Page 16 – BusinessWest

Special Coverage Women of Impact 2023

Images from the December 7 Celebration

Thank you to our presenting sponsors: Country Bank and Tommy Car Auto Group,

and partner sponsor: Comcast Business

[Show thumbnails]

To order prints go to Leah Martin Photography

BusinessWest has long recognized the contributions of women within the business community, and created the Women of Impact program in 2018 to further honor women who have the drive and ability to move the needle in their own business, are respected for accomplishments within their industries, give back to the community, and are sought as respected advisors and mentors within their field of influence.

See the 2023 Women of Impact Digital section HERE

The nine stories below demonstrate that idea many times over. They detail not only what these women do for a living, but what they’ve done with their lives — specifically, how they’ve become innovators in their fields, leaders within the community, advocates for people in need, and, most importantly, inspirations to all those around them. The class of 2023 features:

• Fredrika Ballard, president of Aero Design Aircraft Services and Fly Lugu Flight Training

• Carla Cosenzi, president of TommyCar Auto Group

• Arlyana Dalce-Bowie, CEO of Moms in Power

• Sandra Doran, president of Bay Path University

• Dr. Khama Ennis, founder of Faces of Medicine and Intentional Health, LLC

• Dawn Forbes DiStefano, president and CEO of Square One

• Amy Jamrog, CEO, of the Jamrog Group

• Michelle Theroux, CEO of Berkshire Hills Music Academy

• Lisa Zarcone, author, speaker, and child and mental-health advocate

Photos by Leah Martin Photography

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STCC Donates $5,000 to Girls Inc. of the Valley

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) donated $5,000 to Girls Inc. of the Valley, a gift that will help support the youth-development organization’s teen center renovation as part of its “Her Future, Our Future” campaign.

The teen center is designed to get teens to think about their future by taking workshops in college and career readiness. STCC faculty and staff will also have an ongoing programmatic relationship with the center. STCC’s logo will be displayed on the center’s ‘Inspiration Wall,’ intended to remind participants about the pathways available to them through college and careers.

In addition to having a Society of Women Engineers chapter, STCC has a strong female faculty presence, including 12 full-time female faculty in the mathematics and engineering disciplines. Approximately 60% of STCC students are women.

“We are delighted to build a partnership with Springfield Technical Community College that supports the academic advancement and career exploration of our participants,” said Suzanne Parker, executive director of Girls Inc. of the Valley. “This incredible financial investment, coupled with volunteer opportunities and involvement from STCC faculty and staff, will provide wonderful resources for scholars to plan for their future academic pursuits and career paths.”

Administrators, faculty, and staff from STCC, including President John Cook, toured Girls Inc. of the Valley’s new location in Holyoke in November. Dee Ward, associate executive director, walked them through the entire facility, including the teen center now under renovation.

“We are thrilled to invest in the future of Girls Inc. of the Valley,” Cook said. “They have a beautiful new facility in Holyoke and are offering unique services that support goals STCC has specific to equity. When young people are considering their future, we want them to know STCC is a ready pathway.”

The tour of the Girls Inc. headquarters included STCC’s Dean of STEM Lara Sharp, Assistant STEM Dean Melishia Santiago, and faculty and staff from across the college.

“The number of women in STEM fields continues to improve, and STCC is committed to the continuation of increasing representation in all areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” Sharp said. “At STCC, we are proud to have talented men and women teaching engineering and other STEM disciplines. It’s important to have diversity in teaching as well as in the workforce to bring in more viewpoints and maximize innovation. We applaud the work Girls Inc. of the Valley is doing to help create access for girls.”

Farm Resiliency Fund Distributes $3.3 Million to 228 Farms

SPRINGFIELD — The Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund, which was developed in partnership with the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (CFWM) in response to widespread flooding that swept over more than 100 Massachusetts farms in the region this past summer, announced that $3,255,997 has been distributed to 228 farms throughout the Commonwealth as of Dec. 4.

CFWM was joined in launching the Farm Resiliency Fund with the Healey-Driscoll administration, United Way of Central Massachusetts, Community involved in Sustainable Agriculture (CISA), and other philanthropic and private foundations to support Massachusetts farms impacted by severe weather patterns.

The fund is administered by the United Way, and CFWM serves on the regional advisory group for Western Mass. that helps connect the fund to local farms. In addition to responding to the recent storm impact in Western and Central Mass., the fund intends to have long-term potential to respond to how climate affects farms.

In August, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources estimated that at least 148 farms had been impacted by flooding, with more than 2,700 acres in crop losses at a minimum value of $15 million at that time. There are 7,241 farms in Massachusetts, comprising 491,653 acres and employing 25,920 people. These farms generate $475 million for the Massachusetts economy.

Meant to enhance the abilities of farms to recover from harvest losses, damaged infrastructure, and reduced income due to climate extremes, the fund provides immediate relief but also facilitates long-term solutions that bolster agricultural communities against the impact of changing climate.

“Our partnership and our communities quickly came together to respond to our farms’ significant losses,” CFWM CEO Megan Burke said. “We are grateful for the hundreds of donors that have given to the Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund in support of our hardworking farmers. The severe weather patterns affecting our farms ultimately impact our local food systems and employment, making the fund’s impact far-reaching.”

Philip Korman, executive director of CISA, added that, “every day, no matter the weather, local farmers work hard growing food for our communities. This year, the fruits of their efforts were wiped out on hundreds of farms due to the floods and rains. With the distribution of over $3 million raised from across the Commonwealth — from individuals, foundations, business partners, and nonprofits — we have all helped to keep farmers farming and to keep feeding us all. It is vital and heartening for farmers to know that they are respected and supported for their work, especially in the worst of times. CISA is immensely grateful and proud to have been involved in this effort.”

Westfield Bank Donates Food to Local Communities

WESTFIELD — Westfield Bank invited its customers and community members across Western Mass. and Northern Conn. to help fight hunger in local communities as part of its 2023 food drive.

From Oct. 25 through Nov. 18, all Westfield Bank branches collected non-perishable food items and monetary donations. Food items included items for Thanksgiving meals, including canned fruit, boxed stuffing and potatoes, gravy, jelly, cranberry sauce, and more.

Each branch donated to a food pantry or community kitchen local to their service area. Some branch managers also gathered to cook for a local soup kitchen with the donated food items, donating a total of 126 pounds of food, which would be able to feed about 100 people that day.

“Giving back to our local communities is a crucial part of our mission,” said James Hagan, president and CEO of Westfield Bank. “That is why we are happy to partner with local food banks by running a food drive at our branches prior to the holiday season.”

Freedom Credit Union Raises More Than $1,000 for Unify Against Bullying

SPRINGFIELD — Throughout the month of October, Freedom Credit Union and its members raised more than $1,000 for Unify Against Bullying.

“Unify Against Bullying is an organization we are very proud to support,” said Debra Mainolfi, the credit union’s West Springfield branch officer and a member of the Unify Against Bullying executive board. “Every year in the U.S., over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying, and Western Massachusetts is no exception. Most children who experience bullying don’t report it. Unify Against Bullying makes a positive impact in our schools and communities to bring people together to speak out against bullying in a unified voice.”

Unify Against Bullying pledges to bring an end to bullying through the celebration of true diversity. The organization works to ensure that victims of bullying know they are not alone — that they are, in fact, supported by a loving, caring community of fellow students, teachers, parents, siblings, business leaders, and many others.

Longmeadow Continues to Draw New Business

By George O'Brien December 8, 2023

Community Spotlight

An architect’s rendering of the planned Towne Shoppes of Longmeadow.

There were more than 800 people at Longmeadow’s recent special town meeting in the high-school gym.

They were there to consider 30 warrant items, most of them of the smaller, housecleaning variety, but most residents were focused on one matter — a proposed zone change (from residence A-1 to business) for the former First Church of Christ, Scientist on Williams Street, just east of the Longmeadow Shops.

The church property, which has been unused for several years now, was acquired by the Springfield-based Colvest Group, a developer of a number of retail facilities across the 413, and its future use has been the subject of considerable speculation and anticipation in this town of roughly 10,000.

And also one failed vote to change the zoning, said Town Manager Lyn Simmons.

This time, the request passed, easily garnering the needed two-thirds majority, she noted, adding that the vote, and the number of residents who took part in it, spoke volumes about the importance of the project to this mostly residential community.

“This vote tells me that residents want to see something happen there,” she said, adding that the church has been closed for more than a decade, and the parcel it sits on comprises more than two acres in what is considered by many to be not just a retail strip, but the town’s center.

While there is speculation about the site, to be named Towne Shoppes of Longmeadow — it is expected to become home to a mix of high-end shops and restaurants, similar to what exists in the Longmeadow Shops, which will only enhance that area’s prowess as a destination — no firm plans have been put in place and no specific tenants announced, said Simmons, adding that plans should be announced in the coming months.

“This vote tells me that residents want to see something happen there.”

But the church-property project is not the only subject of conjecture in this community. There is also the long-awaited start of work to rebuild the Maple Shopping Center on Shaker Road, known colloquially as the Armata’s plaza (because the market was the lead tenant), which was destroyed by fire almost exactly two years ago.

Armata’s will not be part of the new plaza — owner Alexis Vallides cited high rebuilding costs and a lengthy timeline when she made that announcement in late August — but several new stores are expected at the well-traveled intersection, said Corrin Meise-Munns, Longmeadow’s assistant town manager and director of Planning & Community Development.

Lyn Simmons says there are many questions to be answered in Longmeadow in the months to come regarding everything from its middle schools to the reuse of Town Hall and the Community Center.

Meanwhile, there is more speculation about the fate of the town’s two middle schools — combining the two nearly 60-year-old facilities is one of many options on the table — and also the Community Center and Town Hall properties, with the offices in those buildings slated to be consolidated into the town’s former senior center.

In short, there are many questions to be answered in the months to come, said Simmons, who noted that this is an intriguing — and, in many ways, exciting — time for the community.

Getting Down to Business

While there is anticipation about what will come next at several addresses across town, there have already been some significant additions to the business landscape over the past years, and even the past few months, Meise-Munns said.

She cited the arrival of the town’s first brewery, One Way Brewing on Maple Road; a new pizza restaurant, Frankie’s, in that same area; another new barbecue restaurant, Fletcher’s BBQ Shop & Steakhouse on Longmeadow Street; a bakery, the Latest Kraze, also on Longmeadow Street in a different shopping plaza; a new taco restaurant under construction in the Longmeadow Shops; a planned Indian restaurant in the former AT&T storefront in the Shops; and a Jersey Mike’s (the chain’s first Western Mass. location), set to take a spot vacated by Subway in the Williams Place Mall, across the street from the Shops.

“There have been many new businesses opening, with more coming in the next several months,” Simmons said. “It’s been an exciting time.”

“There have been many new businesses opening, with more coming in the next several months. It’s been an exciting time.”

What will come next — at the Towne Shoppes of Longmeadow and the rebuilt Maple Center shopping plaza — should be known in the coming months, said Meise-Munns, noting that the high degrees of speculation and anticipation concerning these projects are reflective of how rare such large-scale developments are in this community.

“There are not a lot of opportunities for properties in Longmeadow to change zoning like that,” she said of the church project specifically, but also in general. “The town is mostly residential, and the number of undeveloped parcels is very low, and the number of parcels that are available for redevelopment at any given time is probably lower; this doesn’t happen very often.”

Corrin Meise-Munns says a number of new businesses have opened in Longmeadow over the past year, and there are more in the pipeline.

In a press release issued after the town-meeting vote, Colvest founder and CEO Colaccino noted that “development of the Towne Shoppes of Longmeadow will essentially be an expansion of the adjacent Longmeadow Shops, consistent with the design and character of the property. We are committed to attracting high-quality, specialty retail shops, all of which would complement the stores at the Longmeadow Shops.”

As for the Maple Shopping Center, site plans for reconstruction have been submitted to the Planning Board, said Meise-Munns, adding that, while the exterior will look very much the same as what existed before the fire (although it will be modernized), the interior space for a supermarket has been enlarged, although no anchor tenant — or any other tenant — has been announced publicly.

There were several stores in the former plaza, including a restaurant, a liquor store, a nail salon, and others, said Meise-Munns, adding that the recent additions to the area — the brewery and new pizza restaurant among them — have brought more traffic to that section and should help make the new plaza an attractive landing spot.

Longmeadow at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1783
Population: 15,853
Area: 9.7 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $22.92
Commercial Tax Rate: $22.92
Median Household Income: $109,586
Median Family Income: $115,578
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting; Town Manager; Board of Selectmen
Largest Employers: Bay Path University; JGS Lifecare; Glenmeadow
* Latest information available

Meanwhile, on the municipal side of the ledger, there are several ongoing initiatives, including a long-range strategic plan for the community. Work on the plan is now in its second year, said Meise-Munns, adding that, in a town with little, if any, land to still be built upon, the plan is focused less on development and more on such matters as climate action and social equity.

“Much of it focuses on municipal services, transportation, infrastructure, zoning, housing, educational opportunities, parks, and open space,” she told BusinessWest, adding that this “blueprint for the future,” as she called it, should be finalized next spring.

There are also continuing discussions regarding the town’s two middle schools, Williams and Glenbrook, both now approaching 60 years of age. Simmons said there are several options on the table regarding replacement or renovation of one or both, with consolidation of the two schools a possible course.

The next step in the process is a feasibility study that will identify options, she said, adding that there will be several informational sessions to garner input from the public as part of the process.

Plans are also being discussed to consolidate the offices in Town Hall and the adjacent Community House in space at the Greenwood Center, formerly home to the town’s senior center before a new facility was built.

“Such a consolidation provides a lot of benefits for us — better parking, one floor, better ADA access, more meeting-room space, even more bathrooms,” said Simmons, adding that the project, as proposed, could lead to imaginative reuse of the two current town-office structures.

“We would pursue that once we knew if we were moving and what the timeline on the move would be,” she went on, adding that the structures are in a historic district but not historic themselves. “There would need to be a public discussion about what happens to Community House and Town Hall.”

Bottom Line

That would be the current Town Hall. What’s known as ‘old town hall’ on Longmeadow Street has long been vacant and unused, and its future is another of the questions to be answered by town leaders and residents, Simmon noted.

There are many such questions at a very intriguing time for this bedroom community with a rich history.

The answers will go a long way toward deciding what the next chapters in that history will look like.

MassTech Collaborative Awards $5 Million to UMass Amherst

By Contributor December 8, 2023

Workforce Development

Expanding the Talent Pipeline

UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes speaks during the announcement of the $5 million grant from the MassTech Collaborative.

