Page 17 - BusinessWest January 24, 2022

DBy George O’Brien
emetrios Panteleakis recalls his company being one of many com- mercial real-estate brokerage firms that were interviewed to represent the new ownership group at Tower
Square as leasing agent.
He also recalls being rather surprised when
the Macmillan Group won the contract. That’s because ... well, he was rather candid in his assessment of what needed to be done with the downtown Springfield landmark.
Probably too candid, in his mind.
“I think I was pretty brutal when it comes to what needed to change and what types of invest- ments needed to be made in the building,” he
“I think I was pretty brutal when it comes to what needed to change and what types of investments needed to be made in the building. I sent it to them kind of thinking, ‘they’re going to look at this and probably say, ‘forget this guy — there’s no way we’re doing all this.”
Demetrios Panteleakis stands in the space in Tower Square now occupied by Country Bank, one of many new tenants to arrive since Vid Mitta and Dinesh Patel acquired the downtown Springfield landmark.
said, looking back more than three years. “I sent it to them kind of thinking, ‘they’re going to look at this and probably say, ‘forget this guy — there’s no way we’re doing all this.’
“But to my surprise, and to my surprise ever since, it’s been the complete opposite,” he went on. “They wanted to meet with me again, and they wanted me to go into detail on a market- ing plan, they wanted me to go into detail on the
improvements ... the concept of doing away with traditional retail and doing more of a community- based approach for the tenants of the building and focusing on just the constant improvement of the building.”
Panteleakis said that this response to his “bru- tal assessment,” and the actions taken since, go
a long way toward explaining why partners Vid Mitta and Dinesh Patel have been named Busi-
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