Page 7 - BusinessWest August 18, 2025

“We’re always
looking for new
opportunities, but
the deal has to be
right, and we have
to be cautious and
conservative in all
of our decisions
related to the
commercial real
estate business.”
master’s degree in education) who joined Gleason
Realty in 2024 and serves as director of Opera-
tions and Development and wears many hats,
including property manager.
But much of the recent activity has been in
downtown Northampton. The Coolidge building
was acquired at auction in late 2023 when it was
only half-occupied, said Tony, adding that it is now
100% occupied, with a mix of medical, office, and
special-use tenants.
Meanwhile, the Fitzwilly’s building and the
Fitzwilly’s and Toasted Owl businesses were
acquired over the past few months. (The acquisi-
tion also includes a separate building off Route
9 in Hadley that will be separately marketed for
sale or lease.)
The Fitzwilly’s building, also known as the
Masonic building, was broken up into six different
condo units with separate ownership, said Jan-
ulewicz, adding that the property is nearly full. “I
only have two small spaces left, and I have bites
on both. I don’t imagine them being vacant much
longer.”
Moving forward, Tony said the real estate divi-
sion will continue to grow and add to its portfolio,
but in a smart, controlled fashion.
“We’re always looking for new opportunities, but the deal has to
be right, and we have to be cautious and conservative in all of our
decisions related to the commercial real estate business, because
there are ebbs and flows to occupancy and varying levels of risk
factors that tie into different types of tenants that may into a build-
ing,” he explained. “Our primary focus is on our self-storage busi-
ness growth, but we are always going to look at Western Mass. real
estate opportunities as they come around.”
Elaborating, he said the trend toward remote work continues to
impact the commercial real estate industry, with many larger build-
ings in different markets seeing higher rates of vacancy as busi-
The Fitzwilly’s building, another addition to the Gleason
Realty portfolio, is now at nearly 100% occupancy.
nesses continue to downsize. There is interest in smaller spaces,
5,000 square feet and under, he noted, adding that his company will
continue to look for opportunities that provide those footprints.
“One of the reasons
we did these last two
deals is that a lot of
these spaces are smaller
Gleason
Continued on page 35 >>
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