because this is a business, with the hiring and the partnerships and the thinking outside the box. So I think that experience really helped me push Central forward in a unique direction.”

And that he has, in more than one way. “Physically, it’s a different place,” he said, citing the addition of a three-story science wing with 12 classrooms, a renovation to the athletic complex, and a current project to renovate the theater and gymnasium.

But socially, Central is also different, he added, noting that “we have put so many safeguards in place and wraparound services for our kids.”

And academically, well, the numbers speak for themselves; last year’s seniors set a Central record with $24 million in scholarship offers.

“We sent kids to some of the best colleges and universities in the country, and it’s great giving kids an opportunity to excel in whatever interests them once they graduate. We tell our kids, ‘we want you to have options when you graduate,’ and I think we’re doing a pretty good job.

“It’s very rewarding to see where these kids actually end up, and to feel like you played a small part in their development.”

“We have a tremendous staff, and the district has given us an amazing amount of support,” he went on. “Yes, COVID was a real challenge for us. But we came out stronger, I think, after COVID. What transpired was kids starting to participate more in clubs and activities. That’s a big part of who we are. We want our kids to participate, whether it be ROTC, athletics, clubs, whatever it is.”

Students have also improved academically, and that success has been mirrored by Central’s athletic programs, which bring in 10 to 15 Division I athletic scholarships each year, “so we’re watching our kids play on TV, which is fun,” Tokarz told BusinessWest.

“Now, we have every college in the country recruiting our students, athletically and academically. This year, we created a new position of recruiting coordinator; he meets with a lot of the seniors about the kinds of colleges would best suit them, along with our guidance counselors, adjustment counselors, and graduation coaches. So we’re done a lot of different things the last 17 years, put in a lot of different positions, to push kids forward, not just in the classroom, but far beyond that.”

Tokarz, always willing to work toward self-improvement — for instance, he completed an Ironman triathlon in 2005 just two years after starting to train on a bike and in the pool — has earned a doctorate degree in educational leadership since his promotion to principal. But while working toward becoming a better leader, he still says it’s the students and staff that make his job fulfilling.

“They make this place what it is. And it’s never boring; you’re helping people get to the next chapter in their life, and that, to me, is very rewarding,” he said. As for the staff, “the people that we have surrounding our students are second to none, and the reason why we’ve been so successful over this time period.”

New challenges are always emerging in education; right now, Massachusetts schools are waiting to see if voters decide on Nov. 5 to keep the MCAS test as a graduation requirement.

If they decide to change course, Tokarz said, “I’m interested to see how that’s going to change the testing and the accountability, because we’ve always focused on accountability — that’s important to us.”

No matter how the standardized test is deployed, Tokarz said he and his team will continue to help students get the best grades possible and envision a future where anything is possible.

“I just came back from the 10-year reunion of the Central High School class of 2014, and we have dentists, doctors, veterinarians, people working downtown in New York City on the Today show … all kinds of stuff. It’s very rewarding to see where these kids actually end up, and to feel like you played a small part in their development.”

Struggling Baystate Health Puts Transformation Plan in Place

By
Baystate Health
Features Special Coverage

Digging Out

Baystate Health

Peter Banko says he wasn’t necessarily looking for a turn-around job when he was exploring options for his next career opportunity, but he found one as the new president and CEO at Baystate Health.

Still, he was quick to note that, these days, there are very few CEO opportunities at large hospitals and health systems that do not involve turn-around efforts.

The one at Baystate certainly does, as was made clear in a press release of sorts — it was more of a statement, actually — issued by the institution early this month. It detailed everything from $300 million in operating losses over the past few years to a Leapfrog Safety Grade of ‘D’; from erosion on the balance sheet (particularly days of cash on hand, which declined from 180 days in FY 2020 to 109 by early October) to the launch of a 24-month ‘focused transformation’ to improve core operations (acute care, ambulatory, and physician enterprise) by more than $225 million.

The statement was issued in an effort to be transparent about the system’s current fiscal situation and the plan in place to return it to sound financial health, and also prepare the ground for steps that may come next, including workforce reductions, said Banko, who arrived in Springfield in June, fully aware of exactly what he was getting himself into.

He elaborated on its various points in a recent round of interviews with media outlets from across the state, including one with BusinessWest, during which he noted that Baystate is suffering from the same affliction as most all other healthcare providers in these post-pandemic years — a situation where revenues are simply not keeping pace with expenses — and will have to make some hard decisions, and many of them, to get back on track.

“We have a clear path, and we’re working on implementing it; it’s a two-year plan to improve our core operations by more than $225 million.”

“We have a clear path, and we’re working on implementing it; it’s a two-year plan to improve our core operations by more than $225 million,” said Banko, noting that the basic playbook in this case, as it does with any struggling business in any sector, calls for growing revenues and reducing expenses, efforts carried out simultaneously.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned,” he went on, noting that the system has already taken several steps, including the termination of its defined-benefit pension plan, sale of its laboratory to Labcorp, and the pending sale of Health New England to Point32Health, a move that will “remove a distraction we don’t need right now” more than it will help the bottom line, he noted.

In the growing-revenues category, he said the system is engaging in a strategic-planning process, one involving the entire organization and community, and one that will define where the system wants to grow. Elaborating, he explained that the system is working on revenue-cycle management, especially billing-and-collection operation, “to make sure we’re collecting every dollar, no more, no less.”

Meanwhile, the system is also working on improving access to physicians as well as the larger issue of throughput — in the operating room, endoscopy, heart and vascular, and more.

On the expense side, the system is looking to reduce corporate overhead, “things that don’t touch the bedside,” he said. “We’re looking at external spends — supplies, pharmacy, the must-haves versus nice-to-haves, what pens and paper we’re using.”

But obviously, the largest item on the expense side is workforce, Banko went on, adding that reductions are all but inevitable, although he could not say where they will come or how many.

Peter Banko

Peter Banko says he arrived at Baystate fully understanding the challenges facing the health system.

“We’re still working on the plans and execution, and we will be transparent as we make those changes, both externally and internally,” he said, adding that the system will start with reducing corporate overhead and improving billing and collections.

As he goes about leading this ‘transformation,’ a word he used instead of ‘turnaround’ to describe what’s taking place, Banko said he will call on his considerable experience with such efforts (more on that later).

Ultimately, he is confident that Baystate can and will pull out of this dive and return to something approaching profitability.

“I have complete confidence in where we’re headed,” he said. “Everyone knows where we need to go; we’re aligned about where we want to go. Everything here is fixable, and there’s a great path forward to be able to invest $1.2 billion over the next six years and get into the fun stuff.”

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Banko about how Baystate Health arrived at this moment, but mostly about what happens now — especially those hard decisions, the turning over of all those stones, and everything else needed to move the system into recovery.

“The light at the end of the tunnel can’t be another train coming — it has to be something better.”

While doing so, he provided some insight into the challenges facing virtually every healthcare system in the region — and the country, for that matter.

 

Numbers Game

As noted earlier, Banko knew exactly what he was facing when he agreed to succeed Dr. Mark Keroack as president and CEO at Baystate Health.

“The board was very transparent, and there have been no surprises,” he said, joking that, while there was a very short honeymoon period as he transitioned into the job, it is long over, and the hard work of returning the system, which includes four area hospitals — Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Noble Hospital, Baystate Wing Hospital, and Baystate Franklin Medical Center — to sound financial health is well underway.

Similar work is taking place almost everywhere in healthcare, especially across the Commonwealth, he said, noting that a recent Massachusetts Hospital Assoc. report noted that, in 2023, 75% of the hospitals in the state lost money, with some losing at a more dramatic rate than Baystate, while most others lost less.

“The American Hospital Association reported that, over the past few years, inflation grew by 12.5%, so let’s say it’s 6.25% per year,” he said, while explaining how Baystate arrived at this moment. “Our revenue at Baystate over the past 10 years has grown 5.3%, and there’s the issue: our expenses have been growing faster than our revenue.

“We have an aging population, so more than 70% of our patient base is Medicare and Medicaid, and we know neither of those cover their costs,” Banko went on. “So we rely on the other 30% to cover the cost of Medicare and Medicaid. We’ve lost commercial market share and key services to Boston and Hartford, including cancer, heart and vascular, and to a lesser extent orthopedics, neurosurgery, and gastroenterology. So all the key procedural areas that are profitable for us … we’ve lost some business to elsewhere, and for a variety of reasons.”

Listing some of them, he mentioned access to physicians — “if you call us and it’s a month and you call someone in Boston and it’s ‘we’ll see you next week,’ you’re going to go to the place that will see you next week, if you have the ability to get there” — as well as a lack of awareness within this region of the talent and services available at Baystate.

This loss of revenue, compounded by rising expenses, has had far-reaching ramifications, he said, adding that it limited the system’s ability to reinvest back into itself and the community, while also stunting its ability to grow and impacting the balance sheet.

The plan to stem this tide is fundamental, Banko said, adding that it involves both growing revenue and reducing expenses, and, ultimately, growing revenues faster than expenses.

“That means we have to start growing revenue 6% to 8% a year, and we’ve got to transform our cost structure to get below that,” he said. “We’re still early on, so the more we get on the revenue side, it takes some of the pressure off on the cost side, but we’re still early in the process.”

He said Baystate is not interested in cutting back on operations or discontinuing services, in large part because it is a safety-net hospital, and many of those services are not available elsewhere.

 

Bottom Line

As the system goes about putting a plan in place and then implementing it, it will use some consultants, while also drawing on some of the lessons generated by providers who have managed to recover financially from the pandemic quicker than most others.

There are only a handful of those, Banko said, stressing, again, that most systems — in this region, across New England, and across the country — are fighting the same battle, although Baystate has a deeper hole from which to dig out.

“We got hit harder — our fall, post-pandemic, was further than most systems, and our recovery has been slower,” he noted, adding that those that recovered faster made the hard decisions earlier.

As noted earlier, Banko has considerable experience with turn-around projects. He’s confronted them at several of his earlier career stops, including Centura Health in Colorado, and others as a turn-around specialist in New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

As he looked around his office at the system’s corporate headquarters on Chestnut Street, Banko said that, somewhere, there’s a book on turn-arounds he read earlier in his career.

He doesn’t have to reread it because he’s lived through many of them now, and also because it isn’t exactly rocket science. It’s about fundamentals, execution, and “not relying on luck,” he noted. “For me, what’s more important than what you do is how you do it.”

Elaborating, he said one key is maintaining morale and getting buy-in on the strategic plan that is developed. This comes through transparency and focusing on the endgame. He noted that the poor Leapfrog score was a “gut punch” for the system, one that doesn’t reflect the work being done and the quality of talent within the Baystate family of hospitals.

“Still, it’s a grade, and it’s how we’re being graded; I said we’re going to be an ‘A’ organization — everyone wants to work for an ‘A,’ said Banko, who said he also serves as ‘chief culture officer’ for Baystate Health, and in that role it’s his job to set a tone and generate optimism for the system moving forward.

“The light at the end of the tunnel can’t be another train coming — it has to be something better,” he noted. “We’ve got a really nice picture of being able to grow the organization and invest a significant amount of money over the next six years if and when we do the plan.

“We don’t have to sell to someone, we don’t have to turn over the keys, we’re not in the same situation as Steward,” he said, referencing the Texas-based health system that filed for bankruptcy in May and has closed several hospitals, including two facilities in the Bay State. “We have a clear path, and if we execute on the path, we’re going to be healthy and growing and thriving for the next 140 years.”

What’s Changing in Ludlow … and What Isn’t

By
Karen Randall
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

Marc Strange

Marc Strange considers it “disappointing” that the majority of the town wasn’t ready for a charter change.

When Marc Strange came to Ludlow as town administrator in the spring of 2022, he saw an opportunity to take a leadership position in a bustling community and use his experience and skills — he was formerly director of Planning and Development for Agawam and selectman in Longmeadow — to effect change in this community.

One big proposed change is not happening, but there’s still plenty on his plate.

“When I applied for the job, the number-one priority was the change of government,” he said of a push to change the town’s charter and system of government — now a board of selectmen and representative town meeting — to one many felt was more befitting a community of roughly 21,000 residents, either a town manager and town council, a mayor and city council, or perhaps a hybrid model.

“That’s been a focus of mine, although I wasn’t involved in the creation of the charter,” he told BusinessWest of the effort by a charter-review committee that eventually settled on a town council/town manager model, which included the hiring of the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management to guide the process and a series of public forums. “I took it upon myself to make sure we were pushing toward on that, putting in the request to fund a consultant and just keep that ball moving.”

But the ball stopped rolling at a town meeting earlier this month, when the charter and the government change was voted down, 41-29.

“That just means that we’re going to continue status quo, the way we’ve been operating,” Strange said. “It’s disappointing because the charter committee put together a good charter, but the town just wasn’t ready for the change. The town manager would have replaced the board of selectmen, and then a town council would have replaced town meeting as a legislative body. You’re just able to get things done quicker.

“All the surrounding towns have grown, and that has contributed to our growth. And the town of Ludlow has grown tremendously since we started.”

“We have about 21,000 people, and a $84 million budget. We’re really a small city. It certainly has a town feel to it, but in terms of the form of the government, the structure of the government, I personally think it would have been more efficient to make the change. But the town meeting didn’t see it that way.”

For many town-meeting participants, Strange said, it came down to a question of representation.

“There are a little more than 100 members, technically, but there there were 70 at this town meeting. You’re going from that many people and that many voices down to a seven-member town council. I think the overriding sentiment was, the more voices you have, the more democratic a process.”

Still, he added, “Easthampton is a city, Palmer is a city, Southbridge is a city. These are smaller towns, smaller than us, that have city forms of government.”

Strange had other goals when he was hired in 2022, including efforts to make the government more efficient, which has included balancing out staffing and combining the treasurer’s and collector’s offices, and development efforts downtown.

Karen Randall

Karen Randall says location is her business’s number-one asset.

“I grew up in the economic-development world, in municipal government, and that’s one of the reasons why I was so excited to join Ludlow,” he said. “There’s so much potential here.”

 

Location, Location, Location

Karen Randall has certainly seen plenty of change in Ludlow, most of it positive. In 1962, her father built the first store at Randall’s Farm, and in 1997, the building underwent a significant expansion, including a greenhouse and big produce department.

The business also added “a postage stamp of a kitchen,” she added, which would turn out to be entirely inadequate as the bakery, deli, and prepared-food operations took off as people’s lifestyles changed.

“Center Street, where the pike exit is, is pretty built out and super busy. There are a lot of businesses there. But the downtown area, I feel like we need to really focus on that, because residents’ quality of life will rise if we can create a more exciting downtown area.”

“The kind of customers we have are mostly local customers. They’re on their way home or on their way to work, and it’s very convenient for them to have home-cooked food — not cooked in their home, but cooked in our home. We prepare everything from scratch, for the most part. And that department just went way beyond our expectations. It’s almost 40% of everything we do now, which we never saw coming. The garden center is still a big part, and produce is still a huge part, but prepared food was a surprise.”

Guests also come for the homemade hard ice cream, as well as family activities that peak in the fall with pumpkin decorating, scarecrow making, and seasonal games. Randall said the farm draws regulars from a roughly 20-mile range, from communities like Longmeadow, Westfield, and Enfield, Conn. “Sometimes people make a weekend trip just for their groceries. We have a lot of specialty grocery; we do a lot of gluten-free and allergy-friendly food. We have a big following for that.”

The Ludlow Mills project

The Ludlow Mills project, with its mix of housing, businesses, and the restored, iconic clocktower, continues to progress each year.

But after talking about what Randall’s Farm offers, she was quick to explain what Ludlow itself offers — notably its location off Mass Pike exit 54 and near a number of growing residential communities. It also benefits from its own growth, with new residential developments in recent years (more on that later).

“We’re in a great location. Location, I would say, is our number-one asset,” Randall told BusinessWest. “Having the turnpike less than a mile away, people in the surrounding towns who are using the turnpike drive by us very often. Belchertown has grown, all the surrounding towns have grown, and that has contributed to our growth. And the town of Ludlow has grown tremendously since we started.

“It’s a great community to have a business in, with great people. The town gives us excellent young employees; we have a lot of people that start in high school, and hopefully they stay while they go to college and come back and work holidays or weekends or summers,” she went on. “Some of our young employees stay with us for six years or so until they graduate from college, and then we hate to lose them. They become nurses and engineers and go on to their careers, and they leave a big hole for us because they were excellent employees.”

Ludlow at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1774
Population: 21,002
Area: 28.2 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $18.09
Commercial Tax Rate: $18.09
Median Household Income: $53,244
Median Family Income: $67,797
Type of Government: Board of Selectmen, Representative Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Hampden County House of Correction; Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital; Massachusetts Air National Guard; Kleeberg Sheet Metal Inc.
*Latest information available

All that said, “the business is doing well,” Randall noted. “We continue to grow and change with the trends and what customers want and what other stores like us are doing. We try to stay in tune with what’s happening so we can deliver the best to our customers.”

 

Downtown Developments

The town has been focusing on its downtown area in recent years as well, not just at Ludlow Mills, but in the East Street corridor, where it has planned extensive infrastructure improvements to make the street more safe, pedestrian-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing, as well as expanding its District Improvement Financing (DIF) area, which had previously covered just the footprint of the mills, to East Street.

“Our East Street corridor is sort of our Main Street, and there are a lot of small businesses there that have a loyal following and are very popular,” Strange said. “So we created a DIF last year so, with any developments made in that district, instead of that additional tax revenue going into the general fund, we can keep it in the district for infrastructure improvements.

“I’m really looking forward to being able to improve the look and the feel, but also the infrastructure of East Street. We’re also going to be repaving the roads around down State Street, which is where the mills are, then around to East Street,” he added. “Center Street, where the pike exit is, is pretty built out and super busy. There are a lot of businesses there. But the downtown area, I feel like we need to really focus on that, because residents’ quality of life will rise if we can create a more exciting downtown area.”

One of the most recent business openings on East Street is BarBurrito, a new restaurant venture from Bill Collins, owner of Center Square Grill in East Longmeadow. “We were thrilled to see BarBurrito come in,” Strange said. “Bill Collins has established businesses that are popular, so to have him come invest his money into East Street, I was really excited to see that.

“There are a lot of small businesses on East Street that have a loyal following, but we do have some storefronts that tend to turn over,” Strange added. “So we’re really hoping to, again, raise the excitement level of the downtown area, beautify it, and have more businesses like BarBurrito come in and build out those storefronts.”

As for Ludlow Mills, that remains an ongoing process, one that began two decades ago and ramped up when Westmass Area Development Corp. acquired the property 13 years ago. The 95 residential units at Mill 8 should be complete next month, complimenting the 75 units in Mill 10 and a series of commercial developments across the complex’s footprint. Meanwhile, the clock tower in Mill 8 completed its renovation this year.

“Every single year there’s something. There’s always cranes and activity down there. It’s exciting, and I think it gets people excited about the future,” Strange said, noting that the new residential units are for age 55 and up, and there is a great need for that kind of housing locally.

“I can see a vibrant downtown in Ludlow,” he added. “We have a lot of beautiful residential areas, particularly in the mountains and certainly closer to downtown as well. The clocktower so iconic. I remember, before I started here, coming over the bridge to go to Randall’s and looking to the right and seeing the clock tower. It just made you feel like you had arrived someplace. Now we have corporate resources that are putting money into the area.

“I’m really excited about what the downtown could be,” Strange went on. “I feel like, if we can complete the downtown and update it, revitalize it, and make it exciting, it’s really going to make a difference for Ludlow. That’s my focus.”

North Adams Enjoys Institutional Advancement

By
North Adams Regional Hospital reopened in March
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Laurie Lammare

Laurie Lammare says the reopening of North Adams Regional Hospital will bring convenience to local residents.

For Laurie Lammare, the reopening of North Adams Regional Hospital (NARH) is a story that touches her professionally and personally.

Professionally … she is now system vice president and COO of NARH, now part of Berkshire Health Systems, moving from an administrative role at BHS to leading the 130-year-old hospital through the next chapter in its intriguing history.

And personally … well, she was born at NARH, her children were born there, and she fully understands the importance of this institution, on many different levels, to the North County communities it serves.

“Being able to offer such services to so many people was exciting work,” said Lammare, a North Adams native, of the long road to reopening the hospital and restoring inpatient service, noting that it was a crushing blow to the community when NARH was closed by its previous owner in 2014 after years of financial struggles and bankruptcies.

Its reopening in March, a decade to the day after it closed as an acute-care hospital, and its subsequent designation as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) in July, brings new levels of convenience and accessibility to care for people who previously had to travel to Pittsfield for such care — or to visit those who were receiving care.

The reopening of NARH is one of the better stories involving this community of roughly 13,000 people, the second-largest in Berkshire County. But there are others, many of them involving the other major institution in the city — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA).

Indeed, the school, formerly known as North Adams State College, recently earned the sixth spot on U.S. News & World Report’s list of Top Public Liberal Arts Schools in the nation, after earning the seventh spot for the previous three years. The college’s continued commitment to affordable education and economic prosperity is reflected in additional 2025 U.S. News rankings: the fifth-highest performer on social mobility for liberal-arts colleges in Massachusetts and second-highest performer on social mobility for public liberal-arts colleges in the country (more on what that means later).

“Part of re-establishing the inpatient beds at North Adams was really a strategic step in expanding access and reducing the healthcare barriers that the community may have found in traveling down to Pittsfield.”

“It’s always nice to go up, in this case, from 7 to 6,” MCLA President James Birge said of the public liberal-arts ranking, which puts MCLA just behind the service academies and a few other schools. “But the more compelling information is that this is the 10th consecutive year we’ve been in the top 10 nationally, and we’re really proud of that.”

Meanwhile, MCLA continues to add new programs. In 2022, it was radiological technology, and in 2023, it was nursing. This year, it’s a music, industry & production major that drew 60 applications.

James Birge

James Birge says MCLA’s rise in the rankings speaks to its broad mission and its success in carrying it out.

This new program will help students contribute to a changing economy in the Berkshires and North Adams, one that has shifted from manufacturing to the arts, and is perhaps best captured by the conversion of the former Sprague Electric complex into MASSMoCA, the largest modern-art museum in the world.

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at North Adams and the many forms of progress there.

 

Turning Back the Clock

Tracing the history of North Adams Regional Hospital, Michael Leary, director of Media Relations for BHS, said its creation was inspired by a horrific rail accident in 1886 — roughly a decade after the opening of the Hoosac Tunnel — known locally as the train wreck at Bardswell Ferry.

The Eastern Express, traveling east toward Greenfield, came off its rails and plunged down a rocky embankment to the Deerfield River, south of Bardswell Ferry. Ten people were killed, and another 31 injured.

“North Adams was a pretty significant city in Massachusetts at that time, but it didn’t have a hospital,” Leary said. “As a result of that catastrophe, some community members got together and formed what came to be known as North Adams Regional Hospital.”

NARH operated for more than 100 years, under an organization known as Northern Berkshire Health Systems, but by the start of this century, it was struggling mightily, he explained.

“They ran into significant reimbursement and financial issues and could not sustain the hospital. They declared bankruptcy at least twice, maybe three times, in the 2000s, and when push came to shove, they could no longer make a go of it. Cash flow had significantly decreased, they were unable to pay their vendors, and they declared bankruptcy in 2014 a final time and closed just days later.”

“We went from a long weekend to 10 days where we helped students adjust to college life — with coursework, social adjustments, connecting to other people on campus who are first-year students.”

State officials and the Department of Public Health asked BHS to step in and at least reopen emergency services, Leary said, adding that the system did this and subsequently purchased the property through bankruptcy proceedings, naming it the North Adams Campus of Berkshire Medical Center and opening several outpatient services there, including imaging, wound care, surgical services, laboratory services, and orthopedics.

In 2023, following changes in the law regarding eligibility for CAH designation — which is granted by the federal government and limited to small, rural facilities that meet certain criteria to qualify for federal support in maintaining services that would otherwise not be financially and/or operationally viable — such status was attained, and BHS moved to reopen the facility under its original name, North Adams Regional Hospital.

The importance of the hospital to the region was summed up by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal in comments made at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reopened NARH.

“Throughout my career in public life, I have stood by the notion that legislation changes lives. Today’s announcement is a living example of that belief, as the reopening of North Adams Regional Hospital will have a profound impact on communities throughout North County for years to come,” Neal said. “There are stark inequities in rural and underserved communities as it relates to our nation’s health system. That is why I have long advocated for changes that will address health equity and allow everyone to have a fair and just opportunity to achieve their highest level of health, regardless of who they are or where they live.”

Lammare, who had been with BHS in various capacities for 34 years before being chosen to lead NARH, concurred.

North Adams Regional Hospital reopened in March

North Adams Regional Hospital reopened in March a decade to the day after closing as an acute-care hospital in 2014.

“Part of re-establishing the inpatient beds at North Adams was really a strategic step in expanding access and reducing the healthcare barriers that the community may have found in traveling down to Pittsfield — and to better serve the Berkshire County community members in a coordinated effort through the larger healthcare system,” she said, adding that the hospital reopened with 18 beds and can expand to 25 given guidelines regulating CAHs. The current census is only about five patients a day, but that number is expected to rise with the start of flu season.

 

School of Thought

Birge told BusinessWest that the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings help convey MCLA’s broad mission — and its success in carrying it out, especially over the past several years.

North Adams at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1878
Population: 12,961
Area: 20.6 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $17.14
Commercial Tax Rate: $36.34
Median Household Income: $35,020
Family Household Income: $57,522
Type of government: Mayor; City Council
Largest Employers: BFAIR Inc.; Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; North Adams Regional Hospital
* Latest information available

Indeed, in addition to providing a quality liberal-arts education, the school has also been a prime mover in that category known as social mobility; the college has been acknowledged on the list of national liberal-arts colleges for social mobility since that ranking was established in 2019.

Specifically, social mobility measures how well institutions graduate students who receive federal Pell Grants, typically awarded to students whose families make less than $50,000, said Birge, noting that most Pell Grant money goes to families with income below $20,000. More than 41% of MCLA undergraduate students receive Pell Grants, and 49% are the first in their families to go to college. Overall, 95% of MCLA students receive some kind of financial aid.

Beyond these rankings, MCLA is seeing other forms of momentum despite slower enrollment this fall, in part due to well-documented problems with federal financial-aid applications, but also due to MassEducate, the state’s free community-college program, which has resulted in fewer transfers to MCLA and other state colleges and universities. (For the long term, Birge noted, free community college will benefit such schools because it will put more students in the transfer pipeline.)

This momentum includes the highest retention rates in more than a decade, which has made up for some of the first-year students the college lost for those reasons stated above. This improvement in retention came about due to some new initiatives at the school, starting with a transition from a traditional first-year student orientation to a 10-day onboarding process.

“We went from a long weekend to 10 days where we helped students adjust to college life — with coursework, social adjustments, connecting to other people on campus who are first-year students,” Birge noted. “Additionally, we invested in more academic advisors on campus a year ago, and as a result, not only did students have a major advisor among their faculty, they had a success coach who walked them through things throughout the year, like how to deal with homesickness, adjusting to college, and time-management skills. In addition to academic advising, they also had personal-life advising.”

The reopening of NARH is also a benefit for MCLA because students in its health programs can now do clinicals at that facility rather than driving to Pittsfield, said Birge, adding that the school also partners, on many levels, with MASSMoCA, where a number of students find internships or employment.

And then, there’s the new major in music, industry & production, which Birge said has “struck a chord” locally.

“The Berkshires have kind of a music vibe,” he explained. “There’s Tanglewood; there’s a world-class recording studio just down the street, Studio 9 at Porches Inn; and we have some faculty members that excel at music theory and performance, and they put together this neat little program.”

It’s one of many developments of note — both literally and figuratively — in this community that continues the process of transitioning and evolving.

Wilbraham Balances Growth, Small-town Feel

By
Mike and Barbara Trombley returned to Wilbraham for its quality of life — and to be the succession plan for the financial-services firm started by Mike’s father.
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Mike and Barbara Trombley returned to Wilbraham for its quality of life — and to be the succession plan for the financial-services firm started by Mike’s father.

Mike and Barbara Trombley returned to Wilbraham for its quality of life — and to be the succession plan for the financial-services firm started by Mike’s father.

Like many young people who grow up in Western Mass., Mike Trombley left this region to start his professional career and then returned because of the quality of life it affords.

His story, and his career, have not been like most others, though.

Indeed, Trombley, who excelled on the baseball diamond at Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, would go on to play to play at Duke and be drafted by the Minnesota Twins.

Mostly a relief pitcher — with a career record of 37-47 and a high of 24 saves in 1995 — he played for the Twins, Orioles, and, briefly, the Dodgers until 2002. Living in Florida with his wife, Barbara, and three children after his playing days were over, he dabbled in real estate and managed to survive relatively unscathed when the market collapsed.

By 2009, the Trombleys decided that Florida wasn’t really for them, so they relocated to Wilbraham to live and essentially become the succession plan for Mike’s father, Ray Trombley, who founded the financial-services firm Trombley Associates in 1965.

The Wilbraham Mike returned to was and is very much like the one he left, meaning it has maintained its small-town charm and rural character — there are more than 20 farms within the community.

But there have been some significant changes, including the mailing address for the Trombley firm — Post Office Park on Route 20, a business park that includes the Scantic Valley YMCA, a post office (hence the name), and dozens of businesses — as well as many new businesses along that thoroughfare. There have also been some changes on Main Street and just off it, including the town’s new senior center, which was a dozen years in the making, and a new mixed-use development that includes several apartments, a brewery, a restaurant, and a wine-and-cheese shop.

This combination of small-time charm and an eclectic business community makes Wilbraham an attractive community, one where residents sometimes take all they have for granted but shouldn’t, Mike said.

“This is the quintessential New England town; any time anyone would go down Main Street and see Wilbraham & Monson Academy and the Village Store … it’s just a picturesque postcard driving through town.”

“It’s very interesting seeing Wilbraham as an adult. I grew up in this town, then left to go to go to college and play baseball; we were away a long time and came back. To see it as an adult … Barbara said to me, and it’s true, ‘Wilbraham is a charming town.’

“I’m a big fan of New England,” he went on. “And this is the quintessential New England town; any time anyone would go down Main Street and see Wilbraham & Monson Academy and the Village Store … it’s just a picturesque postcard driving through town, especially at this time of year, and I appreciate it much more as an adult.”

This is the message the town’s Economic Development Committee is trying to put out — or, at least, part of the message.

Indeed, the commission has ramped up efforts to let it be known that this community of almost 15,000 people is open for business and has plenty to offer those who wish to set up shop here.

