Page 9 - BusinessWest September 14 2020

a number of players, ranging from Picknelly’s Opal Development and WinnCompanies to MGM Spring- field, to the city, the state, and federal government.
“This project was a bear, and that building was an albatross around the neck of a lot of mayors,” Sarno said. “This was all about persistence and not giving up when it would have been easy to do that.”
As for Picknelly, this is a legacy project of a sort, he said, noting that his father, Peter L. Picknelly, had long talked about creating a boutique hotel at the site — which, after its days as a hotel, was home to a number of law offices because of its proximity to the courthouse — as a way to inject some life into a still-struggling downtown.
The boutique-hotel concept became less viable as new hotels were built in the city, he went on, but the urgent need to convert the property for a new use — identified as the top pri- ority in the Urban Land Institute study completed more than a decade ago
— remained.
“How can Springfield really see its full potential if this building is vacant?” asked Picknelly, who again partnered with Yee — the two have resurrect-
“How can Springfield really see its full potential if this building is vacant? This is going to be the centerpiece of Springfield’s renaissance.”
ed both the Student Prince and the White Hut — to create a restaurant in the northwest corner of the property (more on that in a bit). “This is going to be the centerpiece of Springfield’s renaissance.”
The Court Square project is just one example of how things are moving forward in the city, even in the midst of the pandemic, said Sheehan, not- ing that, in the larger scheme of things, Springfield remains an attractive target for the development commu- nity — and for the same reasons that existed before the pandemic, namely an abundance of opportunities, grow- ing momentum in the central business district, the casino, Union Station, the burgeoning cannabis industry, and more.
Still, the the pandemic has certainly been a major disruptive force in that it has imperiled small businesses across many sectors, especially hospitality; brought a relative stillness to the down- town area as many employees contin- ue to work at home; closed the casino for nearly four months and forced it to reopen at one-third capacity; cancelled all shows, sports, and other gatherings
at the casino, the MassMutual Center, Symphony Hall, and elsewhere; and even forced the Basketball Hall of Fame to reschedule its induction ceremo- nies (normally held this month) to the spring and move them to Mohegan Sun.
So the first order of business for the city has been to try to control, or limit, the damage, said Sarno and Sheehan, adding that it has been doing this in a number of ways, including its Prime the Pump initiative.
The program, using Community Development Block Grant monies, has provided small grants to city busi- nesses in amounts up to $15,000. The
The Court Square project, roughly 30 years in the making, was made possible by a comprehensive public-private partnership.
BusinessWest
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 9
Staff Photo