Page 76 - BusinessWest February 21, 2022

Commercial Real Estate
Eastworks at 25
This Community Within a Community Is a Constantly Changing Picture
Back in 1997, Will Bundy and his wife, Paula, had a vision for the sprawling vacant mill in downtown Easthampton that had most recently been home to Stanley Home Products — to not only lease space to wide array of businesses, but create both a destination and a community. That vision has become reality, but this canvas, known as Eastworks, is still being filled in.
By Elizabeth Sears
T
he mill at 116 Pleasant St. in Easthampton was looking for a new purpose when Stanley Home Products shut down after 40 years of operation. The former mill had seen a variety of owners throughout the century, starting with West Boylston
Manufacturing Co. in 1908. General Electric and even the U.S. Department of War had at one point called this building theirs.
Over the past quarter-century, 116 Pleasant St. has transformed into some- thing entirely new, and it is a picture that is constantly changing and adding new dimensions.
“When we started, 25 years ago this March, the idea of the mill district was a very dis- tant thought and idea, and so I feel
like the artists and businesses and
residential tenants who took a chance on Eastworks in
its bare-bones stages
really helped to
form and
76 FEBRUARY 21, 2022 COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BusinessWest