That list includes a single tax rate, one lower for businesses than neighboring Springfield (and some other communities, for that matter); busy Route 20, which is already home to dozens of businesses, with room for many more; access to other neighboring communities; proximity to what will be a totally reimagined Eastfield Mall; that aforementioned quality of life; and, coming sometime soon, a town-owned fiber network that will bring faster and more reliable service to residents and businesses alike.

“We have many attractive selling points here in Wilbraham,” said Mike Mazzuca, chair of the Economic Development Committee. “And we’re going to work harder to make sure businesses are aware of all that we have to offer.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Wilbraham and its ongoing, and quite successful, efforts to balance its rural character with needed business growth.

 

Getting Down to Business

Brady Suomala is a senior at Minnechaug High, captain of the soccer team, and … an intern with the East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce, which counts Wilbraham among the five communities it serves.

Since coming aboard just after school started, Suomala, who is focusing his internship on marketing and graphics, has been visiting many businesses in town with chamber Executive Director Grace Barone. He’s been talking with their graphics and marketing people about their work and possible career paths, while also, in some cases, gauging their marketing needs and whether the chamber might be of any assistance.

He’s stopped by a few banks, and recently visited with Sandy Polom, owner of the Scented Garden Gift Shoppe, located in the Wilbraham Shops on Route 20, who is coming up on her five-year anniversary of buying the business and is planning a celebration.

Brady Suomala

As an intern with the ERC5 Chamber of Commerce, high-school senior Brady Suomala is gaining unique insight into Wibraham’s business community.

Suomala’s work to date relates the importance of internships like his to introducing young people to the world of work, while also introducing them to businesses and possible careers. It also helps tell the story of Wilbraham’s business community, which, as noted, is both diverse — with a blend of local companies and regional and even national chains (like Home Depot) — and deep, with many businesses, like Trombley Associates, the Scented Garden, Rice’s Fruit Farm, and many others having well-established roots.

Indeed, the Scented Garden has been a mainstay in the community, and region, for more than 30 years now.

“We reached out to businesses at the mall and were successful in bringing a few here.”

Polom, who had been in medical and pharmaceutical sales for 26 years, was looking for a change, and less travel, and bought the business five years ago.

That was just a few months before COVID, which wound up essentially shutting her down for three and half months.

“That was a little scary, to say the least,” she said, adding that the pause, while unwelcome, gave her an opportunity to refresh the store and make some needed changes. Upon reopening, she has been continuously buoyed by local support — a running theme among business owners in town — but also shoppers from neighboring communities and those passing through along Route 20 or stopping in to other businesses in the shops.

They’re drawn to her mix of gift items, from women’s and children’s clothing to jewelry to home items, with a focus on products made in this country.

As for Trombley Associates, it has been a nice, but not easy, transition for Mike and a solid second career, one where Barbara, a CPA by trade, is his business partner.

Barbara, a frequent contributor of articles to BusinessWest on the many aspects of financial planning, handles the tax side of the business, but also shares the financial-planning work with Mike.

Wilbraham at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1763
Population: 14,613
Area: 22.4 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $18.50
Commercial Tax Rate: $18.50
Median Household Income: $65,014
Median Family Income: $73,825
Type of government: Board of Selectmen, Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Baystate Wing Wilbraham Medical Center; Friendly Ice Cream Corp.; Big Y; Home Depot; Wilbraham & Monson Academy
*Latest information available

Together, they have grown the client portfolio and, overall, continued a business that traces it roots back 60 years.

“I think my father would be very proud that we’ve carried the torch and, hopefully, made it better in his eyes,” Mike said.

The broad goal for the town’s Economic Development Committee is to help write more success stories like these in Wilbraham, said Mazzuca, adding that the mixed-use project on Main Street, which now includes several apartments, Pafumi’s on Main restaurant, the Guilty Grape wine-and-cheese store, and Scantic River Brewery, has generated momentum in efforts to bring more businesses, and vibrancy, to what would be considered the community’s downtown, the Main Street area.

Meanwhile, Wilbraham has become more focused on promoting itself and its assets and attracting more businesses. The town was successful is recruiting two of the former tenants of the Eastfield Mall — the Mall Barber and School of Fish, an aquarium store — for some of the reasons stated earlier, such as location and proximity to Route 20.

“We reached out to businesses at the mall and were successful in bringing a few here,” said Mazzuca, “because this is a great place to do business.”

Jeff Smith, vice chair of the Economic Development Committee and a small-business owner himself, agreed. He said the town’s single tax rate has incentivized Home Depot and other businesses to locate in town, and there are many other assets as well.

“We have a lot of open space — the trail systems are extensive, and we have two fantastic farms that put on all kinds of activities in the fall,” he explained. “There’s also water, sewer, access to Route 20, and a very business-friendly town government.”

As for the planned new Eastfield Mall … there are still many questions to be answered on that project, but if it is redeveloped as planned, with a mix of local and national stores and restaurant chains, it should bring more traffic through and into Wilbraham.

“If the stores that are proposed to go up do go up, that will draw more people into the area,” Mazzuca said. “For people going to the Eastfield Mall, when it’s time to go to a restaurant, you’ll have more people coming to Wilbraham. We have fantastic restaurants here, and in addition, some of our niche shops are spectacular.”

 

Bottom Line

Returning to those thoughts he had about how he appreciates Wilbraham even more now than when he was growing up there, Mike Trombley said that, overall, little has changed beyond that appreciation level.

“There’s no way you can avoid progress, which is a good thing, but the town has kept its home-town feel, which is good, too,” he said, noting, as others did, that this community has much to offer — to residents, yes, but also to those who want to get down to business here.

 

Peter Farkas Takes Reins at MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board

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Peter Farkas says workforce development essentially comes down to one word: partnerships.
Features Special Coverage

Hire Purpose

Peter Farkas

Peter Farkas

Peter Farkas can give you the textbook definition of workforce development, at least as he understands it.

“Workforce development is economic development,” said Farkas, who was named president and CEO of the MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board in March, succeeding long-time president David Cruise. “Workforce development is addressing the needs of employers by reskilling and upskilling the labor force to meet industry needs. It’s ongoing, and it’s very fluid.”

To him, though, workforce development is defined by, made possible by, and is a function of … partnerships.

In fact, forging and strengthening partnerships is the unofficial job description for his position with the workforce board, the latest stop in a career that, as we’ll see, has been entirely in the broad realm of workforce development in different regions of the Bay State, from the Berkshires to Middlesex County to Boston, and in different capacities, including executive director of the MassHire Greater Lowell Workforce Board.

His latest assignment brings him to Hampden County, a region that includes several gateway cities — Chicopee, Holyoke, Westfield, and, of course, Springfield. These former manufacturing hubs have been reinventing themselves over the past several decades, and, like other Gateway Cities across the state, have their challenges when it comes to workforce.

Specifically, companies across virtually every sector are struggling to find enough qualified help. At the same time, there are significant numbers of unemployed and underemployed individuals who need the skills — often, basic skills — to succeed in the workplace.

With these challenges in mind, MassHire focuses on current needs, while anticipating future needs and taking steps to create a solid pipeline of workers.

“From the workforce-board perspective, we’re demand-driven and industry-led,” Farkas explained. “What are the needs from our industries? What are our employers’ needs? Currently, what jobs are they having trouble filling, but also short- and long-term, where are the areas they need to be invested in?”

Farkas comes to MassHire at an intriguing time. The workplace is changing, thanks largely to COVID and the seismic shifts it brought about in how people work and where. There is still a workforce crisis, if you will, with many sectors struggling mightily to find enough qualified talent. Baby Boomers continue to retire in huge numbers, impacting all sectors, but some, including healthcare and manufacturing, more than others.

“From the workforce-board perspective, we’re demand-driven and industry-led.”

In this environment, the workforce board is working on several fronts involving recruitment, retention, and enabling employees to advance within a business or sector, he said, adding that one of these initiatives involves internships, which not only introduce people to jobs and individual businesses, but start them down the path toward a potential career.

He said the Hampden County Workforce Board is one of the leading participants in the state’s Registered Apprenticeship program, an employer-driven model that combines on-the-job mentoring with job-related instruction.

“This an area I would like to see us continuing growing in,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re doing a lot of registered apprenticeships, which are helping employers address a few areas of need — filling their current job openings, but also investing in current employees and upskilling them for retention purposes.”

Internships are just one piece of a much larger puzzle, he went on, adding that he made this work his career because of the many kinds of rewards it brings. “A lot of what we do can be life-changing. Taking someone who’s unemployed and putting them in a career where they have room to grow and they can support their families … that’s rewarding.”

Peter Farkas says workforce development essentially comes down to one word: partnerships.

Peter Farkas says workforce development essentially comes down to one word: partnerships.

For this issue, we talked at length with Farkas about his latest career challenge, workforce development and what defines it, and his goals and objectives for fulfilling this agency’s important mission.

 

Forging a Career

As noted earlier, Farkas has spent pretty much his entire career in workforce development.

A graduate of UMass Amherst who later earned an MBA at Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School, he started his career at Middlesex Community College, serving as Youth Services director, as well as overseeing programs at one-stop career centers serving 20 communities and also managing and coordinating several state- and federally funded grants and initiatives.

In 2014, he became associate director of the Metro North Regional Employment Board. During his tenure there, he chaired the youth committee of the Massachusetts Workforce Professional Assoc. and also secured a three-year, $500,000 grant with the U.S. Department of Commerce by partnering with the city of Somerville and Greentown Labs to connect hardware startups and advanced manufacturers in Northeast Mass.

In 2017, he took the helm at the MassHire Greater Lowell Workforce Board. Lowell is another of those gateway cities, and during his tenure there, punctuated by the pandemic, he secured a three-year, $2.4 million National Health Dislocated Worker grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to address workforce-development issues impacted by the opioid crisis. He also developed strategic relationships with several community stakeholders, including adult basic education providers, Middlesex Community College, UMass Lowell, and various state agencies.

In 2022, Farkas returned to higher education (and where he grew up), but remained focused on workforce development, serving as associate director of Workforce Development & Community Education at Berkshire Community College. There, among things, he oversaw a $735,000 grant to train a diverse talent population for in-demand occupations in the Berkshires.

When Cruise announced his plans to retire late last year, Farkas, who said he “missed the workforce-board/MassHire world,” saw an opportunity to take his career in a different direction, and in a different corner of the state.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t get the grant, but I think — correct that, I know — the region is better-situated now to proceed with applications for larger grants.”

“I wasn’t really looking for a change, but I knew here in Hampden County that the board itself was very strong in terms of the team staff-wise, but also the board of directors,” he explained. “And there were a lot of solid partnerships in place. I was looking forward to joining a great board that is well-regarded across the Commonwealth.”

At MassHire, he manages a budget of between $12 million and $15 million; oversees the region’s two one-stop career centers, in Holyoke and Springfield; and administers publicly funded worker-training and job-placement programs in the county’s 23 cities and towns.

But mostly, this job comes down to developing and nurturing strategic alliances and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, he said, noting that these include educational institutions; community-based organizations; and federal, state, and municipal government agencies — everything from the U.S. Department of Labor to the state Department of Higher Education.

The career centers are the public-facing entities within the state’s 16 MassHire workforce boards, most of them covering regions rather than counties, Farkas noted, adding that they stage job fairs, stage résumé-writing workshops, and conduct training programs. His work, and that of most team members, is more behind-the-scenes in nature, involving everything from writing grant applications to meeting with other stakeholders to forge strategies for dealing with the region’s workforce issues.

 

Work in Progress

Since arriving in March, Farkas has been spending some of his time meeting with stakeholders, such as employers and the region’s colleges and universities, and coming to understand the wants, needs, challenges, and opportunities that exist.

He said the unemployment rate in the county remains comparatively low, and employers are still struggling to fill positions. Those remaining on the sidelines when it comes to the workforce are those who lack necessary skills and/or face other challenges, such as transportation, he went on, adding that many employers are just looking to get people in the door and then provide them with the skills they need.

“They’re saying, ‘give me someone who will show up on time, knows how to talk to their co-workers, is a team player, and dresses appropriately, and we’ll help build up their technical skills,’” he said, adding that some struggle simply to find people who can clear this low bar.

Overall, as he surveys the scene in Hampden County, Farkas sees several sectors being impacted by the changes and trends dominating the workplace.

Manufacturing, specifically precision manufacturing, is one of them, he said, noting that this sector is being especially impacted by the so-called silver tsunami, the retirement of the Baby Boom generation, and is thus one of the areas of focus when it comes to educating people, especially young people, about this industry and then putting them on a course to enter it.

“How do we get more people interested in manufacturing, whether it’s young people, current job seekers, or career changers?” he asked, adding that one of the assignments for his team is to create answers to that question.

Meanwhile, healthcare, the region’s largest employer, is another sector facing challenges, and one where the focus must be on both today and tomorrow.

“We have to build awareness of the various career paths in healthcare and let young people know that there are a lot of occupations within this industry,” he said, adding that such work is ongoing and being undertaken by the Healthcare Workforce Partnership of Western Massachusetts, led by one of BusinessWest’s Healthcare Heroes for 2024, Peta-Gaye Johnson (see story on page H20).

Internships are an important part of the equation, but so are efforts to introduce people to careers in these sectors at a young age — middle school and even earlier.

Funding is the key to these and other programs, he said, adding that the workforce board collaborates with its many types of partners in applications for both state and federal grants, many of them focused on young people, unemployed and underemployed individuals, but also incumbent workers needing more skills to advance within a company.

The workforce board was the lead applicant for a $20 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, Farkas noted, adding that there were several partners in the bid — from Baystate Health to Way Finders — known as the Springfield-Holyoke Recompete Plan.

The alliance became a finalist but did not ultimately receive the grant, which would have gone to “connect historically marginalized communities in Springfield and Holyoke to good jobs,” Farkas said, but the experience gained through that process, which brought several different parties together behind the initiative, will benefit the region moving forward.

“That process of bringing together all those various stakeholders has been beneficial to continue growing partnerships and relationships, which is very important for my role,” he added. “We’re disappointed we didn’t get the grant, but I think — correct that, I know — the region is better-situated now to proceed with applications for larger grants.”

As he said earlier, workforce development is all about partnerships — and workforce development is economic development, and that’s why it’s so important, and so rewarding.

 

Great Barrington is ‘Busking’ at the Seams

By
Betsy Andrus says Great Barrington attracts many types of visitors
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

Betsy Andrus says Great Barrington attracts many types of visitors

Betsy Andrus says Great Barrington attracts many types of visitors, including those seeking a respite as they hike the Appalachian Trail.

“Small-town living with an extra dose of culture and sophistication.”

That’s how Brook Redpath chose to describe the Southern Berkshires community of Great Barrington, and she’s well-qualified for that assignment.

Indeed, she grew up in town and moved back after living in the D.C. area for some time to raise her family there (and be near her own family) because of that rare blend of small-town feel with culture — and much more. And, for the past 17 years, she’s owned Matruska Toys and Gifts, a downtown staple in the process of relocating from Main Street to Railroad Street.

“This community has something that appeals to just about everyone,” said Redpath, listing stores and restaurants, theater and art, craft beer, hiking, skiing, biking, and more, adding that this blend makes it a great place to live, but also visit. And many do, from across this state and New England, but especially New York, which is just a few miles away.

Indeed, while the community is home to just over 7,000, it is a destination for exponentially more, who come here for everything from leaf peeping to a brief respite while hiking the Appalachian Trail — there’s an access point to the trail off Monterey Road — to something relatively new and completely different. It’s called Berkshire Busk!

“We live in a world where people are on the screens all day long, and there’s a lack of social cohesion; there’s a real need in this world for people to come together.”

Call it organized street entertainment — everything from singers and flamenco dancers to poets and aerialists — which runs on Railroad Street and other parts of the downtown on Friday and Saturday nights from early July to Labor Day weekend.

Gene Carr, the cellist and arts executive (he was director of the American Symphony Orchestra) turned tech entrepreneur who conceived the program, said it brings people, vibrancy, and “community” to Great Barrington.

“We’re creating economic impact, and we’re also creating community, and that’s something that’s hard to quantify,” he told BusinessWest. “We live in a world where people are on the screens all day long, and there’s a lack of social cohesion; there’s a real need in this world for people to come together. And when you come downtown and you experience what we’re putting together, you’ll see people having an experience together in a community, and it’s rare.”

Betsy Andrus, executive director of the Southern Berkshires Chamber of Commerce, said Berkshire Busk! is one of the many positive notes being hit in Great Barrington these days. Others include its bustling, ever-changing downtown, a farmers market combining with an arts market that is drawing diverse audiences, and its many outdoor activities.

Gene Carr says Berkshire Busk! Is creating economic impact

Gene Carr says Berkshire Busk! Is creating economic impact — and also cultivating community.

While enjoying this vibrancy and progress, the town is experiencing what Gary Happ, co-owner of Barrington Brewery and Restaurant, nearing its 30th anniversary in business, called “growing pains.”

Specifically, he talked about a shortage of workers for the many hospitality-related businesses in town, a shortage of affordable housing, and how the two trends are certainly related.

To make his point, he flashed back nearly a half-century to when he first came to town and worked at a local school. He recalls making $7,000 a year back then, but he could still easily afford to live in the community. That is not the case with the current generation of workers in entry-level jobs and even those a few rungs higher on the ladder.

“People who work here can’t afford to live here,” Happ said, adding that, while this problem is not unique to Great Barrington, it is certainly acute here, where home prices have skyrocketed since the pandemic as rural living has become more popular, and rents have risen accordingly, pricing many people out.

Meanwhile, there are some serious infrastructure issues — the Brookside Road bridge over the Housatonic River was closed down by the state after a routine inspection revealed it was unsafe for vehicular traffic, and there have been two other bridge shutdowns since 2019 — creating some real inconvenience for residents and visitors alike, he noted.

But despite all this, Great Barrington is a picture of vibrancy and energy. For the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest looks at how this picture is ever-changing and always intriguing.

 

Taking It to the Streets

As he talked with BusinessWest, Carr was gearing up for Labor Day, the last weekend of Berkshire Busk! The lineup was set to include the Cate Great! Show, an act that combines high-end circus with comedy, at Lower Railroad Street; singer/songwriter Garrin Benfield on Upper Railroad Sreet; Rick and Marilyn, who perform “guitar-centric, edgy, acoustic rock music,” at Carr Hardware; poet Kevin Devaney at TP Saddleblanket, and much more.

That lineup typifies what the program has been about since it was conceived during COVID and launched in 2021 with the support of town officials and several corporate sponsors, including Big Y, Adams Community Bank, and the Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation, among others.

“Many of our employees have to live in larger groups or further out — maybe in Pittsfield or in New York State. In Great Barrington, the demand for workers is high, and that puts a lot of stress on many businesses.”

As Carr explained, outdoor dining was exploding onto the scene in the summer and fall of 2020, and Berkshire Busk! — busk is a verb referring to street performing — was created to bring that street dining experience to a new and much higher level.

“I went to the town and said, ‘you have such a wonderful outdoor opportunity … why don’t we add some buskers, some street performers, who can perform all over town in Great Barrington, and we can bring people downtown who can dine and shop and be with each other — why don’t we create a real festival?’” he recalled, adding that is exactly what has materialized.

Each weekend, there are between five and seven buskers at different locations in the downtown, he went on, adding that the lineup varies each week and includes local performers and professional buskers.

Carr said about 25,000 people turned out during the 10 Friday and Saturday night weekends of the festival, with two rain days.

“About half the attendees said they specifically came because of Berkshire Busk!, and the vast majority said they came to also to dine and shop … which means that we generated more than $1 million of incremental economic impact,” he noted.

“We reached all ages, particularly families with kids, and the audience was about 50% local Berkshire county and surrounding areas and 50% tourists, with the majority of the tourists coming from the New York metro area. Also, 97% of respondents said that Berkshire Busk! improved their perception of the town of Great Barrington.”

Great Barrington at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1761
Population: 7,172
Area: 45.8 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $13.89
Commercial Tax Rate: $13.89
Median Household Income: $95,490
Median Family Income: $103,135
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Fairview Hospital; Iredale Mineral Cosmetics; Kutscher’s Sports Academy; Prairie Whale
* Latest information available

As noted earlier, Berkshire Busk! is one of many draws in Great Barrington. Another is its array of arts and cultural attractions, including the historic Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, in continuous operation since 1905, and also an eclectic mix of shops along Main and Railroad streets.

This collection of shops is in an almost-constant state of change, said Andrus, noting that, in addition to new shops opening on a fairly regular basis, existing businesses will often move to different storefronts. All this keeps the downtown fresh, she said, adding that it attracts a mix of locals, many from neighboring New York, and tourists from across New England.

They come … not quite year-round, but for at least three seasons, she said, noting that, while spring is relatively slow, summer and fall are very busy, and winter can be, especially if the conditions are good for skiing.

Happ agreed, but noted that winters, especially lately, have been more hit or miss, with generally less snow and even fewer opportunities to make it.

 

Lager Than Life

Fall is perhaps the busiest season, here and across the Berkshires, and this year, there will be an additional draw.

Indeed, 15 years after the last one, Barrington Brewery is staging Octoberfest, Happ said. When a wedding slated for Oct. 20 at Crissy Farm, the brewery’s events venue, was canceled and he couldn’t fill the date, he decided to turn back the clock.

“It will be a celebration of beer and food, with entertainment,” he said. “It will be a nice late-fall event.”

In general, business is good, but these are certainly changing times for the craft-beer industry, said Happ, who was one of the local pioneers, if you will. He told BusinessWest that those who just brew beer are struggling — he knows this from all the brewing equipment for sale online from operations that have gone out of business — and that a taproom, and, preferably a full restaurant, is now needed to be profitable.

“To be in the microbrew business without a restaurant attached like we do … it’s hard,” he said. “A lot of those little breweries are struggling because it’s hard to find that space; it’s hard to get taps in bars, and it’s hard to find shelf space in package stores.”

Barrington Brewery & Restaurant not only fits that bill, it’s one of the only businesses of its kind that is solar-powered, and it has Crissy Farm nearby, which hosts a wide array of events, including weddings, rehearsal dinners, anniversary parties, and more.

And while the business has had fewer workforce issues than many other hospitality-related businesses in town, Happ noted that his employees increasingly struggle to both work and live in Great Barrington, and this represents a problem for the town.

“Many of our employees have to live in larger groups or further out — maybe in Pittsfield or in New York State,” he noted. “In Great Barrington, the demand for workers is high, and that puts a lot of stress on many businesses.

“You talk to guys in construction, they can’t find anybody to work — masons, plumbers, electricians, they’re all busy as can be, but there’s no workers,” he went on. “And that does create some problems.”

Still, by and large, most businesses are getting by and having a good summer and good year, said Andrus, even if many shops are seeing an overall drop in consumer spending due to a combination of COVID, the economy, and maybe even the election.

The community remains a popular destination, she said, adding that visitors are drawn to the downtown, the hiking and biking trails the ski resorts, and myriad other events and attractions in and around town.

“There’s so many different reasons why people come,” she said. “Sometimes they come for one specific reason, and then they get here and they say, ‘I want to do that, too. There’s just a lot going on all at once, and there really is something for everyone.”

Visitors come from all over, and many will stay a day or two, but some are simply passing through — quite literally, in the case of those hiking the Appalachian Trail.

The trail, which stretches more than 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine and passes through 14 states, draws more than 3 million people to hike segments of it each year.

A very small percentage of those hikers will step off the trial in Great Barrington for a break to eat, rest, resupply, or all of the above, but those who do certainly contribute to the local economy and individual businesses, Andrus said.

“It’s amazing the volume of hikers that go through here, and Great Barrington absolutely has become a stopping point for them,” she noted. “A friend of mine who’s retired calls himself a trail angel; he will shuttle people around from one location to the next — to town, to get groceries at the Big Y, etc.

“And he keeps statistics on everyone who gets in his car,” she went on. “He said that 99% of the time he’s driving them into town to eat a meal, go grocery shopping, or stay overnight, usually at the Travelodge, because they accommodate for the hikers, or even to a camping facility. People are in town, and they’re purchasing things — there’s a big impact.”

As Redpath noted, this community has something that appeals to just about everyone — especially that small-town feel with an extra dose of culture and sophistication.

 

West Springfield Marks 250 Years, Looks to Future

By
Allyson Manuel
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Allyson Manuel

Allyson Manuel, seen here at one of the new sidewalks at the common on Elm Street, says there is renewed vibrancy in the downtown area.

Tyler Saremi calls it “cross-pollination.”

That’s how he chose to describe how the various businesses, government offices, and cultural institutions, especially the Majestic Theater, clustered in the downtown are supporting one another in a way that is bringing new vibrancy to the area and effectively turning back the clock in West Springfield’s central business district.

“It’s nice to see the downtown become a downtown again,” said Saremi, vice president of Saremi LLP, a multi-faceted company that redeveloped the former headquarters for United Bank at 95 Elm St. into Town Commons, a mixed-use facility that includes, on its ground floor, Tandem Bagel and West Side Bar & Grill, two eateries that are drawing more people into the downtown area and effectively extending their stays.

Indeed, more people are now arriving an hour or two before the shows at the Majestic for dinner at some of the eateries in that area, such as the Italian restaurant bNapoli — and, on some nights, especially when there is live entertainment at West Side Bar & Grill, sticking around after the shows.

“It’s fantastic cross-pollination in the downtown right now, and it’s beautiful to see; it’s all working,” he said. “You have people coming to West Side Bar & Grill before a show at the Majestic, and then there are people walking over when we have live music on weekends — they’re walking to their cars from bNapoli, and they’re saying, ‘I saw the music; I just wanted to come in and have a drink.’ Everything is complementing other businesses, and it’s exciting to watch the downtown grow.”

Julie Quink, managing principal with the accounting firm Burkhart Pizzanelli, which has been based in a former elementary school on Park Street for more than 25 years now, has also noticed more energy — and widespread general improvement — in the community’s downtown.

She referenced everything from new businesses like Tandem Bagel and West Side Bar & Grill, as well as comprehensive infrastructure improvements to the roads in the downtown and the signature town common as reasons why the downtown is staging what would be considered a comeback.

“There is a strong need, but there is just not much land that can be developed, and when we do propose something, it’s not welcomed.”

“There are a lot of new businesses, which is good for everyone,” she said. “And there is more vibrancy in the downtown area.”

Mayor Will Reichelt, now in his ninth year in the corner office, said this downtown transformation is just one development the community is celebrating as it also marks its 250th birthday — an ongoing party that has included fireworks, a revitalized Taste of West Springfield, and a 5K, and culminated with a parade on Aug. 24.

Indeed, the town that calls itself a city is also celebrating (if that’s the right word) some important infrastructure projects — on Elm Street, Memorial Avenue, and (soon) on Riverdale Street — that are bringing some inconvenience now but substantial benefits … well, down the road.

Also in the infrastructure category is a long-sought and highly anticipated solution to the rail crossing at Front Street near the border with Agawam — a flyover that will alleviate traffic backups in that area and make it more attractive for economic development (more on that later).

And while there is progress on many fronts, there is less of it in one identified area of need — housing, said Reichelt, noting that, while this community has many assets, an abundance of developable land is not one of them.

Tyler Saremi

Tyler Saremi sits at the bar at West Side Bar & Grill, one of the many new businesses creating what he calls “cross-pollination” in the downtown.

“There is a strong need, but there is just not much land that can be developed, and when we do propose something, it’s not welcomed,” he said, adding that options are being considered, including very preliminary talks with the owners of the Cinemark theaters on Riverdale about the massive back parking lot, which might be ideal for a public-safety complex and some mixed-use housing.

Still, there are a few housing projects in various stages of development, including a condominium development at the site of a nursery on Piper Cross Road, as well as another project being undertaken by Saremi LLP — redevelopment of a former nursing home on Westfield Street into multi-family housing, most likely of the over-55 variety.

 

When a Plan Comes Together

As plans for redevelopment of 95 Elm St. were being drawn up, Saremi said, it was viewed as a three-year project.

Instead, it took maybe 18 months to secure tenants to fill the property’s three floors, he explained, adding that the property is now home to a variety of tenants, including the Saremi company, which has several components, including a real-estate arm and a student health-insurance venture; Tandem Bagel and West Side Bar & Grill; Kindred at Home; the Worcester-based Seven Hills Foundation and Affiliates, which has made Westside its Western Mass. hub; and an engineering company.

These businesses are bringing people back to that property to work years after United Bank left, he said, adding that these workers, coupled with those already downtown — there are dozens of businesses along Park and Elm streets, as well as West Springfield’s town offices — have created a critical mass of people that not only support other businesses, but generate more overall vibrancy.

“When the bank took off and left all those offices vacant, it was very quiet in the downtown,” he noted. “Now, I can look out my office window at any time, and there’s people walking around; there’s foot traffic. People are going into Celery Stalk, walking out and eating on the picnic tables he has outside, or they’re going back to the town offices — it’s great to see.”

Quink agreed, and, like Saremi, she said the infrastructure work taking place downtown, which includes a roundabout at the former intersection of Elm and Westfield streets, new sidewalks, new lighting, and considerable work to make the town common more accessible and walkable, have helped make the area more of a destination.

“The mill buildings are sandwiched between the Westfield River and the train tracks, and you have to get over the train tracks to access them right now. So having that alternative access opens them up to a lot of different uses they’re not suitable for now.”

“The city is doing a good job of making the town common more appealing,” she noted. “They have events there, like the Taste of West Springfield and events for veterans; it’s a great asset for the community.

“The construction has been really challenging for some small businesses on Elm Street,” she went on. “But the end result is going to be good; we just have to get through this period.”

As noted earlier, this renewed vibrancy downtown is one of the many emerging storylines in West Springfield. Others include the year-long 250th celebration, which has brought residents and businesses together to mark the past and contemplate the future; a new Chick-fil-A going into the site of the former Friendly’s on Riverdale Street; and, of course, the upcoming 17-day Big E, which will bring more than 1.5 million people to the community, clogging many of its roads, but also providing a huge boost to its many hotels and other hospitality-related businesses (see story on page 15).

There’s also ongoing infrastructure work along the two main commercial arteries — Riverdale Street and Memorial Avenue. With the latter, a project due to be finished in 2026, crews are undertaking underground utility work, said Reichelt, adding that, in the next construction season, concrete work from the Memorial Bridge to the border with Agawam will be completed, along with new curbing and lane reconfigurations.

On Riverdale Street, utility work is also being undertaken, with repaving coming over the next few years, he said, adding that, while it is inconvenient to have both major arteries torn up at the same time, the town will benefit when the projects are completed.