Leaders from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, also known as MassTech, recently announced a $5 million award from the Healey-Driscoll administration to UMass Amherst to help create an open-access additive manufacturing and design/testing facility on campus.

The grant, from the Collaborative Research and Development (R&D) Matching Grant Program, will augment UMass Amherst’s capabilities in the advanced-manufacturing space and increase its collaboration with universities across Massachusetts around research and development for advanced optical technologies, which have applications in biotechnology, defense, aerospace, environmental monitoring, and general electronics.

“The Healey-Driscoll administration is committed to building a more dynamic manufacturing ecosystem by supporting research and development opportunities across the state,” said Secretary Yvonne Hao of the Executive Office of Economic Development. “This investment will help connect leading innovators, foster workforce opportunities, promote creative problem solving, and accelerate the potential for breakthroughs in a field that underpins so many other essential industries.”

Carolyn Kirk, executive director of MassTech, added that “this investment is another example of Massachusetts’ commitment to strengthening innovative technologies and making R&D tools more accessible to growing businesses, academic researchers, and entrepreneurs across the state, providing opportunities that would normally be cost-prohibitive. Placing it at our flagship university, which has a track record of proven success and partnerships in the advanced-manufacturing space, made perfect sense. When we invest in technical training at a leading institution like this, we can expand training opportunities and the talent pipeline to manufacturing careers, helping diversify our workforce and the ability of the state to compete on a global scale.”

The announcement comes on the heels of the state’s recent award of $19.7 million in funding through the federal CHIPS and Science Act to expand production of microelectronics in the Northeast, work that will benefit from increased R&D in related sectors, including advanced optical technologies.

“We’re proud to make this investment in UMass Amherst to help establish a first-of-its-kind open-access facility that will expand our capability for innovation and strengthen training opportunities in a sector that will be so critical to the future of our economy.”

“Optical technologies are essential in the 21st century, acting as the backbone for transformational industries ranging from semiconductors to mobile technologies, medicine to national defense,” said Pat Larkin, director of the Innovation Institute at MassTech, which manages the collaborative R&D grant program. “That’s why it is critically important to expand collaboration and partnerships in this space, to encourage increased engagement between research institutions and private industry. We’re proud to make this investment in UMass Amherst to help establish a first-of-its-kind open-access facility that will expand our capability for innovation and strengthen training opportunities in a sector that will be so critical to the future of our economy.”

The facility will be the first publicly accessible facility of its kind in the country and will support testing, research, and production of advanced optical technologies. Through the project, UMass Amherst will collaborate with Electro Magnetic Applications Inc. (EMA), which specializes in the testing and design of materials used in space and operates at the Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC) in Pittsfield, and other industry partners, as well as Northeastern University, Springfield Technical Community College, and Berkshire Community College. The BIC will act as a bridge between industry, academia, and government to help develop an additive-manufacturing talent pipeline by providing workforce-development opportunities for students and young professionals.

“For 160 years, UMass Amherst has been an incubator for revolutionary thinking and big ideas,” UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes said. “Today we further this legacy as we celebrate advancements in precision optics, coatings, and metalens technologies in Western Mass. and prepare to establish an advanced optics manufacturing and characterization facility right here at UMass. By bringing together leading scientists, engineers, researchers, and industry partners, this new facility will accelerate the development and adoption of these transformative technologies.”

UMass Amherst will also use the grant to fund a full wafer imprint tool, which is a low-cost, high-resolution, nano-imprinting lithography device that generates patterns for various applications, a technology that is not currently available in any public facility in the U.S. This investment will provide a singular opportunity for research and collaboration for companies and institutions in Massachusetts.

“The state of Massachusetts and MassTech continue to prioritize investing in critical technologies and capabilities within the Commonwealth,” said Justin McKennon, principal scientist ii and the co-principal investigator for this project on behalf of EMA. “It sets the state apart as a place that not only welcomes, but believes in the companies that reside here. At EMA, we understand that any new technology requires the ability demonstrate it can work in harsh environments, and with our test and simulation capabilities, we are beyond excited to play a key role in helping companies in and around the Commonwealth to prove out their technologies in space and other harsh environments.”

The Collaborative R&D Matching Grant Program has awarded nearly $60 million to projects across the state that have leveraged more than $180 million in matching contributions from project partners. This includes 20 projects that have supported innovative industry and academic collaborations and investments in novel R&D infrastructure to bolster the Massachusetts tech and innovation economy.

The grant program has supported projects in emerging industries such as cloud computing, quantum computing, marine robotics, printed electronics, cybersecurity and data science, and nanomaterials and smart sensors. These investments have led to more than 80 industry partnerships and 60 intellectual-property and licensing agreements in the past two years.

Report Urges Changes to Costs, Affordability, Health Equity

By Contributor December 8, 2023

Health Care Healthcare News

An Unsustainable Path

The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) recently voted to issue the 2023 Health Care Cost Trends Report and comprehensive policy recommendations.

Notably, the HPC reports that the average expense of employer-based private health insurance in 2021 climbed to $22,163, outpacing growth in wages and salaries. Including co-payments, deductibles, and out-of-pocket spending, healthcare costs for Massachusetts families neared $25,000 annually. The HPC found that 72% of small-business health-insurance plans featured deductibles exceeding $2,800 for families (or $1,400 for individuals) in 2021, with annual family premiums simultaneously surging from $16,000 to $23,000 since 2012.

The report highlights the unequal burden of these trends, finding persistent disparities across income and racial/ethnic groups, with nearly one in five lower-income residents having high out-of-pocket spending, for example, and significantly higher infant-mortality rates and rates of premature deaths from treatable causes among Black and Hispanic residents compared to other residents. To address these complex and interrelated challenges, the HPC calls for urgent action to update the state’s policy framework to more effectively contain cost growth, alleviate the financial burden of healthcare costs on Massachusetts families, and promote equity in access to care and outcomes for all residents.

“Policymakers do not have to choose between high-quality care and affordability. We have tremendous opportunities for transformative action to support patients and employers.”

“The 2023 Health Care Cost Trends report makes clear how we must do more in Massachusetts to provide more affordable and equitable access,” said Deb Devaux, HPC board chair. “Policymakers do not have to choose between high-quality care and affordability. We have tremendous opportunities for transformative action to support patients and employers.”

Among the report’s findings were that, on average from 2019 to 2021, total healthcare spending increased 3.2% per year, higher than the 3.1% healthcare cost growth benchmark. Commercial spending grew by 5.8% per year, far outpacing the national average in a reversal of prior years of relatively slower growth.

Commercial expenditures for prescription drugs and hospital outpatient care grew the fastest; the average price per prescription for branded drugs exceeded $1,000 in 2021, up from $684 in 2017, while the average commercial price for hospital outpatient services grew by 8.4% from 2019 to 2021.

The average price for many common hospital stays also increased, with most growing by 10% or more over the same period. The HPC estimates that, by eliminating excessive spending due to unreasonably high prices, overuse of high-cost sites of care, and overprovision of care, the Commonwealth could see systemwide savings of nearly $3.5 billion annually.

Policy Recommendations

With the report, the HPC announced nine policy recommendations.

“The residents of the Commonwealth deserve a policy framework equal to the novel challenges facing our healthcare system today,” said David Seltz, HPC executive director. “The recommendations in this report provide a roadmap for policymakers to equip the state with the tools it needs to constrain healthcare cost growth equitably and sustainably in a manner that meaningfully addresses existing disparities in access and outcomes.”

The HPC recommends the following reforms to reduce healthcare cost growth, promote affordability, and advance equity, with an emphasis on modernizing the state’s nation-leading benchmark framework.

• Modernize the Commonwealth’s benchmark framework to prioritize healthcare affordability and equity for all. As recommended in past years, the Commonwealth should strengthen the accountability mechanisms of the benchmark, such as by updating the metrics and referral standards used in the performance improvement plan (PIP) process and enhancing transparency and PIP enforcement tools. The state should also modernize its healthcare policy framework to promote affordability and equity, including through the establishment of affordability and equity benchmarks.

David Setz

“The residents of the Commonwealth deserve a policy framework equal to the novel challenges facing our healthcare system today.”

• Constrain excessive provider prices. As found in previous cost-trends reports, prices continue to be the primary driver of healthcare spending growth in Massachusetts. To address the substantial impact of high and variable provider prices, the HPC recommends the Legislature enact limitations on excessively high commercial provider prices, require site-neutral payments for routine ambulatory services, and adopt a default, out-of-network payment rate for ‘surprise billing’ situations.

• Enhance oversight of pharmaceutical spending. The HPC continues to recommend that policymakers take steps to address the rapid increase in retail drug spending in Massachusetts with policy action to enhance oversight and transparency. Specific policy actions include adding pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) under the HPC’s oversight, enabling the Center for Health Information and Analysis to collect comprehensive drug-pricing data, requiring licensure of PBMs, expanding the HPC’s drug-pricing review authority, and establishing caps on monthly out-of-pocket costs for high-value prescription drugs.

• Make health plans accountable for affordability. The Division of Insurance (DOI) should closely monitor premium growth factors and utilize affordability targets for evaluating health-plan rate filings. Policymakers should promote enrollment through the Massachusetts Connector and the expansion of alternative payment methods (APMs). Lower-income employees should be supported by reducing premium contributions through tax credits or wage-adjusted contributions.

• Advance health equity for all. To address enduring health inequities in Massachusetts, the state must invest in affordable housing, improved food and transportation systems, and solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change. Payer-provider contracts should promote health equity via performance-data stratification and link payments to meeting equity targets. Payers should commit to the adoption of the data standards recommended by the Health Equity Data Standards Technical Advisory Group, and efforts should be made to ensure that the healthcare workforce reflects the diversity of the state’s population.

• Reduce administrative complexity. The Legislature should require standardization in payer claims administration and processing, build upon the momentum from recent federal initiatives to require automation of prior authorization processes, and mandate the adoption of a standardized measure set to reduce reporting burdens and ensure consistency.

• Strengthen tools to monitor the provider market and align the supply and distribution of services with community need. The HPC recommends enhanced regulatory measures including focused, data-driven assessments of service supply and distribution based on identified needs and updates to the state’s existing regulatory tools, such as the Essential Services Closures process, the Determination of Need (DoN) program, and the HPC’s material change notice oversight authority.

• Support and invest in the Commonwealth’s healthcare workforce. The state and healthcare organizations should build on recent state investments to stabilize and strengthen the healthcare workforce. The Commonwealth should offer initial financial assistance to ease the costs of education and training, minimize entry barriers, explore policy adjustments for improved wages in underserved areas, and adopt the Nurse Licensure Compact to simplify hiring from other states. Healthcare delivery organizations should invest in their workforces, improve working conditions, provide opportunities for advancement, improve compensation for non-clinical staff (e.g., community health workers, community navigators, and peer recovery coaches), and take collaborative steps to enhance workforce diversity.

• Strengthen primary and behavioral healthcare. Payers and providers should increase investment in primary care and behavioral health while adhering to cost growth benchmarks. Addressing the need for behavioral-health services involves measures such as enhancing access to appropriate care, expanding inpatient beds, investing in community-based alternatives, aligning the behavioral-health workforce to current needs, employing telehealth, and improving access to treatment for opioid-use disorder, particularly in places where existing inequities present barriers.

Key Findings

Prices continue to be the primary driver of healthcare spending growth in Massachusetts. In the report, the HPC identifies price, rather than utilization, as the primary driver of the increase in spending. Commercial prices grew substantially from 2018 to 2021, with an 8.8% increase for office-based services, a 12.1% rise for hospital outpatient services, and a 10.2% uptick for inpatient care. Total payment per hospital discharge for commercially insured patients grew by 23% between 2017 and 2021, primarily driven by a 34% price increase for non-labor-and-delivery discharges.

HPC’s analyses of excess spending found that private insurers paid providers more than twice what Medicare would have paid for nearly 40% of all lab tests and imaging procedures in 2021. Taken together, commercial spending on lab tests, imaging procedures, inpatient hospital stays, clinician-administered drugs, endoscopies, prescription drugs, and certain specialty services accounted for 45% of commercial spending. Among this spending, 27% was in excess of double what Medicare would have paid (or 120% of international drug prices), equivalent to approximately $3,000 annually for a family with private insurance.

Other findings include:

• Unnecessary utilization of care, such as procedures that could be performed in more cost-effective ambulatory surgery centers, care that provides no clinical benefit to patients, and low-risk births in academic medical centers that are reimbursed at higher rates than those in community hospitals, contribute to excessive spending.

• Administrative spending of both hospitals and insurers has increased substantially, with hospital administrative costs nearly doubling from 2011 to 2021 and insurers experiencing growth in administrative spending for both small- and large-group coverage.

• Escalating price trends are evident from 2018 to 2021, with commercial prices increasing for various services, including office services, hospital outpatient care, and inpatient services. Payments for inpatient hospital care grew by 23%, driven primarily by non-labor-and-delivery discharges.

• Variation in provider organization performance continues, with medical spending differing widely between major provider groups and the rate of avoidable visits and imaging utilization varying significantly.

• Massachusetts maintains the highest hospital-utilization rate for Medicare beneficiaries among all states, as well as higher statewide rates of inpatient stays, outpatient visits, and emergency-department visits. The Commonwealth also ranks among the highest in the nation in preventable hospitalizations and readmission rates.

• Between 2017 and 2021, primary-care spending grew more slowly than other medical spending, leading to a decrease in primary care’s share of total commercial spending. Meanwhile, significant disparities in access to primary care between low- and high-income communities persist.

• Behavioral-health trends show a substantial increase in psychotherapy visits and mental-health prescriptions among young adults, alongside a rise in the proportion of patients admitted to acute-care hospitals for mental-health conditions. While opioid-related hospitalizations declined overall, Black non-Hispanic residents experienced persistent increases until 2020.

Project Will Create 88 Units of Affordable Housing for Older Adults

By Contributor December 8, 2023

Construction

A Long-awaited Transformation

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia says the mill-conversion project will impact the city for many years to come.

On Nov. 20, Holyoke city officials and legislative leaders joined WinnDevelopment executives and Massachusetts housing lenders to break ground on a $55.3 million adaptive-reuse project at a long-vacant, historic mill complex that will be transformed into 88 affordable apartment homes for seniors ages 55 and older.

The redevelopment at the Appleton Mill property in downtown Holyoke will create new, loft-style apartments in three interconnected, 111-year-old industrial buildings that were once home to Farr Alpaca Co. and have been vacant for decades. In addition, WinnDevelopment will construct a new community building and connect it to the residential space via a closed skybridge spanning nearby railroad tracks.

