Page 6 - BusinessWest April 4, 2022

Sound Strategy
Drake Project Called a Game Changer for Amherst and Its Downtown
You might call it a development of note. That’s one poetic way to describe the transformation of the old High Horse restaurant space in the former First National Bank of Amherst building into a live performance and music space that will be called the Drake in a nod to a former downtown landmark. Like
its namesake, a hotel with a famous bar, the new venue is expected to be a destination, a creator of lasting memories, and a key contributor to vibrancy downtown.
By George O’Brien
arry Roberts isn’t sure how long the graffiti has been there.
He does know that it’s been a fixture — and a talking point — since long before he bought
the property it graces, which now houses the Amherst Cinema, Amherst Coffee, and a number of other businesses in the heart of
downtown Amherst, and that was 15 years ago.
And he suspects that this message has been ‘refreshed’
a few times over the years, because it’s as easy to read now as it was years ago.
It says ‘Save the Drake — for Willie, for Humanity,’ a refer- ence to the legendary hotel and bar located in its basement, known as the Rathskeller, and its equally famous bartender, Willie. (Just about every stu- dent who attended UMass
or Amherst College in the ’60s or ’70s has a Drake story. Or 100 of them.)
Roberts and others collaborating on an ambitious initiative in another property
he owns, the former First National Bank of Amherst, are not exactly saving the Drake as most remember it. But they are reviving the
“This is
a game
changer —
an absolute
game
changer.”
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APRIL 4, 2022
FEATURE
BusinessWest
Barry Roberts and Gabrielle Gould outside the home of the Drake in downtown Amherst