 

Train of Thought

Then there’s the planned flyover at the rail crossing at Front Street, which will alleviate traffic backups that have been a problem for decades, the mayor said. Announced late last month, the project, which is expected to cost at least $20 million, came about after extensive and sometimes contentious talks between representatives of Agawam and West Springfield, CSX, state transportation officials, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal.

The fix will not only alleviate traffic tie-ups, but eliminate a public-safety concern, said Reichelt, noting that ambulances now take alternate routes, not knowing if they will be delayed by a parked train.

Allyson Manuel, West Springfield’s town planner, agreed, noting that the flyover will also facilitate economic development in the area, especially with an old mill complex that has sat mostly vacant in part because of accessibility issues created by moving or parked trains.

“The mill buildings are sandwiched between the Westfield River and the train tracks, and you have to get over the train tracks to access them right now,” she said. “So having that alternative access opens them up to a lot of different uses they’re not suitable for now.”

West Springfield at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1774
Population: 28,835
Area: 17.5 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $14.81
Commercial Tax Rate: $29.80
Median Household Income: $40,266
Median Family Income: $50,282
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Eversource Energy, Harris Corp., Home Depot, Interim Health Care, Mercy Home Care
* Latest information available

Like almost all communities in the region, West Springfield is in need of more housing, said Manuel, adding that, unlike most of those cities and towns, it does not have much open land on which to build.

Which is why a provision within the $5.16 billion Affordable Homes Act recently signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey, which will allow in-law apartments in all communities, could have a substantial impact in Westside, where they are currently prohibited.

“We’ll be looking at how to regulate that, and we obviously have some work to do on that because they are currently not allowed; it’s a pretty big change,” Manuel said, adding that, in the few weeks since the housing bill was signed, there have been numerous inquiries.

Meanwhile, there are some projects in various stages of development. These include the condo project on Piper Crossing Road; Heartstone Village, a 55+ project off Birnie Avenue, a project that has been years in the making; and preliminary talks concerning repurposing the former Cowing School at the corner of Park and Elm streets for housing, especially senior housing.

There’s also the former nursing home on Westfield Street, which has been vacant for more than 20 years and in recent years had become an eyesore, Saremi said.

“There was an opportunity to acquire it, and we decided to take it on,” he told BusinessWest, using those words to help explain the size and scope of the challenge and the fact that few, if any, were willing to take on this property.

“It was a nightmare cleaning that place out; it was very labor-intensive — crews had to wear full-body suits with respirators,” he said while detailing the level of deterioration of the building. “There were trees growing on the roof. Now, the interior is completely clean, and we’ve had a zone change go through.”

The most common-sense reuse is housing, either affordable or 55+, Saremi said, adding quickly that, while architectural plans are being developed, funding help will be needed from the state or federal government to take what is likely to be a $7 million project off the drawing board and make it reality.

“The cost to build has just skyrocketed,” he said, adding that he is hoping that the housing bill will include funds for projects like this one.

“We’re ready to go,” he said of the project, which would include 51 mostly efficiency and one-bedroom apartments. “We just need some sort of government assistance on the cost to build.”

Big E Set to Begin Its Annual 17-day Run

By
Gene Cassidy
Features

Ride of Passage

Gene Cassidy

Gene Cassidy is hoping for less rain in 2024 — and the continuation of a trend whereby presidential election years have been good for large fairs.

Gene Cassidy says presidential election years are generally good ones, attendance-wise, for large fairs like the Big E.

As he explains it, the general population, bombarded with information about candidates, issues, and polls, is looking for a break from all that.

“They want to get out and get away from the news,” said Cassidy, president and CEO of the Big E, adding that this year, people may really want to get away from the news, considering the seemingly heightened tensions around this year’s race.

If they do, that would certainly help the Big E — which will take place Sept. 13-29 — bounce back from a somewhat down year in 2023 when it comes to attendance, due to seemingly relentless rain that started early in the fair, almost wiped out the middle weekend, continued through the 17-day stretch, and led to something Cassidy had never seen in his more than 30 years of involvement with the fair.

“It rained so hard one day, the midway never opened, and that had never, ever happened before,” he told BusinessWest as he quickly did some math in his head. “Let’s see, that’s 30 fairs times 17 days … that’s 510 days; one day out of 510, the midway was closed.”

Pulling out a white book in which he keeps detailed information about the weather, attendance, and other matters, Cassidy noted that the fairgrounds received 1.7 inches of rain the first Monday of the Big E’s 2023 run, and then on the middle weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) it received 5.1 inches of rain, a half-inch more than the region typically receives, on average, for the entire month of September.

“It rained so hard one day, the midway never opened, and that had never, ever happened before.”

Overall attendance was down about 11% from the year prior, he said, noting that it would have been a sharper decline had there not been a rise in attendance at night, generally after the rains had subsided. And had it not been for a 33% increase in the price of general admission — from $15 to $20, the first such increase in 13 years — 2023 would have been much worse for the Big E.

But enough about last year’s fair.

Fair food

Fair food is one of the perennial draws of the Big E.
Photo courtesy of the Big E

The Big E has certainly turned the page, and Cassidy and others charged with presenting the event are buoyed by everything from those election-year stats to early results from other fairs around the country, to the sense that the weather can’t be as bad this year as it was last.

It can’t, right?

Cassidy said he can’t concern himself with the extended forecasts, or even what the three weather apps on his phone are telling him. He focuses on what he can control, specifically the product he presents those 17 days. And by product, he means everything from the music to the rides on the midway to, of course, the food.

He believes there’s a solid lineup — some new food offerings as always, and a mix of music that ranges from Ludacris to America; Chubby Checker (back by popular demand) to Average White Band — and that 2024 will be a year to maybe, just maybe, meet his long-set goal of topping the attendance of the Minnesota State Fair (more on that later).

For this issue, we look at the 2024 fair and how things are looking up — hopefully, not at more clouds and raindrops.

 

Fair Game

Speaking of presidential elections … each year Cassidy has been at the helm of the Big E, he has sent a handwritten letter to the sitting president inviting him to attend that year’s fair.

The letter generally goes out in late winter, he said, adding that the only president who has even responded to the missives — and he sent his regrets that he could not attend — is Donald Trump. (The only president to attend the Big E, and this was well before Cassidy’s time, was Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, who wanted to see how one of the cows he bred fared in competition.)

In keeping with tradition, Cassidy sent a letter to President Biden. He hasn’t heard back and doesn’t expect to, especially with recent events. Gov. Maura Healey is expected to make an appearance, though, as she did last year, Cassidy said, adding quickly that he is more focused on the general population than elected officials.

And he expects this year will be a solid one for the fair, despite widespread concerns about the economy and inflation, some rising COVID numbers, and ever-increasing competition for the family’s leisure and entertainment dollar.

“I won’t say the Big E, and fairs in general, are recession-proof. I don’t want to jinx myself; I know people are feeling the pinch,” Cassidy said, while hinting strongly that the fair can withstand economic headwinds, and has historically. “People may postpone a vacation, but they won’t postpone attendance at the fair.”

That track record includes the ticket-price increase, which, he noted, was met with little pushback.

“If you plug the $15 admission ticket in 2010 into an inflation calculator, it actually translated to $20.65 in 2023. We loathe raising our ticket prices, which is why we waited so long to do it, but it saved us; had we not had the increase in the ticket price, we would have had red ink last year.”

“If you plug the $15 admission ticket in 2010 into an inflation calculator, it actually translated to $20.65 in 2023,” he told BusinessWest. “We loathe raising our ticket prices, which is why we waited so long to do it, but it saved us; had we not had the increase in the ticket price, we would have had red ink last year.”

What the fair can’t withstand is rain like last year, which pushed attendance down to 1,427,234, off considerably from the 1,603,000 in 2022, the second-highest attendance on record, behind only 2019 at 1,629,000, Cassidy noted, adding, again, that the weather cannot be controlled.

The music lineup can be, but putting together a slate of performers is becoming increasingly difficult, due primarily to mounting competition for acts from casinos and other venues, and the subsequent rising demands from in-demand performers.

“Buying entertainment gets more difficult annually,” he said. “When I say difficult … prices are off the charts. And the type of talent that we foster today in the entertainment business is not unlike hiring people for entry-level jobs.

rides to enjoy

Kids of all ages will find rides to enjoy at the Big E midway.
Photo courtesy of the Big E

“Everyone wants a corner office coming out of college, and they want to work at home in their pajamas,” he explained, adding that, in the entertainment world, performers want what amounts to the equivalent. “They want gobs and gobs of money, and, because of the ubiquity of casinos everywhere, they’re used to having beautiful green rooms, lots of air conditioning, climate-controlled arenas, and more.”

The fair cannot provide those things, but it has still managed to put together a strong slate. The lineup for the Big E Arena includes Ludacris, Dustin Lynch with special guest Dylan Scott, Phil Wickham, America with special guest Jim Messina, the Brothers Osbourne, Public Enemy, and Big Time Rush. The Court of Honor Stage, meanwhile, will feature Asia, Debby Boone, Herman’s Hermits, and Wang Chung, among many others.

“We originally booked Ludacris back in 2008, but he was viewed at the time by the police chief as being so controversial that we can to cancel him,” Cassidy recalled. “There’s a new police chief, and time has softened Ludacris.”

As for food … Big E officials will keep the public in suspense a little longer, but there will be several new vendors and 44 new food offerings, with vendors featuring $3 items on Mondays, to be called ‘3-buck bites.’

Overall, with its lineup of entertainment, food, some new rides, new float animals, and more, the Big E is expected to follow the lead set by fairs that have already had their 2024 runs, said Cassidy, who closely monitors what’s happening elsewhere.

“Wisconsin closed recently; they had a bang-up fair and set a record at the same time as they were dealing with extraordinary heat — over 100 degrees for four days of the fair,” he noted. “Iowa opened strong … these numbers bode well.”

The Minnesota State Fair comes later, and, as noted, Cassidy has long made it a goal to top that fair in attendance.

“They always beat us — they’re number 4, we’re number 5,” he said in reference to the country’s largest fairs. “We’ve been chasing Minnesota going way back to the very first fair in 1916. I want to challenge people to come to the fair so we can displace them.”

 

Meet Me Midway

Returning to his thoughts about election years and the attendance bump they generally provide, Cassidy acknowledged that, in this day and age, it’s very difficult to actually escape the news.

But people are likely to try, and the fair can provide that needed respite, he said, adding that this quality is one of many that can, and hopefully will, add up to a year where attendance records are approached and even threatened, and Minnesota’s numbers might even be eclipsed.

That’s if Mother Nature cooperates more than she did last year.

Easthampton and Its Lifestyle Are In Demand

By
Stacey Blanco and her husband, who opened Hide’n’ Sneakz, are among a growing number of small-business owners in Easthampton.
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

 

Stacey Blanco and her husband, who opened Hide’n’ Sneakz, are among a growing number of small-business owners in Easthampton.

Stacey Blanco and her husband, who opened Hide’n’ Sneakz, are among a growing number of small-business owners in Easthampton.

 

Stacey Blanco says she’s always been entrepreneurial.

Although she’s worked in office settings — and those experiences have helped inspire her current venture — she has preferred working for herself and has had side hustles, if you will, like teaching Zumba classes.

During the pandemic, she and her husband, Israel, began thinking about new business opportunities and needs they could meet. And they settled on footwear and related items and ultimately opened Hide’n’Sneakz in a storefront on Cottage Street. There, as the name suggests, they sell sneakers, but also apparel (such as T-shirts) and skateboards.

The store opened roughly 15 months ago, and not long thereafter, Stacey, seeking to learn more about the ins and outs of running a business — and improve her odds of success — became part of the first cohort for a new program created by the Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce called CO.STARTERS.

The 10-week entrepreneurial training program, lauched with $50,000 in ARPA funding, is designed for those who have started a venture, said Moe Belliveau, executive director of the chamber, but especially for those who are exploring a new idea or getting close to starting up. And it was conceived to complement, not compete with, other programs within the entreprenerial ecosystem, such as EforAll.

“It’s like a menu — we have a lot of different flavors. And that’s what we want to see in Easthampton; it’s what has made us so attractive to the people who want to come live here; it’s not one size fits all.”

“We cover everything from assumptions going in to your work style, knowing your customers to brand identity,” said Belliveau, adding that the first cohort drew some established business owners as well as those thinking about starting ventures ranging from a vegan restaurant to an outlet providing chef’s chothes for women.

“I wanted someone to check and see what I’ve been doing thus far and help me make wiser decisions about what directions to take next,” Blanco said, “and that’s what I found at CO.STARTERS.”

The iniative, soon to launch its second chort, is just one of the intriguing new programs at the chamber — another is its WorkHub on Union, a co-working space several years in the making that is set to open its doors next month — and one of many interesting storylines in this former mill city that has, over the past 30 years or so, reinvented itself as a home for the arts, hospitality businesses, and, well, entrepreneurs of all kinds.

It has become an increasingly popular place to live, work, and operate a business, said Dave DelVecchio, vice president of Marketing for Sourcepass, a national managed-IT services provider, who has lived in the city for 20 years now.

He praised a succession of municipal leaders with continually building on the progress made in various realms to create a very livable city that is continously raising the bar higher — and then clearing that bar.

“Easthampton has continually invested in ways that have been built upon itself,” he explained. “First it was a bike path by Millside Park, then it was ‘let’s clean up the back side of the mills on Pleasant Street to make them more accessible along the bike path and Millside Park.’ Then, it was ‘let’s do the pond project,’ then Union Street. Everything we’re doing is smaller-scale projects, but when you take the aggregate of everything that’s happened over 20 years, one plus one has equaled three, and it’s brought an uplift to Easthampton in general.”

Mayor Nicole LaChapelle agreed, noting that, in addition to new initiatives to support entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs, the city is making strides in several other areas as well, including infrastructure and an issue impacting seemingly every community in the region — housing.

Indeed, there are several intriguing projects in the pipeline — and in a variety of different settings, from former mill buildings to decommissioned schools to wide-open space, as we’ll see — although most are at least a few years away.

“It’s like … hang on tight, housing units are coming, but they’re getting closer every day,” the mayor said, adding that there are a few hundred units of various types in the mix, additions that will certainly provide some intriguing options for the growing numbers of people who want to call Easthampton home.

Moe Belliveau stands in the soon-to-open WorkHub on Union at the chamber offices in Easthampton.

Moe Belliveau stands in the soon-to-open WorkHub on Union at the chamber offices in Easthampton.

“It’s like a menu — we have a lot of different flavors,” LaChapelle said. “And that’s what we want to see in Easthampton; it’s what has made us so attractive to the people who want to come live here; it’s not one size fits all. You can live in a mill district and get that flavor or live in the middle of a pasture.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes a hard look at Easthampton and the many forms of progress taking place in this community at the foot of Mount Tom.

 

Getting Down to Business

As Belliveau talked with BusinessWest at WorkHub on Union earlier this month, all was quiet.

Indeed, the rows of desks and half-desks (there are 18 in all), the conference room available for rent to tenants, and the common kitchen area were empty.

She expects things will be much different in a few weeks, when the facility officially opens its doors. She’s spent several years bringing her vision for the hub to fruition because she believes there’s a strong need for such a facility in Easthampton, and she expects its vast potential to be realized.

“We’ve had a lot of inquiries,” she said, adding that the $450,000 facilty was inspired by anecdotal but also statistical information indicating that there are large numbers of entrepreneurs working from their homes who would prefer to be in a co-working space if one became available to them. Also, there are professionals working remotely, fully or partially, who would likewise prefer not to be home on occasion.

“There’s a whole shadow economy in Greater Easthampton,” Belliveau explained. “And we’re trying to help those who are part of that informal, shadow economy into a more formal space and give them the opportunity to have professional space when they need it. And some people are finding that, since they’re working remotely, every now and then it’s just nice to be with others and get that creative-energy collaborative and their innovative juices flowing.”

WorkHub provides such opportunities, she said, adding that talk about creating such a facility began well before the pandemic, and the need has only increased since then.

DelVecchio, who has long been involved with the chamber, agreed, noting that iniatives like WorkHub on Union and CO.STARTERS represent a shift of sorts when it comes to the overall mission of the chamber.

“Traditionally, when people think about a chamber, the first thing that comes to mind is business-to-business networking — After-5 events — and that is a component to the overall chamber value proposition,” he explained. “But the chamber has other value propositions, one of which is economic development, particularly for budding entrepreneurs. So we see as part of our mission helping build the next generation of Greater Easthampton-based businesses and giving them an opportunity to build their organizations.”

Businesses like Hide’n’Sneakz, and entrepreneurs like Stacey Blanco.

She said she and Israel were attracted to Easthampton because of both the high energy there and the many forms of support for small businesses, especially at the chamber.

They took their concept to Cottage Street, and thus far they’re off to a solid start, said Stacey, adding that they spent much of their first year building visibility, setting goals, and developing a game plan for continued growth.

CO.STARTERS has played a big role in all that, she told BusinessWest, adding that she found, through the program, a solid support network providing both feedback and mentorship.

Easthampton at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1785
Population: 16,211
Area: 13.6 square miles
County: Hampshire
Residential Tax Rate: $13.56
Commercial Tax Rate: $13.56
Median Household Income: $45,185
Median Family Income: $54,312
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Berry Plastics Corp., INSA, Williston Northampton School, National Nonwovens Co.
* Latest information available

Overall, their venture looks to meet what they consider a need — there isn’t a store like this in Easthampton, and its prices are lower than what can be found at the mall — while also promoting sneakers as, among other things, wellness.

“I think a great pair of sneakers will change your attitude for the day,” she explained. “I’ve worked in the office, in the corporate world, and you always had to wear uncomfortable shoes; I’m trying to promote how you can wear a nice pair of sneakers with casual work pants, and you’re going to have a really comfortable day at work.”

 

Building Momentum

It’s called the Growing Green project.

This is one of several housing initiatives unfolding in the community, each one different, and each one with a story behind it.

Growing Green is a rural project planned for 56 acres just off Main Street near the border with Southampton. It’s a partnership between the Kestrel Land Trust and the Community Builders Inc. said LaChapelle, adding that 22 of those acres will be set aside for housing — 87 units in the affordable category — and the rest will be preserved as open space, with Kestrel and the Massachusetts Audubon Society overseeing the conservation.

“It’s a very interesting project — it’s really cutting-edge,” said the mayor, adding that the initiative will soon be the focus of an upcoming article in Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club, because of the way it demonstrates that new housing (a regional and national issue) and land preservation can be undertaken in the same project.

The new units of housing are expected to come online in 2028 or 2029, with the ultimate timing to be influenced by when the developers can secure low-income-housing tax credits, said LaChapelle, adding that other housing initiatives in the community are decidedly more urban in nature.

They include redevelopment of one of the two remaining former mill buildings in the Ferry Street complex — Building 11 to be specific (leaving the largest of the mills, Building 7 still to be developed), said the mayor, adding that this project, being undertaken by Springfield-based Home City Development Corp., will create 96 units of housing — 90 in the ‘affordable’ category, with the other six being market rate. Low-income tax credits will be needed for this project as well, she said, adding that the hope is that these units can come on line at the end of 2026.

Meanwhile, more housing is planned for three recently decommissioned schools — Maple, Center, and Pepin — into 69 units for those of mixed incomes, said the mayor, ading that the buildings “triangulate” the downtown district.

Also, what’s known as the original Town Lodging House on Oliver Street, known to many as the ‘Poor House,’ is being renovated into housing (perhaps 30 units in the affordable category) by the city in partnership with Valley CDC in an initiative with another long time horizon — 2029 at the earliest.

“That’s a building with a lot of restrictions — there’s a historical restriction on it, an affordable-housing restriction on it, there’s an agricultural restriction on it … it’s very complex to develop,” LaChapelle said. “But historically, it’s a very cool project, and Valley CDC has been working with the city to keep those aspects — some of the history of the building, some of the architecture — while putting together modern housing units.”

These projects comprise several hundred units that are needed, not just because of overall demand for housing, she said, but due to a need, in these changing times, of housing of a somewhat non-traditional sense.

“There’s just a conundrum around housing these days,” she told BusinessWest. “When you close you eyes and dream the American dream in New England, it’s literally a white house with black shutters and a picket fence. There simply isn’t enough land for that, and it doesn’t fit the lifestyle like it did 25 or 30 years ago. With the housing units we have planned, there’s a big cross-selection; with those three schools in the downtown, there’s high walkability — you can park your car and forget about it for a week.”

Like the mayor said, there’s a full menu of options — and a wide range of growth opportunities — in a community that has come a long way in 30 years and continues the process of reinventing itself into a dynamic, in-demand community.

How to Achieve Balance in the Modern Workforce

By Contributor
Features

Employment

By Nicole Polite

 

Nicole Polite

Nicole Polite

The workplace dynamic has continually evolved, influenced by shifting societal values, economic landscapes, and generational ideologies. Views on work can be broadly categorized into two philosophies: live-to-work and work-to-live. Understanding these perspectives is essential as they shape the environments and cultures that define our working lives.

 

Traditional Workplaces: the Live-to-work Ethos

Traditionally, a significant divide existed between work and personal life, marked by strict hierarchies, rigid schedules, and minimal flexibility. This structure, predominant among Baby Boomers and Generation X, is deeply rooted in a post-World War II economic boom that prized efficiency, stability, and conformity. In such settings, employees often found themselves adhering to exhaustive norms and sacrificing personal priorities for work commitments, epitomizing the live-to-work doctrine.

The typical workplace during this era was characterized by a top-down management style, where decisions were made by high-level executives and permeated downward, often ignoring the needs of lower-tier employees. These practices shaped an environment where individual creativity and innovation were stiflingly restricted, mirroring the mechanical precision of assembly-line work rather than fostering a nurturing and progressive workplace.

 

Modern Workplaces: the Work-to-live Approach

Conversely, the modern work philosophy, favored by Millennials and Generation Z, champions flexibility, autonomy, and a balanced integration of work with personal life. The 2008 Great Recession shaped the worldview of these younger workers, many of whom watched as their parents struggled with job loss, financial instability, and economic uncertainty despite the years spent working in corporate jobs and traditional career paths.

That experience left a mark on these modern employers and workers and instilled in them a strong desire for financial resilience, job security, and a skepticism toward traditional corporate structures. They realized that their parents’ career paths, work approach, and strict adherence to norms weren’t a surefire guarantee of success, security, and wealth.

Most importantly, they didn’t want to feel the pain of loss and unfulfillment they saw in their parents’ eyes as once esteemed and revered institutions, systems, and structures crumbled around them during the recession. They made it their goal to perpetuate work environments and work in jobs that satisfied their desires, met their yearnings, and fueled their passions. They forged career paths that offered some financial stability and a sense of purpose and autonomy, such as entrepreneurship, freelancing, or pursuing work in socially conscious organizations.

Some modern workers would rather not have a 9-to-5 job. They want control over their schedules, the ability to choose projects that align with their interests, and the freedom to work with like-minded colleagues. The possibility of remote work, facilitated by advancements in technology and software platforms like Zoom and Google Meet, allows these workers to enjoy the benefits of working from anywhere, at any time, and for any company.

Many modern workers are also gig workers; about 16% of American workers have earned an income from gig work such as ride sharing, food delivery, or freelance services. This type of work typically has a lower barrier to entry and offers the kind of flexibility that workers crave today. The emphasis is on working to live, where employment is a means to enjoy a preferred lifestyle rather than the sole focus of one’s existence.

 

Bridging the Generational Divide

The challenge arises when these two distinct mindsets interact within the same workplace. Conflicts can ensue when a traditional employer hires a modern-thinking employee, or vice versa. Such clashes can lead to misunderstandings, stress, and a decrease in productivity, highlighting the need for a more integrative approach to workforce management.

In an ideal workforce, employers would adopt a more inclusive and flexible mindset that accommodates diverse work philosophies. This involves creating policies that respect traditional values of structure and stability, while also embracing the flexibility and innovation that modern workers bring. Ensuring clear communication and mutual respect among employees can foster an environment where varied work values coexist harmoniously.

 

The Road to a Symbiotic Workplace

The future of work doesn’t have to be confined to a choice between living to work or working to live. Instead, it can be a blend of both philosophies, taking the robustness of traditional structures and merging them with the flexibility and innovation of modern approaches.

My experience in talent recruitment has shown me that both employers and employees seek a productive, symbiotic relationship that supports individual and collective growth. To achieve this, it’s crucial to go beyond merely matching skills and qualifications. We must understand and integrate the nuanced preferences, goals, and aspirations of the workforce.

Creating such a workplace requires an ongoing dialogue between different generations and mindsets. It needs adaptation and compromise from both sides to forge a solid partnership that withstands the tests of time and challenges of a changing world. Only through such integrative efforts can we build a workforce that not only bridges the gap between generations but also thrives on the diverse strengths each brings to the table.

With a balanced approach, we can ensure that both the live-to-work and work-to-live philosophies contribute positively to our collective professional landscape, leading to increased satisfaction and productivity across the board.

 

Nicole Polite is CEO of the MH Group, a staffing and recruiting firm in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and the author of Expectations Aligned: Forging Better Paths for Employers and Employees to Meet in the Middle, which will be released on Sept. 16.

City of Homes Focuses on … Building More Homes

By
Joesiah Gonzales, left, with Home City Development Executive Director Thomas Kegelmen
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Joesiah Gonzales, left, with Home City Development Executive Director Thomas Kegelmen

Joesiah Gonzales, left, with Home City Development Executive Director Thomas Kegelmen at the Gemini Townhomes project in Springfield’s South End.

 

Joesiah Gonzalez calls it a “game changer.”

He was referring to the Gemini Townhomes project in Springfield’s South End, an initiative that will create 40 single-family homes, specifically for first-time homebuyers, on the site of a long-dormant parcel that was once home to the Gemini clothing manufacturing facility, which was destroyed by fire in 2003.

“This project will expand homeownership in the South End by more than 150%,” said Gonzalez, chief Philanthropy and Communications officer for Home City Development Inc., a nonprofit focused on housing, noting that this is the agency’s first foray into homeownership initiatives.

“This will greatly improve that Central Street corridor,” he went on. “For the families, it’s a great opportunity to build equity and generational wealth. And, most importantly, it will bring vested families that want to be near the downtown district; that’s why this is a game changer.”

The $20 million Gemini project is one of many housing initiatives in various stages of development in Springfield, and just one of many intriguing storylines in the City of Homes.

“Springfield was once the place that was incredibly affordable. Now, it’s not as affordable; if you compare our home values today to our suburban counterparts and smaller urban counterparts, like Chicopee and Holyoke, we’re right on par with a lot of these places.”

Others include the upcoming sixth anniversary of the opening of MGM Springfield and the lingering questions about whether the facility is being sold and what they will mean for the city and the region, the opening (probably early next year) of the new parking garage downtown, the state’s ongoing but slow-moving search for a site for a new courthouse, the next stages in the much-anticipated development of the former Eastfield Mall, Chicago-based McCaffery Interests’ redevelopment of the Clocktower Building and Colonial Block downtown, and the planned $31 million expansion of Performance Food Group in the Smith & Wesson Industrial Park, an initiative that will bring 350 new jobs to the city, just to name a few.

Quickly updating some of these initiatives, Tim Sheehan, the city’s chief Economic Development officer, said the McCaffery project, facing challenges such as rising construction costs and interest rates, may benefit from creating a mix of market-rate and workforce housing, the latter of which would enable the project to access state support. Meanwhile, the state has identified five potential sites for a new courthouse, all in the downtown area, but hasn’t said what they are. The likely plan is to build new and not rehabilitate the existing courthouse, giving the city two intriguing development opportunites.

As for the Eastfield Mall, city officials will soon be considering a TIF (tax increment financing) agreement needed to proceed with the construction phase of a mixed-use development now that demolition of the massive parcel has been completed. And the parking garage should bring much-needed relief after what will be more than two and a half years of being without such a facility.

As for other housing issues, while there are several projects in the pipeline, there is still a housing crisis due to a lack of inventory, said City Council President Michael Fenton, adding that there is another potential crisis emerging — one of affordability.

Michael Fenton

Michael Fenton says there is considerably more vibrancy in Springfield’s downtown than when he was first elected to the City Council more than 14 years ago.

Indeed, Springfield’s home prices have risen at one of the sharpest rates in not only the region, but the state, a development that brings benefits for existing homebuyers, but also hurdles to those looking to buy into the community nicknamed the City of Homes.

“Springfield was once the place that was incredibly affordable,” Fenton said. “Now, it’s not as affordable; if you compare our home values today to our suburban counterparts and smaller urban counterparts, like Chicopee and Holyoke, we’re right on par with a lot of these places.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its lens on the region’s largest community and its many converging storylines.

 

Living Proof

For roughly four decades now, Evan Plotkin has been working in downtown Springfield — and working to bring about the vibrancy he remembered when he would come into town as a kid.

That work has come in myriad forms, from organizing the Jazz and Roots Festival (the latest edition of which was staged last month) to commissioning artists for mural projects to spearheading efforts to revitalize parks and other public areas, such as Stearns Square.

That work goes on today, but now, Plotkin brings a different perspective to it — sort of.

Indeed, he now not only works in downtown Springfield (and co-owns the office tower at 1350 Main St.), he lives there as well.

He’s a tenant at 31 Elm St., the mostly market-rate apartment complex created in the former Court Square Hotel, and has one of the sought-after units that looks out on the park. He could walk to his office in a minute, but because Court Square is under reconstruction, it takes two or three.

“It’s a blast living downtown,” he said simply, noting the sum of all there is to do in the city’s central business and entertainment district, almost all of it within easy walking distance of his new address.

Still, while he’s bullish on Springfield and its downtown, Plotkin noted there is considerable work to do to bring more tenants (of all kinds) and vibrancy to the many vacant, or mostly vacant, properties on Main Street and adjoining streets.

“We need to bring back Main Street — that’s what’s weak right now,” he said, referring to the broad stretch between the casino and the Arch. “We need to have more activity; we need to activate vacant spaces and attract more new businesses.

Evan Plotkin in the lobby of his new residence, 31 Elm St. in Springfield.

Evan Plotkin in the lobby of his new residence, 31 Elm St. in Springfield.

“The investment has not been made to change Main Street,” he went on, citing everything from long-stalled plans to redevelop the Hippodrome and adjacent hotel to the many decades that the floors above the Student Prince restaurant have been dormant. “And Main Street will drive everything in the city, as far as I’m concerned.”

Fenton agreed there is still work to be done, but took a moment, or two, to reflect on the progress he’s seen in the 14 years that he’s been on the City Council.

And it’s come in many forms, he said, starting with the $1 billion MGM Springfield development — how it has transformed that part of the downtown and how it has facilitated other developments, including 31 Elm, for which it served as one of many funding partners.

