Page 16 - BusinessWest November 24, 2025

The current courthouse at 50 State St. is considered obsolete in many
respects.
tors that will go into the decision.
Court of Opinion
Baacke noted that, while the ‘sick’ nature of the current court-
house has added a degree of urgency to the matter, the 46-year-
old facility is in many ways obsolete, from operating efficiency to
design.
“That building reflects old thinking around everything from
security to how the building welcomes the public and celebrates
the importance of justice,” he said, adding that, with recently con-
structed courthouses, such as the one in Lowell and those under
design in Quincy, Framingham, and Lynn (all to be built by the
state), there is a “different feel to the buildings and a very different
organization, particularly around circulation and security, and it’s
just not possible to retrofit that building, which was designed for a
very different philosophy around judicial architecture.”
As noted, the state’s quest to replace the structure has attract-
ed a broad range of development teams, many of which have
helped reshape the landscape in Springfield in recent years.
In addition to Davenport, which has been involved in several
projects in Springfield, including the recent conversion of the
Willys-Overland building on Chestnut Street into market-rate
housing, redevelopment of the former RMV building in Spring-
field, and the new Square One facility, teams submitting proposals
include the owners of Tower Square, Vid Mitta and Dinesh Patel, who successful-
ly retenanted the downtown landmark, bringing in the Greater Springfield YMCA,
White Lion Brewing, and others.
The two partners have submitted three different proposals, one involving 1550
Main St., the office building adjacent to Tower Square that they acquired in 2023;
another involving the park across the street, created when Steiger’s closed and
was torn down; and a third entailing the site of the former YMCA building on
Chestnut Street, most of which has been demolished, with the remaining portion
used for affordable housing.
As for Greatland, company President Kevin Sheehan said the company’s port-
Staff Photo
it’s a clear reflection of how attractive this opportunity is in the development com-
munity,” he noted, adding that the RFP has attracted a solid mix of local and
regional developers. “This is a very substantial requirement from the largest com-
mercial tenant in Massachusetts that also happens to be one of the strongest cred-
it tenants available in the marketplace, and this is a time when the commercial
real estate market is not as strong as it has been at other times.”
Overall, this method creates opportunities for the city (in tax revenue from
what will be a privately owned facility, as opposed to state owned) and both the
state and the chosen developer, said Baacke, adding that it enables the justice
center to be built more quickly and perhaps more cheaply, although cost is not the
overriding reason for going this route, which was also chosen for the crime lab.
“The biggest benefit for the state, especially in this instance, is the speed with
which we can deliver the project,” he explained. “The process that the private sec-
tor undertakes for construction procurement is more efficient — time-efficient and
probably cost-efficient as well — than the process the Commonwealth is required
to undertake for a public building.
“That results in some benefit in how quickly we can deliver the project,” he
went on. “But the really big factor in this case is that this is a pretty sizable proj-
ect, and fitting it into an already-oversubscribed capital plan would push the proj-
ect further out than would otherwise be necessary.”
As for what will go into the decision-making process, Baacke said several fac-
tors will be considered, from cost to accessibility to “having a positive economic
impact on the city.” And given all that, there was a requirement within the RFP
that the courthouse be built in the center of the city, a broad area that covers all
11 proposals, from Maple Street to the south to a parcel on the riverfront to the
north.
For this issue’s focus on commercial real estate, BusinessWest examines the
many aspects of the courthouse project, from the process to the players to the fac-
“I think we bring a team that can deliver, and I think that’s the
biggest issue for this project — who can deliver.”
folio is dominated by projects in the eastern part of the state, including the crime
lab, and the Springfield courthouse represents a growth opportunity in a different
market.
Sheehan didn’t want to discuss the Springfield project in any detail other than
to say the company looked at several sites and ultimately concluded that the
Republican building represented the best option for the city and the trial court.
Other developers also chose to refrain from comment on their projects, opting,
as one put it, to “let the DCAMM process play out.”
The Balise/Dennis partnership, for example, issued a simple statement on
their proposal, which involves a city block between Dwight, Taylor, and Chestnut
streets that includes the former home of W.F. Young, maker of Absorbine Jr.
“We see this project as an opportunity to transform downtown Springfield in a
way that connects the metro center’s various neighborhoods and increases com-
munity pride,” it reads. “By tying Union Station more closely to the rest of down-
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