Page 13 - BusinessWest March 17, 2025

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Congratulations to the Holyoke Saint Patrick’s Parade Committee and all of this year’s award winners!
Our team at Holyoke Gas & Electric extends a special congratulations to the 2025 Grand Marshal, James “Jim” Lavelle. As our General Manager, Jim has led the way on various clean energy initiatives, making Holyoke one of the greenest communities in the state - we’ve asked him to bring the solar energy, not the
water power, on March 23rd!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you and yours!
Leading the Way...to a Carbon-Free Future
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visit us online at: www.hged.com
Commissioners: Francis J. Hoey, III • James A. Sutter • Marcos A. Marrero
Hagop Toghramadjian stands outside phase one of the Residences on Appleton, which features 88 units of mixed-income housing.
Staff Photo
growing pains and overall contraction, the city faces challenges, including businesses that are fighting to survive and one large grow facility, Trulieve, that has closed, with its huge plant sitting idle;
• Those aforementioned companies in the green- energy and climate-tech sectors, headlined by Sublime Systems, which will manufacture environmentally friendly concrete at a plant on Water Street;
• A sports complex that is still in its early stages, with a site identified on Whiting Farms Road and other properties being assembled, as well as new ownership of Wyckoff Country Club (see related story on page 31).
• A reinvigorated Holyoke Community College, which has received a huge boost from MassEducate, the state’s free community-college program, and is making adjustments in the wake of a 24% rise in enrollment over the past two years;
• A new strategic plan for the city now being pre-
pared, which is expected to help create a road map for continued progress in a city that has seen momentum on several fronts in recent years; and
• Existing businesses and traditions, especially the upcoming Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Road Race.
Slicing through all that, Mayor Joshua Garcia, the Holyoke native now in his fourth year in the corner office, said the city is achieving progress with many goals and on several fronts, but there is still considerable work to do and projects to bring to the goal line.
These include everything from the sports complex to renovation of the his- toric Victory Theatre, a project now 40 years in the making. Those behind the effort are still struggling to close a significant gap between the funding that’s been raised and what will be needed to revitalize the landmark.
Garcia described economic development in the city as an ecosystem, one including manufacturing, small — and
• New businesses and greater energy downtown. The city continues to ride a wave of entrepreneurship that has generated several new restaurants and storefronts in and around High Street, Vega said, add-
ing that the new housing units coming online should
generate more new-business activity;
often very small — businesses, hospi- tality, the arts, food, and sports.
“The question is, how can we get
Holyoke
Continued on page 15
>>
“Given its location and given how blighted it was,
it cast a shadow on the whole downtown — it was a top priority for the city.”
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