Page 14 - BusinessWest May 13, 2024

new building and notable renovation projects — Springfield’s Union Station tops that list — but, overall, little movement
of new businesses into the region (MGM Springfield being a major exception) and large amounts of what Plotkin called “musical chairs,” tenants moving from one location in the region to another.
“I’m seeing a lot of businesses move from property to prop- erty, but not really much new growth,” he explained. “We real- ly need to look at how we can bring new businesses here.”
Meanwhile, the landscape has certainly changed on the retail side — everything from the departure of Johnson’s Bookstore, a watershed moment in the history of downtown Springfield, to the ongoing redevelopment of the site of the massive GE transformer complex in Pittsfield; from the suc- cessful conclusion of decades-long efforts to convert the former Court Square Hotel in downtown Springfield into a mix of retail and market-rate housing (the first tenants have
started moving in) to the massive, ongoing effort to redevelop the massive Ludlow Mills property. That undertaking, a mix of brownfield and greenfield development led by Westmass Area
“The joys of working at home, working in your pajamas, gets old after a while, I think.”
Development Corp., is already more than a decade along, and will likely take another decade.
At present, with interest rates high and questions about the economy (let alone who will occupy the White House) moving forward, new building has been mostly stagnant, said those we spoke with, creating a white-hot market for manu-
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14 MAY 13, 2024
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