“It’s a delicate balance. For years, the city wanted to create safe neighborhoods, generate economic development, and promote safe schools. Why? So we could increase property values and attract more middle-class residents. But if property values go up too much, too quick, now you have an affordability crisis.”

“If you look back 15, 20 years ago, the downtown Springfield core was largely hollowed out,” he said. “We had an unimproved riverfront, no downtown grocer, a very dormant Worthington Street, and a South End that was dangerous to walk around in, especially in the areas where the casino is now — Union and Howard streets.

“When you think about the things we’ve done since … for a lot of it, we’ve been able to capitalize on the billion-dollar MGM investment,” he went on. “But a lot of it is also a lot of hard work and good economic-development practices.”

Elaborating, he noted everything from an AHL franchise — the city was without one for a short time — to some new restaurants and clubs on Worthington Street and beyond; from new hotels and the return of the Marriott flag to what was known for a time as the Tower Square Hotel to strong movement on market-rate housing.

Indeed, while Stockbridge Court, the massive complex just off Main Street near the South End, was an outlier for many years, Fenton noted, now there are several other projects open or in various phases of development.

“Stockbridge Court used to be an island of market-rate housing; it was an example of what could be done, but no one could seem to replicate it,” he said. “Now, we’ve got 31 Elm, which is full, has a waiting list, and is a really impressive property bringing people with spending power into the area.

“You also have the Willys Overland property, which is also at capacity, and interest in continuing to pursue this across the metro center, most recently with the McCaffery proposal and the city’s investment in the Masonic Block and our foresight in taking that property and conveying it to a developer that’s going to put more than 100 market-rate units there,” he went on. “Add all this stuff up, and it’s really made a difference down here.”

An architect’s rendering of the Clocktower Building

An architect’s rendering of the Clocktower Building, one of many housing and mixed-use projects in various stages of development in the City of Homes.

Discussions about planned and potential new housing (more on that in a bit) and the still-vacant properties downtown and what can be done with them lead Plotkin back to the long-held chicken-or-egg discussions about what Springfield needs most in his downtown — housing to bring residents with spending power to spur new developments, or new retail businesses and hospitality venues that will attract new residents and enable the region to retain more of the students who graduate from its many colleges and universities, strengthening its workforce.

 

More Living Proof

The reality is that both must happen concurrently, said Plotkin, adding that housing of all kinds, including market-rate and affordable, are needed to create a critical mass of people all hours of the day, every day.

“You don’t want to be a 9-to-5 city,” he explained. “Restaurants shouldn’t be closed on Saturday in a city like Springfield, but many of them are. We need to be a destination.”

As noted, there is considerable progress being made on the housing front, with initiatives ranging from 31 Elm to the Gemini Townhomes to the more than 100 units planned for the Clocktower Building and nearby Colonial Block.

In all, there are more than 850 units of housing in various stages of development, said Sheehan, listing everything from redevelopment of the former Federal Land Bank at 300-310 State St. (60 units), a project known as Residences at the Vault, to the reimagining of the former Kavanagh Furniture store (35 units) further down State Street; from work at the former Brightwood Elementary School (57 units) to an additional 29 units at the former site of the YMCA of Greater Springfield on Chestnut Street.

The last of those projects is another Home City initiative, said Gonzalez, noting that the agency has 130 units in the residential portion (floors 2-6) of the structure, and will redevelop the remaining space on the ground floor of the building, formerly used for offices and programming, to create an additional 29 efficiency units. The remaining back portion of the building will eventually be demolished.

The agency is also working on another homeownership initiative, this one involving the redevelopment of 10 vacant lots in the Old Hill neighborhood into single-family homes. The lots have been identified, he said, and the project is still in the planning phases.

Meanwhile, work proceeds at the Gemini project, which has several funding partners, including the state and the city, which has directed ARPA money toward the initiative. The first 20 of the units are expected to be completed by this fall, with the remaining 20 to come online next spring.

Home City prevailed in a request for proposals for the Gemini site, which, as noted, has been dormant for two decades, said Gonzalez, adding that the agency has been trying to develop a first-time-homebuyers initiative somewhere in the city, and most recently had targeted the site of the former Chestnut Middle School in the North End before refocusing on the Gemini site.

While the additional housing coming onto the market is a huge storyline, so too is what is happening with the values of existing property and what this trend means for the city, those who live there, and those who may want to live here in the future.

Indeed, according to the Warren Group, a real-estate information firm, the median sale price of a home in Springfield rose 68% in Springfield between 2018 and 2023, the highest rate in Hampden County and the highest in Western Mass., outside of a cluster in the Berkshires, a region that greatly benefited from the trend toward remote work.

Fenton told BusinessWest that this dramatic rise brings with it both benefits and potential drawbacks, especially when it comes to affordability, something Springfield has long been able to hype as one its strongest assets.

“It’s created increases in taxes and valuations and demand on services, and it’s also affected affordability — what’s affordable for a renting market or first-time homebuyers,” he asked. “It’s also a huge wealth generator for residents and homeowners who have historically had undervalued properties.

“It’s a delicate balance,” he went on. “For years, the city wanted to create safe neighborhoods, generate economic development, and promote safe schools. Why? So we could increase property values and attract more middle-class residents. But if property values go up too much, too quick, now you have an affordability crisis.”

 

Betting Lines

While housing is perhaps the biggest issue confronting the city, the casino, and its future, are others.

It was roughly five months ago that Bloomberg reported that MGM had expressed interest in selling one or more of its casinos, including the Springfield facility. That report spurred a good deal of conjecture about a new owner for the existing facility or even a different use for the property, said Fenton, who tried to put some of the chatter into perspective.

He said the property is strictly zoned for a casino and thus cannot be used for other purposes. Meanwhile, any new operator must adhere to the same host-community agreement signed by MGM Springfield, one that requires $25 million in annual payments to city entities, 12 entertainment acts in various downtown venues, and other provisions.

As for the current operation, as the six-year anniversary of its opening approaches, Louie Theros, who took the helm as president in January, said the facility has put the headwinds from COVID in its rear view, is now “fully operational,” and has seen the surge in gross gaming revenues experienced in the second half of 2023 continue into this year.

Springfield at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1852
Population: 155,929
Area: 33.1 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential tax rate: $16.14
Commercial tax rate: $35.49
Median Household Income: $35,236
Median Family Income: $51,110
Type of government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Baystate Health, MassMutual Financial Group, Mercy Medical Center, Big Y Foods, Center for Human Development, MGM Springfield
* Latest information available

He said the goals moving forward are to focus on what the casino does well and do more of it — he put the ROAR Comedy Club shows and the Free Music Fridays in that category, for example — while also integrating more events at the MassMutual Center (which MGM Springfield manages) into the casino.

“We’ve got AEW Wrestling coming there in the next few months, an event that will be broadcast live on TNT — we’re hoping to do something with that event, obviously — and we have a boxing event coming up where we’ll bring the weigh-in to the casino, so we can bring people into the casino before and after the fight.”

Theros said MGM Springfield has hired Springfield native Andres Gomez, who was part of the initial team that helped launch the MGM Springfield brand in 2018 when he served as director of Restaurants and Nightlife Operations, as executive director of Hospitality.

“He’s really excited about activating the property; he has some great ideas and really wants to liven up the restaurant spaces and common areas,” Theros said. “I’m really excited about what we have coming up in the next year.”

Overall, he’s encouraged by what he’s seeing downtown, especially at 31 Elm, and is looking forward to the completion of the parking garage and the adjoining parking lot as well as Court Square. And, like others we spoke with, he said additional residential units — in the properties across Main Street from the casino and other locations — will bring additional vibrancy to the downtown area.

“To get more people living in the core city center brings more vibrancy to it,” he explained. “And the more people we have walking around, hanging out, and participating in economic redevelopment in the city … it really helps springboard other activity.

“I’m really excited about McCaffery putting hammer to nail and starting to redevelop those properties,” Theros went on, adding that, while the residential component of that project is important, so too is the retail component slated for the ground floors of those properties and the need for a broader retail plan for those buildings, MGM, and other properties in that area.

Sheehan agreed.

“McCaffery has brought back to us that there should be a district-wide, ground-floor commercial plan as to what kinds of businesses can function in this marketplace,” he said. “And all property owners in that district should be sharing in that plan so there’s continuity around what that ground-floor retail experience is, not just from MGM’s perspective, but for the whole district.”

He went on to say that development of such a comprehensive plan is one of many initiatives that fall into the category of long-term planning. He would also like to create a plan for redevelopment of the current Roderick Ireland Courthouse, property that will likely be demolished as the state pursues construction of a new facility elsewhere in the downtown area.

“I think that we should begin master planning now for what that site could ultimately be,” Sheehan told BusinessWest, adding that the city should also start planning now to assist businesses, like Performance Food Group, with expansion plans in various stages of development.

“We only have a limited amount of land in this city,” he said, “and we really need to be looking at ways in which we can be encouraging more existing business expansion in Springfield and creatively work to advance plans companies have for expansion — sooner rather than later.”

 

Red Fire Farm Battles Back from Devastating Blaze

By
Farm co-owner Ryan Voiland
Cover Story Features

A Bumper Crop of Perseverance

Farm co-owner Ryan Voiland

Farm co-owner Ryan Voiland

 

Ryan Voiland doesn’t mince words when he talks about farming and whether it makes good economic sense to be in this sector.

“If I was a smart businessperson, I’d be out of this business,” he said, referring to agriculture in general but especially community-supported agriculture, which isn’t seeing as much support as it once was. “Most other people you talk to would not put up with the type of financial risk and lack of financial rewards that seem to be opening.”

But he kept going, and in poignant fashion.

“It’s a labor of love. We do it because it’s something that’s really important for the world — having food that’s grown nearby, especially fruits and vegetables. We do it because we want to be part of that solution.”

“If I was a smart businessperson, I’d be out of this business.”

He was saying this a few weeks back, but he’s been talking this way for some time now — and certainly long before the historic barn that served as home to the farm store for the Red Fire Farm’s operation in Granby — there is also a farm in Montague — burned to the ground in February.

The fire, which destroyed much more than the barn and farm store itself (more on that later), was only the latest in a series of challenges that have hit this operation hard. Last summer’s torrential rains, other forms of extreme weather, and the decline in interest in CSA co-ops are also on the list.

The fire was an especially devastating setback, one that prompted some deep introspection and hard talk about actually getting out of this business. But Voiland and his wife, Sarah, decided to stay in because this is, as he said, a labor of love.

Nothing since the fire has been easy — nothing before the fire was easy, either, but there are now new layers of challenge — but the Voilands, with some support from the community, have persevered, and, well … made do, as they say.

The fire that broke out in the morning of Feb. 17

The fire that broke out in the morning of Feb. 17 destroyed much more than the Red Fire Farm store.

They have created what they call a temporary farm store comprised of an old farmstand from Montague (the one with which Voiland got his start more than 25 years ago), which was transported to Granby; a new, smaller shed donated by the Massachusetts Federation of Farmers Markets, with two more still to be constructed; and a large tent. And they are making progress with efforts to create something suitable for the fall and winter in a portion of the space under a large solar installation that sits in front of a structure, still under construction, that was designed for the washing and packing of produce and will eventually assume that use.

But the long-term plan calls for building a new, modern farm store just a few hundred yards down Carver Street at the site of a vacant, dilapidated home in a corner of one of the Red Farm fields.

“It’s a labor of love. We do it because it’s something that’s really important for the world — having food that’s grown nearby, especially fruits and vegetables. We do it because we want to be part of that solution.”

Efforts to make these plans reality are complicated by soaring construction costs and insurance settlements that don’t come close to the actual cost of replacing not only the structure that was lost but all that was in it, Voiland said.

So the hopes for reconstruction are contingent upon receiving grants from various sources, he went on, adding that applications have been filed, and the Voilands are now awaiting word.

In what appears to be the best-case scenario, work on a new facility could begin this fall, he said, noting that the farm is dependent on those grants to move ahead and will essentially have to wait for some form of assistance.

Plans to replace the barn

Plans to replace the barn (pictured) lost to fire in February has been complicated by rising construction costs and insurance issues.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Voiland about the fire, the ongoing efforts to recover, the plans for the future, and how this experience has only hardened the resolve of all those at the farm.

 

Sudden Destruction

Voiland was working at the Montague facility when he got that dreaded phone call mid-morning on Feb. 17.

A staffer in Granby, one of the few working during the slow time of the year, was telling him that the 100-year-old barn that had come to symbolize the property, and the Red Farm operation, was on fire.

It’s a 45-minute ride from Montague to Granby, and by the time Ryan and Sarah arrived, Carver Street, where the farm is located, was blocked off for a third of a mile in both directions.

“By the time we managed to walk to the property, the barn was 75% gone,” said Ryan, adding that there was little they could do but stand, watch fire crews from Granby and several nearby communities fight the blaze, and start to think about the complex process of carrying on and then rebuilding.

And both have been even more complex than they probably could have imagined.

Indeed, as mentioned earlier, the barn was home to much more than the farm store, and its loss impacted every aspect of the operation.

“Most of the building was devoted to retail sales and to our CSA distribution space, but there were also wings in that barn,” he explained. “We had a wing where we cured and stored garlic. We had several spots where we parked tractors, so now all our tractors are homeless. The basement of that barn was used for storing irrigation equipment; we had tools in there, supplies, and machinery, such as a drop spreader for spreading fertilizer and an orchard sprayer.”

Matters have been further complicated by insurance issues, he added.

Slicing through them, and simplifying them as well, Voiland said his carrier has essentially indicated that the property was insured for $300,000, a number he said doesn’t cover the replacement cost of the various forms of equipment and supplies — including hand-painted signs providing directions to those looking to pick their own produce — that were stored in the barn and its cellar, let alone the cost of rebuilding.

Indeed, he said estimates he’s received from several builders have put the cost of building a new, 6,000-square-foot barn and farm store at $1.5 million on the low end, and $3 million on the high end.

“The price of construction has gone up, even since we updated the insurance policy,” he said, noting that this was maybe five or six years ago. “And in that time, COVID happened, and we’ve had all those supply shortages, some of the many reasons why construction costs have gone through the roof.”

Which explains the reliance on grants to rebuild, he said, adding that a GoFundMe campaign started soon after the fire raised more than $200,000, some of which had to be used to immediately replace supplies and equipment so business could be conducted this season.

Red Fire staff members

Red Fire staff members pose in front of the historic barn around Halloween, during decidedly better days.

The rest went into savings, he said, adding that this money, and whatever can be garnered from insurance, will be used to match outside grants needed to fund new construction.

“We hope to be able to put all that together and get a budget for building something new that’s at least $1 million to a million and a half,” he said, adding that he hopes to avoid having to finance a portion of the project.

An application has been filed with the state’s Food Security Infrastructure Grant program, said Voiland, adding that Red Fire has previously received a grant from the program to help fund construction of its packing facility.

Red Fire is also applying to a federal Rural Energy for America program for a grant that would fund construction of a solar-array-topped carport on the site of the destroyed barn, a facility that would provide not only more solar power for various farm operations, but a space under which to park tractors and other equipment.

 

Lettuce Rebuild

The cellar hole is all that remains of the 6,000-square-foot barn, made of chestnut, and a replacement for a barn that stood on that same site and was destroyed by fire started by a lightning strike in 1922.

Voiland acknowledged that the operation’s name is a double entrende of sorts, a nod to both the 1922 fire and the red fire variety of lettuce he cultivates, one of myriad vegetables and fruits grown in Granby and Montague.

But history will not repeat itself here, he said, adding that, for several reasons, it makes more sense to rebuild down the road, in the corner of a 25-acre field, then it does on the original site.

Doing so would relieve congestion on that site, provide more parking, and separate the farm activity from the farm store, he explained, adding, again, that if all goes well, ground could be broken before the ground freezes.

Plans are being drawn up for a facility that won’t have any of the history or “majesty” of the destroyed structutre, he noted, but will be more practical in many ways, and more efficient.

“It was designed as a hay-storage barn and livestock barn,” he explained. “And we had made a lot of changes and improvements to that barn to make it more suitable as a farm store, but it still had limitations. And if we rebuild, obviously, we want to rebuild for what we do, not what they did 100 years ago.”

In the meantime, the Voilands, Ryan’s father, Paul, and the team of roughly 75 (during the peak summer months) at Red Fire have been carrying on. It’s not business as usual, by any means, but business — in this case, a wide-ranging farm operation — is getting done.

The weather has been, for the most part (and unlike some recent years), cooperative, with generous amounts of rain — “borderline excessive,” as Voiland put it. “It’s been hot, but not excessively so.”

But there have been challenges, such as piecing together the temporary farm store and maintaining it. For example, strong winds toppled the large tent recently, and it took some time to raise it again.

Then there’s the challenge of doing the day-to-day — and there’s obviously a lot of that — while also handling everything that goes into the process of rebuilding, from talks with the insurance company to conceptualizing a new facility to applying for grants.

Finding the requisite hours in the day hasn’t been easy, but Voiland and others have somehow managed.

Yet, there are other, ongoing challenges, including a general decline in support for CSAs over perhaps the past decade or said, he said.

“There’s still an interest in local and organic and CSAs, but, unfortunately, the supermarkets have figured out how to brand things locally in a way that is sort of detrimental to the CSA farms,” he explained. “People think they can just go to the big-box store and get something that’s local, which is not necessarily true. It’s been a harder marketplace, especially the past five to 10 years, putting natural disasters and unexpected barn burnings aside.”

As Voiland said at the top, if he was a smart businessperson, he would probably be out of this business. But overriding his business sense is his passion for agriculture and giving area residents the opportunity to buy local.

Monson Evolves — on Main Street and Beyond

By
Mikki Lessard
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Mikki Lessard

Mikki Lessard says Monson’s Main Street has been reinvented through small businesses new and old, many of them owned by women.

Mikki Lessard calls it “Main Street USA reinvented.”

She was referring to her business, oHHo, a cannabis and botanical wellness company “dedicated to bringing you plants with benefits,” which recently opened on Monson’s Main Street, but also to a growing collection of new businesses in the town’s center and beyond, including the Better Bean coffee shop, the Happy Hen farmstand, a gourmet cookie venture operated out of a Main Street home, and much more.

“We have some great little businesses that have been there forever and some new businesses, like mine, the Better Bean, and many others,” Lessard said. “It’s proof that the American dream is still alive.”

These businesses, many of them women-owned, are, indeed, part of a growing small-business infrastructure in this rural community of just over 8,000 people — a community that is, in a word, supportive of its local businesses, said Rachel Zundell, owner of Cookies by Ray.

“It’s super-community-oriented, the quintessential small town. It’s great to be here; I Iove this town,” said Zundell, who started this venture as a way to supplement her income and has made it a full-time pursuit, one that continues to grow on the back of both old favorites like chocolate chip, but also a continuous flow of new offerings, including something called the ‘Pub,’ featuring pretzels, potato chips, caramel, and chocolate chips, and a fried dill-pickle cookie created for the Fourth of July.

Lessard agreed. “It’s a gorgeous community; it’s a little hilltown with a great sense of community, especially after the tornado,” she explained, referencing the June 2011 twister that hit Monson hard. “People care about other people here, and they support small business.”

An evolving Main Street and a surge in entrepreneurship are just two of the storylines unfolding in this community. There is also some movement in ongoing efforts to find new uses for the former Monson Developmental Center (MDC). The sprawling, 675-acre campus of nearly 30 buildings was closed by the state Department of Developmental Services in 2012, with the property turned over to the Commonwealth’s Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM).

Town Administrator Jennifer Wolowicz told BusinessWest that town officials are currently working with Westmass Area Development Corp. to develop strategies for development of the property.

She noted that, while some of the acreage at the MDC is being transferred to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, there are plenty of redevelopment opportunities, including new housing, which is certainly needed, as it is in most other cities and towns in the 413 — and across the state, for that matter.

“We have a lot of seniors in town who would like to move out of the larger homes they have — their children are grown and out of the house — but there is no place to downsize to in Monson,” she said, adding that housing for seniors and perhaps younger families is among the preferred new uses for the property.

“We have a lot of seniors in town who would like to move out of the larger homes they have — their children are grown and out of the house — but there is no place to downsize to in Monson.”

She said the town’s population has been decreasing in recent years, and the only real way to achieve growth is to be proactive and create new housing opportunities, especially at the MDC site.

Other storylines on the municipal side, Wolowicz noted, include renovation and modernization of the town’s 1960s-era fire station — a new design should come before town residents this fall; a previous iteration was deemed too expensive — as well as a new, ARPA-funded meter-reading system for water and sewer services and a much-needed communications-tower rebuild.

But perhaps the best story is the continued growth and diversification of the business community, which still boasts a number of farming-related ventures, but now also includes new restaurants and coffee shops, CBD, cookies, and more.

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its lens on Monson, a small town with some developing stories — both figuratively and literally.

 

Down on Main Street

Lessard, who moved to Monson 35 years ago, said it has long been her dream to have a shop on Main Street because of its “quintessential New England Main Street vibe.”

She’s taken a winding road to realizing that dream, but she likes where she is now — in every context, from her own mental and physical health and well-being to her place in Monson’s evolving commercial center.

Monson Redevelopment Center

Jennifer Wolowicz says the Monson Redevelopment Center — one of its roughly 30 remaining buildings is seen here — has vast potential for reuse, especially as housing.

Before we go there, we first need to visit another Main Street: Springfield’s. Actually, the alley just behind it called Marketplace, where Lessard and partner Nancy Feth tried to create (or recreate) that small-town vibe she spoke of, through something called Simply Grace, a portfolio of businesses including a yoga studio, nail salon, ‘serendipity boutique,’ and more that they collectively referred to as a ‘retail-tainment district,’ blending retail and entertainment.

The two were, by most measures, successful with their concept until COVID knocked the foundation from under their feet.

“We were shut down at first, obviously, and it was very difficult to do business downtown because all the businesses were closed and there was very little if any foot traffic,” she recalled. “A lot of business was service, such as yoga and nails, and the retail was really soft.”

The two eventually walked away from their venture, and, when asked what she did in the years that followed, Lessard said simply, “I did a lot of cathartic healing.” That included the use of some CBD products, which kept her “calm, centered, grounded, and hopeful.”

It also became her next career opportunity.

Monson at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1775
Population: 8,150
Area: 44.8 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $15.50
Commercial Tax Rate: $15.50
Median Household Income: $52,030
Median Family Income: $58,607
Type of Government: Select Board, Open Town Meeting
Latest information available

Indeed, she interviewed for a corporate position with Bedford, N.Y.-based oHHo and became an independent contractor for the company, supporting its growth and development in the Northeast. And she determined that one of the vehicles for growth in the company’s omni-channel business model should be shops.

“Because the product needs explanation, it needs an education; it almost needs consultation, much like people are doing in dispensaries,” she explained. “This is a newer concept for wellness; it’s botanical wellness.”

Her shop, at 180 Main St., is part of a pilot project for oHHo, one that could eventually lead to franchising opportunities. She describes it as spa experience of sorts, one that caters especially to women.

“It feels like a sanctuary where you can come in from the negative, narrative noise of the world and find a peaceful, quiet space to consider our wellness collection,” she said, adding that she’s been open only a few weeks, but can see the potential of this venture.

Lessard considers herself part of a changing Main Street and just one of several entrepreneurs, many of them women, who are reshaping the business community in Monson.

Zundell is another member of this group. She was working as a third-shift baker at Randall’s Farm in Ludlow when she became pregnant with her third child, a development that helped fuel some entrepreneurial passion.

“I decided to start this business to increase my income because daycare is expensive,” she recalled, adding that her continued success with her cookies enabled her to quit her day (actually, night) job and make this a full-time venture.

A large sign on her front lawn alerts passersby that this is Cookies by Ray ‘world headquarters.’ A solid stream of visitors to the property pick up orders placed online, and they are greeted with a growing portfolio of offerings, baked in small, limited batches, prompting Zundell to inform patrons that “if ya snooze, ya lose.”

“I change my flavors every week, but I have some classic and unique flavors,” she said, noting that chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies are among her best sellers. But there are those new offerings as well, including the fried dill-pickle cookie, featuring kettle-cooked potato chips and dill pickle.

“It’s sweet, it’s savory — I tell people it reminds me of cornbread,” she told BusinessWest. “It just works.”

 

Developing Story

The MDC traces its roots back to 1854, when the state acquired 175 acres in Northern Monson, near the border with Palmer, on which it created an almshouse to provide facilities for poor immigrants fleeing the great famine in Ireland.

Over the years, the property took on different names — the State Farm School, the State Primary School, and the Hospital for Epileptics, among them, before becoming the Monson Developmental Center — and continued to grow, eventually reaching more than 72 buildings.

“It was a little city itself,” said Wolowicz, now in her fourth year as town administrator. “It had a laundry, it had a powerhouse … it had everything needed to run that large operation.”

As its population of residents continued to decline, the state announced plans to close the facility in 2008, and in 2012, it relocated the last residents to other facilities. Since then, its future has been a question mark and a huge issue in this community, with the boarded-up buildings along State Avenue providing both a constant reminder of the past and hints of enormous opportunity for the future.

But like Belchertown State School and Northampton State Hospital before it, the MDC is a state-owned facility; thus, redevelopment is a slow, challenge-filled process, said Wolowicz, while noting that there are signs of progress.

Specifically, the state has set aside $14 million for remediation of those buildings that can be repurposed — and there are some — and demolition of those that cannot be salvaged. Perhaps 200 of more than 600 total acres are suitable for redevelopment, and for several reasons, she noted, ranging from the likelihood of a Palmer stop on the planned east-west rail line — which is expected to make it easier for people to live in the 413 and work elsewhere — and housing, especially the affordable variety.

Wolowicz said the state has issued some requests for proposals in the past regarding the MDC property and not garnered much by way of responses. She noted that there have been discussions about DCAMM supporting legislation that would transfer part of the property to Westmass, which would then partner with the town to advance redevelopment strategies.

Town officials are already working with the agency on another project — redevelopment of the former Omega manufacturing facility, which has been abandoned, is in tax title, and will soon be officially owned by the town. Wolowicz said there are ongoing discussions about what can be done at that two-acre site, including more housing.

Whatever happens at the Omega site and the MDC, it will be part of continuing evolution in Monson, where the overall character of this small town hasn’t changed, but where a good place to live and work gets even better.

Danielle Williams Finds Her Place Behind the Bench

By
Danielle Williams
Where Are They Now?

Where Are They Now?

Danielle Williams

Danielle Williams has made a smooth transition from practicing law to the bench.

Danielle Williams seen as a 40 Under Forty winner

Danielle Williams seen as a 40 Under Forty winner in 2015.

“When last we left our heroes…”

That’s a line Baby Boomers will remember from the start of each Rocky & Bullwinkle episode. Danielle Williams might have written it a few times a decade or so back, when she was co-creator of comic-book heroes known as the Mighty Magical Majestics, “keepers of ancient mysteries and defenders of civilization.”

Williams’ creative exploits were a major storyline as she was named to BusinessWest’s Forty Under 40 class of 2015; by day, she was an attorney with the Northampton-based firm Fierst Kane & Bloomberg LLP.

Today, she’s still writing, but it takes a much different form, such as motion decisions, which comprise one of the myriad aspects of her work as associate justice of the Westfield District Court, a role she assumed almost five years ago.

This isn’t the job she’d always dreamed of. It’s the position she was told she should apply for after serving just a few years in the job she did always dream of — assistant court magistrate.

“I wanted to do that way back when I was a victim witness advocate in 1999; I had my eye on that job for a long time,” Williams said, noting that it comes with a number of responsibilities. “When I finally got the job, in 2016, I thought I had reached the height of where I wanted to go.”

But after being told by more of the few of the judges she worked with that she should consider joining them behind the bench, she did just that. She wasn’t sure she was ready the first time she applied, and didn’t get an appointment, but felt far more ready the second time, which turned out to be the charm.

Today, she splits her time among courts scattered across the 413, or what’s known as District 6, from Westfield (although she’s not there much, even though that’s her court of appointment) to North Adams; from Chicopee to Orange. On the day she spoke with BusinessWest for the second installment of its Where Are They Now? series, she was in the Palmer court, a shorter drive from her home in Wilbraham than to most of the other courts.

Still, she puts a considerable number of miles on the car, maybe the thing she likes the least about this job, which also provides her with daily opportunities to learn and grow as a jurist and, more importantly, chances to make a difference.

“Our job is to give people access to justice and an opportunity to be heard,” she said. “I’m glad to be part of a system where I hope I’m helping people do that.”

As noted earlier, while Williams enjoyed practicing law — she focused on litigation, housing, and intellectual-property law — she always wanted to be a clerk magistrate. And it wasn’t really long after that goal was realized in 2017 that Judge Willam Boyle, one of many she worked with, suggested she consider applying for a judgeship.

“It’s difficult to make those decisions, and, in my opinion, it should be difficult to make those decisions. Because when you make those decisions, you’re not just affecting that person in front of you; you’re affecting that person’s family and their community. So those shouldn’t be easy decisions to make.”

Williams admitted she needed some convincing, but eventually did apply, unsuccessfully at first, before breaking through at the height of COVID, when she was appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker to the Westfield District Court, and started on Black Friday.

She traditionally gets word a week or two in advance of what court she will be sitting in, but things happen, as she noted, so she must be prepared for anything — and to travel anywhere.

District courts handle both criminal and civil matters, Williams explained, adding that, while there are many aspects to this work, perhaps the most difficult is sentencing. And for some crimes, including firearms violations, there are mandatory minimums, which takes some of the decision making from her, but doesn’t make sentencing anyone any easier.

“Some of our defendants are so very young — their early 20s, and sometimes 18 or 19,” she said. “And there is a proliferation of firearms in our cities. It’s sad — sometimes you don’t have a choice. They don’t give you much of a choice, but it’s still sad to have to sentence someone so young.

“It’s difficult to make those decisions, and, in my opinion, it should be difficult to make those decisions,” she went on. “Because when you make those decisions, you’re not just affecting that person in front of you; you’re affecting that person’s family and their community. So those shouldn’t be easy decisions to make.”

As for what she likes most about her work, Williams said it’s the ability to make a difference in the lives of others — and, for her personally, the opportunity to continue learning.

“We get some really interesting issues, particularly with motions to suppress,” she noted. “It makes me learn, it makes me do research, so you feel like you’re always learning.”

She noted that this has been an intriguing year for the courts, with high-profile cases in Massachusetts (the Karen Read murder trial, for example) and nationally — such as many lawsuits involving Donald Trump.

Overall, and in Massachusetts especially, she believes the judicial system has … well, acquitted itself well.

