Page 39 - BusinessWest June 17, 2024

“For us, it’s about finding high-quality real estate and exploring and seeing what we can do — with the land or existing properties,” he went on, adding that, with Springfield and its Clocktower Build- ing initiative, what it can do — what it wants to do — is bring that aforementioned mix of uses, specifically retail on the ground floors and residential on the upper floors.
Lofty Expectations
Indeed, architect’s renderings of both the Clocktower Building and the Colonial Block portray well-lit shops with sidewalks crowd- ed with passersby, elements certainly missing from the current pic- ture — and missing for the past several years, in fact.
To make those colorful images become reality, McCaffery Inter- ests will call on 34 years of experience with dozens of projects
in several different cities and high levels of creativity with putting together a needed funding stack.
As he talked about the Springfield initiative, Woodbury said there are several projects in the portfolio that are somewhat simi- lar — maybe not in terms of overall size and scope, but certainly in terms of restoring landmark properties, using historic tax credits to finance the work, and creating higher levels of vibrancy in down- towns or other key districts.
These include restoration and redevelopment of the Reliance Building in Chicago, now home to the Hotel Burnham, which was built in 1895 and is listed among the 100 most historically signifi- cant skyscrapers in the world.
“It’s one of the original high-rises in Chicago and one of the first places where an elevator was utilized in high-rise construction,” he explained. “We renovated it, but didn’t return it to an office building; we converted it to a hotel with restaurants on the ground floor.”
His short list also includes restoration of the Armstrong Cork Factory in Pittsburgh, originally constructed in 1901, and converted into 297 loft apartments, a project that earned several awards, including an Award for Excellence in 2009 from the Urban Land Institute and a Western Pennsylvania Golden Trowel Award in 2007.
“We took a building that was old and abandoned and invested side by side with a great partner in Pittsburgh and put the property on the historic register,” he said, adding that the project is one of the key contributors to growing vibrancy in the Strip District.
Springfield’s Clocktower Building and Colonial Block are similar in that they both boast considerable amounts of history — and have been largely vacant for several years now.
And, in Woodbury’s estimation, they have a future that can be as significant as their past.
“The Clocktower Building has great bones to it, and it’s the same with the Colonial Block,” he said. “The Clocktower Building is older, and some of the renovations over the years have unfortu- nately disrupted its historic character, but it adds a nice scale to the street — State and Main — which is fun to say, because it’s literally State and Main.
“And the Colonial Block was originally residential on the upper floors, which lends itself nicely to converting it back to that,” he went on, adding that, overall, Springfield is “looking forward being optimistic about what a city can and should be — and those are the kinds of places where we like to work.”
As for the challenges ahead, especially funding, Woodbury returned to that notion of this project needing not a village, but a small city of resources contributing to the capital stack.
“Federal and state tax credits are going to be a big source — they will be the lead bell cow in our funding stack,” he explained. “But there will be some funding needed from the State House, there might be some funding needed from the city, and then there’s obvi- ously some private monies to be put in place as well; all of those food groups will come into play.”
The overall goal is to start construction late this year or early next year, he said, adding that it will be 24 months from when the company submits final drawings until the first tenants — residential and commercial — can move in.
Woodbury is confident this goal can be met, and equally confi- dent that this initiative can do what so many other projects in the McCaffery portfolio have: revitalize not only real estate, but entire neighborhoods and cities. BW
“The Clocktower Building has great bones to it, and it’s the same with the Colonial Block.”
Congratulations
Chelsea Depault
for receiving the
Women in Banking Emerging Leader Award!
Chelsea Depault
VP, Commercial and Municipal Lending
MEMBER FDIC MEMBER DIF
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