Westfield Finds Ways to Raise Its Profile

Community Spotlight

Mayor Michael McCabe says it’s important to expand the tax rolls with both new businesses and housing growth.

Westfield Mayor Michael McCabe is a believer in business growth — specifically, bringing new businesses to the city to boost the tax base and general vibrancy. But for every opportunity, there’s a challenge.

For example, “how do we balance the environment with new growth? Our north side pretty much all sits above an aquifer system, which has caused us some angst because most of the land that we have for economic development and growth is on the north side.

“So if you’re trying to be respectful of your aquifer and at the same time trying to figure out how you get new growth, it’s an interesting scenario,” he went on. “As you know, new growth is one of the things that actually funds the city. It’s where you get new tax revenue from, so you don’t have to tax your residents more.”

“Elm Street Plaza has really worked out beyond our expectations.”

That said, while this city — the region’s fourth-most populous and one of the largest geographically in the state — has seen new businesses lay down roots, from several new restaurants downtown to industrial businesses on the north side, what’s been happening at the municipal level has made the biggest news lately, including:

• The completion of the five-year Cowles Bridge replacement project on Routes 10 and 202, which should be finished by Sept. 25;

• A planned reimagining and redesign of Mass Pike exit 41 — funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation — that aims create a more motorist- and resident-friendly traffic pattern involving three roundabouts;

• A coming new Police Department headquarters on Union Street, expected to be open by the end of 2027; and

• Elm Street Plaza, a gathering and performance space that has not only drawn both city residents and visitors to Westfield’s downtown for events, but opened up much-needed parking for retail shop and restaurant owners;

“Elm Street Plaza has really worked out beyond our expectations,” McCabe said, “with the amount of events and the amount of use it gets, and the amount of free parking it has, so merchants can have customers in and out who don’t have to worry about trying to find parking.”

That development has coincided with a number of new restaurants downtown, offering culinary diversity to the central district, he added.

“If you’re looking for something to eat and you don’t want traditional America cuisine, you have Spanish, you have Italian, you have Turkish, you have Ukrainian, you have Slavic, you have Polish, you have Vietnamese … I mean, you have a pretty eclectic mix, all within a tenth of a mile.”

Amanda Waterfield says events in Westfield, from Friday night concerts to Starfires games, have a multiplier effect when visitors stay in the city to eat and drink.

The downtown will also play host to a welcome-back party for Westfield State University students, one way the city is trying to connect the school to its downtown, McCabe added. “I think there’s a realization that vibrancy begins with people walking around downtown.”

Amanda Waterfield, who has been executive director of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce for just over two years, echoed the mayor’s focus on hospitality businesses, noting that the chamber is planning a Restaurant Week this Nov. 4-9, featuring menu specials, unique promos, and other activities aimed at raising the profile of participating eateries just before the start of the holiday retail season.

Noting about 70 restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, and other culinary businesses in Westfield and Southwick, Waterfield said she’d like to see at least a third of them participate, and then grow the event from there in subsequent years.

“And I really would like to reach out beyond Westfield,” she added. “I’d like everybody in the Valley to think of Westfield as a destination.”

On the Right Track

Westfield Gas & Electric (WG&E) adopts the same philosophy on the importance of growth, which partly explains its launch, a decade ago, of Whip City Fiber, which has now completed wiring the entire city for high-speed internet, and also serves 23 other communities, including the region’s hilltowns as well as East Longmeadow and, most recently, West Springfield, where it has begun to build out infrastructure.

That has brought in significant revenue, and the WG&E is using some of it — $15 million over 15 years, in fact — to pay the city’s bond (with interest) for an $11 million athletic complex at Westfield High School, which broke ground last month.

“My overall goal is to see downtown thrive. Restaurants are a wonderful draw, but we need more than just restaurants. We need more things for people to do when they come into town. I’d love there to be a little more retail to draw folks in and keep their dollars local.”

“It’s a stadium with a full collegiate track, lights, and turf fields,” said Tom Flaherty, general manager of WG&E, noting that the field will be used for football, men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse, field hockey, and more, while a second multi-purpose field, without lights, is being developed behind the school for overflow events; the softball field is being turfed as well.