“I’m very proud of our judicial system in Massachusetts; I’m proud of my colleagues,” she told BusinessWest. “I’m proud of the work that they do every day, both at the District Court level and the Superior Court and up. I read the decisions that come out of the SJC, and I speak with my colleagues, and the ones that I speak with are making considered decisions and doing their best to make decisions in line with the law.”

 

Peter Banko Shapes a Game Plan for Baystate Health

By
Peter Banko
Features Special Coverage

Goal to Go

Peter Banko

Peter Banko

Peter Banko earned a bachelor’s degree at Notre Dame in the late ’80s.

And as with most people who attend that university, his connection to it — and its football team — remains quite strong, manifesting itself in many ways.

Indeed, his office on the sixth floor at 280 Chestnut St. boasts everything from signed photos of players from his era — including one of Pat Terrell, who famously broke up that two-point conversion in the so-called ‘Catholics vs. Convicts’ game against the University of Miami in 1988, Banko’s senior year — to a replica of the famous ‘Play Like a Champion Today’ sign that players smack as they exit the locker room. Meanwhile, he has season tickets and goes to most games in South Bend each fall.

But the connections to Notre Dame don’t end there, and they extend, coincidentally, to his eventual arrival at Baystate Health, where he took the helm as president and CEO on June 3.

As Banko tells the story, he was standing in line at the men’s room at Notre Dame Stadium during the game against USC last October when the person two ahead of him in that line, someone who places executives in healthcare systems, started talking about the top position being open at Baystate, and how he might want to think about pursuing it.

“In meeting with the board and others, what came across was a commitment to mission and community. The academic nature, but also the community nature of the system was very attractive.”

“He turned around and said, ‘hey … are you open to looking at something?’ I said ‘yes,’ and he said, ‘Baystate,’” Banko recalled. “I said, ‘in Springfield?’ and he said, ‘yeah.’” (More on this later.)

And then … well, there’s his commitment to taking the Notre Dame family’s philosophy, if you will, about taking care of one another — long after they’ve graduated or stopped playing football — to healthcare in general, and now to Baystate Health.

Baystate Medical Center

Peter Banko says these have been difficult times for Baystate Health and its flagship hospital, Baystate Medical Center, but the system’s goals are “within reach.”

“There’s a way that you’re indoctrinated, that you take care of each other,” he said, referring those who are called ‘Domers,’ a reference to the campus’s famous golden dome. “From a healthcare perspective, this is a people business, and we have to take care of the people who provide the care. That’s the business lesson learned — you take care of the people; the rest works itself out.”

Putting aside all the Notre Dame memories and connections for a moment, Banko said he came to Baystate because he was well aware of its strong reputation within the industry and wanted to be part of it.

“I’m also having fun again. Sometimes big is not great,” he said, adding that he wasn’t having much fun — or, at least, not as much as he used to — at Centura Health in Centennial, Colo. (which he served as president and CEO), which is part of the massive, $4 billion CommonSpirit Health system.

How much fun he has at Baystate will likely be a function of how well the system, which consists of four hospitals — Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Noble Hospital, Baystate Wing Hospital, and Baystate Franklin Medical Center — as well as several neighborhood clinics and other community-based services, fares with the many challenges facing all healthcare systems today.

“I heard someone say I’ve got the toughest job in town, and I said, ‘no, I’ve got the easiest job in town; I’ve got a great group of people.’”

These include workforce issues, which started before COVID and were amplified by the pandemic; inadequate reimbursements from public payers; and, in general, maintaining a healthy bottom line.

Perhaps the biggest of those challenges is building and maintaining a workforce, he said, adding that a number of factors, from retiring Baby Boomers to COVID-induced burnout that prompted many to leave the industry, are conspiring against healthcare providers on this front.

“We’re facing all the demographics — people are retiring, and there aren’t people replacing them,” he said, adding that Baystate’s status as a teaching hospital will likely be an advantage as it confronts these workforce issues moving forward.

As for financial challenges, he takes over a health system that experienced an operating loss of $178 million in FY 2022, lost $63 million on operations in FY 23, and saw operating losses carry over into FY 24. Nonetheless, Banko sees light at the end of this tunnel.

Peter Banko says workforce issues are the biggest challenge

Peter Banko says workforce issues are the biggest challenge facing Baystate Health, and all healthcare providers, today.

“We’re poised and in a good situation, even though we’ve had a couple of rough years,” he went on. “Folks have said, ‘yeah, it’s been really rough here. I said, ‘well, if it was too rough, I wouldn’t have come.’ We’re poised to do some really good stuff.”

Overall, he said his primary goal is to build on the solid foundation put down his predecessor, Dr. Mark Keroack, and take full advantage of the system’s many assets, especially its core of physicians and clinicians.

“As I told the board then and I keep telling people now, I can move mountains with the group of physicians we have here,” he told BusinessWest. “We can do anything.”

For this issue, we talked at length with Banko about healthcare, the challenges facing the industry, his plans for meeting them head on, and, yes, Notre Dame football and all those connections to his alma mater.

 

His Chosen Field

Banko calls it his “week of fame.”

It came in 2006, when he was serving as administrator of the CHRISTUS Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, Texas, and it started when he got a phone call alerting him that Vice President Dick Cheney had been shot while quail hunting and had been taken to what was known then as Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital, part of the system. Upon arrival, Banko found out that wasn’t the case, and also that, while no one was saying it out loud, let alone officially, it seemed that Cheney had likely shot the person who was in his hospital.

“I did a few interviews with national news outlets that evening on the phone, and I came in the next day at 6:30, and every news outlet on the planet was parked outside the hospital,” he recalled. “I did all the press conferences every day; I had a direct line to the White House.”

And what he remembers as much as those press briefings and his hotline to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is how his doctors eventually solved the mystery surrounding the victim’s heart-attack-like reaction to the shooting.

“We couldn’t figure out what it was,” he recalled. “We had doctors in from three major teaching hospitals and the White House. I was in the cath lab with seven cardiologists and three heart surgeons on our side, and one of our docs found an obscure article about a Vietnam vet who had shrapnel in his heart, and years later he had the same symptoms. So they treated him based on that one article.”

The rest of Banko’s career has brought considerably less fame, if you will, but myriad rewards and rich learning experiences. And except for one very brief stint in the private sector, as he called it, he’s spent that career in healthcare administration.

He actually got his start in healthcare as a junior volunteer in his home state of New Jersey while attending Notre Dame. His specific assignment was patient transport, which enabled him to meet hundreds of people and compile a large portfolio of stories.

“I had a lot of great conversations, and I learned a lot,” he said, adding that the administrator of the hospital — a Notre Dame football fan — told him he a knack for health leadership.

“Being an academic center has put us in a better position. We can more easily work with the universities and colleges, we can partner more, and we have that academic setting where we can train and keep our own, which puts us in a unique position.”

“I said, ‘I don’t even know what you do,’” he recalled. “She spent a few hours with me and encouraged me down a path. So, other than one week working in a supermarket as a porter, I’ve never worked anywhere other than a hospital or physician group or health plan.”

After earning his bachelor of business administration degree at Notre Dame and his master of health administration degree from the Sloan Program in Health Services Administration at Cornell, where they take their football far less seriously, he worked in a succession of jobs in healthcare administration, starting at Saint Clare’s Health Services in Denville, N.J. Later, there were stints as president and CEO of CHI St. Vincent in Little Rock, Ark.; and at CHRISTUS Spohn in Texas.

With CommonSpirit Health, he spent nearly two decades in various capacities, including vice president of Southeast Operations and national chief integration officer, before becoming president and CEO of Centura Health, with facilities, including 20 hospitals, across Colorado, Kansas, and Utah.

“I was at CommonSpirit for 17 years, and I was ready for a refresh and a chance to do something different,” he said.

Which brings us to that encounter with the executive recruiter in the men’s room at Notre Dame Stadium.

 

New Team Leader

Banko said he was late, as in very late, to the game when it came to Baystate’s search for a successor for Keroack, but, with some additional encouragement from his executive coach, who once worked in the Baystate system and told him he needed to look into this opportunity, he hustled and became part of a large field of candidates. As noted earlier, he said he was familiar with the organization and its strong reputation within the industry.

“And in meeting with the board and others, what came across was a commitment to mission and community,” he told BusinessWest. “The academic nature, but also the community nature of the system was very attractive.”

He persevered through several rounds of interviews, including a lengthy discussion with the board about his vision for the system, and was chosen by the search committee in March.

Summarizing that vision, he said there are several components to it, everything from honoring a mission and legacy that dates back to 1883 to having a “more physician- and clinical-centered system”; from achieving growth and operating at scale to having a healthy balance sheet.

“We want to use our physicians and other clinicians to drive our strategy and what we do going forward,” he explained. “One of the things that impressed me being here and interviewing is that our cadre of physicians is one of the best I’ve seen in the country in terms of training, expertise, skills, and leadership.”

As for the bottom line, that balance sheet, he said COVID and its after-effects have obviously taken a toll on this and every other healthcare system across the country.

“But it’s all within reach,” Banko added. “Financially, our future is easily within our reach; it’s nothing that’s not attainable. I heard someone say I’ve got the toughest job in town, and I said, ‘no, I’ve got the easiest job in town; I’ve got a great group of people.’

“COVID wasn’t great, and the recovery afterwards has been worse, almost,” he went on. “We’re not facing any problems anybody else isn’t dealing with nationally — some more, some less — but I feel our future is attainable and within our grasp; we just have to go for it.”

Elaborating, he noted that, while all healthcare systems are facing the same issues and challenges, the solutions are local.

“The problems are generally the same … the solutions and how you work at them are very locally contextual,” he elaborated. “Workforce challenges in Boston are different than the ones we face here, but we both have them, and our solutions are not the same as what our colleagues in Boston are doing.”

As for those workforce issues he mentioned earlier, he said Baystate Health does have some advantages as it works to attract and retain talent, including its status as a teaching hospital, but also its location and comparatively lower cost of living.

“Being an academic center has put us in a better position,” he explained. “We can more easily work with the universities and colleges, we can partner more, and we have that academic setting where we can train and keep our own, which puts us in a unique position.

“Plus, this is a great area,” he went on. “It’s affordable, you can raise a family here, and that’s not true of a lot of places around the country.”

One of the keys to success with workforce moving forward is taking care of people, which includes the wages paid, but certainly doesn’t end there, he told BusinessWest.

“My view is that, if you take care of people and help them produce a good product, then growth and profitability will take care of themselves,” he said. “That’s where we have to start; we need to make sure that people want to work here and that we’re a workplace of choice and that we’re delivering a quality product for our community.”

Since arriving at Baystate, Banko says he’s been on a listening tour, one involving both internal and external constituencies, which will continue for the next several months.

What he hears, what he learns, and what he shares will all be part of a report to the board on his first 100 days at the helm, one that will update and likely add new layers of specificity to that vision he has for where this system can go in the years and decades to come — and how to get there.

 

Passing Thoughts

Getting back to those season tickets Banko has had since 2017 … there are four of them for each game, and he likes to share the wealth. And that includes work colleagues.

Which means some of his new team members will be journeying to South Bend in the autumns to come as the Irish pursue their first national championship since … well, Banko’s senior year.

They’ll also be contributing to another journey, one in which they’ll help write the next chapters in the history of this institution — a game with much higher stakes, and one for which he believes the winning formula is already in place.

As they say in football, it’s a matter of execution — and that will be a big part of Banko’s new job.

Westfield Gains Entrepreneurial Momentum

By
Mayor Mike McCabe, left, presents Westfield G&E General Manager Tom Flaherty
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Mayor Mike McCabe, left, presents Westfield G&E General Manager Tom Flaherty

Mayor Mike McCabe, left, presents Westfield G&E General Manager Tom Flaherty with a proclamation marking the utility’s 125th anniversary.

 

Mike McCabe isn’t sure how or why Westfield hasn’t really been part of the discussion when it comes to stops on the planned — most believe we’ve moved past using the word proposed — east-west rail line.

But the city’s mayor is intent on changing that.

He’s been talking with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and stating the city’s case for being a stop on the line, which is being touted as a way to level the playing field between the eastern and western portions of the state. And he believes it’s a strong case that involves everything from geography and the city’s size (roughly 40,000 people) to the fact that it already has a historic station that could turn back the clock and serve in that role again.

“We have an existing train station that Amtrak goes past every day, so I’m trying to encourage some real talk about getting Westfield on the east-west rail plan,” he said, adding that it’s been probably a half-century since a passenger train stopped in the city. “I don’t know why we weren’t in the game in the first place, but I don’t think it’s too late to get in the game.”

McCabe, re-elected to a second two-year term last November, believes a rail stop would bring more people, and more vibrancy, to a city that has been seeing progress on many fronts.

That includes its long-suffering downtown, which is seeing new life, as other area urban centers have, through a wave of entrepreneurship that has brought new businesses and especially restaurants specializing in everything from burritos to coffee to crepes, with more on the way.

“We’re not the old drive-through that we once were,” said Peter Miller, the city’s director of Community Development, noting that, in addition to new businesses, the downtown now has a new gathering place, or plaza, in the heart of downtown.

Located on the site of the former Newberry’s department store, which was destroyed by fire nearly 40 years ago and never replaced, the venue, named Elm Street Plaza, complete with a stage, will host concerts, food trucks, and other programs and happenings, making the downtown more of a destination while also going a long way toward solving that area’s biggest problem — a lack of parking, Miller noted.

Amanda Waterfield, who recently marked a year as executive director of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

“One of the problems we’ve had in town has been parking,” she said. “And this park has added a lot of convenient parking in the downtown. And I know many of the merchants and businesses downtown struggled with that a little bit because the on-street parking is limited.”

Meanwhile, there is progress on many other fronts as well, from efforts to build a new police station to the highly anticipated arrival of the F-35 fighter jets, the next generation of planes to be flown and maintained by the Air National Guard’s 104th Tactical Fighter Group, based at Barnes Municipal Airport. Other developments include early-stage talks about replacement of the now 50-year-old Westfield High School; emerging plans for revitalizing the area just off Turnpike exit 41 (formerly exit 3); new, affordable housing in the old City Hall; and creation of new athletic fields and a track-and-field stadium at the high school, a $11 million project that will be funded essentially through larger in-lieu-of-tax payments by the city’s municipal utility, Westfield Gas & Electric.

Amanda Waterfield

Amanda Waterfield

“This park has added a lot of convenient parking in the downtown. And I know many of the merchants and businesses downtown struggled with that a little bit because the on-street parking is limited.”

The G&E, as it’s known, is marking its 125th anniversary this year, a milestone it is celebrating in many ways, from a fireworks celebration at a recent Westfield Starfires baseball game to an event with retirees in May to a blood drive in cooperation with Baystate Noble Hospital, something that will become a monthly happening.

It’s also marking the occasion with continued growth of what has become an intriguing business success story — Whip City Fiber.

The high-speed internet division of the G&E, which was formed 10 years ago, now boasts more than 17,000 customers in more than 20 communities across Western Mass., with more being added to the portfolio, said Tom Flaherty, general manager of the G&E.

Indeed, West Springfield, East Longmeadow, and Southwick are in the later stages of development of their networks, which will be built out by the G&E, which serves as their internet service provider, he said, adding that the G&E’s track record for success has led to communities from the other end of the state, such as Falmouth and Bourne on Cape Cod, reaching out to tap into that expertise.

For this latest installment of our Community Spotlight series, we turn the lens on Westfield, where progress is taking center stage downtown and elsewhere — figuratively, but also quite literally.

 

A New Flavor to Downtown

McCabe, as most locals know, served in the Westfield Police Department for 36 years, rising to the rank of captain, before deciding to change gears and seek the corner office in 2021.

He told BusinessWest he enjoys being the city’s CEO and most aspects of the job, especially work to conceive projects and bring them to fruition.

The new Elm Street Plaza

The new Elm Street Plaza, which will host concerts and other events, is one of many new additions to the downtown Westfield landscape.

There have been several such projects in recent years, including the creation of Elm Street Plaza, which, as noted, brought a successful end to talk that began in 1985 about what to do with the rather large hole in the downtown created by the loss of Newberry’s.

Funded with ARPA money, created at a cost of $1.2 million, and officially opened last fall, the plaza is already paying dividends, said the mayor, noting that, in addition to bringing people downtown for various gatherings, the space has created much-needed off-street parking in an area that has seen several new businesses open over the past few years — businesses that need parking.

“Downtown seems to be coming back together again — it seems more vibrant than in the past,” said McCabe, noting the addition of several restaurants that have brought a new flavor to the area — actually, several of them.

“There’s a lot of young entrepreneurs, a lot of new-American entrepreneurs, a lot of women entrepreneurs who are really taking a chance to pursue their passions and their businesses downtown, and it’s been inspiring.”

“We have an incredible variety of international flavors, whether it’s Polish pierogies or Ukrainian crepes or kabobs,” he said. “You can get any flavor you want downtown.”

The growing list of eateries includes everything from Ray Ray’s Café on Main Street to Two Rivers Burrito on Elm Street; from Crave Café, specializing in crepes, which recently opened at the corner of Elm and School streets, to Circuit Coffee, on the other corner of Elm and School.

Another important addition to that portfolio, Tribeca Gastro Bar & Grill, an upscale tapas bar, is set to open soon (a specific date has not been set) on the ground floor of the historic Lambson’s Furniture building on Elm Street, directly across from the plaza.

“They’re crediting the plaza project with their decision to locate downtown,” said Miller, adding that entrepreneurial gambits like Tribeca are fueling a resurgence downtown, one that has been decades in the making.

“It’s been a slog, certainly, and we can’t take credit for what’s been happening,” he said of efforts to breathe new life into a downtown that, like most others in the region, has been forced to reinvent itself over the past few decades amid dramatic changes in the retail landscape.

Crave Café

Crave Café is one of many new restaurants that are, collectively, making downtown Westfield more of a destination.

“The small-business community has been much more creative over the course of the past six to eight years,” he went on. “There’s a lot of young entrepreneurs, a lot of new-American entrepreneurs, a lot of women entrepreneurs who are really taking a chance to pursue their passions and their businesses downtown, and it’s been inspiring.”

Miller said he expects the downtown to benefit greatly from another ongoing initiative — a bid to create a cultural district in that area.

“We’ve applied to the Mass. Cultural Council for the designation of a cultural district on Elm Street, which we hope will provide us with a collaborative that will help to better market the downtown,” he explained, noting that the city had a business-improvement district doing some of this work, but it disbanded several years ago.

“We’ve seen these districts be successful in places like Easthampton, Great Barrington, and communities as small as Cummington, and we’re hopeful that putting together a group that’s focused exclusively on the downtown will help us to better market what we have here.”

Elaborating, Miller said this was the first time the city and its leadership have felt comfortable applying for creation of a cultural district, and the decision was sparked by the work of several nonprofit groups, including ArtWorks Westfield, formed five years ago, which has committed to an eight-week, Friday-night concert series in the new plaza, among other initiatives, including several art-walk events.

 

A New Gig

It was a desire to be part of this resurgence that prompted Waterfield to put aside work in print journalism — she was the owner and publisher of West Springfield Lifestyle magazine — and pursue the job as director of the Greater Westfield Chamber, which also represents Southwick and the hilltowns to the west of the city.

“It was a position that checked a lot of boxes for me,” she explained. “I’ve been a long-time Westfield resident, I love communications, I love community development, I’ve been an engaged member of the Kiwanis Club here, so I have a lot of interests here and decided to make the switch. And I’m very happy that I did.”

Westfield at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1669
Population: 40,834
Area: 47.4 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $15.97
Commercial Tax Rate: $31.39
Median Household Income: $45,240
Median Family Income: $55,327
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Westfield State University, Baystate Noble Hospital, Mestek Inc., Savage Arms Inc., Advance Manufacturing Co.
* Latest information available

Since arriving, she’s been focused on building membership (she’s increased that number to roughly 235), meeting each member (she figures she’s about halfway there), developing a new strategic plan, and putting in place an ambassador program to help members, especially the newer ones, make the most of their membership.

Overall, she sees renewed vibrancy downtown, momentum that’s measured in various ways — from the steady number of ribbon cuttings for new businesses to the growing roster of events in the new plaza downtown.

“I love those ribbon cuttings because, to me, that shows an investment in our community,” she said, adding that the growing number of such ceremonies shows that more are willing to make that investment and thus become part of an ongoing story of revitalization.

The G&E has long been part of that story, providing comparatively lower-cost energy and, more recently, reliable, gigabit internet service to a growing mix of residential and commercial customers.

“We’ve seen these districts be successful in places like Easthampton, Great Barrington, and communities as small as Cummington, and we’re hopeful that putting together a group that’s focused exclusively on the downtown will help us to better market what we have here.”

As the utility marks 125 years, the emergence of Whip City Fiber has become one of the utility’s better success stories. As noted, it began 10 years ago with service to the Route 20 corridor in Westfield. Today, the business has expanded to communities near the Quabbin to the east and to the hilltowns and well beyond to the north and west.

“Whip City Fiber has diversified the Gas & Electric to not just be focused on natural gas and electricity with essentially zero growth other than potentially a handful of residential customers each year and a few new commercial customers,” Flaherty explained, adding that it has become a solid business that continues to grow each year.

The success of the venture can be attributed to manner in which the G&E becomes full partners with the communities it serves, he added, providing turnkey operations.

“We’re the network operator, which means we handle soup to nuts, everything involved with their network, from billing customer service to tech customer service,” he said. “We don’t touch their money; it goes right into the town’s account, but we physically do all of the management of their department for them.”

He noted that there is considerable competition, not just from the major players such as Comcast and Verizon Fios, but also from other municipal utilities, including those in Chicopee and South Hadley. The G&E’s main competitive advantages are size and proven capabilities, he went on.

“We’ve built out 20 communities outside of Westfield, so we know the process; we know what that takes,” he told BusinessWest, adding that this track record for success has helped bring on new partnering communities, including Southwick and East Longmeadow.

 

Bottom Line

Getting back to east-west rail, McCabe acknowledged that the city is somewhat late to this party, but hopefully not too late.

If he can manage to gain the ear of the state and make Westfield a stop on that line, that would bring another dose of momentum to a community that is seeing large amounts of it — on many different fronts.

 

East Longmeadow Is Building Momentum

By
The new ownership group at Shaker Bowl
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

The new ownership group at Shaker Bowl

The new ownership group at Shaker Bowl (from left, Paul Thompson, Brendan Greeley, Amy Greeley, Marc Murphy, General Manager Justin Godfrey, Adam Oliveri, Kim Oliveri, Jordan Healy, and Andrew Robb) is making changes to make the facility even more family-friendly.

Gordon Smith became superintendent of schools in East Longmeadow in 2010.

Not long after, the ‘journey,’ as he called it, to build a replacement for the high school built in 1960 began.

It’s a been a long, difficult, often frustrating road, said Smith, who summed up the early years of the long fight and approval process by saying, “we would get close, but we were never invited in.”

Finally, the last of myriad hurdles — a vote of town residents to approve the $180 million school project and another $19 million for the accompanying natatorium — was cleared last November, and Smith’s already busy schedule became even more so, but in a fulfilling, even exhilarating way.

Indeed, he’s part of the building committee that has been finalizing plans for the school, and as he talked with BusinessWest, he was working with the construction company Fontaine Bros. and other parties on plans for the ceremonial start of preparation of the ground for construction of the new high school (that took place on June 17).

While doing all that, Smith has been reflecting on how the project will impact this town of roughly 16,500, starting with a likely rise in that number because of what a new high school means to a community that has all the other ingredients for growth — land; a strong, diverse business community; vibrant neighborhoods; and high quality of life.

“It’s exciting to really shape the future for a number of years,” he said. “This moves the community as a whole forward, and we’ll have a building that’s current in terms of how it not only engages students, but how it engages the community.”

The long-awaited start of work on the new high school is one of many developing stories in East Longmeadow. Plans to construct a large warehouse on the former Package Machinery complex on Shaker Road have been turned down by the Planning Board and are now in litigation. Meanwhile, town leaders are in early-stage work to address concerns about affordable housing stock in the community.

Town Manager Tom Christensen said town leaders are exploring creation of a Center Town District featuring mixed-use development including housing options, such as apartments or townhouses, that would enable more people to come to East Longmeadow, or continue living there, at a time when most new homes being built there come with price tags approaching $1 million.

“This is a desirable community, but most of the housing stock is detached single-family,” Christensen explained. “With the new high school, and thinking about the cost of living, we’re trying to see if an affordable-housing component makes sense in the downtown area, with some kind of density housing.”

Timm Marini, seen here with staff members

Timm Marini, seen here with staff members during a recent employee-appreciation day at HUB, says East Longmeadow has always been desirable, and a new high school will make it even more so.

Several new businesses have opened in the community as well, including a Chase Bank branch in the center of town; a lingerie, bra-fitting, and swimsuit store called Gazebo Too; and Raspberry Records.

There are also new owners (a large group, in fact) of one the town’s older and perhaps better- known institutions, Shaker Bowl, located, as that name suggests, on Shaker Road.

Brendan Greeley, one of those new owners, said the group saw an opportunity to not only continue a more than 60-year-old tradition, but make some needed improvements and additions to make the facility even more family-friendly and more of a destination.

“We came at it like entrepreneurs; we wanted to make the facility better and more accommodating for families and more accommodating for businesses to come in and have their corporate events.”

“We came at it like entrepreneurs; we wanted to make the facility better and more accommodating for families and more accommodating for businesses to come in and have their corporate events,” he said, adding that improvements have included renovations to the party room, new lighting, new bowling software that allows young people to knock down a castle instead of pins, and more. “For kids coming in for a party, there are a lot more options now.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its lens on East Longmeadow, where many forms of progress and momentum are evident.

 

Classroom for Improvement

As he talked about the high-school project and all that goes into it, Smith said this is more than a generational undertaking. We’re talking about several generations.

“The goal is for this building to last equally as long as the last one,” he said, adding that the facility will be state-of-the-art in every way, especially with regard to technology.

“We think it’s going to be a building that firmly puts East Longmeadow into the 21st century,” he told BusinessWest. “This will be a building that students can come into and use the most current technology available — classrooms designed for how the 21st century student learns, a setting that’s much more interactive. It’s not about a teacher standing in the front of the room and presenting all day; it’s a setting that’s much more conducive to hands-on learning, no matter what the subject matter might be.

“And from a safety standpoint, we won’t have to worry about leaking roofs and power outages and things of that nature,” he went on, adding that there have been many of both during this long fight for a new school.

Plans call for the new school to open its doors for the start of the 2026-27 school year, said Smith, who, like others we spoke with, said the impact of the new facility should be felt long before that.

Indeed, in many respects, a modern high school has been the one ingredient missing from a community that has a lot of other things going for it, including land on which to build new homes and businesses and a large commercial base that has helped keep residential tax rates lower than in surrounding communities like Longmeadow and Wilbraham.

“With that investment in a new high school, I think you’re going to see more families moving into town,” said Timm Marini, president of Personal Lines Insurance at HUB International New England, which has an office on Shaker Road near the center of town. “The new schools really draw people — young people — which is what we need.

“We’ve seen several other area communities make investments in new high schools,” he said, listing Longmeadow, Wilbraham, West Springfield, and others. “East Longmeadow is a little behind the times in that respect, but now, town residents are putting their money where their mouth is, and it will benefit the community.”

Christensen, who grew up in town, returned to it several years ago, and then took an intriguing route to his current post — moving from deputy director of the Department of Public Works to deputy town manager to town manager — noted that the strong vote in favor of the debt exclusion (nearly 70%) spoke volumes about the need for the project and its importance to the community.

“The ‘yes’ votes were an indication that this could really jump-start our community,” he said, adding that while the town has recorded both residential and commercial growth over the past few decades, there is certainly room for more.

Indeed, there are two subdivisions (one with 23 lots, the other with 15) now in development, and there is ample land for more, he said.

But there are other needs in the community, he went on, noting that, like many communities in this region, there is a growing need for housing options, especially inventory that would fall into the ‘affordable’ category.

This need has led to ongoing efforts to create that aforementioned Center Town District, a mixed-use development with an affordable-housing component.

Christensen said the goal will be to create this district in the downtown area — not the surrounding residential neighborhoods — on commercially zoned property and parcels in need of redevelopment.

“We have some people in town who may not be able to afford to stay in their home, but want to stay in town, so it’s incumbent on us to provide an option,” he explained, adding that town leaders have engaged the public in the process, asking them what they want and don’t want from such an initiative.

 

Enthusiasm to Spare

Greeley told BusinessWest that, while he didn’t grow up in East Longmeadow, he spent plenty of time at the bowling alley on Shaker Road.

“I remember Thanksgiving and Easter … my family would get together, and we would always go bowling,” he said, adding that he has many fond memories from what can only be called a landmark.

And it is a desire to create memories for some new generations of area residents that prompted a group of investors (including Greeley’s wife, Amy) to acquire the bowling alley when it came on the market roughly a year ago.

Tom Christensen

Tom Christensen says a desire for housing options in the community has inspired efforts to create a Town Center District with an affordable-housing option.

Retelling the story, Greeley said he and Adam Oliveri, a close friend and over-30 hockey teammate, were looking for businesses to buy and, while driving by Shaker Bowl one day, brought it to the top of their list of prospectives. The owner wasn’t interested in selling, however, so they started looking in other directions, only to return to their original target when it eventually came on the market in early 2023.

They added partners to the group and closed that summer. Since then, they’ve been making improvements aimed at taking advantage of steady — and, by most estimates, growing — interest in bowling, while also making the facility a destination for all kinds of functions.

From September through April, leagues bowl there every day of the week, he explained, adding that league bowlers don’t take all 28 lanes, but they do provide a strong, steady source of revenue. Meanwhile, beyond the leagues, interest is strong among all age groups.

Shaker Bowl is part of a business community that is, as noted earlier, large and diverse, featuring everything from a solid mix of restaurants to a full roster of banks, with Chase being only the latest; from service businesses like HUB to a large number of distribution and manufacturing facilities in the town’s large industrial park.

There are many intriguing stories of entrepreneurship, including the Coating House, a 44-year-old business owned in recent years by Kim Casineau, who has written an inspiring story of growth, diversification, and giving back.

The company manufactures specialized coated and uncoated fasteners and fittings for several sectors, including industrial, medical devices, aerospace, automotive, and the military. But that’s just part of the story.

Indeed, Casineau, who benefited from services provided by the YWCA of Western Massachusetts earlier in her life, has committed herself to giving back not only to that agency (she currently serves as its board president), but also the young women it serves.

