Page 45 - BusinessWest December 26, 2022
P. 45
Commercial Real Estate
Furnishing the Future
ProjectisTransforming G
ene Borowski has a keen sense of history.
Westfield’s Historic Lambson Building
So he was especially intrigued by an old hydraulic elevator in the former Lambson
Furniture building in downtown Westfield, which was manufactured at Worcester Polytechnic Insti- tute in the late 1800s and installed in the furniture business around 1896.
It was still operable, he said, but its cable shut- off system no longer meets modern building codes. So now, on the first floor of the building sits an array of 21st-century elevator parts, ready to be assembled — though Borowski still plans to use the original carriage in the new, modern shaft.
“It was one of the first hydraulic-powered eleva- tors of its time,” said Phil Peake, one of Borowski’s
co-investors on a project to rehabilitate the building. “And it actually worked.”
The development project known
as Lambson Square includes both the four-story Lambson building at 89 Elm St. and the connected two-story build- ing at 81-83 Elm St., which most recently housed Bentley Billiards, as well as a 15-space parking area in the rear.
By Joseph Bednar
BusinessWest COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE DECEMBER 26, 2022 45