“We’re excited to get to work on preserving this important feature of Holyoke’s proud industrial legacy and transform it into much-need housing for seniors who want to stay in the community they love,” WinnDevelopment President and Managing Partner Larry Curtis said. “This project is the first part of a two-phase redevelopment effort that will revitalize this historic mill complex and provide an economic boost to Holyoke’s downtown.”

All 88 apartments will be reserved for low- and moderate-income seniors, with 12 units reserved for households below 30% of area median income (AMI), 63 for those below 60% of AMI, and 13 for households below 80% of AMI. Eight of the units will be available to eligible households through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s project-based voucher program, and five units will be set aside for Massachusetts Department of Mental Health clients through the Facilities Consolidation Fund.

“This project represents our commitment to history, preservation, and housing. It also represents our commitment to senior living, affordability, compassion, and care,” Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia said. “The renovation of the former 111-year-old Alpaca Mill building to achieve these commitments is another Holyoke thing we do. I am excited to witness this unfold at this time in our city’s history and even more excited to see the impact it will have for many years to come.”

The project was made possible with significant federal, state, local, and private financing. Bank of America is serving as the project construction lender and as the investor in the project’s state and federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, authorized by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), and state and federal Historic Tax Credits, awarded by the Massachusetts Historic Commission and the U.S. National Park Service.

“We’re pleased to help finance much-needed affordable housing for seniors in Holyoke,” said Mary Thompson, senior vice president of Community Development Banking at Bank of America. “We applaud Winn for their sustainable design that incorporates modern, energy-efficient heating, cooling, and appliances, while preserving the historic character of the Farr Alpaca Company complex.”

MassHousing provided tax-exempt bonds for the project financing, while the EOHLC provided soft financing, along with its partners, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corp. and the MassHousing Affordable Housing Trust.

The property’s current condition is a stark contrast to what it will look like in the future, according to this rendering.

“This decades-long-vacant and blighted mill property in the heart of Holyoke will be transformed into new, vibrant housing for older residents who will be able to live affordably and comfortably in downtown Holyoke,” MassHousing CEO Chrystal Kornegay said. “WinnCompanies has the experience and expertise to make this abandoned eyesore into a new affordable-housing community that will serve city residents for many years to come. The city of Holyoke has provided strong support, and MassHousing is pleased to be among the many public and private partners working closely together to complete this important project.”

Enterprise Bank, a locally owned and managed full-service commercial bank based in Lowell, played a key role in the redevelopment through the direct purchase of the bonds and the provision of bridge financing.

“We are pleased to have been able to partner with WinnDevelopment, a respected, award-winning property manager and creator of high-quality and exceptionally managed affordable housing, on this transformative project,” Enterprise Bank CEO Jack Clancy said. “We continue to remain committed to supporting affordable-housing initiatives throughout our footprint.”

The Holyoke Redevelopment Authority (HRA) provided a ground lease for the mill structure for a discounted value and provided additional funds for structural stabilization of the mill complex. Additional local partners include the city of Holyoke and local nonprofit OneHolyoke, which provided critical gap financing through local ARPA and CDBG funds. BlueHub Capital served as lender on the state credit loans.

“The HRA is proud of the partnership with WinnDevelopment and excited to see this project come to fruition,” said Aaron Vega, Holyoke’s director of Planning and Economic Development. “The whole team in our office worked on this project, and we believe in its transformative impact for our downtown and in addressing the housing needs of our community.”

Once the largest alpaca wool mill in the world, the 168,000-square-foot, brick mill complex features nine buildings on six acres and is one of Holyoke’s most prominent historic properties. After the Farr Alpaca Co. ceased production in the early 1940s, the complex declined and has been largely vacant since the 1970s, with deteriorating conditions hindering efforts to revitalize the area.

Located across the street from a state park dedicated to showcasing Holyoke’s industrial and cultural heritage, the site has been a priority for redevelopment since the city took title to the property a decade ago.

WinnDevelopment’s work is focused on an 86,000-square-foot section of the complex that includes three structures: Building 4, erected in 1880 and the oldest on the site; Building 5, a storage, washing, and sorting facility erected in 1905; and Building 6, also built in 1905 and the largest structure on the property.

Designed to meet the sustainability criteria of Enterprise Green Communities, the new apartment community will be completely fossil-fuel-free and will feature LED lighting; Energy Star appliances; low-flow, water-conserving plumbing fixtures; and premium roof insulation.

Resident amenity spaces will include on-site management offices, a fitness center, a resident lounge, an outdoor recreation area along the adjacent canal, laundry facilities, and 109 parking spaces.

Scheduled for completion in the spring of 2025, the project is being led by WinnDevelopment Senior Project Director Matt Robayna, with support from Senior Project Director Lauren Canepari and Assistant Project Director Hagop Toghramadjian.

Keith Construction of Canton is serving as general contractor for the construction effort, with the Architectural Team of Chelsea serving as architect. VHB is providing civil engineering and permitting services through its office in Springfield. Robinson+Cole of Boston served as transaction counsel.

Ashley Batlle Takes Her ‘Advanced Beauty Spa’ to Next Level

By Joseph Bednar December 8, 2023

Women in Businesss

Growth Spurt

Ashley Batlle calls confidence a “superpower,” and aims to instill more confidence in her clients by making them look and feel better.

Ashley Batlle says she just took a “teenage step.”

That’s different from the baby steps businesses take after they open, in everything from products and services offered to marketing and workforce. She’s been taking those baby steps since opening her beauty and wellness spa, Beauty Batlles, five years ago.

The teenage step was more dramatic (as teenagers often are). It took the form of a physical move from a somewhat hidden space on Front Street in Chicopee to a prominent storefront on nearby Cabot Street — and a much larger floor area to provide new and expanded services.

“We’ve grown with baby steps, and now we just took a huge teenage step to where we’re at right now,” Batlle told BusinessWest. “We’re more of an advanced beauty spa now, and we’ve added a whole wellness section to it.

“That being said, a lot of people don’t understand what advanced beauty is,” she admitted. “It’s a term that I just started using to make my elevator pitch a little easier.”

Perhaps the most notable advanced service is a cryotherapy chamber. Cryotherapy, also known as cold therapy, exposes the body to cold temperatures to heal and treat various medical ailments, she explained.

“Cold helps with inflammation. It helps with circulation. It helps with mood regulating if you have anxiety or if you’re really stressed.”

“Cold helps with inflammation. It helps with circulation. It helps with mood regulating if you have anxiety or if you’re really stressed,” she said. “And there aren’t too many cryo chambers in the area.”

Batlle gave a few examples of people who might benefit from that technology.

“Obviously, athletes are number one when it comes to that. But if you suffer from fibromyalgia, if you have arthritis, any kind of condition that is caused by inflammation, when the pain comes from the inflammation, the cryo chamber would be amazing for you,” she explained. “If you have migraines, we do have localized cryo as well; we have clients that come here just to get a quick treatment to help them when they feel a migraine coming on or if they’re actually suffering through a migraine. We have some clients that are seeing some results with their vertigo. If you have back issues, we have something for you. So everybody can come in for help just getting through the day.”

Taking the Leap

Batlle was licensed as a cosmetologist in 2002, a path she pursued mainly because she didn’t know exactly what career she wanted to pursue after high school, and wanted something she could always fall back on no matter what career choices she made.

“After I went to cosmetology school, I worked at a couple of salons, doing hair, and realized that was not my jam,” she recalled. “So I left the industry for about 14 years. I focused a little bit more in sales — I sold everything from cell phones to cable and solar panels, which was a really great journey because it taught me a lot and led me to where I am now.”

She also worked as a makeup artist in films and television before deciding to open her own business in 2018, first in a tiny space in Holyoke, then, about a year later, in downtown Chicopee.

Beauty Batlles’ new cryotherapy chamber is useful for a range of conditions, from fibromyalgia to arthritis to migraines.

“I started with microblading, which is a semi-permanent tattoo for your eyebrows, which is still a service that I offer. Then, little by little, we became more of a spa, adding more aesthetic-type services. I added lash services and waxing services, and then we added body-sculpting treatments, which help with reducing fat and tightening skin.”

On Front Street, she began adding body-waxing services, facials, and skin-care services, creating more of a spa atmosphere, she explained.

“We offer a lot of advanced-type facials that help with either severe acne or with anti-aging, where you can literally walk out of here looking a few years younger without any kind of surgeries, without any kind of injectables, without any invasive treatments.”

And at the new location on Cabot Street, “we added the wellness aspect to it. We have a lot of big machines that do a lot of really awesome things. They help with pain management, they help with anxiety, they help with stress, they help if you have any issues with sleeping, and they’re great for recovery. They’re not just for athletes; these are also treatments that any person can do to help them with whatever it is that they’re struggling with on a day-to-day basis.”

Finding a larger, more prominent space was necessary for a number of reasons. The business was growing to the point where she needed more staff to serve clients, but didn’t have enough space to house more staff and more clients. “Plus, I was in a space where I wasn’t really in a storefront. I was kind of hiding behind another business.”

“I’m glad I went down the path of wellness. It’s brought me into a whole different world, with all this technology and all of these amazing biohacking tools that I’m able to bring into our community.”

The new location on Cabot Street had been a dance studio with two storefronts, allowing her to reconfigure the interior space to both meet current needs and introduce the new wellness elements, including the cryotherapy chamber.

“I’m glad I went down the path of wellness. It’s brought me into a whole different world, with all this technology and all of these amazing biohacking tools that I’m able to bring into our community,” she said. “And I’m not done with the growth. Like I said, this is my teenage stage. I’m waiting to get to adulthood.”

Community Minded

The growing-up years have been marked by a commitment to community involvement as well, including the fourth annual toy and coat drive, going on through Dec. 21, which Batlle called a “pride and joy” of hers.

New, unused toys collected at Beauty Batlles are donated to children in the foster-care system through the Department of Children and Families (DCF). New, unused coats are donated to Alianza, a domestic-violence shelter in Chicopee, while used coats are donated to Tapestry to support the homeless community.

A newer wrinkle is an “adopt-a-teen” effort for teenagers in the DCF system.

“Because of all the toy drives that are happening everywhere, a lot of the younger children in DCF get toys, and they get to open presents on Christmas morning, and the teenagers just get, like, a $25 gift card because there are no presents that are age-appropriate for them,” Batlle explained. “So I’ve teamed up with DCF, and they give me a list of teenagers that are in the system; we get their name, gender, age, and their wish list, so that they can have some personalized gifts given to them on Christmas morning, just like the little ones.”

Beauty Batlles also just wrapped up a canned-food drive to benefit Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen & Pantry in Chicopee. And in 2020, when the world — and many businesses — were shut down, Batlle launched the Hero Project, collecting funds to provide complementary self-care services for healthcare workers and first responders, which they were able to use when the spa reopened.

“I was sitting at home doing absolutely nothing,” Batlle recalled. “So, I thought, let me put some time and effort into giving back to people who are doing this work.”

Collectively, such efforts simply make her happy.

“There’s something so rewarding about being able to give back … when you have a platform where you’re able to bring awareness to your clientele, and in return be able to give back to people who are less fortunate,” she told BusinessWest. “It’s joyful, and it makes me feel good. I just want to do what I can and use my platform to do it.”

Meanwhile, Batlle continues to promote her new services and treatments, with an eye toward future growth. But at the end of the day, she said, the most gratifying element about her job is making people feel better, in every way.

“My big thing is, if you look good, you feel good. Confidence is a superpower. I feel like you can take on the world if you’re feeling better about yourself,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just an eyebrow wax or being able to make somebody’s aches and pains go away, or just a facial. Sometimes we need a little TLC, and we don’t realize that. But if we make ourselves feel better, then we feel like we can take on the world and do whatever it is that we need to do.”

Hannoush Jewelers Continues Writing New Chapters to a Colorful Story

By George O'Brien December 7, 2023

Cover Story

Shining Examples

CEO Maroun Hannoush

“Ebb and flow.”

It was with those three words that Maroun Hannoush succinctly and quite effectively summed up the 34-year history of his family’s business, Hannoush Jewelers.

They don’t tell the whole story, obviously, but they get the main point across. This enterprise has seen near-constant change in many different forms: stores being opened, stores being closed or consolidated, stores changing locations, stores moving into malls, stores moving out of malls into standalone locations, new family members joining the business, new product lines being added, new features added to the digital experience … the list goes on.

Change. That is the one word that best defines a venture that was launched by eight brothers — in order, Elie, Joseph, Tony, Norman (Maroun’s father), Peter, George, Camile, and Nabile — who came to this country from Lebanon in the early ’70s, and now involves six of those brothers and many of the three dozen members of the next generation, said Maroun, CEO of Hannoush Jewelers, who represented the family for this article

“I have a cousin in almost every store in Western Mass. and another five in Connecticut,” he said, adding that several members of the second generation have chosen other fields, ranging from commercial and residential real estate to salons to ownership of a gun and ammunition shop, providing more evidence of how one of the region’s more intriguing — and most successful — family business ventures continues to write new chapters of entrepreneurship.

Indeed, a family that has always been entrepreneurial continues to exude that quality, moving into ventures ranging from other jewelry chains, such as the Michaels chain, to a bar and grill in Westfield; from a chain of gift stores (Giftology) to a private golf course (Springfield Country Club), now owned by several of the eight brothers.

“Each brother is focused on their grouping of stores, and some are finding opportunities outside of the malls, while some are finding opportunities inside new malls, strip centers, and free-standing locations like this one, but everyone is looking for new opportunities.”

But it is the family of jewelry stores that is still the main focus — and still the source of a good deal of ebb and flow and also relationship building, the foundation on which this venture was built, said Maroun, adding that these patterns will certainly continue into the future.

Indeed, the family continues to look for new opportunities to grow, both organically and through acquisition, he said, adding that there are solid prospects in both categories (more on that later).

In his current role, Maroun essentially oversees 11 Hannoush locations owned by his father. He sat down with BusinessWest in one of them, the company’s new location on Boston Road, directly across the street from the Eastfield Mall — or what’s left of it — where the company had a location for more than 30 years.

The Hannoush chain, or this segment of it, anyway, wanted to stay in the Boston Road area, said Maroun, and it was fortunate to secure, with the help of one of his brothers, Daniel, who works in commercial real estate, what was an M&T Bank branch for its latest location and open in that site just days after that mall officially closed its doors.

Maroun Hannoush, right, with his father, Norman, at the new location on Boston Road.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Maroun to bring some clarity — yes, that’s an industry term — on the state of the Hannoush family’s growing portfolio of businesses, especially the jewelry chain that is at the heart of it all, and what the future might bring to a venture with such a rich past and present.