Working with board member Dawn Rodgers and YWCA staff, Casineau is part of an effort to implement a new educational program with high-school students called Healthy Empowering Relationships and Education. She’s also working to provide women served by the YWCA with mentoring and, eventually, job opportunities.

“I purchased this company with the intention of growing it and offering job opportunities to the women who are residents at, and receive services from, the YWCA, because I thought I could offer them entry-level jobs and mentorship at a safe place that is welcoming,” she said, adding that the mentoring initiatives and job opportunities remain a work in progress. “I want to offer them a place to learn and grow and feel safe.”

Overall, East Longmeadow is business-friendly, said Grace Barone, executive director of the East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce, which counts East Longmeadow among the five communities it represents.

She noted that, with the arrival of Christensen and Rebecca Lisi, deputy town manager, there are now stronger lines of communication between Town Hall and the business community, which brings benefits for both sides.

“They’re fantastic, they’re out in the community, they’re listening to what the members need, and they’re engaging with them,” she told BusinessWest. “It’s very refreshing, and it’s great to work with them.”

Like Marini and others we spoke with, Barone said East Longmeadow boasts a strong location, near Springfield, but also Connecticut, Longmeadow, Wilbraham, and other vibrant communities, making it an attractive address for restaurants and certainly banks, but also retail outlets.

“We’ve had several ribbon cuttings,” she said, listing Gazebo Too, on North Main Street, and Raspberry Records, on Shaker Road, among them. “A business might go out, but you see new businesses coming in right away to fill those spots, and that’s very exciting.”

Report Calls for More State Investment in Regional Transportation

By Contributor
Features Travel and Tourism

Funding Drive

Regional public transit plays a vital role in communities across Massachusetts, but the current funding approach is fragmented, unfair to those living in rural areas, and unable to fully meet the needs of residents statewide, according to a report released by the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts and the Quaboag Connector.

Research support was provided by the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, which examined the operational funding landscape for regional transportation providers, including the “patchwork” of 15 regional transit authorities (RTAs) that offer fixed-route and on-demand bus and shuttle service to millions of residents living outside of Greater Boston, which is served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

Regional public transit connects people to jobs, healthcare, education and many other daily activities and is a lifeline to those who cannot afford a car, choose not to own one, or cannot drive.

“Where residents live in Massachusetts should not determine their mobility or access to opportunity.”

The report found that the funding mechanism for RTAs lacks transparency, is overly reliant on local contributions relative to the MBTA, and does not adequately account for issues of regional, rural, or economic equity. It argues that a sustainable funding model is necessary to improve the efficacy and fairness of the transit system as a whole and to fill gaps in the current system.

“We must do more to eliminate transportation deserts and to ensure that urban and rural regions alike have access to public transit, not only within each region, but across a more connected system across the state,” said Dr. Amie Shei, president and CEO of the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts. “Transportation is a public good, and we must invest in it today so we can achieve the Commonwealth’s climate, economic-development, health, and housing goals of tomorrow.”

RTAs are more reliant on local contributions from the communities they serve than the MBTA system — about 20% versus just 8% to cover operating expenses. Setting aside any federal dollars, the gap is even wider, with 32% of the RTA system funded by local contributions versus 12% of the MBTA. In rural parts of the state, where the tax base is limited, these contributions amount to a significant financial burden for local municipalities and taxpayers.

The study was commissioned by the Quaboag Connector, a micro-transit initiative serving 10 rural communities west of Worcester and funded through a Synergy Initiative grant from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts. The Quaboag Connector, led by the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corp. and the town of Ware, has provided more than 66,000 rides over the past several years, serving as a lifeline for local residents.

“Where residents live in Massachusetts should not determine their mobility or access to opportunity,” said Melissa Fales, executive director of the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corp. “This report underscores the critical need to incentivize connectivity across RTA service areas, particularly in rural areas, and to identify dedicated funding streams to support independent micro-transit efforts that are working to fill gaps across the Commonwealth.”

Advocates for transportation equity have called for increased state funding to support RTA operating expenses. “Providing accessible, affordable transportation to rural communities can have transformative impacts on community health, but there is currently no funding mechanism that incentivizes large-scale development of these programs or supports them sustainably in the long run,” said Jen Healy, Quaboag Connector program manager.

The report notes that, in addition to more funding, which should be based on publicly shared principles and stable funding over time, the distribution of funding across the RTA network should be reassessed, along with the incentives to expand service by RTAs or independent transit providers to underserved populations.

“Given how important regional transit is for mobility and economic opportunity around the state, there’s tremendous value in thinking about how best to support RTAs and other innovative players,” said Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis.  “The funding-by-inertia process we’ve got really isn’t up to the task.”

The report, titled “Regional Transit in Massachusetts: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go,” is available online at www.rideconnector.org/report.

“This report highlights the need for sustainable funding for regional transit and robust, coordinated planning to better provide transportation options for residents, particularly in rural areas,” said Pete Wilson, senior policy director of Transportation for Massachusetts, a statewide coalition focused on improving the Commonwealth’s transportation systems.  “Implementing the recommendations of this report will increase regional equity and sustainability for access to public transportation for all residents.”

 

Peter Pan Rolls into Its Fourth Generation

By
Melissa and Peter A. Picknelly (far left and right) with fourth-generation company leaders
Cover Story Features

Staying True to Their Routes

 

Melissa and Peter A. Picknelly (far left and right) with fourth-generation company leaders

Melissa and Peter A. Picknelly (far left and right) with fourth-generation company leaders Lauryn Picknelly-DuBois, Alyssa Picknelly-Dube, and Peter B. Picknelly. (Staff Photo)

The past five years have brought a raft of challeges to the world of tourism and transportation.

The biggest one? Survival.

“The worldwide pandemic was tough on our industry, and many other industries,” Peter A. Picknelly, chairman and CEO of Peter Pan Bus Lines, told BusinessWest. “For three years, we had the government using our tax dollars to tell people not to use our service.”

There’s a bit of edge in his voice as he brings up topics like shutting down travel, and then restrictions like social distancing that accompanied its gradual return.

“But we survived, and we’re thriving now. We’ve invested $25 million in new equipment in the last couple of years. We’re modernizing our fleet, which is what our consumer wants; they want a nice, clean, modern bus. And we’re continuing to expand our route structure,” he said, noting that Peter Pan serves about 100 locations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.

“We listen to our customers — where they want to go — and we expand where it makes sense. We recently expanded to Newark, New Jersey, and a suburb right outside of Baltimore called White Marsh. And we’ve added service on Cape Cod. We’re always looking at new areas.”

But the company is also looking to the future in other ways, most notably some emerging leadership from the fourth generation of this family business launched by Picknelly’s grandfather in 1933.

“You just don’t see workers commuting to work, and if they do, they’re not working Mondays and Fridays. I mean, the full-time office worker is just not rebounding. It’s better than it was, and it will eventually come back, I think, but some businesses are just going to thrive on people that work remotely.”

“I kind of grew up just learning from him and wanting to work here,” said Peter B. Picknelly, one of three children of Peter A. and Melissa Picknelly (the company’s vice president) now working at Peter Pan. A fourth is still in college and mulling career goals.

“I had no doubt in my mind that this is what I wanted to do,” added the younger Peter, who is the company’s director of Safety & Security. “I grew up going to school and trying to better myself so I could then come into the business. That’s what I always wanted to do.”

That’s a story his father can relate to. “I’m the third generation; Peter and his sisters are the fourth,” he said. “But I never forced them into it. When I grew up, some kids wanted to be baseball players or football players. All I wanted to do was follow my father and grandfather. And I can’t tell you how proud I am that our kids chose to do that — but it was their decision.”

Peter A. Picknelly

Peter A. Picknelly, standing before some portraits of his predecessors, says there are very few family-owned bus companies in the U.S. today.
Staff Photo

Other fourth-generation leaders at Peter Pan include Lauryn Picknelly-DuBois, who was promoted two years ago to controller, and Alyssa Picknelly-Dube, who is involved with the Maintenance division. (A fourth child is still in college and mulling career goals.)

“There are very few family-operated bus companies in the United States anymore,” their father said. “Here, the fourth generation is already set, and they’re still in their 20s. I think it assures our employees and our customers that we will be around for a long time. They are doing an amazing job.”

 

All Aboard

They’re doing it at a time when public-transportation demographics might be changing, but bus travel clearly remains important.

Peter Pan specializes in travel that’s longer than a typical work commute, but within 200 miles — a distance that can be covered as quickly as flying, once the airport time is factored in, the senior Picknelly explained.

These days, most travelers are between 18 and 35 years old or over 50, he added. “They may have an automobile, but the bus is more affordable. We go city center to city center. And parking can be extremely expensive in some areas, and hard to find.”

He added that the pandemic hit the work-commuter customer base hard, and it’s still struggling, at around 60% of pre-pandemic volume.

“You just don’t see workers commuting to work, and if they do, they’re not working Mondays and Fridays. I mean, the full-time office worker is just not rebounding. It’s better than it was, and it will eventually come back, I think, but some businesses are just going to thrive on people that work remotely.”

That said, the longer-distance service — say, Boston to New York or New York to Philadelphia — is booming, especially as gas prices have remained high and cities have gone to congestion pricing.

And gas prices do make a difference, he added. “You can instantly see it when gas prices go up. Our cost of operation goes up when fuel goes up — it’s our third-largest cost. But it’s outweighed by the fact that more people seek an alternative. When fuel hits $3, $4 a gallon, you can see an instant surge.”

That said, today’s buses are much more fuel-efficient, Picknelly said, and feature an anti-idling function that shuts them off when they idle at a gate or while parked for more than five minutes (but not while in traffic).

“There are situations when the idling won’t turn off — say it’s middle of winter and it’s freezing, and you want to heat up a little bit. That will override the five-minute idle shutdown,” Peter B. Picknelly said. “Same thing if it’s too hot — to keep the bus cool, it’ll override it.”

Other features of a modern bus include better-designed seats, video and Wi-Fi, and cameras that capture a 360-degree view of the bus for safety purposes.

Peter B. Picknelly

Peter B. Picknelly, director of Safety & Security, is one of three fourth-generation family members so far to have chosen Peter Pan as a career.
Staff Photo

As for those who drive the buses — the current fleet is about 200 vehicles — the younger Picknelly said the workforce crunch was severe a couple of years ago, but hiring has picked up considerably since. “We get a lot of applications every single day, so we’re able to be a little bit more picky when it comes to the driver force.”

His father noted that hiring is easier in some areas than in others. “We’re constantly hiring. But while Cape Cod and Boston are difficult locations, with our driver forces in New York and D.C., we have plenty of applications.”

Peter Pan has been receiving more applications these days from younger people, and the company has brought on employees in the process of getting their commercial driver’s license, and even reimbursed them for it.

“It’s a very good job if you like to drive and you want to deal with people,” Picknelly said. “Our drivers choose what routes they want to operate and when they want to work. Our position is, if you like doing what you want to do, you’re going to do a better job.

“But you’ve got to like to drive, and you’ve got to like to deal with people,” he added. “We can train just about anybody to drive a bus. But you can’t train someone to have good customer-service skills. And wanting to drive is just something you’ve got to have a passion for. Because that’s what we do.”

The younger Picknelly agreed. “It’s good getting these young people on board because most of the time they’re pretty loyal, and they want to stick with the company for a long time. We have people who have been here for so long because they came on when they were younger and were extremely loyal to the company, and that’s what we’re hoping to get now.”

 

Shifting Gears

Looking to the future, Peter Pan continues to find more ways to be the transportation mode of choice for its customers, especially younger riders, and that means making their travel plans easier.

To that end, the company recently announced a new strategic partnership with Trailways, extending its network of destinations, as well as a strategic alliance with Amtrak.

“So you can take a train somewhere, and then they’ll connect to a bus, and we can take you right to the city center,” Peter A. Picknelly said, and from there, rideshares can take over. “We’re also forming alliances with Ubers and Lyfts where you can coordinate being picked up wherever we drop you off, and instantly getting in an Uber and taking it to your final destination. Because of this coordination, more and more people are saying they don’t need to drive, particularly young people that live in the big city.”

“We can train just about anybody to drive a bus. But you can’t train someone to have good customer-service skills. And wanting to drive is just something you’ve got to have a passion for.”

Statistics bear that trend out. Last year, driver’s license applications actually went down, reversing a 50-year upward trend, he noted.

“It’s so convenient. If you go to Europe, taking public transportation is always involved, and you’re seeing more of that here. It’s way more convenient, and with the amenities in the vehicle, you can work or entertain yourself while you’re traveling. You can’t do that when you’re driving.”

Peter Pan also maintains a model of managing terminals — another one of Peter B. Picknelly’s roles — in its destination cities, with amenities like food, restrooms, a service counter, and a pickup area, instead of the model of picking up and dropping off on unattended corners.

“We don’t like picking up on a street corner like some of these other bus companies,” Peter B. added. “We like going into a terminal or a specific designated area, so they can have that one-on-one personal experience with our employees if they have an issue or have any questions or concerns. We’re a customer-driven business, so we like pleasing the customers.”

About 15% of Peter Pan’s business, meanwhile, is charter service to destinations not on the regular route plan.

“Charters are very big, and in the summer, it picks up a lot. There are people who go out to Saratoga Race Course on the weekend; that’s a very popular place. We’ll take them wherever.”

One shift that occurred over the pandemic years has been a move toward online booking, his father added.

“Prior to COVID, about 50% of our riders would buy their ticket a half-hour before departure, in person. Now, 90% of our sales now are in advance. Most people are booking within three days of their trip, online.”

But, as mentioned up top, the biggest story of the pandemic for Peter Pan was … well, simply surviving it, and coming out stronger on the other side, with plans for the future and a band of 20-something Picknellys ready to evolve into stronger leadership roles.

“We’re really proud of all of our staff,” their father said. “Listen, 40% of all bus companies didn’t make it through the pandemic. We did, and we’re thriving. We’ve had to change our focus on longer-distance trips, less commuter-related, more group travel, but we’re doing well.”

Peter B. Picknelly agreed. “In hindsight, COVID was horrible, but it made us think about how we could run things differently here, and it’s been beneficial.”

V-One Owner Charts Aggressive Course of Expansion, Growth

By
Paul Kozub says the need to keep the distillery in Poland busy
Features Special Coverage

At a Tipping Point

Paul Kozub with his children

Paul Kozub with his children, from left, Weston, Ela, Augustin, and Vincent, at the distillery in Kamien, Poland, that he acquired in 2019.

When asked about all that has changed since he first started finalizing plans for creating his own vodka label 20 years ago, Paul Kozub chose to start with the personal side of his life.

“Back then, I was a single guy living alone with not many cares in the world; now, I’m married with four kids under the age of 10,” he said, adding that this reality explains why he only visits the distillery he owns in Poland maybe once a year instead of three or four times, as he did earlier, and why he presides over maybe 20 in-store tastings a year instead of the 50 or 60 he was averaging a few years ago.

As for the business side of the equation, there have been equally significant changes. He started with one flavor in one region of the Bay State, the 413. Now, there are 10 flavors, including a lemon that changes colors and a hugely popular double espresso. And they are now available in eight states — the six New England states as well as New Jersey and Texas — although they can be shipped almost anywhere, as we’ll see.

And there’s that distillery in Poland, which Kozub now owns a 51% share in. He made that investment in 2019 in a critical step that saw him move from outsourcing production to overseeing (officially if not literally) every step in the process.

And while there have been huge leaps in overall growth — from 700 to 1,000 cases produced and sold per year early on to more than 20,000 today — there have been myriad challenges as well, everything from a global pandemic to the war in Ukraine (the distillery is only a few miles from the border); from huge swings in the cost of getting containers from Poland to the U.S. ($4,200 per shipment to $16,000 back down to $4,200) to the burgeoning cannabis industry (in states where cannabis is legalized, there is an accompanying decline in alcohol sales, Kozub reported).

But while looking back — and then ahead — Kozub chose to focus mostly on what hasn’t changed. The goal, then and now, has been to become a national and then international vodka label, and in some respects, that’s already been accomplished; he does sell some vodka in Poland, but not much, as V-One’s prices are higher than other brands because of how it’s made.

And while the original goal was to make a living selling vodka, something he could do when he was selling 1,000 cases a year, the overriding ambition has been to continually grow the label by taking it to more markets in more states and, eventually, more countries.

While that hasn’t changed either, this desire to grow has morphed into a critical need — because of that distillery and the importance of keeping it busy.

Kozub summed it all up directly, and poignantly.

“For me, V-One is at a crucial tipping point,” he explained. “We’re either going to stay small — a Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island business — or we’re going to get bigger, and a lot bigger, as a national brand or even an international brand.

“For me, V-One is at a crucial tipping point. We’re either going to stay small — a Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island business — or we’re going to get bigger, and a lot bigger, as a national brand or even an international brand.”

“And the decision has kind of been made for me because of the distillery purchase — the capacity that facility has and the need to keep it busy on a daily basis, which it is not right now,” he went on, adding that, with this decision — and a subsequent capital raise involving local investors — Kozub is moving forward aggressively with plans to more than double his current sales force and move into more states, starting with Florida, then New York, then other states on the East Coast.

It’s an intriguing next chapter in a story that has featured a number of plot twists and turns but a continued focus on the proverbial big picture and how to make it become reality.

V-One now boasts 10 flavors

V-One now boasts 10 flavors, and Paul Kozub hints that more additions to the lineup may be coming soon.
(Photo courtesy of Chris Marion)

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Kozub about the latest, quite significant adjustments to the V-One business plan and how they provide more proof — yes, that’s an industry term — of how those original plans haven’t exactly changed. They’ve just been supersized.

 

Proof Positive

By now, most people around here know at least the basics of the V-One story.

With a small, $6,000 inheritance from an uncle and some entrepreneurial vigor that ran in the family (his father started Janlynn Corp.), Kozub put aside a career in banking — he was a commercial lender with TD Bank — to fulfill a long-held dream to launch his own vodka label.

That was in 2005. He started with a small still in his basement and soon made his way to Poland to meet with a world-renowned vodka expert for advice, but also inspiration. He made the critical decision to become the first producer of vodka made exclusively from organic spelt wheat (most other vodkas are made from corn).

Over the next 19 years, V-One has grown and evolved, adding new flavors, winning several awards, expanding its reach across New England and beyond, and increasing the number of cases sold each year. Along the way, there have been several milestones — from the opening of V-One’s world headquarters in the former St. John’s Church on Route 9 in Hadley to a rebranding that saw a new look to the bottles, to the acquisition and subsequent expansion of the distillery in Kamien, Poland, a multi-million-dollar investment fueled by a desire to take more control of the process.

“I’ll make this analogy … instead of buying milk from the store, we now own the cow. We need to keep the distillery busier, and we need to essentially double the business that we’re doing now.”

BusinessWest has chronicled the story, and along the way, Kozub has earned two of the magazine’s awards — inclusion in the inaugural 40 Under Forty class of 2007, then being named the magazine’s Top Entrepreneur for 2016.

As he noted at the top, he now has four young children — “life has gotten a little more complicated” — so that means fewer trips to Poland, although he was recently there for some end-of-fiscal-year matters, and more Zoom calls with his master distiller there.

“He has things handled pretty well as far as production goes, so I don’t need to go as much as I used to,” Kozub said, noting, again, that the critical to keep that distillery busy — at optimum output, the facility could increase production 10-fold — has prompted the latest adjustments to the business plan, capital raise, and plans to aggressively move into other states.

Paul Kozub says the need to keep the distillery in Poland busy

Paul Kozub says the need to keep the distillery in Poland busy — busier than it is now — is fueling the company’s aggressive plans for continued growth.

“Before, it was a case of wanting to grow; now, it’s kind of like we have to grow,” he told BusinessWest. “I’ll make this analogy … instead of buying milk from the store, we now own the cow. We need to keep the distillery busier, and we need to essentially double the business that we’re doing now.”

Elaborating, he said he has no real desire to produce other vodka labels in Kamien, only V-One. Which means producing more of it.

“And to do that, we need to put more people, more salespeople, on the street, and tell the V-One story,” he said, adding that this need to hire and ratchet up marketing efforts — although the company still relies heavily on social media — was the impetus for the recent capital raise.

“My next goal is to get V-One in at least five more states in the next 12 to 24 months,” he said, adding that Florida will be the next target.

 

Entrepreneurial Spirit

The Sunshine State should be a natural next step, Kozub went on, noting that, while consumption of vodka in Poland is higher during the colder months of the year — primarily because people there drink it straight — in the U.S., vodka is generally mixed with other ingredients that are put over ice, making it a warmer-weather choice.

“A place like Florida has great, year-round weather for vodka drinking,” he said. “And there’s obviously a lot of vacationing, a lot of people by the pool. You really don’t want to drink heavy drinks when you’re by the pool; you want lighter drinks like a vodka soda or mojito.”

As he noted earlier, entering new states and new markets is difficult — and expensive. With immense competition in the vodka aisle, there is a strong need to build brand awareness and gain a foothold. And this requires boots on the ground, he said, adding that, while V-One works with distributors, those large companies represent literally thousands of different labels.

“You have distributors in each market, but you also want to have someone talking to those bars and restaurants and liquor stores,” he told BusinessWest. “You need to have someone else telling the story because these distributors are selling 3,000, 4,000, maybe 5,000 other items, and they’re pushing the big brands, so the smaller brands just get left by the wayside.

“So you have to put someone in each market to tell your story,” he went on, adding that he is looking to bring on several additional salespeople in the coming months to do this storytelling.

While Florida is the next primary target, the goal, as he mentioned, is to be in a handful of other states within the next year or two.

New York is another primary target, he said, adding that the plan after making some headway in that all-important state is to move down the East Coast, perhaps into Virginia, Delaware, and North and South Carolina.

“We want to keep things on this side of the country for now,” he said, adding that the ability to ship products to different states (35 of them at present) enables V-One to expand its presence in that fashion. It’s a small but nonetheless meaningful arrow in the quiver, but one that is growing steadily and has potential to continue the growth trajectory.

Overall, expansion into a new state comes with a price tag of $100,000 to $250,000 for marketing, additional salespeople, and other expenses, he said, adding that this is just part of the cost of doing business.

And it’s a critical aspect of being at this important tipping point for V-One, as Kozub called it. As he noted, the company has progressed from wanting to grow to needing to grow.

“For me, it’s time to take that next big step,” he said, adding that he’s approaching this next phase for his company the way he has all those that have come before it — with a focus on that original dream of creating a vodka label and then taking it around the world.

Lenox Continues to Be a Destination Community

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Shakespeare & Company’s 33-acre campus in Lenox is open to the public for picnics and exploration of its grounds.
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Shakespeare & Company’s 33-acre campus in Lenox is open to the public for picnics and exploration of its grounds.

Shakespeare & Company’s 33-acre campus in Lenox is open to the public for picnics and exploration of its grounds.

Becky Piccolo says the Olde Heritage Tavern is the ‘Cheers’ of Lenox.

It’s a place where … well, most everyone knows your name. Indeed, while it’s a popular hangout for locals, those in town for a concert at Tanglewood, a play at Shakespeare & Company, or a massage at one of the spas might well stop in for a burger and a brew as well.

“It’s a gathering place for all the locals,” she said of the tavern, which has been called both a second home for area residents and a home away from home. “It’s really a big family and a big part of the community; it’s way more than just a bar.”

Piccolo and her sister, Rachel, have been managing the tavern for more than 20 years now, but through a series of transactions and changes in ownership, including a time when the U.S. government took possession (we’ll get into all that later), they can now call the establishment theirs.

“The Airbnb phenomenon has certainly impacted us, as it has almost every community in the States and overseas as well. A lot of the modest homes have been purchased by owner/investors that have crowded out the younger families and empty-nest households perhaps looking to downsize to more modest homes.”

And when asked what might change with this latest change in ownership, Piccolo was proud to say, “nothing, really — we’re just going to keep doing what we’ve always done.”

This is certainly good news for the town and its business community, and this change of ownership at the tavern is just one of many developing stories in this community of 5,000 people that is perhaps the tourist mecca in a region built largely on tourism.

Other stories include, on the municipal side, movement toward a new public-safety facility and new wastewater treatment plant, and, perhaps most importantly, steps forward in the development of two new housing projects, which will, according to Select Board member Marybeth Mitts, make a meaningful dent in what has become a serious shortage of affordable housing.

That’s a problem common to communities of all sizes and across Western Mass., said Mitts, adding that it is perhaps even more acute in Lenox because of its wealth of tourism and wellness facilities and an accompanying trend that has seen many properties in — or close to — the ‘affordable’ category converted to Airbnbs.

“The Airbnb phenomenon has certainly impacted us, as it has almost every community in the States and overseas as well,” she noted. “A lot of the modest homes have been purchased by owner/investors that have crowded out the younger families and empty-nest households perhaps looking to downsize to more modest homes.”

Lenox at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1767
Population: 5,095
Area: 21.7 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $9.07
Commercial Tax Rate: $12.85
Median Household Income: $85,581
Median Family Income: $111,413
Type of Government: Select Board, Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Canyon Ranch, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Kimball Farms
* Latest information available

This development, and the overall lack of affordable housing, has many side effects and has made it even more difficult for the town’s rich stock of restaurants and tourist attractions to find enough help, said Mitts, adding that many restaurants are able to open maybe five days a week instead or six or seven because of staffing issues.

“It has impacted the ability of our village shops and eateries to have the summer staffs that they’ve enjoyed the past several decades,” Mitts explained. “Kids grow up, and they start busing in the restaurants and working in the local retail establishments in the summertime to help with seasonal employment needs. And now, those kids are becoming fewer and far between, and it’s harder for those restaurants to be open seven days a week in the summer because they just don’t have the staff.”

The two new housing projects — a 65-unit, mixed-income development that should break ground in the next 90 days, and a 68-unit project in the earlier stages of development — should bring some relief, but more new housing is needed.

Meanwhile, on the business side, Lenox continues the process of making a full recovery from COVID. The pandemic obviously hit this community hard, and in the years immediately after the height of COVID, when people could go back out and do things, many took their time getting back into that rhythm.

But Piccolo said the town is primed for a big year in 2024.

“Lenox has been hopping; last year was a great year, and Tanglewood’s lineup for this year looks even better,” she said. “I think this summer is going to be a record-breaking summer.”

Jaclyn Stevenson, director of Marketing & Communications for Shakespeare & Company, was similarly optimistic.

A member of the Lenox Cultural District, she said the community’s many attractions are working together — perhaps more than ever before — to promote the sum of all that’s going on (the busy season started Memorial Day weekend, builds through the summer, and peaks in August) and generate some intrigue.

“The cultural organizations in Lenox, including some of the retail spaces, have been working together more than they have in previous years,” she said, citing as reasons everything from the pandemic to turnover, both in Town Hall and in those retail spaces. “That spirit of collaboration is starting to come back.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its lens on Lenox, a community that continues to build on its long legacy of being a true destination community.

 

At Home with the Idea

Mitts isn’t from Lenox — she was born in Hartford, Conn. and subsequently lived in many different places, from Washington, D.C. to Detroit to Manchester, Conn., and then back to West Hartford — but came to this picturesque community just south of Pittsfield in 2001 and has raised a family here.

While doing so, she’s made a point of getting involved. Indeed, in addition to serving on the Select Board, she’s been involved with the Cultural Council and was, until recently, chair of the Affordable Housing Trust, and is currently running for state representative as an independent.

Marybeth Mitts

Marybeth Mitts

“We have a pretty robust rooms and meals tax here in town that keeps us very well-situated so that we can maintain a consistently conservative tax rate.”

She said the town’s business community is top-heavy with tourism and wellness institutions, including anchors such as Canyon Ranch; the Miraval Berkshires Resort & Spa (formerly Cranwell Resort); the Mount (Edith Wharton’s home); Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; the Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary; Shakespeare & Company; and many others.

“We have a pretty robust rooms and meals tax here in town that keeps us very well-situated so that we can maintain a consistently conservative tax rate,” Mitts noted. “We’re able to stick to the Proposition 2½ restrictions, and we’ve never had to go for an override; we’re not anywhere near our tax limit.”

This strong fiscal balance sheet will be a real asset as the town faces some needed infrastructure projects, she said, starting with a new, $25 million public-safety facility she described as “hugely necessary.”

“That’s because our Police Department is located in the basement of our town hall, and our fire trucks constantly have to be modified to fit our inadequate and tiny fire station,” she said, adding that a new facility that will bring both departments together will be built at the corner of Housatonic Street and Route 7, a somewhat central location outside the village center.

Also planned is a new wastewater-treatment plant, she said, adding that this project, with a projected $40 million price tag, is due to commence over the next 12 to 18 months.

Another huge issue for the community is housing, Mitts said, adding that there was already a shortage before the Airbnb crush made things considerably worse.

Indeed, she said many modestly priced smaller homes and also several multi-family homes have been converted into Airbnbs.

“Some of the two- and four-unit homes that had either smaller families in them or people who want to stay in town but don’t have large families anymore have been converted to Airbnbs,” she said. “I know specifically of the case of a fourplex that was purchased; there were two small families and two individuals who were living in apartments in this fourplex, and they were essentially evicted so that this person could rehab it and turn it four Airbnbs and charge $3,000 a month for those units.

“One of those individuals was someone who worked in the arts in town and was able to affordably live in town and maintain their livelihood,” she went on. “But now, the need to pay an additional amount of rent and try to find an affordable rental unit … it’s become difficult to impossible, and other people who were essentially evicted and had children in the school district were now looking for places to live so their children could stay in the school district, and I believe one of them wound up living with their mother in another town because they couldn’t find a place to live.”

There are many similar stories, Mitts said, adding that the planned new housing developments — that 65-unit project, to be called Brushwood Farms, and the 68-unit complex currently working its way through the funding and approval processes — may enable more young families to come to Lenox and more empty nesters to stay.

“If that project gets approved, we’ll be adding 133 units to our affordable rental housing stock,” she said, adding that eight of the Brushwood Farms units will be for families, with three bedrooms, in addition to 28 two-bedroom units and the rest with one bedroom.

 

Bar None

Tracing her long history at the Olde Heritage Tavern, Becky Piccolo said she has managed it for several different owners.

That includes John McNinch, who acquired it in 2000 and later sold it to FTX digital bitcoin magnate Ryan Salame, who would eventually enter guilty pleas on two criminal counts — making an estimated $24 million in unlawful political contributions and conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

As fallout from those charges, the U.S. Marshals Service took possession of the 12 Housatonic St. property, as well as some other properties Salame owned in Lenox, and Piccolo essentially managed the tavern for the federal government while it arranged an auction.

“We’re operating normally; it’s business as usual, the staff is happy, so it’s ‘keep on trucking’ here,” she told the Berkshire Eagle the day after the U.S. Marshals Service took possession.

