Page 23 - BusinessWest January 24, 2022

Previous Top Entrepreneurs
• 2020: Golden Years Homecare Services
• 2019: Cinda Jones, president of W.D. Cowls Inc.
• 2018: Antonacci Family, owners of USA Hauling, GreatHorse, and Sonny’s Place
• 2017: Owners and managers of the Springfield Thunderbirds
• 2016: Paul Kozub, founder and presi- dent of V-One Vodka
• 2015: The D’Amour Family, founders of Big Y
• 2014: Delcie Bean, president of Paragus Strategic IT
• 2013: Tim Van Epps, president and CEO of Sandri LLC
• 2012: Rick Crews and Jim Brennan, franchisees of Doctors Express
• 2011: Heriberto Flores, director
of the New England Farm Workers’ Council and Partners for Community
• 2010: Bob Bolduc, founder and CEO of Pride
• 2009: Holyoke Gas & Electric
• 2008: Arlene Kelly and Kim Sanborn, founders of Human Resource Solutions and Convergent Solutions Inc.
• 2007: John Maybury, president of Maybury Material Handling
• 2006: Rocco, Jim, and Jayson Falcone, principals of Rocky’s Hardware Stores and Falcone Retail Properties
• 2005: James (Jeb) Balise, president of Balise Motor Sales
• 2004: Craig Melin, then-president and CEO of Cooley Dickinson Hospital
• 2003: Tony Dolphin, president of Springboard Technologies
• 2002: Timm Tobin, then-president of Tobin Systems Inc.
• 2001: Dan Kelley, then-president of Equal Access Partners
• 2000: Jim Ross, Doug Brown, and Richard DiGeronimo, then-principals of Concourse Communications
• 1999: Andrew Scibelli, then-president of Springfield Technical Community College
• 1998: Eric Suher, president of E.S. Sports
• 1997: Peter Rosskothen and Larry Perreault, then-co-owners of the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House
• 1996: David Epstein, president and co-founder of JavaNet and the JavaNet Café
of Greater Springfield, about moving parts of that operation, specifically the fitness center and childcare facilities, to Tower Square.
Those operations would even- tually become part of a larger plan that called for attracting businesses that would bring convenience, as well as needed products and services, to those working in the tower, but also the students attending classes there and those living in and around downtown, said the partners, adding that other components have come to include White Lion Brewing Co., a spa (SkinCater- ing), and even the wine exchange that recently opened in the space next to the Hot Table restaurant.
“We never thought that this would come back as a retail building,” Mitta said. “But when we purchased the property,
we knew that MassMutual had already put UMass and Cam- bridge College into the retail mall, and that gave us a good start toward bringing more semi- retail businesses into the mall, so it would be a win-win situation for all of us.”
Patel concurred, noting how he and Mitta have seen the ‘edu- cation hub’ concept work in Worcester, and they believe it can
work in Springfield as well.
In the office tower, said Pan-
teleakis, the goal has been to take advantage of the attrac-
tive class-A space, including the floors vacated by MassMutual, as well as other amenities, such as on-site parking, those aforemen- tioned service businesses, and
a safer, more vibrant downtown to bring some of the businesses that had left Springfield back to its central business district while also bringing some new names to that area.
And that has happened with the addition of Wellfleet, which now has its name and logo on the building, as well as Farm Credit Financial Partners, the Hampden County District Attor- ney’s Office, Country Bank, sev- eral state offices, and many other new tenants.
“We’ve replaced 150,000 square feet vacated by Mass- Mutual with 140,000 square feet of new tenants,” Panteleakis said, adding that there is one more full floor to fill and several “smaller pockets” that remain vacant.
The partners said that, while there is certainly a plan in place, the simple objective moving forward is to continue adding complementary pieces and cre- ating a destination — something
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