Diamonds in the Rough

Hannoush told BusinessWest that, like many of the sons and daughters of the eight brothers who started this venture, he grew up in the jewelry business, starting with cleaning jewelry before moving on to buying diamonds and working the sales floor while attending Cathedral High School and then American International College.

“This is the only business I’ve worked in, and it has captivated me from a very early age, since I started working in my father’s and my uncles’ shop in West Springfield,” he said, referring to the operation’s hub on Capital Drive. “I did a little bit of everything; from age 13 to now — I’m 31 — I’ve been learning every aspect of the business, and that continues. The learning never stops; I call myself a student for life.

“My Uncle Peter taught me how to look at diamonds, what to look for,” he went on. “My Uncle Camile taught me about customer relations and making sure the customers were happy and how to keep them satisfied. Many of my uncles had different responsibilities, and I tried to learn from each of them.”

In many ways, he’s building on the work of his father and uncles, who, as noted, came to this country from Lebanon in 1971. They originally settled in Lawrence, where an aunt lived, and then moved to the Springfield area in the mid-’70s. Several of the brothers were apprentice jewelry makers in Lebanon, and they started doing jewelry repair in Lawrence and eventually for Kay Jewelers. They continued doing repairs for Kay at its Eastfield Mall location before deciding to go into the manufacturing and retail business for themselves.

They opened their first retail location in 1980 in the former Fairfield Mall in Chicopee, which met its demise in the late ’90s, and from there, they expanded across this region — opening new stores in Springfield, Holyoke, Hadley, and several communities in Connecticut — and then well beyond. Indeed, the Hannoush footprint, which at its height included 75 stores, now numbers roughly 50 locations in 12 states — most operated by the family, but there are few franchises, said Maroun, who counted the states in his head and with his fingers to make sure he got the number right.

That’s an indication of how change remains a constant, he said, adding that there are many manifestations of this quality, as we’ll see.

Another constant through all of this is the Hannoush family itself, he said, but even within it, there has been steady change as members of the second generation settle into different roles, much as the eight brothers did — and still do.

Indeed, early on, and even today, the eight brothers have, as Maroun mentioned earlier, assumed specific responsibilitiesv within the company, with Peter handling the diamond importing, George handling the watch department, his father serving as treasurer, and so on.

“We want to see them not for one occasion, but many joyous occasions. The gift for a boyfriend or girlfriend … that can lead to an engagement ring, and that engagement ring can lead to a wedding band, and that wedding band leads to anniversary gifts and birthday gifts. We want to create relationships that can last a lifetime.”

Today, the work of operating the broad chain of stores is now spread out over more than 20 family members serving in a variety of different roles.

In 2018, a comprehensive estate plan was drawn up that essentially divides the portfolio of Hannoush stores into six spheres, one for each of the six brothers still active with the jewelry business. Overall, this is a venture with what Maroun called “10 companies operating under the same banner,” one for each of the brothers and four franchises.

Maroun manages the 11 stores under his father Norman’s ownership — the two in Springfield (Boston Road and a location inside MGM Springfield), four in New Hampshire, one in Maine, two on the North Shore of Massachusetts, one in Newburgh, N.Y., and another in St. Peters, Mo.

One of the North Shore locations was opened last year, the Newburgh store was acquired from a franchisee, while the MGM stores and two others in Florida were acquired from his Uncle Camile, with those Florida locations to be sold later, Maroun said, adding that these transactions provide still more evidence of the movement, or change, within the company.

The eight Hannoush brothers who started it all.

That wide footprint — indicative of how the stores were apportioned through the estate plan — adds up to quite a bit of travel, he noted, adding that he visits each store regularly, meaning more regularly for the ones in the 413 than the one in Missouri, which he visits three or four times a year.

Within each territory, and across the company as a whole, there are ongoing searches for new opportunities and strategies to achieve continued growth at existing locations, such as the decision to find a standalone location on Boston Road to replace the Eastfield Mall store.

“We’ve consolidated some locations that were in line with our growth plans, and we’ve opened new locations in new markets,” he said. “Each brother is focused on their grouping of stores, and some are finding opportunities outside of the malls, while some are finding opportunities inside new malls, strip centers, and free-standing locations like this one, but everyone is looking for new opportunities.”

The Cutting Edge

As part of that ebb and flow mentioned at the top, the Hannoush chain has evolved and adjusted through changing times, including the rise of online shopping and the decline of many large shopping malls, including Eastfield and Fairfield.

The chain has an online presence — hannoushjewelers.com — to serve those who want to research, buy, or do both online, Maroun said, noting that many will at least start the buying process in that fashion by researching what they’re interested in. That site is in a seemingly constant state of change as well, he said, in order to better meet customer needs.

But jewelry is a very personal purchase, he noted, adding that many customers prefer to at least complete the process in person in one of the stores.

“We want to see them not for one occasion, but many joyous occasions. The gift for a boyfriend or girlfriend … that can lead to an engagement ring, and that engagement ring can lead to a wedding band, and that wedding band leads to anniversary gifts and birthday gifts. We want to create relationships that can last a lifetime.”

“Talking to the person face to face and understanding what their interests are and what they like and what they don’t like helps us to better put together the ideal piece of jewelry for them,” he said, adding that, whether it’s online or in-store, the ultimate goal is to create a relationship, one that could, and very often does, last for decades.

“We want to see them not for one occasion, but many joyous occasions,” he told BusinessWest. “The gift for a boyfriend or girlfriend … that can lead to an engagement ring, and that engagement ring can lead to a wedding band, and that wedding band leads to anniversary gifts and birthday gifts. We want to create relationships that can last a lifetime.”

Company employees and area dignitaries cut the ribbon at Hannoush’s new location on Boston Road.

While forging such relationships is a big part of his job description — as it is for all those in the Hannoush family — there are many other elements to that informal document, especially the continued search for new opportunities and efforts to maximize existing locations, Maroun said.

Overall, there are many opportunities for continued growth and expansion, he noted, as the industry continues to experience consolidation at every level, from the large regional and national chains to smaller, independent stores, many of them owned and operated by Baby Boomers looking for an exit strategy.

“Our plan is to continue to organize, strategize, and grow organically as well as through acquisition,” he told BusinessWest. “There are many people preparing for retirement who present opportunities for acquisition. There are people who are expanding their stores into new locations and some smaller retailers who haven’t transformed or changed their approach with digital strategies. So there are many opportunities to grow, and we will certainly consider them.”

As for movement to and from malls, Maroun said there is movement in both directions.

Indeed, he said he opened a location last year in a North Shore mall that is thriving, growing, and adding new stores and restaurants.

“We saw an opportunity to re-enter the market where we had a store 15 years ago that we closed after the mall and my dad and uncles didn’t come to terms,” he explained. “So we re-entered the mall with better terms and a brand-new-looking store.

“There’s an ebb and flow that’s continued over the years,” he went on, using that phrase again. “Some stores close, some stores open, and some reopen, depending on the economic climate, the location, and other factors.”

It is that ebb and flow, as well as traditions of excellence and relationship building, that Maroun and the rest of the Hannoush family expect to continue long into the future.

Giving Guide 2023

Giving Guide Special Coverage Special Publications

Regional Philanthropic Opportunities

When importance of giving to those in need — and to the organizations who help others secure their basic needs — doesn’t take a holiday, and there’s no season of the year when their work is not critical, especially at a time when the pandemic is barely in the rear-view mirror and an uncertain economy continues to pose challenges to so many individuals and nonprofits.

Still, there’s no doubt that people think about giving more around the year-end holidays, and that’s why BusinessWest and the Healthcare News publishes its annual Giving Guide around this time: to shine a spotlight on specific community needs and show you not only how to support them, but exactly what your money and time can accomplish.

The 18 profiles below of area nonprofit organizations, are just a sampling of the region’s thousands of nonprofits. These profiles are intended to educate readers about what these groups are doing to improve quality of life for the people living and working in the 413, but also to inspire them to provide the critical support (which comes in many different forms) that these organizations and so many others so desperately need.

These profiles within the Giving Guide list not only giving opportunities — everything from online donations to corporate sponsorships — but also volunteer opportunities. And it is through volunteering, as much as with a cash donation, that individuals can help a nonprofit carry out its important mission within our community.

BusinessWest and HCN launched the Giving Guide to 2011 to harness this region’s incredibly strong track record of philanthropy and support of the organizations dedicated to helping those in need. The publication is designed to inform, but also to encourage individuals and organizations to find new and imaginative ways to give back. We are confident it will succeed with both of those assignments.

Joseph Bednar, Editor
John Gormally, Publisher
Kate Campiti, Sales Manager and Associate Publisher

What’s Behind Labor’s Surge in Momentum?

By George O'Brien December 7, 2023

Education Special Coverage Workforce Development

Striking Results

Jasmine Kerrissey acknowledged that, when it comes to labor and business management, it’s difficult, but not impossible, to chart who’s winning and losing the various types of skirmishes between the two sides and post standings, as they do in sports.

But if they did … labor would be enjoying a sizable lead in the standings as this year comes to a close.

Indeed, there have been some recent — and significant — wins for the labor movement in this country, said Kerrissey, associate professor of Sociology and director of the UMass Labor Center, and co-author of the recently released book Union Booms and Busts: The Ongoing Fight Over the U.S. Labor Movement. She cited recent strikes involving United Auto Workers (UAW), who won 25% wage gains from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis; employees at UPS; and TV and film actors and writers, among others, as well as union campaigns at large employers such as Amazon, Starbucks, REI, and Trader Joe’s.

In a word, labor is enjoying a large dose of momentum and one of the most pronounced ‘booms’ in recent times, she said.

“The number of strikes, and the number of new types of elections and new union organizing, is much higher than it’s been in the last several decades,” Kerrissey noted. “And many of those elections and strikes are being won by workers.

“Momentum is really important,” she went on. “And we should never underestimate momentum; when other workers see other workers winning, it’s really powerful, and it inspires others to think that they might be able to do the same.”

“Momentum is really important. And we should never underestimate momentum; when other workers see other workers winning, it’s really powerful, and it inspires others to think that they might be able to do the same.”

This momentum was perhaps best exemplified in early September when President Biden joined the UAW picket line at a General Motors plant in Michigan — the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president had done so. (Presidents have traditionally worked to broker deals, not take sides in labor disputes.)

Wearing a UAW cap and toting a bullhorn, Biden said of automakers’ profits after receiving federal assistance, “now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what — you should be doing incredibly well, too.”

Such sentiments, the notion that workers should be doing as well as the CEOs running these large corporations, are at the heart of labor’s recent surge, said Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle, a labor attorney at the Springfield-based Royal Law Firm, who represents businesses in such matters.

Jasmine Kerrissey says labor is enjoying some real momentum in 2023, especially though victories in several recent, high-profile strikes.

Elaborating, she said that, while the 25% wage hikes won by the auto workers during their month-long strike are certainly an aberration, such a figure emboldens workers in other industries and instills what she called “overexaggerated fear” among employers, including those in the 413.

“Those numbers are extraordinary,” she said. “Usually, when you see these union pay increases, we’re talking 3% to 8%, with 8% being the max. These 25% increases … I honestly don’t think we have that to fear locally, but … there is that public sentiment.”

Indeed, workers are further emboldened by seemingly endless headlines concerning the salaries of CEOs — and by the ongoing workforce crunch that is impacting virtually every sector of the economy, putting a premium on retention of talent.

“With the tight labor market, people can’t find workers — people don’t want to do the traditional jobs anymore,” Cannon-Eckerle said. “Employers need employees, so they do have that leverage, that bargaining power. And with this crunch being in the public, workers know it, and they feel it.”

Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently announced new union election rules and issued six significant union- and employee-favorable decisions that, among other things, make it easier for unions to gain the right to represent employees, redefine the standard for what constitutes concerted activity subject to protection under the NLRB, and substantially heighten employers’ collective-bargaining obligations.

“The NLRB has also shortened the period from election time to when to when it actually happens, so it can come hard, and it can come fast. You have one upset employee that you’re tiptoeing around, and before you know it, you have someone who’s asked for there to be a union election, and within 14 days, it’s happening. That’s scary for employers, and it should be.”

“The NLRB has also shortened the period from election time to when to when it actually happens, so it can come hard, and it can come fast,” Cannon-Eckerle added. “You have one upset employee that you’re tiptoeing around, and before you know it, you have someone who’s asked for there to be a union election, and within 14 days, it’s happening. That’s scary for employers, and it should be.”

For this issue and its focus on workforce and education, BusinessWest looks at the momentum that labor is enjoying at present, what it means, and what might come next.

Labor Gains

What labor is enjoying now would certainly qualify as a boom, said Kerrissey, who told BusinessWest there have been a number of upsurges and periods of retraction since 1900, the period studied for her book, co-written with Judith Stephan-Norris, professor emerita in the Department of Sociology at the University of California Irvine.

That book was essentially finished before the pandemic, she said, adding that the scene has changed dramatically since it was sent it to the printer.

“When we were writing this book, it was hard to imagine that we would be in a boom period like this, but here we are,” she said. “It has been great timing for this book, and it’s been really exciting to apply some of the historical lessons to the present day.”

Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle says that, in the current labor climate, the best quality employers can display is transparency.

Kerrissey said booms are defined by momentum on several different fronts. Successful strikes — with success meaning that workers were able to win all or most of what they were asking for when they went to the picket lines — are easily the most visible.

And there have been many of those over this past year and in many different industries, said Kerrissey, citing the UAW strike, the averted UPS strike — a settlement that was reached gave more than 300,000 workers represented by the Teamsters significant wage hikes and new minimums — and the new contracts won by actors and screenwriters. But there have also been “successful” strikes in healthcare — In October, Kaiser Permanente struck a deal with a coalition of unions granting them 21% wage increases over the next four years — and many teacher strikes, including several in Massachusetts, that have garnered higher wages, especially for paraprofessionals.

But momentum is visible in other fronts as well, Kerrissey said, including what she called a “wave” of new union organizing over the past few years, elections that go through the National Labor Relations Board.

“These have stood out, both because it’s more workers doing these elections, but it’s also in industries that have typically not had a lot of union presence,” she said, listing the action at Starbucks as both the most visible and impactful example of such movement, with more than 300 locations across the country now unionized and the total of represented workers approaching 10,000.

But there have been others as well, including Trader Joe’s, Amazon, Chipotle, and REI, the camping and outdoor sports equipment retailer.

“That’s a real shift to have those types of elections in industries that have long been non-union,” Kerrissey told BusinessWest, adding quickly that workers in those industries, while now unionized, have mostly had a difficult time bringing companies to the table to negotiate.