And those same sentiments apply today, after Annie Selke, serial entrepreneur and founder of the Annie Selke Companies, prevailed at that aforementioned auction in April and in turn sold the tavern to the Piccolo sisters.

Indeed, when asked what it felt like to own the landmark instead of managing it for someone else, including the government, Piccolo said, “I run it the same. It’s just kind of like who I am; I’ve been here for so long.

“It’s a huge part of my life, and it continues,” she went on. “It’s like nothing changes; it’s like I never skipped a beat.”

Elaborating on what she said earlier, Piccolo said she is planning just a few small changes, but is largely invoking the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ philosophy, and in most all respects, the tavern isn’t broken.

Instead, it has grown from being purely a place for locals — a dive bar, by many accounts — to a destination for those coming to Lenox to take in its many attractions.

That list includes Shakespeare & Company, which has an intriguing season planned for 2024. It includes a few traditional Shakespeare plays — The Comedy of Errors and The Winter’s Tale (in this case, an ‘enhanced reading.’ But it also features other offerings, including a world premiere of The Islanders, starting July 25; a regional premiere of Flight of the Monarch, described as a “darkly comic play that explores how siblings’ lives are intertwined”; the world premiere of Three Tall Persian Women, a “comedic and touching play about generational differences, grief, control, and learning to let go, but more than anything it’s a love story to immigrant mothers”; and Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret.

That eclectic lineup is part of what should be another summer and early fall of building more momentum in Lenox, said Stevenson, who returned to that notion of collaboration among the tourism institutions at this pivotal time for the community.

“We do a lot of art walks, art weeks, and music; Lenox loves music. These are things that happen year-round and are held at different locations, different venues, year to year,” she said, adding that Shakespeare & Company recently staged a Community Day (an open house of sorts with events that also showcased area nonprofits), and other venues have staged similar gatherings.

Collectively, they build not only awareness, but a sense of community, hence the name, said Stevenson, adding that the cultural district works to call attention to all different kinds of artists, promote diversity in the arts, and, in general, celebrate and promote the community’s rich inventory of restaurants and things to do.

Hadley Is on the Road (Route 9, That Is) to Progress

By
Molly Keegan
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Molly Keegan

Molly Keegan says the Route 9 project is just one of many ongoing issues in Hadley.

 

There is no official countdown clock on the massive project to widen and reconstruct roughly 2.5 miles of Route 9 in Hadley.

But there might as well be.

Indeed, many business owners and residents alike are counting down the months, weeks, and days until this important undertaking, launched in 2021, is in the books; April 2026 is the projected date. Everyone agrees that, when finished, the project will be well worth the trouble and inconvenience it is creating. But getting there … well, that is an ongoing challenge and topic of frustration for many.

“Yes, it’s a disruption, especially for some of the businesses along Route 9 that have had more disruption to date than others,” said Molly Keegan, a principal with Curran & Keegan Financial, a Select Board member in town and one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Hadley Business Council. “But, ultimately, I think it’s really going to serve the business community well once it’s completed.”

The Route 9 project is one of many ongoing issues in this community of just over 5,000 people, said Keegan and Town Administrator Carolyn Brennan. Others include a growing need for a full-time planner, the advancement of plans for a new Department of Public Works facility, and ongoing work to maintain the town’s dikes, a costly but necessary initiative.

But it’s a housing problem — which mirrors what’s happening in many other communities but is perhaps more acute because of the surging cost of real estate in Hadley — that has perhaps taken center stage, Brennan said.

“Ultimately, I think it’s really going to serve the business community well once it’s completed.”

As in many other communities, she noted, a shortage of affordable housing is certainly impacting seniors and young families. The former want to stay in town but don’t have any place to go except the large homes they no longer want or need, and the latter are finding it increasingly difficult to come to Hadley because there is very little that they can afford.

“If you do any search on housing in Hadley, at any given time, there’s maybe five or six houses, and they’re extremely expensive,” Brennan said. “There are a lot of parents who have raised their kids here — and those kids can’t afford to raise their own children here.”

Keegan agreed. “It’s very difficult for people on either end of the spectrum to buy in,” she said. “If you look right now and see what’s for sale in Hadley, you’ll find houses for $900,000 to $1 million. Young people looking to start a family are not going to be able to afford that.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Hadley, a community known for its asparagus, but also a lively, diverse business community that continues to take advantage of the town’s unique spot on the map.

 

Location, Location, Location

As she relayed the story of how Curran & Keegan relocated from Northampton to Middle Street in Hadley, in the center of town, in 2021, Keegan explained, rather succinctly and effectively, why this community has become such a popular mailing address for businesses of all kinds.

In short, it’s that oldest and most absolute of commercial real-estate values: location, location, location, in this case between two college towns and two of the most popular destinations in the region — Amherst and Northampton — a spot that has made Hadley a destination itself.

Carolyn Brennan

“If you do any search on housing in Hadley, at any given time, there’s maybe five or six houses, and they’re extremely expensive. There are a lot of parents who have raised their kids here — and those kids can’t afford to raise their own children here.”

“We had been renting and were looking for a property to purchase,” she explained. “This particular property we’re in had been a residential property, but given its proximity to Route 9, it happened to be zoned commercial. We fell in love with it; it’s a wonderful location for our clients on both sides of the river, and also those coming down from Franklin County. We’re in the perfect spot at the crossroads of Route 47 and Route 9.”

Business owners in virtually every sector can say essentially the same thing, which is why Hadley, and especially that Route 9 corridor, is home to everything from hotels and restaurants to big-box retail stores; from car dealerships to cannabis dispensaries; from tech companies to the world headquarters for V-One Vodka.

All or most of them are taking full advantage of the 100,000 or so cars that pass along Route 9 every day, although there are certainly fewer these days as the construction project continues and many bypass the thoroughfare — if they can. And those that are on it are moving more slowly because of that work.

Hadley at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1661
Population: 5,325
Area: 24.6 square miles
County: Hampshire
Residential Tax Rate: $11.39
Commercial Tax Rate: $11.39
Median Household Income: $51,851
Median Family Income: $61,897
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting, Board of Selectmen
Largest Employers: Super Stop & Shop; Evaluation Systems Group Pearson; Elaine Center at Hadley; Home Depot; Lowe’s Home Improvement
* Latest information available

But, by and large, businesses along the road are getting by, said Keegan, adding that project was one of the motivations for creation of the Hadley Business Council, and it has certainly become a priority for the agency, which meets on the last Friday of each month.

The council has helped generate ongoing communication among the business community, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and Baltazar Contractors, the general contractor handling the Route 9 project, which has in some ways eased the disruption.

“They recognize the negative impact on businesses, and they’ve been doing everything they can to make sure that there’s signage to indicate that businesses are still open and that they’re not blocking people from entering those businesses,” Keegan said. “So we’ve established a good working relationship.

“That said, there has been an impact on certain businesses,” she said, listing ventures ranging from Hillside Pizza to Wanczyk Nurseries to Exotic Auto, which had to be relocated to another spot on Route 9 because of the project.

As noted, the road work is one of the main focal points at present for the business council, which was formed, she explained, to improve communication between the town and its business community — “in both directions.”

One of the council’s priorities is educational opportunities, she said, adding that the town’s building inspector has appeared before the group to talk about the permitting process. Meanwhile, the council serves as a voice for the business community if it wants to bring something to the attention of town leaders, such as the need for specific bylaws and zoning on food trucks.

“I think we’ve done remarkably well for a long time, but there is so much out there in terms of grant opportunities, especially around housing — the state is really promoting housing construction — and it’s difficult to take advantage of those opportunities when you don’t have someone focused on it on a full-time basis.”

One of the issues moving forward is a heavy reliance on volunteer board members, said Keegan, adding that, for some time, the town has looked at hiring a full-time planner but hasn’t been able to fit such a position into the budget. Money remains tight, but the need for a planner continues to grow, she told BusinessWest.

“I think we’ve done remarkably well for a long time, but there is so much out there in terms of grant opportunities, especially around housing — the state is really promoting housing construction — and it’s difficult to take advantage of those opportunities when you don’t have someone focused on it on a full-time basis,” she explained. “So that’s something we will continue to take a look at; ultimately, a position that like that will pay for itself over time.”

 

Housing, Housing, Housing

As she talked about Hadley’s housing challenges, Brennan referenced a recent project undertaken by students in the architecture and landscape architecture programs at UMass Amherst.

As part of a studio course, the students were asked to develop potential plans for re-envisioning the Hampshire Mall, a 33-acre property on Route 9 that, like many malls, has suffered from the growing popularity of online shopping and other sea changes in retail and has lost of many businesses.

The course, “Reimagining the Hampshire Mall: Exploring Opportunities for Intergenerational Housing and Community Development,” yielded a proposal to convert the space into 40 rowhouses and 150 apartments with recreational areas.

“It was really fascinating; we sat and listened to the students, who showed us the design and engineering of what the mall could look like by bringing housing and commercial together, and that was very interesting,” said Brennan, noting that the audience included many from the business community and Hadley’s Economic Development Committee, as well as representatives of the mall. “There is definitely some potential for something like this in Hadley.”

While she acknowledged that this was a course project and such an initiative is a long way from reality, Brennan said it will require some real imagination and, most likely, creative reuse of properties like the mall to ease the town’s housing shortage.

“It was a good visual for people on those committees to see what the opportunities are in Hadley,” she said, adding that, like other cities and towns in the region, Hadley is finding it challenging to interest the development community in affordable-housing initiatives, which is the type of project most needed at the moment.

Indeed, Keegan noted that the town’s senior population continues to grow each year, and there is a huge shortage of housing for that constituency.

She offered hope that town officials might be able to take advantage of state Chapter 40R, which encourages the creation of dense residential or mixed-use smart-growth zoning districts, including a high percentage of affordable-housing units, to ease the crunch.

“40R could go a long way toward helping us increase the housing stock,” she said. “But like anything, whatever changes are made are done thoughtfully and over some period of time.”

Housing is one option being considered for the iconic, 129-year-old Russell School, said Brennan, noting that the landmark has been vacant since 2015. A reuse study has identified several alternatives, including keeping the property as a municipal building and renovating it and creating a public-private partnership, she noted.

“The study is going to determine what the market might be for various uses and what it would cost to renovate the Russell School,” she said, adding that housing is certainly a consideration. “We’re hoping that we’re going to get some options to put in front of the voters to see how they would like to proceed with the school.”

Dave Hayes Cultivates Community Around Weather

By
Dave Hayes
Features Special Coverage

Beyond the Forecast

Dave Hayes

Dave Hayes

Like many New Englanders, Dave Hayes remembers the significant weather events of his childhood, like the Mother’s Day snowstorm that struck the region in 1977, dropping more than a foot of snow on parts of Massachusetts, and the Blizzard of 1978 that crippled much of Southern New England the following February.

But he also remembers something else weather-related from his youth: watching a Boston-area forecast, intrigued by the bright colors of the radar display, and then almost immediately watching the skies outside his living room grow dark, and a storm suddenly arise.

“Five minutes later, what was on the radar was overhead, and something lit up inside of me. I became obsessed with the weather,” he said — to the point where he’d flip between local TV forecasts to compare them. “I found I gravitated toward the meteorologist who explained why the weather is doing what it’s doing, rather than just what it’s doing.”

Hayes never lost that obsession with the weather, and it led to an unlikely, donation-funded career as Dave Hayes the Weather Nut, through which he posts and discusses the day’s current weather and upcoming forecast on social media, as his myriad followers converse about it all in the comments.

And there are a lot of followers — more than 57,000 on Facebook, in fact, and 6,600 on Twitter.

But while Hayes is widely known on Facebook today, early in 2011, he had become disenchanted with the site and deactivated his account.

“I didn’t get it yet. I didn’t understand virality and sharing with people and the idea that this might possibly be useful in some way.”

However, when a tornado struck Springfield and a host of other communities on June 1 of that year, he heard talk of his friends chattering online about what he thought about the destructive event. So he eventually logged back on and started talking more often about weather events. When an acquaintance complained that he was doing too much of that, Hayes decided to create a page separate from his personal account, called Dave Hayes the Weather Nut, where friends — or anyone else — could follow him if they wanted to.

And what a year that was for weather in Western Mass. — 2011 featured not only the tornado, but Tropical Storm Irene in August, the freak pre-Halloween snowstorm that felled countless trees, and a few other events. His reporting between 2011 and the summer of 2012 had about 200 people taking part in the local weather conversation, and his reports in the fall of 2012 on Hurricane Sandy — which seemed to be threatening New England before turning toward New Jersey — tripled that, to more than 600.

“People wanted to know what was going on,” he said. “I didn’t get it yet. I didn’t understand virality and sharing with people and the idea that this might possibly be useful in some way — a hub for weather that’s interesting. But I kept doing it.”

Dave Hayes collects raw data from numerous sources and uses it to craft his daily reports.

Dave Hayes collects raw data from numerous sources and uses it to craft his daily reports.

A blizzard in February 2013 saw Hayes’s audience crest to more than 1,000 people. “People said how helpful my work was to them. And as someone who hadn’t really launched in life yet, I wanted to be helpful to people. So that lit a fire inside of me, and I said, ‘I’m going to do this daily. This is something that people find useful.’”

When he began daily reports, which continue today, the audience doubled to 2,000, then swelled above 10,000 early in 2014, during a colder and snowier winter than any Western Mass. has seen since. Around the same time, he was laid off from a sales job when his company downsized due to the lingering effects of the Great Recession.

“Without a job, looking for work, not finding anything, I went deeper into weather reporting,” he said, and began attracting the attention of public radio, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and other media — and wondering if this could actually become a career.

 

Weather or Not

Indeed, when the page was taking off in 2014, Hayes’s father and others in his life started asking him seriously if he could make a living at this, he recalled. “I said I didn’t know. I hadn’t even thought of it. I was just doing something I love.”

But around that time, crowdfunding was becoming more popular, so he threw up a GoFundMe link.

“Without a job, looking for work, not finding anything, I went deeper into weather reporting.”

“I figured, if people want to support my work financially, they’ll do it. If they think it has value, they’ll kick me a few bucks. I linked to it during big storms, and during 2015, I produced a crowdfunded support drive, about four or five weeks, talking about different aspects of what I was doing. I was teaching myself as I went along. It was a very unorthodox way of making a living.”

But Hayes did, in fact, begin to slowly generate a steady income through voluntary donations, and while he still does some paralegal work on the side, Dave Hayes the Weather Nut is, in fact, his living now. He compares the model to Patreon, a popular site through which people can directly support artists and writers producing content.

“It’s very unorthodox, how my life has played out,” he added. “You never know what’s going to happen until you work on something and share it with others.”

In creating daily content, Hayes curates his reports by gathering information from multiple sources, gathering data and modeling from the National Weather Service, private meteorological subscriptions, and personal weather stations, then creates his own forecasts and analysis that people from across Massachusetts and parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut have come to rely on.

“I’m not a meteorologist,” he said. “I pay for data subscriptions, read multiple forecast discussions from regional National Weather Service meteorologists, and obtain other trusted weather data in the Northeast region. I take all that information, along with my 35-plus years living in the Western Mass. region, and use my own process to produce my reports.”

Dave Hayes says winter storm trends can be slow-moving

Dave Hayes says winter storm trends can be slow-moving, while severe summer weather can emerge with little warning.

The next phase for Hayes will be a mobile app, which he plans to introduce in 2025, and which he hopes will replace his social-media presence, given a widespread problem of algorithms restricting the reach of social-media content creators — a real problem during fast-developing storms.

“Three out of four people look at my info from their smartphone, so I figured I need to have a way to reach people more directly, especially during the summer severe events,” he explained. “Winter storms develop more slowly. You see them building across the country over three or four days. But thunderstorms, microbursts, and tornadoes can form within five, 10, or 15 minutes.”

He plans to offer both free and paid versions of the app with different features, and will definitely retain the all-important interactive aspect, with users able to comment. After all, that may be the most compelling and popular aspect of his passion turned unlikely career.

“The way we watch the forecast has traditionally been on TV; you consume the forecast, and that’s it. There’s no conversation about it,” Hayes explained. “What I’ve tried to create with social media is a two-way street where we can go back and forth and answer as many questions as we can.”

It essentially adds another dimension to weather reports, one he’s been delighted to find so many people are passionate about.

“The way we watch the forecast has traditionally been on TV; you consume the forecast, and that’s it. There’s no conversation about it. What I’ve tried to create with social media is a two-way street where we can go back and forth and answer as many questions as we can.”

“People are talking to each other — ‘I got this much snow in Belchertown.’ ‘Oh, I got this much down in Palmer.’ It’s a whole community vibe around something that we all have to deal with. Everyone has unique lives, but we all have to deal with the weather. So by fostering this community, we can all talk about what’s impacting all of us.”

It also lends an element of “ground truth” in real time, he added. Because a temperature difference of a degree or two can turn rain into snow quickly, not only can he quickly adjust a report based on comments, but a weather forecast becomes not a static report, frozen in time, but a living, evolving thing.

 

Seeing the Light

Speaking of evolving, Hayes has taken note of the trend toward warmer, wetter winters over the past decade, as well as more flooding events. But he says he’s not a climatologist and continues to focus on his bread and butter — forecasting, reporting, and talking about each day’s weather with a growing fanbase in the tens of thousands.

Even “space weather,” as he put it, got plenty of attention recently, as followers snapped, shared, and commented on photos of the aurora borealis making a rare appearance across the U.S. on May 10. With the solar maximum not having hit its peak yet, such a shared experience might happen again within the next year or so.

“It was beautiful and otherworldly; humans think they’re amazing, and it really puts things into perspective, shows how small we are,” Hayes told BusinessWest. “But you don’t want too many solar storms. The Carrington Event in 1859 fried the entire telegraph system. One hundred and sixty-five years later, we’re a lot more reliant on the power grid for a lot of things. So while the aurora is fun to see, I don’t want to see it too often.”

40 Years of the Workplace

By
BusinessWest Anniversary

The Pendulum Has Shifted — Maybe for Good

Allison Ebner recalls that, when she first entered the workplace just over 30 years ago, the overriding question still concerned what the employee could do for the employer.

Over the years, and especially over the past decade, the pendulum has certainly shifted to where it’s now more about what the employer can do for the employee.

Indeed, while there have been cycles with the economy and the job market — and, thus, times when the employer and employee have alternated when it comes to having the proverbial upper hand, if you will — the employee has been in control for a while, and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future.

“It’s been flipped on its head, and I don’t think it’s necessarily going to flip back that much moving ahead,” Ebner said. “As employers, we’re constantly trying to figure out ways to retain top talent, and I think that is something we’ll see continuing into the future.”

This is just one of many changes that have come to the workplace over the past four decades, and especially the past four years, as the pandemic created a new paradigm. Others involve everything from how people work and where to dress codes; from technology and the emergence of AI to how to maintain a company culture when people are all together maybe, as in maybe, a day or two a week.

Drew Andrews, managing partner and CEO of the accounting firm Whittlesey, touched on many of these trends and issues as he flashed back almost exactly 40 years to when he started with the firm in June 1984.

“There was one computer in the corner of the office; it was a desktop that no one knew how to use. I was the bright, young kid who came out of college and somehow took a course my senior year on how to use that software, Lotus 1-2-3,” he recalled. “I was the only one who knew how to use it, so they had me start to train people on how to do spreadsheets on it. It was so slow and so ineffective that I can remember partners saying, ‘we’ll never be using this … I can do in 10 minutes what you just did in an hour.’”

Meanwhile, he was doing this work in a three-piece suit. “My first day, it was about 85 degrees out, and I’ve got this suit and tie on, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘why am I doing this?’” he recalled. “I was thinking that I should have taken the summer off and worked at the beach.”

Flash ahead to late last month, and he was doing this interview with BusinessWest via Zoom, from his home, wearing an unbuttoned collared shirt, and marveling at just how much things have changed — not just since he was that kid fresh out of school, but since the start of this decade.

And he’s certainly not alone.

Indeed, one of the common threads running through the stories in this 40th-anniversary issue is the dramatic changes that have come to the workplace in recent years, what they mean, and what might come next.

Allison Ebner

Allison Ebner

“It’s been flipped on its head, and I don’t think it’s necessarily going to flip back that much moving ahead.”

Many of those we spoke with have been working for three or four decades and referred to themselves as ‘old timers’ or even, in one case, a ‘dinosaur.’

And while some admit to being a bit stubborn when it came to those changes that have come in realms from relaxed dress codes to remote work, in almost every case, reason — driven by many factors, but especially the need to attract and retain talent — has won out over stubbornness.

“I’m a suit kind of guy,” said Tom Senecal, chairman of Holyoke-based PeoplesBank. “And it’s taken me a while, but the pandemic changed things. People wanted to go to casual; I said ‘no,’ but finally acquiesced. Then they wanted jeans on Friday, and I acquiesced. And then they wanted jeans every day, and I acquiesced, and it hasn’t really changed.

“I acquiesced on all of them,” he went on, “because who wants to go work at a stodgy, old-perceived institution versus one that’s flexible? I’m competing against tech companies and insurance companies and financial-services companies. You want to wear jeans? You want to work at home? I have to compete, so I have to acquiesce to what the market is doing.”

Moving forward, Ebner and others are seeing some slight movement toward returning to the office, or at least strong efforts in that direction. What they don’t see is the pendulum (meaning that upper hand) swinging back to the employer any time soon.

 

Is This Work in Progress?

As he talked about all the changes that have come to the workplace, Andrews put things in poignant perspective when he said he would prefer to visit his firm’s three offices, scattered across Northern Conn. and Western Mass., on Monday or Friday, because there are noticeably fewer people on the road those days courtesy of hybrid work schedules and a desire to be home those days.

His own employees are among those who fall into these categories. “So, if I went on Monday or Friday, I’d be visiting myself,” he said with a laugh.

Drew Andrews

Drew Andrews

“I was the bright, young kid who came out of college and somehow took a course my senior year on how to use that software, Lotus 1-2-3. I was the only one who knew how to use it, so they had me start to train people on how to do spreadsheets on it.”

So he winds up visiting toward the middle of the week, when people are around — at Whittlesey and most other larger places of business across sectors and jobs in which hybrid schedules are feasible.

And that’s a large list, said Ebner, noting that, while profound changes have come to the workplace since the pandemic arrived in 2020, there were already shifts in those directions years before COVID. The pandemic simply accelerated the process, and on many levels.

Also, the period just after the height of COVID became one of the most competitive in recent memory when it came to talent, the shortage thereof, and the lengths that employers would go to attract talent and then retain it.

“Employers pulled out all the stops to keep their people and attract talent, in terms of raising wages, enhancing benefits, and working on ways to keep their people happy,” she said. “It’s settling down just a little bit; we’re seeing a little bit of a cooling on wages — increases for 2024 were not predicted to be as high as they were in 2023 — and benefits are scaling back, especially in terms of employers sharing the increased cost of healthcare. And some of the other benefits around wellness have gone away.

“We’re trying to find that next normal,” she went on, acknowledging a dislike of the phrase ‘new normal.’ “And we’re still settling into that; we’re trying to find the right balance of productivity expectations for employees versus what we’re offering — the employee value proposition. What does that look like?”

Meanwhile, the workplace has changed in other ways, again mimicking society in many respects.

Today, Ebner said, it’s a less tolerant place than it was years ago, with co-workers becoming seemingly less willing to accept points of view — on a wide of topics — other than their own.

“There’s a lack of respect in our workplaces today for ideas, thoughts, basically anything that someone has that differs from yours,” she explained. “There’s a very confrontational undertone in our workplaces today.

Tom Senecal

Tom Senecal

“You want to wear jeans? You want to work at home? I have to compete, so I have to acquiesce to what the market is doing.”

“The congenial tone of our workplaces where we were more accepting of people who don’t think and do things like us has really diminished, and it’s causing a lot of chaos for employers trying to manage a respectful workplace,” she went on, adding that this chaos has manifested in everything from microaggressions — stealing coworkers’ lunches and messing with their workstations — to sharp rises in requests at EANE for conflict-resolution training and coaching for people who can’t get along.

 

Remote Possibilities

Certainly, the biggest change to come to the workplace involves fewer people being in the workplace day in and day out.

We all know what happened. COVID forced most people to work remotely, and over the course of weeks that eventually turned into months, people found they liked it, and they were, by and large, just as productive. And when it came time to go back to the office, many weren’t ready to do so. At least not every day.

Over the past few years, remote work and hybrid schedules have ceased being a perk, if that’s even the right word. They became a demand, or an expectation.

As noted earlier, this was not the first preference for the old timers, who came into a world where everyone worked 9 to 5, or something close, and couldn’t work remotely even if they wanted to, because the technology wasn’t there.

It’s certainly there now, and in recent months, two camps have seemed to develop, at opposite extremes.

“There’s a camp on one side that says everyone has to be in the office, and there’s no remote work, and they don’t want to offer any flexibility. And then, you have the other group that says everyone should be virtual, and if you’re not virtual, you’re not a modern employer,” said Ebner, adding that there is room in the middle and one size (or two) does not fit all.

Meanwhile, many of those who recognize this middle ground still believe something important is missing when people are not in the office, even a few days a week.

Dave Glidden, president and CEO of Middletown, Conn.-based Liberty Bank, said his institution has largely solved the issues involving productivity when it comes to remote work. But he worries about culture and the overall development of younger team members.

“When I came up, I don’t know how many times I sat in the conference room and listened to grizzled veterans talk about problem commercial credits and about how you go to market,” he recalled. “That learning was invaluable to me as I came up, and there are now fewer opportunities for young people coming up to experience that.”

As a result, the bank puts great emphasis on ways to maintain culture when people are not in the office every day, because of its importance to the institution’s overall well-being. Initiatives include everything from professional-development programs to outings where teammates can come together, such as a recent ‘bring your kid to work day’; from food trucks and ice-cream trucks to an all-employee gathering at Mohegan Sun.

“I’ve always said that if a company has no culture, it has no soul, and it takes years to build a good culture,” Glidden told BusinessWest. “But you can lose a culture in minutes or 30 days, you really can.”

Andrews agreed.

“Going back to 1984, my seat was outside the boss’s office; just listening to how he talked to clients … I learned so much,” he recalled. “I was a 21-year-old kid; all I knew how to talk to was other 21-year-old kids. Listening to how that person was interacting with clients and handling situations … I just learned from that.

“I’ve been saying this for a while … we as leaders need to get people back into the office more, and for the right reasons — not just to sit there and talk with people who are remote,” Andrews went on. “We have more fulfilling days when we’re together.”

 

40 Years of Technology

By
BusinessWest Anniversary

Welcome to an Exciting, Uncertain New World

On Jan. 22, 1984, a good deal of the U.S. watched — for the only time, because it never aired again — a commercial that was, in many ways, more interesting than the beatdown the Los Angeles Raiders were putting on the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII.

Directed by Ridley Scott, the spot, titled “1984,” used dystopian imagery to introduce Apple’s Macintosh personal computer, which would hit stores two days later, with the promise of allowing the average person access to the kind of computing power formerly reserved for big corporations.

The world would never be the same. The home computer was already a thing — it was, in fact, Time magazine’s ‘Machine of the Year’ in 1982 — but the Macintosh introduced a wave of innovation and ease of use that eventually made computers ubiquitous in both homes and businesses — for better (productivity) and, arguably, worse (a pervasive blurring between work and home life).

The latter, of course, became possible with the rise of the internet, email, and, later, social media.

“The internet has completely changed how we work, how we communicate, how we conduct business, how we learn, how we consume entertainment, and a million other aspects of our daily lives that have become so normal, we have forgotten that, 30 years ago, they didn’t exist,” said Delcie Bean, CEO of Hadley-based Paragus Strategic I.T., adding that technology is still changing things, in ways that feel unstoppable.

“If we step back and truly think about just how much changed as a result of the internet and we look at how quickly it happened,” he went on, “AI is going to have a much bigger impact in a much shorter amount of time.”

And that will require the kind of nimbleness and ability to pivot that Sean Hogan has demonstrated through his entire career, since launching Hogan Associates (later Hogan Communications and now Hogan Technology, based in Easthampton), with an initial focus on cabling and infrastructure.

“We saw the ethernet becoming a thing, and everyone needed wiring; there was no networking back then,” he told BusinessWest. “For six or seven years, we did strictly cabling. We ran it up and down the East Coast; we had a ton of work.”

After surviving the recession of 1989-90, Hogan began to see telecommunications as a huge opportunity, and that became his first major pivot.

“Back then, very few companies had voicemail. People hate it nowadays, but they wanted it then. So we started selling phone systems that could integrate with computers and voicemail. We did very well selling phone systems, started getting attention from bigger companies, and ended up selling the Toshiba name. That brand gave us recognition. As a company, we built a great base of clients; we were thinking phones would never go away.”

Delcie Bean

“If we step back and truly think about just how much changed as a result of the internet and we look at how quickly it happened. AI is going to have a much bigger impact in a much shorter amount of time.”

About 16 years ago, Hogan began to move toward its current IT management model — which, these days, focuses on managed security as much as anything else, to respond to ever-growing cyberthreats. “The help desk is still critical, but if you’re not secure, that’s the biggest problem.”

And in the next few decades, companies like Hogan’s will have to keep adapting, because opportunities, challenges, and threats in the IT world certainly will.

“We’ve been able to keep educating ourselves enough to know that we have to be willing to change and accept change as an opportunity,” he said. “We totally believe that’s our culture here. We change when we have something new to learn. We consider ourselves security fiduciaries for clients. We protect our clients to the best of our ability; that’s our number-one job these days.

“Thirty years ago, we’d say we’d provide a solid ethernet foundation and a good network infrastructure,” Hogan added. “We’re still able to do that. But if you’ve got a bad network cable, that’s one thing; if you’ve got CryptoLocker or some other ransomware, that’s a huge threat to your business.”

 

Breaking the Mold

Joel Mollison, president of Northeast IT in West Springfield, shares a similar story of adaptation and evolution.

“When we started 21 years ago, the market was referred to as ‘break and fix’: if something breaks, we fix it,” he said, adding that he might do some network troubleshooting or provide very basic antivirus solutions, but in general, the work was sporadic.

Sean Hogan

Sean Hogan

“We change when we have something new to learn. We consider ourselves security fiduciaries for clients. We protect our clients to the best of our ability; that’s our number-one job these days.”

Around 15 years ago, Northeast switched to the model of a managed service provider, providing ongoing services under contracts, doing more diligence for each client. “We created the ability to form long-term relationships with clients, understanding their networks and providing them with hardware and other services, and also networking equipment.”