“We’re really planning for the future with something all of Westfield can use — people of all ages, including senior citizens, who can walk on the track at night safely,” he noted. “I see that all the time in Southwick; a great deal of people use the track they put in about 10 years ago.”

In addition, Flaherty noted, “the fields are for everyone, from youth soccer and youth football all the way to potentially having a revenue stream for the school athletic department by leasing it out to private club teams.”

Westfield Gas & Electric hosted a groundbreaking last month for an $11 million athletic complex at Westfield High School.

McCabe agreed that the benefits of the project are many, and would include the potential of hosting regional tournaments on both the high school and collegiate levels, possibly working with Westfield State University — all of which would bring more visitors to the city, in the same way the Westfield Starfires, now winding down their seventh season of play in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, or the city’s 14 municipal pickleball courts, have done.

“The greater the exposure to Westfield, the greater commerce there is in the city,” the mayor added. “And it’s not all Westfield residents. People will stop by one of the cafés downtown, or have a drink with their friends afterward, and all of those things are very good, obviously, for the city. So that’s what we’re trying to embrace.”

Waterfield added that Elm Street Plaza has enhanced Westfield’s visibility as a cultural focal point; in fact, the city received a Massachusetts Cultural Council designation last fall.

That’s important, she said, because it brings in marketing dollars to organizations working collectively to raise the city’s profile. For example, an organization called Artworks Westfield puts on eight Friday nights concerts at the plaza during the summer, all free to the public.

“Those seem to be drawing folks in,” she said. “It’s just a good time on a Friday night — bring your lawn chair, there’s food trucks, there’s beer trucks. It’s very family-friendly. I see people with their dogs.”

The prevailing theme with many of these efforts is to get people to notice Westfield — and come back.

“I think if you’re from Westfield, you know what we have to offer here. There’s a lot here,” Waterfield said. “But people might think, ‘I’m from Longmeadow; am I going to make the trek to Westfield?’ Well, yes, actually, you should. You know, come on Thursday to the farmers market and then stay for dinner. Come on Friday and have dinner beforehand and then go to a concert. Go see a baseball game.”

What visitors find, she added, is that Westfield has numerous important elements that contribute to a robust community, from Westfield State University to Baystate Noble Hospital to Barnes Municipal Airport (and the Air National Guard’s 104th Tactical Fighter Group, which recently procured new F-35 fighter jets) to a river and a rail trail.

In addition, “I’m encouraged by the lack of crime downtown, which is wonderful,” she said. “And I give the big businesses downtown credit for being here. The banks, the Gas & Electric, they don’t have to be downtown, but they choose to support the community by having a really visible, meaningful presence here.”

McCabe also praised the Police Department’s work, not only in crime prevention, but being visible to residents, just one more factor in why Westfield has a strong housing market.

“People want to live here,” the mayor said, but, like virtually every town in Western Mass., Westfield needs more housing stock. “We’ve looked at two spaces on the north side for multi-use housing, and we’re hopeful that we were going to see some help from the state in terms of grant funding from the Massachusetts Housing and Livable Communities office.”

Local Focus

Waterfield said she’s made progress in her goal to engage more businesses with the chamber; membership was under 200 when she came on board, but is at 258 now, and her goal is 275 by year’s end.

“That’s partly what I hope Restaurant Week will do, give community members an idea that the chamber is here to support the businesses and ultimately improve the state of living in the city.”

She and her team also updated the chamber’s strategic plan last year, and moving the chamber offices to a downtown storefront has been a plus as well.

“My overall goal is to see downtown thrive. Restaurants are a wonderful draw, but we need more than just restaurants. We need more things for people to do when they come into town. I’d love there to be a little more retail to draw folks in and keep their dollars local,” she told BusinessWest.

The mayor was quick to run down why people might want to move to Westfield, from the ones already mentioned — the university, the community hospital — to recreation opportunities.

“We have Stanley Park, which is 225 acres of preserve. And there are plenty of venues to go to now where the kids can play. The parks have been brought back up to speed to where they’re supposed to be. Our municipal parks have pickleball and tennis courts and baseball fields and softball fields.

“And we have good service organizations — the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Westfield do phenomenal work,” he added. “So I think we’re doing pretty well.”