Progress on the Other End of Main Street?
Editorial
For the past several years, Springfield has recorded various forms of progress within its central business district — on or just off Main Street, to be more specific.
Examples range from the $1 billion MGM complex, which dramatically altered the landscape in the South End, to the 31 Elm St. project, which brought market-rate housing to the former Court Square Hotel; from dramatic renovations to Tower Square and its hotel, with the Marriott flag restored, to new, local ownership and a host of improvements to the TD Bank building.
And there’s more on the way, with announced plans to convert the Clocktower Building and Colonial Block just south of State Street into more housing, all or most of it market-rate.
Mostly missing from the equation has been progress north of Bridge Street, the North Blocks area, a stretch dominated by older buildings, many of them vacant or largely vacant. But two recent developments may change that.
The first is the announced sale of what is known to many as the Fort building because the famous restaurant occupies much of its ground floor. The building was sold by the New England Farmworkers Council, at a fraction of its assessed value, to the same group that saved the restaurant from closing back in 2014.
That group is planning some improvements for the restaurant, some streetscape work, and, most importantly, 50 or more condos on the upper floors of the property, which have been mostly vacant for more than 40 years.
The sale by the beleaguered Farmworkers Council to the Fort Street Realty Assoc. will bring much needed stability to an important property and, for the longer term, more housing, and the vibrancy that comes with it, to the neighborhood.
The second development is the upcoming auction of the property housing the Paramount Theater and former Massasoit House Hotel, also owned by the Farmworkers Council. The auction is the last and best hope for council, which has been trying to sell the property for some time, without any luck, and has been desperate to get out from under the taxes and other costs it is burdened with when it comes to this landmark.
It acquired the property years ago with the intention of renovating the theater and reactivating the former hotel space, perhaps for offices or even housing, and invested millions of dollars in a new roof and other improvements. But the development team it was partnering with was never able to get these plans off the drawing board.
The auction provides an opportunity for a new party to come in and breathe some new life into efforts to take this important piece of the city’s past and give it a future. There are myriad challenges, and renovation of the property could still be classified as a long shot, but there might now be some renewed hope that something can be done with this property.
It remains to be seen what will happen with both the Fort building and the Paramount property, but with these developments, there seems to be more stability — and more promise.