“The bottom line is … if workers are happy, they’re not going to strike. If your employees are happy, they don’t feel like they need to organize. Usually, it’s one or two people that are upset about something and start to gather their forces, and they start nodding their heads and say, ‘yeah, you’re right, we do deserve more.’”

And while some numbers are trending upward, she went on, overall union representation is relatively flat, if not actually declining.

Indeed, according to the NLRB, union petitions increased 3% in fiscal 2023 compared to 2022, with 2022 seeing a 53% increase in union election petitions from the previous year. However, U.S. union membership declined to 10.1% in 2022 from 10.3% in 2021, the lowest on record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although the number of workers belonging to unions increased by 273,000 workers to 14.3 million in 2022, the total number of workers in the U.S. workforce grew by 5.3 million, resulting in the drop in union density.

Those numbers show that, while labor is enjoying momentum, there is still room for more improvement, Kerrissey said.

“The next big hurdle is making the playing field more even for working people, and that comes down to labor policy,” she said. “The labor policy we have in this country is antiquated, and it’s been hard to change; the basic structure is still from the 1930s. But work has changed a lot since then.”

“It’s been quite difficult to make an updated, 21st-century labor policy,” she went on. “And I think some of the strikes are in reaction to that — there are few alternatives.”

Meanwhile, it’s difficult to project what will happen short- and long-term.

“It’s hard to make predictions,” she said. “Historically, when workers are striking and winning, union membership also surges — those two things are correlated. But it’s really hard to look too far into the future.”

Labor Pains

While long-term projections may be cloudy, Cannon-Eckerle said it’s rather easy to look short-term and see a time (it’s already here, actually) when it is much easier for unions to gain the right to represent employees, and for an election to come much more quickly.

Indeed, as she recapped the changes made by the NLRB in September, she said they have the potential to be as impactful as any of the recent strikes and could cause some real anxiety among employers.

The NLRB decisions, which came down in one hectic week in late August, bring significant changes to the landscape and essentially enable unions to get faster elections, make it easier to show that individual employee comments or actions constitute concerted activity, and limit past practice as a justification for unilateral changes, she explained, adding that these are all clear wins for employees and unions.

Summing them all up, Cannon-Eckerle said, “my clients are afraid — and they should be. They don’t know what they’re allowed to say or not allowed to say; there’s a gray line about whether you can actually say something to somebody, even if they’re being disruptive to the workplace.

“The fear is, ‘am I not going to be able to police the conduct of my employees, because they’re essentially allowed to say and do whatever they want?’” she went on. “And it just takes that one really upset or really vocal employee to create that pre-storm, if you will.”

That pre-storm is the series of events that can lead to a union election, she said, adding that the NLRB decisions can bring one about faster and more easily than perhaps ever before. In essence, the new rule resurrects what was known as the ‘ambush election’ process, which inhibits employers’ ability to educate their workforces about union representation and adequately prepare for union elections — hence the term.

In such a climate, businesses large and small should be focused on transparency, she said, adding quickly that this doesn’t necessarily mean wide-open books but does mean being open and honest about the financial big picture and a detailed explanation of revenues and expenses.

“If you explain to your workforce, ‘here’s what our budget is, and here’s the cost of each employee,’” she began, noting that this means the full cost of each employee, meaning salary, benefits, training, and more. “Most employees don’t know that; they understand budgets, and they understand what it costs to run their households, most likely, but they don’t fully understand everything that goes into charging $7 for a cup of coffee.”

Overall, Cannon-Eckerle said, business owners and managers should do what they can to impress upon workers that they are valued and heard when it comes to the issues that impact them, meaning everything from wages to working conditions to flexibility around where people work.

“The bottom line is … if workers are happy, they’re not going to strike,” she noted. “If your employees are happy, they don’t feel like they need to organize. Usually, it’s one or two people that are upset about something and start to gather their forces, and they start nodding their heads and say, ‘yeah, you’re right, we do deserve more.’

“The way to control that, first of all, is to right your ship; you have to make sure that your house is in order at your company,” she went on. “If it’s not, maybe there’s justification for the union cozying up to the workforce.”

Hospitals Create Some Momentum, but Stern Challenges Remain

By George O'Brien December 7, 2023

Healthcare News Special Coverage

Building Blocks for the Future

Dr. Lynnette Watkins called 2023 a rebuilding year and a time for “getting back to basics.”

As she talked about the relative fiscal health of hospitals, and especially Cooley Dickinson Hospital (CDH) in Northampton, which she serves as president and CEO, and the outlook for the coming year, Dr. Lynnette Watkins looked back on 2023 and described it with phrases often reserved for struggling sports teams — yes, like the one in Foxboro.

“It’s been a very challenging year,” she told BusinessWest. “It was definitely a rebuilding year, with a lot of focus on getting back to basics, and getting to what I would call a new normal.”

While we’re used to hearing those terms in sports, they work in healthcare, and especially when it comes to hospitals, said Watkins and others we spoke with.

Indeed, hospitals are rebuilding from several years of turmoil, falling revenues, rising costs, and struggles with recruiting and retaining a workforce. Many of these issues predate the pandemic, to one extent or another, but COVID certainly exacerbated the problems.

Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of the Baystate Health system, which includes four hospitals — Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield, Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, and Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer — put things in perspective with some eye-opening numbers.

“It’s been a very challenging year. It was definitely a rebuilding year, with a lot of focus on getting back to basics, and getting to what I would call a new normal.”

He said the Baystate system, which also includes the health insurer Health New England, a range of physician practices, and a home-health agency (a $3 billion organization), essentially lost $61 million in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30 — $44 million from health delivery and $17 million from the health plan, which “had a bad year.”

And that’s a significant improvement over the previous fiscal year, when it lost $177 million.

And when it comes to workforce, the Baystate system has roughly 1,400 openings across several different departments, he said, noting that, again, this is an improvement from the peak of more than 2,000 in 2022.

Spiros Hatiras says HMC has taken aggressive steps on the workforce front, such as large sign-on bonuses and staffing ratios for nurses.

“It’s still more than double what it used to be before the pandemic,” said Keroack, who will be retiring next summer, adding that the system has nonetheless seen progress when it comes vacancy rates, turnover rates, and overall retention through strategies including flex scheduling, workforce-safety initiatives, upward movement on salaries and benefits, wellness programs, career counseling, and more — progress he expects will continue on these and other fronts in 2024.

Dr. Robert Roose, president of Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, agreed there was some improvement in 2023 on several of the fronts on which hospitals are battling, from overall volumes in the ER and with hospital stays (sometimes for the wrong reasons) to decreased use of travel nurses and their sky-high costs.

But there are still formidable challenges in the form of higher costs for everything from labor to equipment to medication; inadequate reimbursements for care (a problem hospitals have been dealing with for decades now); and, most recently, backlogs on the patient floors and the ER resulting from a shortage of nursing-home beds.

Overall, there are still many “mismatches,” as he called them, when it comes to demand in various settings and with specific needs, such as behavioral health.

“Hospitals are at a crossroads,” Roose said, noting that the pressures currently facing them will not likely abate in the years to come. “We have to think about how we focus on three main areas — health equity, system redesign and how we can do things differently, and workforce development.”

When it comes to getting back to basics, that phrase applies to everything to improving access, through initiatives such as an expansion of the ER at CDH (more on that later), to different strategies for recruiting and retaining employees — everything from greater flexibility with hours to a concert to celebrate nurses.

In that latter realm, there is certainly room for innovation and even what amounts to risk taking, said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, who said he and his team have certainly done so with some aggressive initiatives with bonuses for nurses, staffing ratios, and taking on nursing students right out of college.

“Hospitals are at a crossroads. We have to think about how we focus on three main areas — health equity, system redesign and how we can do things differently, and workforce development.”

Elaborating, he said HMC took some of the federal and state money funneled to hospitals in the wake of the pandemic and “invested” in programs to bolster the workforce through initiatives such as rising pay scales and benefits, ratios, and especially bonuses for nurses, both recent graduates and those with years of experience — initiatives that have generated strong results and eliminated the need for travel nurses, as we’ll see later.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked with these hospital administrators about the various forms of progress made in 2023 — and there were several — as well as the stern challenges that remain and the expectations for the year ahead.

Working in Concert

They called it Nurses Rock.

That was the name attached to a concert last spring featuring the local cover band Trailer Trash, staged in the former Colony Club space in Tower Square and orchestrated by Holyoke Medical Center. And that name speaks volumes about what this different kind of event was all about.

Indeed, this was a celebration of nurses, said Hatiras, noting that nurses from across the region, not just HMC, were invited. And more than 400 turned out.

Nurses Rock II is well into the planning stage, he went on, adding that the band Aquanett has been secured, and the event has been scheduled to coincide with National Nurses Week in early May.

Dr. Mark Keroack says 2023 was another difficult year for hospitals, on several fronts, but it was a vast improvement over 2022.

Nurses Rock is just one example of rebuilding, going back to basics, being innovative, and, yes, thinking outside the box when it comes to the many challenges that are still confronting hospitals, which are, in many ways, still digging out from the fiscal turmoil created by, or exacerbated by, the pandemic.

With that, Keroack returned to those numbers he referenced earlier, such as the posted losses of $61 million system-wide in FY 2023, and put them into historical perspective.

“To really understand this, you need to turn the clock back to before the pandemic,” he said. “Before the pandemic, we would routinely generate margins of 2% to 3%, and we were generally stable; we were rated A+ by Standard & Poor’s, which put us roughly in the top quartile of health systems in New England.

“In 2020 and 2021, we were propped up by some generous federal subsidies from the CARES Act,” he went on, adding that these amounted to roughly $180 million. “They papered over some serious financial problems and enabled us to post 1% to 2% margins those two years.”

But that relief went away in 2022, and the system was still left with a huge bill for contract labor and overtime pay, he continued, adding that, when it comes to that $177 million loss in FY 2022, more than 70% of that came from higher labor costs.

In 2023, Baystate was able to make about $170 million worth of margin improvement, Keroack said, adding that much of this resulted from one-time grants from FEMA and ARPA monies, as well as some revenue-enhancement initiatives, efforts to improve supply-chain expenses, and a reduction of roughly 60 positions from the executive leadership ranks.

“We’re running an extraordinarily lean organization right now,” he told BusinessWest. For example, I used to have six direct reports, and now I have 12.”

What’s more, the system “turned the tide,” as he put it, when it comes to the use of contract labor, while also embarking on a number of joint ventures, such as the new behavioral-health hospital that opened recently in Holyoke, that help avoid capital expenditures, and exiting some small lines of business such as in-vitro fertilization and urgent care, areas where Baystate either couldn’t recruit talent or determined that these areas were not the core mission and were better left to others to handle.

Overall, volumes returned in 2023 across the board, Keroack said, meaning in the ER, surgeries, and discharges. But hospital stays or ‘days’ were considerably over budget because length of stay has increased, often because it’s more difficult to discharge a patient to a nursing home or home care.

“Hospitals are at a crossroads. We have to think about how we focus on three main areas — health equity, system redesign and how we can do things differently, and workforce development.”

“It’s causing a traffic jam,” he explained. “And it results in dozens and dozens of patients being stuck, waiting for a discharge to happen; that jams up the in-patient unit, causes backup in the emergency room, long waits, etc. It’s been stressful, but we’re beginning to get some progress on that.”

Watkins agreed, noting that more progress is needed in 2024 and beyond because there are many consequences as hospital stays lengthen, everything from greater potential for hospital-acquired infections and patient falls to further financial hardship for hospitals because insurers will not reimburse for those longer stays.

Much of the problem results from workforce issues, she went on, noting that “workforce drives access — access to our acute-care facilities, access to our ambulatory clinics, access to our VNA and hospice — and it really drives the value and quality of service that we offer.”

Work in Progress

Overall, there has been even more progress on the workforce front, although considerable challenges remain, said all those we spoke with.

Due to a heightened focus on various strategies regarding recruitment and retention, hospitals have greatly reduced their dependence on travel, or contract, nurses, who are paid at rates at least double what staff nurses receive, Watkins said.

At HMC, use of travel nurses has been eliminated altogether, said Hatiras, with a discernable dose of pride in his voice, noting that this was achieved through some rather aggressive risk-taking.

And, overall, the hospital has made itself a good place to work, he said, making it easier to recruit not only nurses but also doctors and other providers as well.

“The main theme in 2023 for us was to really leverage many, many years of work to create a great culture here,” he said. “That work, that culture, enabled us to attract physicians here where otherwise, we would have no shot. And it has essentially enabled us to solve our staffing problem. We have solved it for now — knock on wood.”

The most significant progress has come with attracting and retaining nurses and thus eliminating dependence on travel nurses, he went on, adding this has been accomplished through creation of that culture, but also through large bonuses and staffing ratios, initiatives launched in the early stages of the pandemic that are paying real dividends now.

“We gave the nurses something that no one else wanted to give them — something they really wanted, and something we fought for years not to give them: ratios,” he said. “None of my colleagues like my answer, but it has worked for us.”

Elaborating, Hatiras said that, pre-pandemic, his hospital, and all hospitals, fought hard against ratios demanded by nurses unions, primarily because there was no flexibility built into the equation, and penalties were imposed upon those who did not comply. HMC has injected some flexibility, keeping a 5-to-1 ratio whenever possible.

Meanwhile, rather than spend pandemic-related state and federal assistance on the “middleman,” meaning agency nurses for which the hospital paid $200 per hour, the hospital opted to put it toward retention bonuses and other initiatives for nurses and other providers of care.

“We basically said, ‘you’re here, and you work for us; we don’t want you to leave — so we’re going to pay you $20,000 over the next four years as a bonus, just to stay,’” he said, adding that very few nurses who accepted those terms have left.

Meanwhile, more recently, the hospital decided to make some additional investments, this time in recent college graduates, at a time when fewer hospitals were taking on such inexperienced individuals because of the high cost of training them. HMC offered them the chance to join the staff in May, after graduating, but not take on a full patient load until October.

On top of that, it offered something most “couldn’t say no to” — a $50,000 sign-on bonus for a commitment to stay five years.

“We said, ‘listen, we’ll cut you a check so long as you sign a note that says you’ll come and work for us,’” he said, adding that these bonuses were larger than most being offered and upfront in nature.

And they have worked, with many recent graduates signing on. And while many of his colleagues have questioned his math, Hatiras has told them, as he told BusinessWest, that, in the long run, it’s more cost-effective to incentivize nurses to stay in this aggressive fashion than it is to replace them when they leave. And that same guiding philosophy prompted him to put in place a similar program for experienced nurses, one that offers them $40,000 bonuses if they stay three years.

