Page 63 - BusinessWest August 7, 2023

BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Square One’s building plans and how they reflect a nearly century-and-a-half-old com- mitment to a city and especially one of its proudest, and neediest, neighborhoods.
Building Momentum
As she talked about the many challenges with building a new home for Square One, DiStefano said it’s good to keep things in their proper perspective.
Indeed, while there has been nothing easy about this building project, and it has a long way to go, the overall degree of difficulty pales in comparison — in most respects, anyway — with coming back from the twin disasters of 2011 and 2012 — and coping with the pandemic of 2020, for that matter.
The agency was completely displaced by the 2011 tornado; staff, teachers, and students were forced from the building and never allowed to return before engineers determined that it had to be demolished. In 2012, a natural-gas explosion downtown extensively damaged another Square One learning facility, to the point where it had to be abandoned. And early in the pandemic, Square One was forced to close its childcare facilities, as well as its operations on Main Street, before having to completely revamp operations after it was allowed to reopen to meet a huge need for childcare services.
The agency managed to push on and meet its broad mission — it provides early-learning services to more than 500 infants, toddlers, and school-aged children, and also offers an array
of support services to more than 1,500 families each year — through all of that, DiStefano said, adding that the ability to do so offers strong testimony to the imagination and resiliency of its staff.
Those same qualities have been necessary for this building project, she went on, adding that, while rebuilding in the South End has always been the goal and the promise, it has proven to be a daunting challenge.
Indeed, the property that was ultimately destroyed by the tor- nado in 2011 was wedged into a narrow but deep lot, said DiS- tefano noted there was an administration building fronting Main Street and a two-story, L-shaped school building that extended eastward a few hundred feet. In a perfect world, or at least in a neighborhood with several alternatives when it comes to build- able lots and available property, Square One almost certainly wouldn’t rebuild on its former site, she added.
But this isn’t a perfect world. And Square One is building here only because there are few if any other options, she said, adding that she tried to purchase the brick property adjacent to former home of the agency, a move that would have provided consider- ably more frontage on Main Street, but was unsuccessful in that effort, just as her predecessor was unsuccessful in her efforts to secure other lots on which to build.
So the agency then focused its attention on building on its former home — an undertaking made challenging by the size and shape of the property as well as contamination from the demoli- tion of the structures that once occupied the site.
“The bricks and all the materials from the homes that were razed obviously have asbestos and lead and other chemicals
An architect’s rendering of Square One’s facility to be built in Springfield’s South End.
that have now seeped into
the ground,” the explained,
adding that the agency is
currently working with a
remediation company to
determine just what is in the
ground and what needs to be done to make the property ready for its intended use — as a home for programs for children.
Before even getting to that point, though, the agency had to conduct some due diligence to make sure it was feasible to build what it wanted to build on that parcel.
“This land is so awkward and small and weird that we didn’t want to buy it if we couldn’t build a building on it,” she explained, adding that Square One engaged in discussions with One Devel- opment to determine if its plan, its dream, was, in fact, doable.
Brad Miller, senior project manager with One Development, said that he and others ultimately determined that the answer to that question is ‘yes.’
“It is a challenging site because of its narrowness — it’s wedged between Hubbard and Williams streets,” he explained. “We only have so many options as far as the building footprint goes. The agency also needs a certain number of parking spaces, which we have to find a location for on that site, as well as a play- ground. It’s all achievable ... but we’re not working with 10 acres here. We ultimately determined that we could do something with this site.”
The plans, still to be finalized, call for those parking spaces to be located on the Main Street end of the property, with the playground and building located toward the rear of the site, on a combination of the original site and a few smaller parcels acquired by the
agency, DiStefano
explained.
“It’s all achievable ... but we’re not working with
10 acres here.
We ultimately determined that we could do something with this site.”
>>
Square One
Continued on page 67
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