Page 14 - BusinessWest June 27, 2022

Chris Buendo says growing interest in office space in the town is a sign of progress.
department or two to another building without spreading municipal offices all over the town.
Meanwhwhile, a new high school represents a longer-term investment that is moving through town and state approval processes. The town will host three visioning sessions to show resi- dents what a new school could look like and to solicit ideas from the public on what they would like to see for a new high school.
“These will be hybrid meetings so the public can take part in person or virtually,” McNally said. “I hope we get a good turnout and that people will participate.”
One of those 18 ARPA projects includes roof repairs to the current high school.
“This is a fix that can’t wait for the years-long process of building a new school,” said McNally.
Another investment trend in East Longmeadow involves people investing in themselves.
Grace Barone, executive director of the East of the River Five Town Cham- ber of Commerce, said recent network- ing events she has held are attracting many young entrepreneurs. Barone said new pop-up shops are beginning to appear and most of them are wom- en-owned businesses.
“These are women who have had certain passions and interests and now they are trying them out,” said Barone. “They are exploring their ideas to see where it will all lead. It’s exciting to see.”
One of those entrepreneurs recently leased space in the Reminder Build- ing, where the Chamber office is also located. Chris Buendo, owner of the building, said he has welcomed start- ups to the Reminder Building and now has an eclectic mix of tenants. In fact, he allows tenants to provide a 60-day
“Working from home is nice but it’s not a perfect scenario, so people are calling me to say it’s time to return to the office.”
notice to break their lease instead of holding them to a typical one year or longer term.
“The shorter notice takes a little pressure off a start-up company,” said Buendo. “Rather than signing a long- term lease that they may later regret, I have faith that what they are doing is going to work so I want to relieve some of that pressure so they can succeed.”
The height of the pandemic was a scary time for commercial real estate, and Buendo said he lost many tenants who abandoned their office space to work from home. As the world slowly emerges from COVID concerns, he said business has come back.
“The good news is I’m getting calls again,” Buendo said. “Working from home is nice but it’s not a perfect sce- nario, so people are calling me to say it’s time to return to the office.” And return they have, as Buendo noted he has only one available space in the Reminder building.
At the town level, in addition to
the new jobs approved by the coun- cil, several key positions have turned over because of retirements and career changes. McNally explained that over
E. Longmeadow
Continued on page 16
14 JUNE 27, 2022
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
BusinessWest
Staff Photo