Reality Check

While there has been progress on workforce issues and other fronts, there are still a large number of pain points for hospitals, said Roose, adding that these will certainly continue in 2024.

“The pressures on hospitals have been increasing; they’ve been changing, and the needs of our community have been changing over the past several years, but the pressures have not relented,” he said, noting that the pandemic exacerbated the workforce crisis and compounded a financial crisis for hospitals across the country.

“Those various elements lead to pressures on everything from access to care for patients through traditional models that we’ve had for the past several decades, to having enough colleagues to provide care to meet the demands in different kinds of settings, to how to continue to invest in resources to innovate and grow to where healthcare is going.”

Moving forward, he said the healthcare system must continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of the public and continue to provide access to care, especially amid an ongoing shift toward more care being provided in outpatient settings.

“Hospitals and healthcare systems are evolving, but perhaps not quick enough to best meet those needs,” he went on. “We need to provide access points of care that are the most convenient, that are readily available, at the right level of care when needed, and with a high level of excellence.”

Watkins agreed, but noted that, while 2023 was certainly a time of ongoing challenge and duress for hospitals, it was also a period for rebuilding and, at CDH, celebrating such things as the 10th anniversary of the hospital’s partnership with Mass General Brigham, an expansion and renovation of the hospital’s labor and delivery suites, and the advancement of plans for expanding the ER, a project that will greatly enhance the delivery of care in that unit.

Ground will be broken on the new facility shortly, she said, adding that work to enlarge and redesign the ER brings into focus many of the pressing issues in healthcare today — everything from access to care to workplace conditions to retention of talent.

All are addressed in a design that adds 7,000 square feet of space but also improves safety through an overall configuration that enhances lines of sight while also improving staff satisfaction.

“They want to be in an environment that is pleasing to them, that they can move around in, because we spend a lot of the day at work,” Watkins said. “All of these things come back to workforce, which is going to be the key driver as we move into 2024.”

Bottom Line

As he talked briefly about his pending retirement and tenure at Baystate, Keroack joked that it has “never been dull.”

That’s an understatement and a rather polite way of summing up the past few years in particular.

It’s been a time of extreme challenge, but also intriguing and sometimes even exhilarating work to confront those challenges and find solutions.

As for what is to come and the outlook for 2024, hospitals will continue to rebuild and stress the basics. And, like any struggling sports team, they’ll look forward to the new year with optimism.

That’s the best you can do when you’re at a crossroads.

Tech Foundry CEO Tricia Canavan Is Excited About Latest Project

By Joseph Bednar December 7, 2023

Special Coverage Women in Businesss

Promising Pipeline

Tricia Canavan (far left) and HCC President George Timmons (far right) in the Tech Hub digital classroom with Tech Foundry graduates (and current Tech Hub fellows) Lasharie Weems, Shanice McKenzie, and Anelson Delacruz.

Tech Foundry was launched in 2014 with a specific goal: to increase the technology workforce in Western Mass. at a time when employers were struggling to attract and retain talent.

“Since then, we’ve grown and really have focused on working with low- to moderate-income people and also people from non-traditional backgrounds who may be underrepresented in the tech sector,” said Tricia Canavan, who came on board as Tech Foundry’s CEO last year.

The nonprofit does so by offering professional development, technical career training, career coaching and internships, and job placement in order to connect people to existing IT opportunities, she added. “We’re very proud of the fact that our alums access living-wage jobs and are on these great career pathways.”

If anything, she noted, the need for Tech Foundry is stronger than ever. Recent studies of the workforce environment in Massachusetts suggest up to 400,000 people need to be attracted, recruited, or reskilled in order to keep business in the Bay State humming at optimal levels — many of those in the broad realm of IT.

“There has been a talent shortage in the tech sector and in other sectors, even pre-pandemic, but since the pandemic, we’ve seen those trends accelerate.”

“We all know that the tech sector is on fire, and there are lots and lots of opportunities for growth, and you don’t always need a college degree to access those things,” Canavan said of Tech Foundry’s innovative model that lets students stack certifications to help them get their foot in the door in IT and then progress up the career ladder.

“There has been a talent shortage in the tech sector and in other sectors, even pre-pandemic, but since the pandemic, we’ve seen those trends accelerate,” she added.

The reasons are varied, from mass retirements of Baby Boomers — which means the departure of much senior and middle management, as well as rank-and-file IT workers, from the workforce — to fewer children in the K-12 pipeline.

“Just by sheer numbers, we have fewer kids that are going to be graduating from high school and entering the workforce and/or going to college — that’s fewer kids to engage as young professionals once they complete their education. Also, some of the forecasts that I’ve seen have upwards of 60,000 young professionals projected to move from Massachusetts,” she added, for reasons ranging from cost of living to a housing shortage.

“It’s sort of this perfect storm of economic conditions that are creating persistent needs in the workforce for workers of all types, but there is absolutely a need for more workers in the tech sector.”

Tricia Canavan says Tech Hub is a way to address the region’s digital divide.

The core, 18-week Tech Foundry program has helped produce more of those workers locally, but the nonprofit is equally excited about its newest initiative, called Tech Hub, a broad collaboration that also includes Holyoke Community College (HCC), the Western Massachusetts Alliance for Digital Equity, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, the Accelerate the Future Foundation, Comcast, Google, Bulkley Richardson, and other partners.

“This has been created as part of the Western Mass. Alliance for Digital Equity’s efforts to address digital equity, and the digital divide here in Western Mass.,” Canavan explained. “We, as part of the consortium working on the digital divide in Western Mass., identified an opportunity to be able to support digital-equity efforts while also continuing professional-development training for our staff, students, and alums.”

Located at 206 Maple St. in downtown Holyoke, Tech Hub, which opened to the public on Oct. 26, offers basic and intermediate digital-literacy training, with an eye on enabling people to access jobs of all kinds, not just specifically in IT.

“It starts off as basic as, ‘do you know how to use a mouse? Do you know how to use a trackpad? This is how you get on the internet,’ all the way up to exposure to things like Google Sheets, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Excel, that sort of thing. We want to help people access the basic digital literacy that they need to thrive at work, at school, in healthcare, and connecting to others in the community.”

That’s the first leg of the Tech Hub stool, she explained; the others are providing computers free of charge to eligible people, and providing technical support and one-on-one troubleshooting services to people in the community.

“Everybody probably has someone in their family that uses technology but maybe is not an expert. When they have a problem, where do they go? So we envision providing that support for the community through Tech Hub.”

Confidence Restored

As a single, stay-at-home mother with young boys, Lasharie Weems often felt overwhelmed — particularly when it came to technology. “My 5-year old was probably more digitally literate than I was,” she said.

The remote instruction her children required during the pandemic proved even more baffling, she added. “My older two sons go to a science and technology school. I struggled to even help them with their homework.”

“We want to help people access the basic digital literacy that they need to thrive at work, at school, in healthcare, and connecting to others in the community.”

After enrolling in Tech Foundry’s free, 18-week program, she said her confidence was restored, and it actually brought her family closer together.

Weems now works for Tech Foundry. She told her story at the grand opening of Tech Hub, where she will be serving as an American Connection Corps fellow.

“Today is an exciting occasion for all of us,” Weems she told the crowd assembled outside Tech Hub’s digital classroom. “But for me, it’s a personal achievement as I celebrate the journey it took to get me here. Tech Hub is my opportunity to pay it forward, to help countless others identify and bridge the gap in digital equity.”

Canavan said connections like that are important.

“What was exciting to us about this project was the ability to expand the impact of Tech Foundry, but we’re also staffing Tech Hub in part with alums of Tech Foundry through a one-year professional digital fellowship program,” she explained. “They work under the guidance of Tech Foundry staff to provide the training and technical support services. In addition, we will have students who will be doing co-op and internship work while they’re in the program.”

From left: Tech Hub fellow Shanice McKenzie, Tech Hub manager Shannon Mumblo, and Tech Foundry deputy director Michelle Wilson in the Tech Hub digital classroom.

HCC President George Timmons said it was fitting for Tech Hub to be based at the Picknelly Adult & Family Education Center (PAFEC), one of the college’s satellite campuses in the heart of the city, which also houses HCC’s Adult Learning Center as well as other community programs, including the Holyoke High Opportunity Academy, an alternative public high-school program.

“The mission of Holyoke Community College is to educate, inspire, and connect,” he said. “Through this initiative, we hope to promote access to technology and connectivity, digital literacy, and education, while giving individuals the tools they need to be successful.”

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia agreed, noting that four students who attend the Holyoke High Opportunity Academy at PAFEC have already signed up to be part of the Tech Hub program.

“I think we can all agree that digital literacy in 2023 is as vital as reading literacy was 50 years ago,” the mayor said. “Whether it’s filling out a job application, communicating with a customer, maintaining accessible records, or even booking a flight, digital fluency is a necessary life skill.

“But the Tech Hub mission recognizes something else: that there exists a digital divide that is the result of inequities in access, opportunity, housing, income, and schooling,” he went on. “The free training and support that will take place at this site and at community partner locations is going to be a liberating game changer.”

Opportunity Knocks

Meanwhile, important work continues at Tech Foundry, Canavan said, and applications for the next cohort of students are open at thetechfoundry.org through December.

“We work very intentionally to engage with the community to get the word out about TechFoundry, and there are a lot of different strategies that we use to do that,” she noted, including social media, referrals from community organizations, and partnering with schools to make students aware that Tech Foundry can be a career-development option for them.

“I think it’s a really good option for people because the training is excellent,” she added. “It’s really an intensive training with a great track record of people accessing employment in the tech sector after they graduate, and it’s at no cost.”

Canavan, who has a deep background in nonprofit management and was also president of a staffing agency, United Personnel, said it’s gratifying to see people come through the Tech Foundry program and improve their lives, and she’s hoping for similar impact from Tech Hub.

“I was eager to return to the nonprofit world after selling my business a couple of years ago and felt very fortunate when this job was open at Tech Foundry. I think it’s a great opportunity for me to use my background in recruiting and staffing and also leverage the workforce and economic-development work that I was doing in that role in the nonprofit world, in partnership with residents and community partners and employers,” she told BusinessWest.

“I love this job because it’s pragmatic and solutions-focused,” she added. “There’s tons of opportunity right now, so how do we work together to help residents of Western Mass. access those opportunities? It’s exciting.”

Construction Firms Acclimate to a Changing Landscape

By Contributor December 7, 2023

Construction Special Coverage

Building Momentum

By Emily Thurlow

With the federal COVID-19 public-health declaration coming to an end this past May, the once-global pandemic may seem all but a distant memory. For many businesses, however, its impact certainly hasn’t vanished from sight.

Challenges in obtaining materials and equipment continue to vex general contractors in the construction industry in Western Mass. and across the nation. This extended period of uncertainty — in both duration and scope — has left many feeling uncertain about the future beyond 2023, but there are positive signs, too.

Rising building costs and higher interest rates have been of particular concern to Kevin Perrier, president and CEO of Five Star Building Corp. After work in the Easthampton company’s largest sector — aviation — was essentially grounded for the past two years, Perrier says he was expecting business to be on the slower side.

But to his pleasant surprise, he was wrong. Quite wrong.

“We really saw the aviation sector rebound this year. It makes up for essentially two years of no growth and no construction,” he said. “Honestly, this was one of our busiest years I can remember.”

And Five Star isn’t alone. In fact, despite ongoing resource constraints, construction firms like Laplante Construction Inc. in East Longmeadow and Sweitzer Construction LLC in Monson are reporting an increase in the volume of their work, while Fontaine Bros. Inc. in Springfield calls 2023 the firm’s best-ever year for revenue.

“We really saw the aviation sector rebound this year. It makes up for essentially two years of no growth and no construction. Honestly, this was one of our busiest years I can remember.”

“This year has been good. It’s been steady,” said David Fontaine Jr., CEO of Fontaine Bros. “I think our efforts to work really hard to deliver our projects on time and on budget have really strengthened our relationships with our clients because they’ve seen that we’re still getting things done, successfully, no matter how difficult the climate is.”

Reflecting back on those unprecedented times, BusinessWest spoke with several companies in the region who shared how they have been constantly rolling with the punches by being as strategic as possible when planning out projects and seeking alternatives in design, materials, or vendors when applicable, and, above all, maintaining the safety of everyone involved.

Gaining Altitude

Within two weeks of the national shutdowns to stop the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, Perrier estimates that Five Star lost “millions upon millions of dollars worth of work.” Initially, projects were put on a temporary hold, but shortly thereafter, the majority of those projects were canceled, he said.

Laplante Construction recently completed this new home build in East Longmeadow.

This year, the company, which has been working up and down the East Coast in the aviation sector for the past 13 years, has more than made up for that lost time working with clients like Delta Air Lines and HMSHost International, a U.S. highway and airport food and beverage service company that is a subsidiary of the Italian company Autogrill SpA.

Some of the projects Five Star has completed include the new Gachi Sushi House in Terminal C at Boston Logan International Airport, as well as a Hudson store, offering food, beverages, and travel amenities, in the Terminal B/C connector, and a Hudson Nonstop at Charleston International Airport in South Carolina.

More recent projects underway at Logan include a new hangar roof for Delta Air Lines, some infrastructure work in the lower levels of the airport, and building the new Fox & Flight Restaurant in Terminal A for travel retailer and restaurateur Paradies Lagardère. Perrier said the new restaurant is slated to be the largest restaurant at the airport.

“I think our efforts to work really hard to deliver our projects on time and on budget have really strengthened our relationships with our clients because they’ve seen that we’re still getting things done, successfully, no matter how difficult the climate is.”

“At any given time, we usually have six to 12 projects going in the aviation sector, primarily at Logan,” he said. “The new Terminal E expansion at Logan kept us very busy; it generated quite a bit of work for us to the point that we were actually turning down bids out there. We just kind of reached our capacity for the summer because it was such a push all at once.”

Combined with several mixed-use projects, Five Star had its hands full, he added.

Meanwhile, Laplante Construction and Fontaine Bros. also share glowing reports for their work in the residential and commercial sectors, respectively.

Since expanding his business three years ago to Cape Cod, specializing in mid- to high-end home building and remodeling, Bill Laplante, president of Laplante Construction, says he hasn’t seen any kind of slowdown as a result of increased interest rates. Approximately 80% of the company’s business involves residential projects.

“So the Cape market has been very, very good. There’s an awful lot of work out there,” he said. “I just think there are fewer people out there that are relying on mortgages and are self-financing, or they’re paying cash for work to be done out there.”

