Page 7 - BusinessWest July 25, 2022

porary home for the courthouse to
be used while the existing property is cleaned and renovated. But amid the headlines about illness and death and the high costs of making the building safe, the thought process shifted to finding a permanent solution in the form of a new home.
“The more you looked into it, the worse it got,” he said. “So we asked, ‘where can you build a new one and keep it in the downtown area?’ Because this is important to Springfield.”
The solution that presented itself is the 14.5-acre parcel on the riverfront owned by Picknelly — as well as an adjoining parcel owned by the Repub- lican Co., which is the planned loca- tion of the new courthouse; Picknelly is seeking to purchase that parcel.
The land owned by Picknelly is cur- rently home to Peter Pan’s Coachbuild- ers repair and maintenance facility as well as a number of billboards, which are generating some revenue from lease deals.
As noted earlier, it has been consid- ered for several different uses, includ-
“Your development
is literally right on the water. Nowhere else in Springfield’s downtown can you have that.”
ing a baseball park — several different proposals for such a facility have been forwarded over the years. And Pick- nelly said UMass Amherst considered the site before it eventually located
its downtown Springfield campus in Tower Square. It then became part of the parcel pieced together for a pro- posed Western Mass. casino, which was eventually built in the South End.
While the site has remained mostly idle, it has always had vast potential to bring life and business not only to an attractive stretch of the riverfront, but to the North End of the city, which has Union Station, but has long needed a catalyst that can attract different kinds of development.
A new courthouse could be that cat- alyst, said Picknelly, adding that, while such facilities are generally not thought of as economic development, they are worthy of that description, and for many reasons.
Start with the number 1,600. That’s how many people typically visit the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse on a daily basis — or would visit it if they were not afraid to venture inside, said Picknelly, adding that this kind of visitation, which includes those with business in the courts, court employ- ees, jurors, and lawyers, could spawn different types of development, from restaurants to office buildings housing lawyers who want to be close to the
courthouse.
“I don’t think people realize how
much activity a courthouse brings to a community,” he said. “It’s an econom- ic-development driver.”
Ultimately, Picknelly believes the courthouse and apartment complex can do for the riverfront north of Memorial Bridge what the Basketball Hall of Fame complex has done for the area south of the bridge — in short, make it a destination.
“Before the Hall of Fame, there was essentially nothing there,” he said, referring to the collection of industrial
Picknelly
Continued on page 44
CELEBRATING 125 Years!
D.A. Sullivan School, Northampton, MA | Photography by CHODOS, Inc.
BUILDING HISTORY
SINCE 1897
82-84 North St., Northampton, MA 01060 | 413-584-0310 | www.dasullivan.com
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JULY 25, 2022 7