Page 31 - BusinessWest November 24, 2025

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Supporting Local
Youth
On Oct. 20, Eastern States Exposition (ESE) and the town
of West Springfield visited the West Springfield Boys
& Girls Club to present a check for $6,000 toward an
all-new technology lab for the students it serves. This
donation comes from the ESE-West Springfield Trust.
Pictured, from left: West Springfield Boys and Girls
Club trustee Jim Sherbo and board chair Mike Oleksak;
ESE President and CEO Gene Cassidy; West Springfield
Mayor Will Reichelt; and West Springfield Boys and
Girls Club Executive Director Dan D’Angelo, trustee Joe
Kelley, Development Director Sarah Calabrese-Dunphy,
and Assistant Development Coordinator Victoria Larriva.
Taking Action
Against Hunger
Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. (MBK) recently
partnered with Rachel’s Table in support of
Alianza DV Services of Holyoke. During Hunger
Action Month in September, MBK raised more
than $700 and was able to donate 464 pounds
of food to Alianza DV Services through Rachel’s
Table of Western Massachusetts. Pictured, from
left: members of the Rachel’s Table team with
Mallory Beauregard and Keara King from Meyers
Brothers Kalicka.
Lee >>Continued from page 13
inch clearance on either side,” he said, adding that a
few mirrors have been lost over the years.
Wider doors are just one of the myriad design ele-
ments to a new, 37,000-square-foot public safety com-
plex, said Brittain, adding that the facility, with a pro-
jected price tag of roughly $32 million, will bring the
Police, Fire, and Building departments under one roof
on the site of the former Bull’s Eye Pub in downtown
Lee. And, as noted, the town is in early-stage talks
concerning what to do with the current fire station,
also downtown.
These developments are just some of the emerging
stories in the community’s eclectic downtown, which
is just a few miles off Exit 10 of the turnpike, a unique
asset that has certainly helped the town’s efforts to
promote tourism, while also attracting other types of
businesses, such as biotech and enterprises such as
Sharp Sterile Manufacturing and Boyd Biomedical,
both on Pleasant Street, just off the turnpike exit.
Getting back to the downtown, visitors pass
through on their way to Tanglewood and other Lenox
attractions, as well as Pittsfield, said all those we
spoke with, adding that the goal is to get them to
stop along the way — or, better still, make Lee the
destination.
There’s a growing list of reasons for doing so, said
Heddinger, adding that there is a good mix of restau-
rants, including some recent additions, such as the
Station Gastropub, so named because it’s housed in a
former train station.
“Downtown has restaurants, shops, several dif-
ferent kinds of businesses, a park where we stage
events, and much more,” she said, adding that this
central business district is more than a place to drive
through on the way to somewhere else.
Brittain agreed. “We’re seeing a lot more people
dining and staying here than we used to, and our
hotel and restaurant taxes reflect that,” he said, add-
ing that the growing number of restaurants, and the
diversity of those offerings, is a big reason why. “More
people are stopping and enjoying the downtown area
on their way to Tanglewood or the Norman Rockwell
Museum, or whatever.”
Meanwhile, the town is developing strategies for
bringing more businesses to the community, such as
the “Friend-Lee Approach to Business” marketing
campaign, which Healy described as a work in prog-
ress, likely to be ready for the new year.
“We’re trying to break down the barriers for devel-
opers and residents interested in owning businesses,”
she explained. “We want them to able to come in and
have conversations face-to-face with various depart-
ments and understand what is needed to open a
business.
“It can very overwhelming to try to open a new
business,” she went on, adding that the campaign will
likely ask the question ‘why Lee?’ and then focus on
the town’s many attributes — from recreational facili-
ties to that turnpike exit to proximity to other destina-
tion communities.
It’s all part of an effort to promote this Gateway
to the Berkshires, but also make it much more than
that. BW
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