For Fontaine Bros., projects that have been publicly funded have remained more consistent than privately funded or developer-driven projects.

Recently, the company completed the three-story DeBerry-Swan Elementary School project on Union Street in Springfield, which opened in the fall. Fontaine is also currently working on school-building projects in Westfield, Worcester, Tyngsboro, Walpole, Fitchburg, and East Brookfield, as well as the UMass Amherst campus.

Pat Sweitzer, operations manager of Sweitzer Construction, also described 2023 as an especially good year. She said that she and her husband, Craig Sweitzer, who co-own and operate the company, attribute this year’s successes to their employees and partners.

Sweitzer Construction has developed an expertise in dental-office construction, including this project for Alliance Dental Care in East Longmeadow.

Pat also offered praise to her sons, Brian and Michael Sweitzer, as both have taken on leadership roles as the firm is in the process of transitioning into a second-generation company.

On the smaller end of projects, the company repaired some buildings at Smith College’s campus and built a new dental office at 265 Benton Dr. in East Longmeadow. One of the larger projects on the company’s docket this year was the conversion of a 19th-century mill building in Northampton into Cambium Analytica’s safety-compliance lab for cannabis products. The new sterile testing lab, which hasn’t opened yet, is located at 320 Riverside Dr., at the site of the former Northampton Cutlery Co.

“Taking a former very old factory building and turning it into a sterile testing lab … the outcome is just remarkable,” Sweitzer said.

Mark Sullivan, president and executive project manager for D.A. Sullivan & Sons Inc., called 2023 the Northampton company’s “first normal year” in several years, adding that things started to stabilize, in a post-COVID sense, during the second half of 2022, and that momentum has carried through 2023.

Strength Amid Challenges

While supply-chain issues have dramatically improved across the board since the middle of the pandemic, almost every contractor BusinessWest spoke to has highlighted challenges with electrical components and equipment like meter sockets, switch gears, generators, and transformers. The demand for transformers has been exacerbated by the lack of available domestic manufacturers to meet the increased need.

“Some of those electrical items still have ridiculously long lead times,” Laplante said. “We built a house — literally finished the house a year and a half ago — and there was supposed to be a ground-mounted transformer for the electric service to the house, and they didn’t have them.”

While waiting for the transformer to come in, he said the electric company has supplied the customer with temporary power. “That transformer has been on back order for a year and a half, and we probably won’t see it for another year. When it comes in, we’ll swap it out.”

For the most part, customers have remained understanding, he added. Other materials that continue to be difficult to source in a timely manner include mechanical equipment, like rooftop units for healing and cooling equipment.

“It seems like anything that has a manufacturing process that has a lot of little pieces and parts that are coming from all over continues to be difficult,” Fontaine said. “And for things like, say, a chiller or a piece of switchgear, they won’t start the manufacturing process until they have every little piece or part of what they need at the facility where they put it together.”

Highlighting a similar concern, Sweitzer said her company has made efforts to order products ahead of time. On Nov. 28, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for one of its projects, Embr Springfield, a $2 million dispensary on Boston Road. At nearly the same time, Sweitzer Construction was ordering the rooftop heating and cooling unit.

“We’re just digging the foundation now, and we already ordered the rooftop unit because it will take that long for it to come in,” she said. “The long lead times are a challenge.”

Sullivan noted that, because lead times for electrical components and mechanical equipment are still driving the overall work schedule for D.A. Sullivan & Sons, the firm’s focus has been on pre-construction services and identifying items they feel may trip up their plans.

Another niche facing long lead times is luxury appliance brands like Wolf and Sub-Zero, according to Laplante. Under current lead times, both brands are averaging roughly 12 months to arrive once ordered. Similar to the transformer problem, Laplante said both manufacturers are providing small, temporary refrigerators until the one that was ordered arrives.

“A lot of the appliance companies and the manufacturers are doing the best they can to provide a temporary fix until the final product is delivered,” he said.

View to the Future

As the end of the year beckons, many of the companies BusinessWest spoke to are feeling cautiously optimistic about 2024.

Sweitzer has a number of projects on the books, including a few with new partnerships with other contractors like Kleeberg Sheet Metal Inc. in Ludlow.

Sullivan said his firm is wrapping up some municipal work and starting some new projects at libraries, fire stations, and safety complexes, and even has a few projects at local universities and colleges in the queue for next year.

“Next year and beyond, we have the biggest backlog we’ve had in over 10 years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fontaine Bros. has secured a healthy amount of public-education work for next year and is positioning itself to be ready for other projects on the horizon.

“I think, generally speaking, the industry is always changing. It’s always exciting,” Fontaine said. “It’s been a challenging couple of years, for sure, but it’s something new and exciting to wake up to every day, and we’re thankful that we’ve continued to be able to be successful through it. So hopefully, 2024 and on will get easier, but whatever happens, we’ll be ready to tackle it.”

Though the residential trend of smaller luxury homes looks to continue, Laplante said there are also a number of very large-scale luxury home builds on the books.

“We’ve seen people downsize and go from a large, two-story home to a high-end, smaller ranch with very, very nice amenities on one-floor living, but interestingly enough, we also have some very large homes in the pipeline for next year,” he said. “This is particularly interesting because, generally speaking, over the last five years, there’s been a trend to reduce the overall size of the homes that are being built to single-story living.”

As for Five Star, Perrier says the new year still holds a lot of question marks for him as the aviation sector tends to be a little more unpredictable. Though there are infrastructure and retail build-out projects on the books, higher fuel costs and tightening budgets can often bump jobs at the last second, he explained.

“What tomorrow brings, I don’t know. I guess I’m still going in with the same hesitation I had for 2023,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll be pleasantly surprised again.”

BusinessWest to Celebrate 2023 Women of Impact Tonight

SPRINGFIELD — BusinessWest will honor its sixth annual Women of Impact tonight, Dec. 7, at Sheraton Springfield.

The sold-out event will celebrate nine members of the class of 2023, who were profiled in the Oct. 16 issue of BusinessWest and at businesswest.com. They are: Fredrika Ballard, president, Aero Design Aircraft Services and Fly Lugu Flight Training; Carla Cosenzi, president, TommyCar Auto Group; Arlyana Dalce-Bowie, CEO, Moms in Power; Sandra Doran, president, Bay Path University; Dr. Khama Ennis, founder, Faces of Medicine and Intentional Health, LLC; Dawn Forbes DiStefano, president and CEO, Square One; Amy Jamrog, CEO, the Jamrog Group; Michelle Theroux, CEO, Berkshire Hills Music Academy; and Lisa Zarcone, author, speaker, and child and mental-health advocate.

The event is sponsored by Country Bank and TommyCar Auto Group (presenting sponsors) and Comcast Business (partner sponsor).

OneHolyoke CDC to Host Eighth Annual Community Dinner on Dec. 9

HOLYOKE — OneHolyoke CDC will host its eighth annual Holyoke Community Dinner Celebration on Saturday, Dec. 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Kelly School, 216 West St. All Holyoke residents are invited to celebrate the season. The organization plans to serve 500 meals to community residents.

OneHolyoke has been hosting its free Community Dinner for the past seven years, bringing together hundreds of Holyoke residents. Residents also have the option to take meals to go. The evening will feature live performances and fun activities, including arts and crafts and a holiday tree contest with trees sponsored by local businesses and organizations. Sponsored trees are decorated by grades or teams at Kelly School, including staff and students in grades pre-K through 5, custodial staff, office staff, and more, totaling 15 trees. Those in attendance will be given a ticket to vote for their favorite tree, and the winning grade or team will get a pizza party.

A committee of Holyoke residents and staff from Holyoke Public Schools, Enlace de Familias, staff from the city of Holyoke, MassHire Holyoke, the Holyoke Safe Neighborhood Initiative, Nueva Esperanza, Blossom Flowers, Holyoke Medical Center, and City Sports Bar have worked with OneHolyoke to organize this event. The annual event is also supported by 42 community organizations and businesses.

Easthampton Learning Foundation Invests in STEAM Program at Mountain View School

EASTHAMPTON — The Easthampton Learning Foundation is investing significantly in enhancing the STEAM program at Mountain View School. Priscilla Kane Hellweg, founder of the Arts Integration Studio, and Megan Kelley-Bagg, Easthampton Public Schools STEAM teacher, are collaborating to expand STEAM opportunities for K-5 students.

STEAM, an educational approach integrating science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, fosters 21st-century skills like creative thinking and collaboration. Hellweg and Kelley-Bagg aim to strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration, elevate arts education within STEAM, and develop replicable content for teachers.

A dedicated STEAM cohort has been formed, starting with fifth-grade teachers engaging in collaborative professional development. The focus is on weather, climate, and earth systems, with two hands-on curriculum units created for fifth grade. New STEAM content units will be developed monthly during the pilot year.

With the success of the fifth-grade team, the program aims to inspire more teachers to embrace creative arts integration in the coming years. The STEAM program, launched last year, aims to promote collaboration among educators and introduce captivating, project-based learning opportunities into the academic day.

Springfield College Earns $240,000 to Assist with Mental-health Needs

SPRINGFIELD — In partnership with the city of Springfield, Springfield College was awarded $240,000 to help assist in combating the growing mental-health needs among college students and the local community. Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and Chief Development Officer Tim Sheehan announced the partnership as part of the Sarno administration’s Higher Education ARPA Fund at City Hall on Dec. 6.

“Empowering our students through comprehensive counseling programs is not merely an investment in their well-being; it is a commitment to the resilience of our community,” Springfield College President Mary-Beth Cooper said. “Our phased program fosters Springfield College’s mission of providing leadership in service to others and creates the opportunity for us to shape the future of individuals and fortify the foundation upon which our society stands by addressing the mental-health crisis head-on.”

Sarno had previously announced the creation of the $750,000 Higher Education ARPA Fund as part of his 13th round of ARPA awards in July, as Springfield College was joined by American International College and Western New England University as recipients of the funding. The $240,000 allocation that Springfield College received will create additional opportunities to further support youth and families in the city of Springfield and provide collaboration between Springfield College students and Springfield Public Schools to enhance their learning and simultaneously support the community.

With the funding, Springfield College intends to hire case managers to provide support and advocacy for both college students and children and families in Springfield Public Schools who have difficulty navigating the often-complex web of available resources, hire a psychiatric nurse practitioner to support critical needs within area colleges and the community, and strengthen relationships between school counseling and clinical mental-health counseling student interns at Springfield College and Springfield Public Schools to provide additional community-based mental-health services and support.

Liberty Bank Opens First Bank Branch in Massachusetts

EAST LONGMEADOW — Joined by customers, area business leaders, community representatives, and state and local elected officials, Liberty Bank cut the ribbon on Tuesday to its first bank branch in Massachusetts, located at 94 Shaker Road in East Longmeadow, marking its official opening.

Teammates from Liberty Bank, which is headquartered in Middletown, Conn., also presented two grants totaling $10,000 to representatives from the East Longmeadow Food Pantry and Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity. In addition, state Rep. Brian Ashe and Jennifer Pickering, district director for state Sen. Jacob Oliveira, each presented official citations recognizing the opening of the branch. East Longmeadow Town Manager Tom Christensen also attended the event.

As part of Liberty’s growth strategy to build its presence along the I-91 corridor from New Haven to Hartford and now into Greater Springfield, it established a commercial loan production office in East Longmeadow in 2021. The relationship managers and support teams based in this market have been successful in maintaining and building new relationships within East Longmeadow and Greater Springfield, attracting new customers to the bank, networking with prospects, and building a strong community presence.

“Due to our rapid pace of growth in securing lending and deposit customers in this part of the state, we identified the need and made it a top priority to open a branch to better support our customers and communities, expand our branch network, and drive future growth in Massachusetts,” said David Glidden, president and CEO, who is originally from Holyoke. “So we went out and hired some of the best of the best in community banking from Western Mass. who embrace our mission in the work they do every day: to improve the lives of our customers, teammates, and communities for generations to come.”

This nearly 3,000-square-foot, full-service branch includes a drive-up banking lane, ATM, and night drop. The branch team, led by Teresa Parker, have been entrenched in the Western Mass. and Greater Springfield communities for many years, working, volunteering, and residing in the area.

“What’s so exciting about our East Longmeadow branch is that it is staffed with teammates who know the community, have resided here, and have customers they’ve been serving for many years,” Parker said. “I want our customers, community, and others looking for a new bank to serve all of their banking needs to know that our branch is open and ready to deliver an extraordinary banking experience.”

The opening of the East Longmeadow branch comes only two months after the launch of Liberty’s commercial loan production office (LPO) at One Monarch Place in downtown Springfield. The branch at 94 Shaker Road was previously the Massachusetts LPO.

Massachusetts Business Confidence Flat in November

BOSTON — Business confidence remained essentially flat during November amid a softening labor market, cooling wage growth, and moderating inflation.

The Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) Business Confidence Index lost two-tenths of a point to 51.0 last month, continuing its pattern of hovering near the dividing line between optimism and pessimism. The Index ended the month 7.7 points lower than the same time last year.

Steady employer sentiment in November reflected a Massachusetts economy that outperformed expectations by growing at a 3.8% annualized rate during the third quarter. Nationally, job growth was less than expected in October, while wage growth eased to 4.1% year over year.

“Strong consumer spending throughout the summer helped the U.S. and Massachusetts economies during a period in which the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates to moderate inflation. The hope is now that the economy will slow in a deliberate manner instead of falling into recession,” said Sara Johnson, chair of the AIM Board of Economic Advisors (BEA).

The Central Massachusetts Business Confidence Index, conducted with the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, rose from 45.7 to 49.6. The North Shore Confidence Index, conducted with the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, declined from 54.2 to 52.2. The Western Massachusetts Business Confidence Index, developed in collaboration with the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce, also lost ground, from 54.1 to 51.8.

The constituent indicators that make up the Index were mixed during November. The confidence employers have in their own companies gained 0.1 point to 52.0, ending the month 10.8 points less than in November 2022.

The Massachusetts Index assessing business conditions within the Commonwealth decreased 1.0 point to 52.6, leaving it down 3.6 points from a year earlier. The U.S. Index measuring conditions throughout the country ended the month at 46.4, which is 2.2 points lower than a year ago.

The bright spot of the November numbers was the Future Index, which gained 1.3 points to 51.4 as employers saw improvement ahead in the first six months of 2024. The Current Index, which assesses overall business conditions at the time of the survey, fell 1.6 points to 50.6.