The Great Recession impacted the IT world, and many businesses were just trying to stay afloat and weren’t necessarily investing in their systems, Mollison recalled, but as brighter economic times re-emerged, managed services and IT tools had become more sophisticated, with more integration across platforms, automated monitoring services, and more complex cybersecurity tools, and businesses of all kinds were increasingly recognizing the need for them.

“Things have escalated in terms of the veracity and tools used by the threat actors; they have better tools and techniques,” he explained, noting that businesses need to combat online threats not just by installing protective technology, but by training employees to recognize increasingly sophisticated phishing schemes, which promise to become more realistic and targeted in the AI era.

“A lot of this has been driven by insurance — cyberliability policies dictating that businesses must have certain elements,” Mollison noted. “We get handed policy affidavits to review what’s installed. But it’s a good conversation piece, a chance to talk about where they’re at and where they can make some progress.”

Bean, who launched a solo business fixing home computers in 2002 and now boasts a growing team of 65 employees, made his own important pivot around 2011, choosing to focus only on commercial clients at a time when residential work still represented 60% of his revenue.

It has proved to a successful decision, as more businesses have realized they need a partner like Paragus (or Hogan, Northeast, or other regional IT players) at a time when, as noted earlier, networks and cybersecurity are becoming more complicated.

“Even the large Fortune 100 companies rely on consultants and experts and advisors because this field is just so broad, and it’s touching businesses in so many ways,” Bean said. “It takes a team of experts with a lot of different experience. Even we are constantly leaning on experts and outside advisors and doing research because it is just such a broad field, and it’s changing so quickly.”

Joel Mollison

Joel Mollison

“Things have escalated in terms of the veracity and tools used by the threat actors; they have better tools and techniques.”

Mollison said there’s a reason his firm has become more security-centric than ever. “We’ve had customers come to us who have experienced a breach, dealt with ransomware, lost hundreds and hundreds of hours while the whole rebuilding process took place. They couldn’t produce anything, there were legal fees, information was compromised. A lot of those factors are at play.”

Indeed, 20 years ago, smaller businesses didn’t have much to worry about when it came to aggressive cyberattacks, but experts agree that everyone is a target now.

“The thing that’s going to cause some chaos for everyone is the introduction of AI,” Mollison said, citing Microsoft Copilot — an AI-powered tool that automates features for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams — as one example of opportunity married with concern.

“If you’re allowing a system to comb through documents, you know there might be some bad intentions,” he told BusinessWest. “In the wrong hands, somebody could gather a lot of information that could be detrimental to your organization or turn into a security vulnerability, with espionage potential. We’re going to see a lot more AI-generated attacks in the future.”

And AI isn’t going anywhere, Bean said — with all its benefits and potential worries.

“I hate really dire predictions like, ‘if you don’t do this, you’re going to be out of business,’ but in this case, I think it’s right,” he said, adding that AI could be as transformative as the internet started to become 30 years ago. “And I’d like you to name how many businesses you know that don’t use the internet in any way, shape, or form. I would imagine it’s going to be zero.”

Therefore, “if you’re not having those conversations yet, asking those questions, talking to partners, going to webinars, getting informed and educated, I think you’re starting to fall behind,” Bean added. “There’s still plenty of time, but there won’t be for that much longer. I think now is the time for CEOs and C-level staff to really get engaged, to ask questions, to get educated, and to start to figure out where this fits into their business’s strategy and life cycle before they get left behind.”

 

Future Shock

Hogan has long recognized the growing importance of cybersecurity and its continuing evolution.

“Fifteen years ago, small companies weren’t a target. You had viruses isolated to desktops, but now, everyone’s a target,” he said — and AI will only complicate matters. “You see the bad actors out there that use AI to do deepfakes, do all sorts of bad things. We’re already seeing AI with voice recognition, duplicating voices on the phone. I fear for seniors out there. I’m afraid that’s going to be an issue.”

But AI poses great opportunity as well, Bean said, especially with the emergence of predictive AI.

“It’s going to be based on your specific niche industry, where it’s going to be able to run models and simulations and solve problems within your business or give you hypothetical outcomes to new products or things that you’re thinking of developing,” he explained. “We haven’t quite seen that hit the masses yet, but it’s coming in the next 18 months. And that’s what we need to be prepared for.”

Bean cited Moore’s law, a long-standing observation in the IT world that the number of possible transistors in a computer chip doubles every two years or so.

“This is going to be exponentially faster,” he said. “We are going to see that apply to innovation, where what used to take a decade has already been cut in half a handful of times, and now happens in 12 to 18 months. Soon, that will become six months, and then three months, and then we are going to reach a point where things are changing so quickly that, for a while, it is going to be very difficult to manage until we find some kind of equilibrium and things stabilize — or we find a new normal.”

This brave new world will be a far cry from what we were seeing in 1984 (to cite the titles of two classic dystopian works), but businesses that specialize in IT will have to do what they’ve always done: keep pivoting, keep learning, keep adapting … and keep their client businesses from being overwhelmed by the next big thing.

40 Years of Professional Services

By
BusinessWest Anniversary

In Law and Accounting, It’s a Different World

When Rudy D’Agostino entered the accounting profession back in 1985, there was what they called the ‘Big 8.’

These were the very large firms that dominated the industry at the time — Arthur Anderson, Arthur Young, Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte Haskins and Sells, Ernst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Price Waterhouse, and Touche Ross.

“Everyone wanted to work for the Big 8 firms, and there was enormous competition for those jobs,” said D’Agostino, a partner with Holyoke-based Meyers Brothers Kalicka, who got his start at Coopers & Lybrand.

After a series of acquisitions, the Big 8 is now the Big 4 (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, and PricewaterhouseCoopers), fewer accounting graduates want to work for those giants, and … well, there are fewer accounting graduates in general, a challenge for firms of all sizes.

These are just some of the many changes that have come to the sector, and professional services in general, said D’Agostino and many others we spoke with, who highlighted everything from the way people work to the way people dress to the way firms market themselves — something they couldn’t do in the legal profession, other than the phone book, until 1977. And in accounting, getting Fridays off during the summer, or at least Friday afternoons, has become the norm as firms’ staffs look to recover after a long, seemingly never-ending tax season.

Overall, the biggest change is in how people communicate and a resulting faster pace to the work, said Amy Royal, founder and principal with the Springfield-based Royal Law Firm. She noted that, when she broke into the field in 2000, most correspondence was still by mail. Now, the postage machine sees less use seemingly every month, and very little is actually done by mail.

Instead, much more is being done by email and phone, specifically the cellphone.

Indeed, Royal remembers walking into the office once maybe 15 years ago, and noting, with alarm, how infrequently the office phone had been ringing of late.

“I said to my office manager, ‘do we have a problem? — our office phone isn’t ringing as much,’” she recalled, noting that, after some perspective, she was simply recognizing a trend — people were finding other ways to reach out. And they were doing so at seemingly all hours of the day and night.

Indeed, modern communications technology allows people to reach their accountant or lawyer at any hour, said Jeff Fialky, managing partner of the Springfield-based law firm Bacon Wilson, and, increasingly, they’re doing just that.

Meanwhile, there have been other changes in these fields, including consolidation, especially in accounting, said Patrick Leary, a principal with the Springfield-based firm MP CPAs, noting that many of the smaller firms doing business in the ’80s, ’90s, and earlier this century have been merged into larger firms, a reflection of a broader trend in business.

Jeff Fialky

Jeff Fialky

“We’ve seen substantial consolidation in the banking environments. We have larger and larger and fewer and fewer banks, and the same consolidation across the service industries.”

There are several reasons for this, including the rising costs of technology and retiring Baby Boomers, he noted, but one of the biggest is something that probably couldn’t have been imagined in 1984 — the deepening challenge of finding and retaining talent.

Accounting was never a ‘sexy’ profession, and modern technology has only made it slightly more so, said Leary, adding that this reality, coupled with the fact that a fifth year of college is now required to become a CPA, is leaving fewer people interested in entering the field, at the same when most Baby Boomers are on the doorstep of retirement, if not there already. This has led to firms boosting salaries and sending more work overseas.

Efforts to recruit more students into the field have become a topic of conversation and concern among CPAs and industry groups, said D’Agostino, and greater reliance on internship programs as feeder initiatives.

It’s the same with clerking programs in the legal profession, said Fialky, adding that, overall, law-school enrollment is down, and many firms face challenges with keeping talent in the pipeline.

 

Case in Point

It’s not exactly what you would call a pressing matter — not like some of those other challenges mentioned above — but one of the challenges facing law firms today is deciding what to with their libraries.

Once an important part of any firm’s operation, they are now all but obsolete, used by only the occasional old-timer now that every piece of information available in those books and journals can be found online, said Royal, adding that, at most firms, law books are decoration — and an enduring background for photos.

Fialky agreed, noting that the demise of libraries is just one of many changes to the profession. Others include the now-24/7 nature of the work, the desire among clients for information immediately — not the next day or even in a few hours, as was once the case — and even the work that lawyers are doing, work that reflects shifts in the market and also movement toward lawyers being more generalists than they are specialists.

Amy Royal

Amy Royal

“For a long time, I resisted putting my cell phone on my business card. Post-COVID, that became a necessity, and now people will just call me on my cell or text because they know they can get me.”

“I’m a transactional attorney; 25 years ago, transactional attorneys were not handling M&A transactions and purchases and sales and private equity,” he said. “That’s something we’ve seen become more prominent, especially in our market, over the past 15 years or so, as we’ve seen these maturing, multi-generational companies that have contemplated their outcome being that it’s a matured asset, and their contemplating sale to, in many circumstances, a private-equity-funded purchaser.

“And this has certainly changed the marketplace,” Fialky went on. “We’ve seen substantial consolidation in the banking environments. We have larger and larger and fewer and fewer banks, and the same consolidation across the service industries — not only in law, but in accounting, architecture, landscape architecture, and other sectors.”

But perhaps the biggest change to come to this sector involves technology and how it has changed the pace of work.

Royal noted that lawyers have never exactly been 9-to-5 professionals, and now, they are far less so, with calls, texts, and emails coming at all hours of the day, and with those on the other end expecting an immediate reply.

“For a long time, I resisted putting my cell phone on my business card,” she said. “Post-COVID, that became a necessity, and now people will just call me on my cell or text because they know they can get me.”

Fialky agreed. “The pace has increased precipitously; the volume of correspondence has increased exponentially. In the course of a day, it’s not uncommon, at least in my experience and in my practice, to receive hundreds of correspondences, and those are texts, calls to my cell phone, calls to my hard line, and more, and a lot of that is transferred direct to attorney.”

 

Adding Things Up

As he talked about his profession, Leary said it was never just about adding up numbers and being a proverbial ‘bean counter.’

There was always a consulting component to the work, he said, adding that now, there is much more of this kind of work, as software has taken over some of the tasks handled with the old calculator that still sits on his desk but is rarely used.

Patrick Leary

“It’s fascinating what you can get involved with in public accounting today, whether it’s forensic accounting or foreign taxation issues and so forth.”

“Today, most businesses, regardless of size, have some accounting software, so you’re getting information from them that’s already compiled and put together, so they’re relying on us for more strategic analysis of those numbers,” he explained. “You’re not questioning whether two plus two equals four; now it’s ‘let’s see what four means.’

“It’s a higher level of skill than what you needed before,” he went on, adding that this shift is one of many to come to the industry.

Another is how the work is done. Indeed, years ago, said D’Agostino, much more time was spent with the client, in person. Today, there is still some face-to-face interaction, obviously, but much more is done by Zoom or over the phone. And those face-to-face meetings are much different.

Leary agreed.

“If we were going to audit ABC Company, we’d back up last year’s paper files and head over there,” he said. “You would spend a couple of weeks with a client, meeting with them, going through their records, pulling invoices, and doing reports. You’d spend a few weeks there — which I really liked, being out of the office, meeting with clients — and building that relationship. And you got a workout because you’d be hauling loads of paper. Today, you’re going out with your laptop, and you’re not necessarily going out to see clients.”

Still another change to come to this field, as noted earlier, is the fact that fewer people are choosing to enter it.

“The accounting field has been experiencing a decline nationally because people who are driven by numbers are leaning more toward the software industry,” Leary said. “And the profession is certainly looking to change that; you can have an excellent career in accounting, because it goes well beyond simple bookkeeping. It’s fascinating what you can get involved with in public accounting today, whether it’s forensic accounting or foreign taxation issues and so forth.”

Rudy D’Agostino

Rudy D’Agostino

“It really hit home during COVID, and it has only continued since — there are just not enough professionals coming into the workforce.”

D’Agostino agreed. He noted that the required fifth year of college, compensation that is less competitive than some other fields, and a general interest among young people for something sexier than what they perceive accounting to be has led to what is becoming a critical problem for the industry.

“It really hit home during COVID, and it has only continued since — there are just not enough professionals coming into the workforce,” he told BusinessWest. “So accounting firms have to think outside the box to get things done — and also to keep professionals here, which has necessitated being creative, compensation increases, and, with some firms, outsourcing work to other countries.”

One initiative that has helped put young professionals in the pipeline at MBK is an internship program, D’Agostino went on, adding that the firm has four or five interns that come on board annually, and maybe one or two of these will join the firm when they graduate.

“That’s a way to introduce students to the work they will be doing and get them into our firm,” he said. “And we have a pretty good success rate.”

Despite this success, workforce issues will continue into the future, said those we spoke with, creating a greater reliance on technology, automation, and, increasingly, AI to get the work done, leaving accountants with more time to do analysis and consulting.

“There are routine tasks that will get taken over by AI, such as data entry, which can be automated to some extent,” Leary said. “And that provides the time and the tools to analyze data for clients much better. Rather than spending your time keying in data, you’re taking a hard look at it and understanding what those numbers are telling you.”

 

Bottom Line

When asked to look ahead and project what might happen next within the legal sector, Royal started by saying that, if she was asked that question 25 years ago, she could not possibly have predicted what her world would like today.

That’s a world where most meetings are conducted by Zoom, where lawyers and accountants work remotely in some cases and wear jeans to work when they’re not in court or visiting clients, where the office phone doesn’t ring nearly as much, and where clients’ names come up on cellphones at 10 p.m. — and even 3 a.m.

This is the new reality for those in professional services, she said, joking that maybe what will come next is a shift back to the way things were.

That is certainly not likely. What is likely is that law libraries and those old-fashioned adding machines will become more obsolete and more office decoration than anything else.

 

40 Years of Nonprofits

By
BusinessWest Anniversary

Increasingly, They Operate as an Ecosystem

The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts has been funding the work of charities and nonprofits across the region since 1991. And its overriding mission hasn’t changed.

What has changed, at least recently, is how CFWM accomplishes that mission — specifically, moving away from specifically targeted grants into a more trust-based model. Instead of seeking to put some dollars toward a specific goal, the foundation gives to organizations in a way that puts them at the center of it and allows them to dictate how they want to spend their money.

“It’s a recognition that funders don’t necessarily know what’s best for nonprofits,” said Megan Burke, the organization’s president and CEO. “It’s the people on the front lines who are dealing with constant change in the community who know the best places to use those funds.”

The Community Foundation was moving in that direction before the pandemic, but COVID, and the urgent needs it exposed, really accelerated the process, she explained.

“If we know you have a strong mission, a strong organization, we’ll put the money in your hands and say, ‘use it well.’ We’ll ask afterward how that went, but in the moment, you know what you need to achieve and how to get there.”

Meanwhile, the mission of Square One, which began life in 1883 as Springfield Day Nursery, has in many ways remained consistent for more than 140 years.

“We’re still doing the same type of work, although the world has changed enormously,” president and CEO Dawn DiStefano said. “Children still require care for their parents to go to work. And we’re a company that cares for children and instills confidence in our community that we are a safe, healthy, and high-quality place for young children to learn and be cared for.”

At the same time, she added, much has changed.

“Probably around the time BusinessWest started,” DiStefano said, “we realized something that today is quite obvious — that you can do a lot of work with children all day, but if you’re not in partnership with families and caretakers, you can hinder permanent growth and change. After all, learning happens 24/7.”

Specifically, Square One — it took that name in 2008 to reflect its role as more than just a day nursery, but as a key foundational element in the lives of preschoolers — has made a point over the past few decades to communicate more thoroughly with parents at the start and end of each day about the child’s lessons, experiences, and mood. That way, parents can continue the conversations at home — and, in many cases, start their own, which builds trust between the parents and Square One’s providers.

The organization has gone beyond that level of communication as well, opening a Family Support Services division about 15 years ago, which includes a home visitation program for parents who request it, including specific programs for young, first-time parents and parents in recovery.

Megan Burke

Megan Burke

“If we know you have a strong mission, a strong organization, we’ll put the money in your hands and say, ‘use it well.’ We’ll ask afterward how that went, but in the moment, you know what you need to achieve and how to get there.”

“We see ourselves as partners with families,” DiStefano said. “If we can bring out the best in the child and families, they become productive members of our community, and we all benefit from that. We all do better when folks are able to engage in our world.”

Megan Moynihan, CEO of the United Way of Pioneer Valley, said her organization’s goal since its founding 103 years ago as Springfield Community Chest has been to meet the greatest needs of the region, from early education to food insecurity to financial literacy.

“Post-COVID, we did a community assessment to really understand where the needs in the community are, if they had changed or not,” she said, noting that the greatest needs right now run the gamut from basic services, like food, to financial wellness, housing access, and mental-health support.

It meets those needs through its community service centers, where people can access emergency food supplies but also mental-health resources, including a suicide-prevention hotline. There’s also a financial-wellness program called Thrive, a partnership with Holyoke Community College on career training — in fields like culinary arts and medical assisting — and a host of other outreaches.

“Understanding the pulse of the community is the number-one issue that needs to be addressed,” Moynihan said. “It can be mental health tomorrow, but in 10 years, it might solar power and how to transition to that. We know what today’s needs are, but we have to be responsive to those needs, and when community needs change, we have to change, too.”

 

Come Together

One thing the United Way has done well over time, Moynihan noted, is connecting many resources in the community.

“If someone comes in and they are are housing-insecure, we’ll call one of the outreach workers at Health Care for the Homeless and see what kind of services are out there for them,” she said as one example. “We’ve always been a connector in the community, finding where the needs are and connecting individuals to the services they need. We can’t do the work alone.”

Megan Moynihan

Megan Moynihan

“We’ve always been a connector in the community, finding where the needs are and connecting individuals to the services they need. We can’t do the work alone.”

It’s a philosophy many nonprofits were already moving toward even before COVID — and the way it isolated people and organizations — really laid bare the need to connect and work together as a nonprofit ecosystem.

For example, Burke said, someone might seek job training, but they might also face other barriers to employment, from unreliable transportation to unaddressed health issues, and nonprofits can refer clients to each other to address multiple needs at once.

“A healthy nonprofit ecosystem, made up of nonprofits of all different sizes, is the best way to meet folks’ needs. No single nonprofit can do everything; there are so many different needs,” she told BusinessWest. “So coordination and collaboration with each other is really important.”

DiStefano used the example of connecting a parent of a child at Square One with Way Finders if they’re in need of housing support.

“We serve 1,200 families a year. Most are working one or two jobs, working eight to 12 hours a day, maybe even riding the bus, going to appointments,” she said. “I’m not in the housing business, but I’m not going to say to families, ‘I can’t talk to you about housing.’ That’s a big part of our evolution.

“Society 140 years ago was harsher in its opinion that your family was your business; it really wasn’t the business of social-service agencies or the government to help your family. But as a society, we noted over time that you can ignore problems, but that only costs more money down the line,” DiStefano went on. “The more you can invest in the child, especially between age zero and three, when the brain is doing the most developing, the better off they’ll be. Why not sink every resource we have into making sure the child has the healthiest opportunities in those years?”

The Center for EcoTechnology, which predates BusinessWest by eight years, has certainly been a connector of resources, in its case programs focused on energy efficiency, sustainability, and the environment.

In the years leading up to CET’s founding in 1976, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the establishment of Earth Day saw Americans more focused on environmental concerns, and CET began its work largely in the realm of energy efficiency and home-energy audits. Today, the initial vision is largely intact, but the work has expanded into commercial waste, decarbonization, and recycled building materials.

dawn DiStefano

Dawn DiStefano

“As a society, we noted over time that you can ignore problems, but that only costs more money down the line.”

“We’re still doing energy conservation and energy efficiency. In some ways, we’ve remained true to our origins,” said Ashley Muspratt, the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “But we’ve modernized some of the language and approaches to evolve with the times — for example, shifting the conversation to electrification, which is no longer about just saving energy, but shifting away from fossil fuels to electricity and renewable sources of electricity.”

CET got involved in waste reduction in the 1980s, and that remains a core area of its work today. In addition, it’s more focused now on the question of environmental justice, aiming to ensure that no communities or customer segments are left behind or harmed by the transition to a lower-carbon or no-carbon economy.

“We offer our services in dozens of languages and have made an effort to recruit multilingual staff. We also work with a translation company, so we can provide real-time interpretation on the phone or in the field,” Muspratt added. “We want to make sure we have a staff that reflects and looks like and understands the different communities that we’re trying to serve.”

That hits home for Burke, who noted that the Community Foundation adopted a new strategy a few years ago around diversity and increasing opportunity and equity in the community. To her, that means nonprofits should have staff members that share the lived experiences of clients — not just ethnic background, but, to cite one example, serving people in Franklin County who are living with limited means trying to address all the challenges rural families have.

“Having people on their staff and on their board who may have lived those experiences allows them to develop programs to be more successful,” she noted. “We’ve stressed the importance of organizations really thinking about what perspectives they need on their staff and board.

“And it’s not just so they can feel good or have a great photo that shows diversity; it’s to be more successful in delivering the services they were founded to provide,” Burke went on. “Nonprofits recognize there really is value in incorporating a lot of different perspectives in the work they do.”

 

Thoughtful Evolution

While focusing their work in a more connected way and dealing with, in many cases, greater levels of need, some the region’s most venerable nonprofits have expanded in other ways.

Square One, for instance, has grown its family childcare program, where children are cared for and learn in home settings instead of one of the organization’s centers.

“I predict, in the next 10 years, we’ll see an explosion of interest in family childcare,” DiStefano said. “Some people, post-COVID, found comfort working from home. It’s a great business opportunity; they can make money, and Square One can help coordinate these services, so we’re supporting businesses.”

At CET, Muspratt said the organization has launched a strategic plan to grow its impact by five times by 2030, because, she noted, that’s what the climate needs, and there is plenty of money at the state and federal level to do the work, as well as private funders.

“More and more philanthropic donors want to support climate work, so that pace of growth is possible,” she said. “This region has always had an environmental bent.”

The organization has grown by 20% each of the past two years, with a staff of 100 that could double if the 2030 goals are hit, she added. “We became a more remote organization during the pandemic, and that has helped us cast a wider net. It’s good to have been able to expand our pool of candidates outside the Western Mass. region, though the majority of our staff are still based in Massachusetts.”

Nonprofits also thrive off volunteers; the United Way’s Volunteer Connect program has been successful at, well, connecting area agencies that need help with people who have time and talent to offer. It’s just one more way, Moynihan said, that nonprofits are operating in tandem.

“Everyone is working hard and chasing the same dollars,” she added, “but if we do it together, do it as a community, the outcome is always better.”

40 Years of Manufacturing

By
BusinessWest Anniversary

Companies Still Find Ways to Make It Here

Rick Sullivan calls manufacturing the “invisible backbone” of the Western Mass. economy.

That’s not an adjective he would likely have used 40 years ago, not when the region and many of its communities were dominated by large individual manufacturers or clusters — like GE’s massive transformer complex in Pittsfield, American Bosch and other major players in Springfield, and a still-sizable paper-making sector in Holyoke.

But it works today.

Indeed, while there are still some large manufacturers employing hundreds of people (as opposed to thousands 40, 50, or 100 years ago), this sector is now dominated by smaller players employing maybe a few dozen people each.

And what they’re making has changed as well. While local manufacturing was dominated by firms making tires, matches, paper, and, before that, arms for the U.S. military (at the Springfield Armory) and even monkey wrenches and ice skates, today, they’re making parts for stealth fighters, infrared goggles, medical devices, and other sophisticated products. And soon, in Holyoke, one will be making what is billed as ‘green’ concrete.

“I say invisible backbone because the manufacturing sector in Western Mass., for the most part, is made up of small- to mid-sized manufacturers that are in the supply chains of the larger companies,” said Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council and formerly the long-time mayor of Westfield, one of the region’s manufacturing hubs. “And many of those companies are not situated in Western Mass. or Massachusetts, for that matter; they’re in Connecticut or worldwide.

“And they make important parts for the industry,” he went on. “Back when I was mayor of Westfield, there was $100,000 worth of parts of on every single commercial airplane that went through the city of Westfield, and that has only increased.”

These are some of the shifts that have come to this important sector over the past four decades. Others include a seismic shift in how such jobs are perceived, one that has contributed to a lingering workforce problem, and one that has led to a sea change in how hard companies must work to attract and retain talent — and some initiatives that probably couldn’t have been imagined 40 years ago.

Like ‘Barbecue Friday’ at Boulevard Machine in Westfield.

Susan Kasa, president of that company, which makes parts for the military, aerospace, and outer space, among other sectors, said Boulevard feeds its workers breakfast and lunch each day, and, as that name suggests, it devotes Fridays to barbecuing.

“People will take turns being the chef,” she explained. “We’ll do a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers, but sometimes we’ll go all out and do chicken and other meats; our people really enjoy it. You know it’s Friday because you can smell the barbecue.”

Rick Sullivan

Rick Sullivan

“I say invisible backbone because the manufacturing sector in Western Mass., for the most part, is made up of small- to mid-sized manufacturers that are in the supply chains of the larger companies.”

This new tradition is one of many efforts that fall in the broad category of attracting and retaining talent, she said, with others including everything from advertising open positions in church bulletins to programs to introduce young students to manufacturing and the opportunities in this field — starting with middle school.

“We’re not your grandfather’s shop,” Kasa said, adding that the machinery is both more complex and cleaner, and one ongoing challenge is educating not only young people but their parents about this new reality.

Mark Borsari agreed.

He’s president of Sanderson MacLeod, a Palmer-based maker of twisted wire brushes. That’s not as sophisticated a product as infrared goggles or parts for artificial knees, but is an example of how traditional manufacturing is still making it in Western Mass., although it’s challenging — when it comes to everything from competition for orders to competition for people.

“It’s a different world, a different environment than it was 40 years ago and even 20 years ago,” Borsari said. “It gets down to the perception people have and the pride people have in making things and the importance of community; it’s just different.”

Susan Kasa

Susan Kasa

“Young people have such a bright future in manufacturing, and without incurring all that college debt.”

Like others we spoke with, he said technology, automation, and lights-out manufacturing, where machines run unattended at night, will play ever-larger roles in this sector. But it will always need people, and finding them will continue to be a challenge, especially as the Baby Boomers continue to retire in large numbers.

 

Tradition of Innovation

As he talked about this important sector, Sullivan stressed what hasn’t changed in 40 years or 250 years, and hopefully won’t change moving forward — that manufacturing is a source of what economic-development leaders have long called ‘good jobs at good wages.’

That is, the kind of jobs every region and every community wants and compete tooth and nail to get — and retain.

This region has always had a strong tradition of manufacturing and innovation — Sullivan said those words are essentially interchangeable — that goes back to the Springfield Armory and even before that. And it continued with the production of everything from firearms to toys; from automobiles and trolley cars to textiles; from home appliances to buggy whips, products that even gave some area communities their nicknames.

Many of these items are no longer made here (although trolley cars are again with the arrival of CRRC). In their place, manufacturers are making parts for jet liners, lunar landers, and the SpaceX rocket. But they also making timing chains for automobiles in the case of U.S. Tsubaki in Holyoke and Chicopee, and fasteners for the roofing industry in the case of OMG in Agawam.

“The manufacturing base in the region still runs the gamut,” said Sullivan, adding that this diversity is certainly a positive, with communities no longer dependent on one company or one sector (Westfield, for example, once home to several buggy-whip manufacturers, suffered greatly with the invention of the automobile).

Mark Borsari

Mark Borsari

“You can’t have culture when you have people transitioning every two or three years to chase the latest and greatest thing.”

Overall, the sector is smaller and much more invisible, a trait that emerged as many jobs in manufacturing went south or overseas — Bosch closed in 1986, for example — movements that prompted many to question the sector’s viability, contributing to today’s workforce challenges.

Those we spoke with said there has been some progress from efforts to introduce young people to the field, from initiatives like Barbecue Fridays to the rising cost of higher education and a willingness to look at fields that don’t require advanced degrees.

“Young people have such a bright future in manufacturing, and without incurring all that college debt,” Kasa said. “That debt is getting way out of hand, and rising interest rates aren’t helping. These kids going to vocational schools, and they can be an entrepreneur; they can make six figures and be an integral part of the community. So we’re really working to educate parents about this.

“Not every student is cut out for a college degree, and meanwhile, four years is getting them nowhere in this day and age,” she went on. “Having the vocational education does so much more for these kids, and there’s such a future in it.”

She said showing young people where the parts made at Boulevard are going — into the SpaceX rocket, for example — generates enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, valuing employees and cultivating a strong sense of team are also important, she said, not just with breakfast and barbecues, but by creating a culture, building camaraderie, and even grooming the next generation of leadership for the company.

Borsari agreed, noting that building a team and creating a winning culture are some of the things that haven’t changed over the years.

“Years ago, a good business realized they had to have talented people who could add value to their business feel well-compensated to stay with them,” he explained. “It’s the same today, but the difference is that, a lot of times, the high compensation and all those things need to be there before people can demonstrate that they have value.

“And you see that everywhere,” he went on. “You see that in companies with very little longevity; there’s no culture left. You can’t have culture when you have people transitioning every two or three years to chase the latest and greatest thing.”

Overall, Borsari said the culture he and his team have created — one where people enjoy working well together — is perhaps the company’s greatest competitive advantage because such a culture is less common than it was years ago.

“It’s pretty simple stuff, really,” he said. “It’s a refusal to take the cheap way out and at the end of the day, and it’s doing right by the people who count on us to treat them like we would want them to treat us.”

 

Bottom Line

Looking ahead, Sullivan repeated his oft-stated view that this region needs a growth strategy, one that will emphasize both the lower cost of living here and the strength and diversity of the local economy in an effort to convince more young people to stay — and more people from outside the region to find the 413.

And manufacturing is a big part of that story, he said, adding that the innovation that has defined the region for hundreds of years lives on in this sector.

You can’t look up a passing jet fighter out of Barnes and see the parts made here, said Sullivan, but they’re there. Just like this all-important component of the region’s economy.