Page 32 - BusinessWest August 19, 2024

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Of Paramount Importance
Upcoming Auction May Decide Fate of Springfield Landmark
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
Over the past year or so, while the historic Paramount Theater property in Spring- field has somewhat quietly been on the market, Bill Low has taken more than
a dozen interested parties through the landmark.
Slicing through the comments made by those taking the tour, he said he’s counted quite a few people saying “what a shame,” or “it’s really sad,” as they view the the- ater portion of the property — which has hosted shows by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, the Three Stooges, and Bob Dylan over the years — and the many visible forms of deterioration there.
He’s also heard several of these visitors talk about how, while renovation of the former Massasoit House Hotel portion of the property is likely doable, the the- ater is ... well, another story.
“There was lots of interest, which I would expect because it’s a grand property. But when you think about the theater ... what do you do with it? It’s beautiful, but what can you do with it?.”
“Over the past year, I probably had 12 to 15 physical tours,” said Low, president of Springfield-based L&P Commercial, which has been handling the sale of this and most other properties within a large portfolio of real estate once owned by the New England Farmwork- ers Council. “There was lots of interest, which I would expect because it’s a grand property. But when you think about the theater ... what do you do with it? It’s beautiful, but what can you do with it?”
Such comments are in many ways helping to set the stage, figuratively but also literally, for what will be a closely watched auction of the Paramount property that was originally slated for mid-August and is now set for Sept. 23.
Low, like Tim Sheehan, Springfield’s chief Devel- opment officer, says he doesn’t know exactly what to expect at the auction, to be conducted online by the national real-estate agency Crexi.
According to Crexi’s web page for the Paramount property, the starting bid will be $250,000. That’s roughly one-tenth of what it is assessed at and about one-seventh what the New England Farmworkers
Paramount
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