Page 40 - BusinessWest May 29, 2023

This aerial shot from 2008 shows the Uniroyal complex before the start of demolition of many of the buildings at that site.
buildings are standing or not.”
Elaborating, Pouliot said he’s learned much
about the property — and tire manufacturing — over the years, including the fact that, at some point between the two world wars (exactly when he’s not sure), the U.S. government began to over- see rubber production to make sure there would be enough tires for the war effort.
This government involvement helps explain why many of the buildings at the Uniroyal site, including Buildings 27 and 42, were built to with- stand aerial bombing, he went on, adding that the structures are still sound a century or more
after they were built,
in some cases, which may become a factor
in whether those in the development commu- nity want to try to do something with them. “Their structural capac- ity is incredible.”
Returning to the matter of what the city would like to see by way of development, Pouliot said priorities were spelled out in the River Mills Vision Plan, the development plan created for both the Uniroyal and Facemate
properties combined.
“We were looking for redevelopment that
reconnected these properties to the Chicopee Falls neighborhood and supported the neighbor- hood with appropriate-scale development,” he said of the overarching objective, adding that
there hasn’t been any connection, other than his- tory, for many years.
This effort would ideally be a mixed-use project that can connect people with the river, he went on, adding that housing was, and still is, a need within the city.
“Housing is still a priority,” he said. “I think any- one looking at the state of housing in the Common- wealth, or this country, would be foolish not to con- sider housing a likely piece of redevelopment here.”
When asked for a timeline for the project, Pou- liot said the city will likely take six to eight months
to review the submitted proposals before eventu- ally choosing a preferred developer. That developer will then need time to secure the various forms of financing that will be needed, he said, adding that it will likely be two to four years before work actu- ally commences.
View to the Future
Returning to that project that he and a few of his classmates took on at Cornell, Pouliot said that, while creating that development plan — one that in many ways mirrored the one crafted by the city — he and the others involved worked to get
a “feel for the community’s relationship with this property, its context within the city, and what they wanted to see.
“And one of the big takeaways, even for me, having grown up in this city, was just how many families had someone who worked at this property throughout history,” he went on. “So many people could tie themselves back to a sports league or working there, or the shift changes — we heard so many stories about how loud and noisy Chicopee Falls was when that plant was operating, and the volume of people.”
For the better part of 40 years now, most all talk concerning Uniroyal has been in the past tense. But if the request for proposals yields the imagina- tive concepts that city officials are hoping for, that will soon change — and people will start talking about what’s happening there now, not what hap- pened a half-century or more ago.
As Pouliot noted, it’s odd in some ways to be at this point in the process. But it’s also quite reward- ing. There’s plenty of work left to do, but a mile- stone has been reached. BW
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