The Manufacturing Index lost 0.6 point to 47.9, falling 8.4 points below its level of a year ago. Confidence among non-manufacturing companies was up 0.8 point to 52.9. The Employment Index fell 1.4 points to 48.7. Large companies (54.2) were more optimistic than medium-sized companies (51.7) and small companies (47.8).

Elmore Alexander, dean emeritus of the Ricciardi College of Business at Bridgewater State University and a BEA member, said the white-hot job market both in Massachusetts and nationally appears to be approaching equilibrium, reducing inflationary pressure on wages.

“The U.S. economy added 150,000 jobs in October, and job growth in August and September was revised down by a cumulative 101,000 jobs. The Massachusetts unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 2.8%,” Alexander noted.

AIM President Brooke Thomson, also a BEA member, confirmed that the association is seeing signs of wage moderation among its 3,400 members.

“The AIM HR Practices Survey to be published later this month will show that employers plan somewhat smaller wage increases in 2024 than in 2023,” she said. “Those projections are consistent with national trends: wage growth has been slowing steadily since March, and overall inflation cooled to 3.2% in October.”

Smith Brothers Insurance Brings the Quintal Agency into Fold

NORTHAMPTON — The Quintal Agency, an independent insurance agency led by Lynne Quintal-Hill and located in Plainfield, Conn., has merged its operations with Smith Brothers Insurance. Smith Brothers has offices across Connecticut, Massachusetts (including Northampton), New Jersey, and New York.

Quintal-Hill will be fully engaged in client service and business development, and will continue to serve clients as she and her team members join Smith Brothers. The team will continue to work from their office in Plainfield while leveraging the resources of Smith Brothers.

“The Quintal Agency brings us a long history of serving the insurance needs of families and business and allows clients of the Quintal Agency to gain access to additional carriers, coverages, and risk-management services,” said Joe Smith, president and CEO of Smith Brothers Insurance. “Those who own or operate a business will benefit from additional value-added services such as human resources, employee well-being, safety, compliance, and financial services. Both agencies have strong ties to serve our clients and give back to the communities where we live and work.”

Quintal-Hill added that, “as I have come to know Joe and members of the Smith Brothers team, it is clear we share the same values. Their commitment to exceptional client service, continued growth, and being a great place to work is exciting to our team and aligns with our commitment to be the best we can be for our clients, carriers, and the community. I look forward to working with the Smith Brothers team to continue to build what we have here at the Quintal Agency and do what we do at an elevated level.”

UMassFive Hosting Winter Coat, Cold-weather Clothing Drive

HADLEY — UMassFive College Federal Credit Union is running a winter coat and cold-weather clothing drive in its Hadley, Northampton, UMass Amherst, and Springfield branches throughout December.

This drive, held annually, is part of an effort to ensure that community members have access to cold-weather clothing this winter. Donations will be distributed in partnership with the Amherst Survival Center and the Gray House in Springfield.

“We know that our neighbors in need have come to count on the coats and warm clothing our members donate during this drive,” said Cait Murray, Community Outreach manager at UMassFive. “We are so grateful to partner with the great local organizations that can ensure donations are directed where they can have a significant impact.”

UMassFive accepts any clean, new or gently used coats, gloves, scarves, hats, sweaters, and blankets. Donations should be placed in a bag and may be dropped off during business hours to the Hadley branch at 200 Westgate Center Dr., the Northampton branch at 225 King St., the UMass Amherst Campus Center branch (Room 224), or the Springfield branch at 233 Carew St. (Mercy Medical Center Rehabilitation Building, Room 110).

Picture This

Picture This

Email ‘Picture This’ photos with a caption and contact information to [email protected]

Wonderful Partnership

Country Bank recently announced its partnership and $20,000 in support of the Wonderfund of Massachusetts. The Wonderfund helps kids and teens served by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to enjoy the holiday season. Donations of new, unwrapped gifts are still being accepted at any Country’s branch until Dec. 15.

Pictured, from left: Jodie Gerulaitis, vice president of Community Relations at Country Bank; Lauren Baker, former first lady of Massachusetts and founder and CEO of the Wonderfund; and Shelley Regin, senior vice president of Marketing at Country Bank.

Taking Stock of Things

Monson Savings Bank was a silver sponsor of this year’s Junior Achievement (JA) of Western Massachusetts Stock Market Competition, the largest single-day student stock-market competition in North America. The bank donated $1,500, which supported five teams of five students in the competition, as well as the overall event.

Pictured, from left: Tracy Alves-Lear, JA board member; Lena Buteau, vice president, Retail Branch Administration at Monson Savings Bank and JA board member; Amy Alaimo, JA of Western Massachusetts Operations manager; and Mark Laurenzano, JA board member.

Born to Run

Girls on the Run Western Massachusetts held its annual fall 5K on Nov. 19 at Western New England University. Girls on the Run is a positive, physical-activity-based, youth-development program that uses running games and dynamic discussions to teach life skills to girls in grades 3-8. During the 10-week program each semester, girls participate in lessons that foster confidence, build peer connections, and encourage community service while they prepare for a celebratory, end-of-season 5K event. The fall and spring 5K events draw thousands of participants and supporters.

Girls on the Run Western Massachusetts held its annual fall 5K on Nov. 19 at Western New England University

Girls on the Run is a positive, physical-activity-based, youth-development program that uses running games and dynamic discussions to teach life skills to girls in grades 3-8.

Agenda

Agenda

Christmas by Candlelight

Through Dec. 30: Christmas by Candlelight at Old Sturbridge Village is now open select Fridays, Saturday, and Sundays through Dec. 30. Unique, Village-made holiday items are available at the Miner Grant Store during the event, as well as the Ox & Yoke Mercantile, which opens daily at 10 a.m. and does not require admission to the Village. Visitors who would like to give the gift of something handmade can learn about crafts made throughout the Village, purchase craft kits for gift giving, or try their skill at hand-dipping candles. Attendees will find themselves enchanted as they step back in time to celebrate Christmas in New England in the 19th century. They can enter Village households to watch traditional craft-making demonstrations; stroll through the Christmas Tree Trail, featuring over 80 cut trees; and take in 4,000 candles and lanterns and more than 2,000 yards of garland dressing up the Village in its holiday finest. A lighting ceremony takes place at 4:30 p.m. each day. And Santa Claus himself makes a nightly appearance, allowing the little ones to tell him their Christmas wishes. Visit www.osv.org/event/christmas-by-candlelight to purchase tickets.

Community Giving Initiative

Through Dec. 31: Monson Savings Bank (MSB) is inviting the public to submit their votes for the bank’s 2024 Community Giving Initiative. For more than a decade, MSB has sought the help of community members to plan the bank’s community giving activities. Each year, the bank encourages the public to vote for the nonprofit charitable organizations they would like the bank to support during the coming year. Everyone is welcome to cast their vote online at www.monsonsavings.bank/cgi. Voters may provide the names of up to three organizations they would like MSB to donate to in 2024. The only requirements are that a nominee is designated a nonprofit and provides services within the bank’s geography. Monson Savings Bank pledges to support the 10 organizations that receive the highest number of votes. The top 10 vote recipients will be announced by mid-January. Visitors to the voting page can also view a compiled list of organizations that the bank has supported in years past, as well as previously nominated organizations.

Bright Nights

Through Jan. 1: The 29th season of Bright Nights at Forest Park will be lit every night from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and holidays, which include Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. Tickets are available at brightnights.org. Over the past 29 years, a lot has changed, but many iconic displays have stayed the same. The Cat in the Hat still waves at the entrance to Seuss Land as he has been doing since 1995. The deer in Winter Woods bound across the road. Toy Land is still a storied land for children to dream of living in. Santa’s Magical Forest continues to grow with activities, attractions, and Santa himself, who will be in residency through Christmas Eve. He has a cozy cottage to welcome visitors, listen to holiday wish lists, and pose for photos, whether visitors take their own or purchase a photo package.

Service Above Self Luncheon

Dec. 14: The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Rotary Club of Springfield announced the honorees for the Westfield Bank 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Rotary Service Above Self Luncheon, which will take place at noon on Center Court of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. This year’s honorees are Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health, and NBA Cares. In addition, Springfield Rotary announced this year’s Paul Harris Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Paul Lambert, president and CEO of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and long-serving Rotarian. Tickets to the event are available to purchase. Individual tickets ($90) and sponsorship opportunities for the luncheon are still available. For more information on sponsorships or to purchase tickets to the luncheon, contact Chelsea Johnson at (413) 231-5521 or [email protected].

Red Sox Winter Weekend

Jan. 19-20: Red Sox Winter Weekend will take place at MGM Springfield and its neighboring facility, the MassMutual Center. The event will include a welcome and introduction of participating Red Sox players and roundtable discussions on a variety of baseball topics, as well as autographs and photos. The weekend also includes a full baseball festival for fans of all ages. Weekend passes for Winter Weekend are available now at redsox.com/winterweekend. Passes provide access for the entire event and cost $95 for adults ($85 for season-ticket holders) and $40 for children age 14 and under ($35 for season-ticket holders). Children age 2 and under are free. Information about discounted hotel rooms in the area is available on the website. Mastercard is the preferred payment of the Boston Red Sox. Members of the 2024 Red Sox, including coaching staff, are invited to attend. Red Sox alumni, Wally the Green Monster, and his sister, Tessie, will also be in attendance. The weekend will begin Friday night with a welcome and introduction of the participating players. Throughout the day on Saturday, fans will have an opportunity to get autographs and take photos with players and alumni and see the 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018 World Series trophies, as well as Red Sox artifacts such as Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, MVP, and and Cy Young awards. Family-friendly activities include Wiffle ball on the indoor field, a virtual-reality experience, batting and pitching cages, and the chance to meet Wally and Tessie. Panel discussions will also take place throughout the day on Saturday, with the return of the popular favorites including the kids-only press conference.

People on the Move

People on the Move

Lidya Rivera-Early

UMass Amherst has appointed Lidya Rivera-Early to the newly created position of executive director of Government Relations and Springfield Partnerships. Rivera-Early brings more than 25 years of leadership, development, and managerial experience to the position, most recently as director of Community Engagement at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC). She will draw on her established relationships in the public and private sectors to serve as liaison between UMass Amherst and the city of Springfield. At STCC, Rivera-Early served in various roles over the past decade, working to deepen relationships with community partners and collaborating across campus and with outside organizations on educational and career-development initiatives. She also served as a liaison between college departments and regional and statewide stakeholders and represented the college on various boards and in the community. Prior to her role at STCC, she was Section 3 program manager for the city of Springfield, where she was responsible for administrative and technical duties managing, coordinating, and administering the city’s Section 3 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Previously, she served as grants coordinator/manager for the Springfield Housing Authority, overseeing all grant-funded programs for the agency. Rivera-Early received a bachelor’s degree in human services and a master’s degree in organizational management and leadership in human services from Springfield College. She is a graduate of Leadership Pioneer Valley and is the recipient of several notable awards and honors, including the Massachusetts Latina Excellence Award. She serves on the boards of a number of community organizations, including the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley and the newly formed Dora D. Robinson Women’s Leadership Council.

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Maureen Buxton

James Hagan, president and CEO of Westfield Bank, announced that Maureen Buxton has been appointed to the role of business specialist, assistant branch manager. She will be based out of the bank’s 1342 Liberty St. location in Springfield and will assist in managing all areas of the branch, including customer service, retail and business product sales, employee development, and general operations. For the past 31 years, Buxton has worked in the banking industry, holding multiple roles in local community banks and credit unions, including branch manager and mortgage loan officer positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Westfield State University. Buxton is very involved in her community, serving as a chairperson on the Chicopee Parks and Recreation Commission and the Chicopee Athletic Hall of Fame Committee. She also serves as treasurer for the Cigars4Soldiers Committee and is a member of the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade Road Race Committee. In 2013, she received the President’s Award at a local community bank, a prestigious award recognizing her outstanding performance and customer service. The following year, she received the Paul Harris Honoree award from the Rotary Club of Chicopee.

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Karolina Weagle

Regional law firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. announced that attorney Karolina Weagle was accepted into the 2023 Massachusetts Bar Assoc. Leadership Academy. Believing exceptional leaders are essential to the improvement of the legal profession and understanding there are few leadership training opportunities for young attorneys, the Massachusetts Bar Assoc. developed its Leadership Academy to better prepare young attorneys to assume leadership roles at the bar, both in their firms or organizations and in government. Weagle concentrates her practice in estate planning. Prior to joining Shatz, Schwartz & Fentin in 2022, she worked at a Boston firm representing clients in litigation and criminal-defense matters, and later returned to Western Mass., where she practiced in the areas of real estate, estate planning, and estate administration. She graduated summa cum laude from Westfield State University in 2015 with bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and political science. Soon after, she enrolled at New England Law Boston, where she graduated cum laude in 2018. While in law school, she made the dean’s list every semester, was awarded the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Property II in the spring of 2016, and earned the New England Scholar Award for 2015-16. She is also fluent in Polish.

•••••

Melissa Blissett

Melissa Blissett, vice president of Family Services at Square One, has been named advisory board chair of the Springfield College School of Social Work. Her appointment follows the passing of long-time social worker and social-services advocate Dora Robinson. Blissett earned her master of social work degree from Springfield College in 2015. As a student, she served on both the advisory board and the student organization for the School of Social Work. She currently serves as an adjunct professor. At Square One, she leads a team of social workers, case managers, and support staff who provide parent education, support, and training programs through groups, home visitation, and personalized case management to help parents access whatever services are needed to be successful in their role as their child’s first teacher. Blissett joined Square One in 2014 as a supervisor in the agency’s Healthy Families and Supervised Visitation programs. In 2017, she went to work as a child and family-law division social worker for the Committee for Public Council Services in Springfield. In 2018, she returned to Square One as the assistant vice president of Family Services, and in 2021, she was promoted to vice president.

•••••

Jasmin Mujkic

Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries named Jasmin Mujkic vice president of Retail. He is a retail executive with more than 15 years of business leadership experience, including working in three Goodwill organizations across the country. Mujkic joins Goodwill from LePrix, an e-commerce marketplace for luxury goods, where he was vice president. Prior to that, he was vice president of Retail Operations for Goodwill of Greater Washington, D.C. He has also held management positions at Goodwill of Greater East Bay in California and Goodwill of North Georgia. A native of Croatia, Mujkic began his retail career in Europe and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Zagreb.

Company Notebook

Company Notebook

Girls Inc. of the Valley Receives Grant from Collins Aerospace

HOLYOKE — Girls Inc. of the Valley announced a grant of $30,000 from Collins Aerospace for the Her Future, Our Future comprehensive campaign. This commitment from Collins Aerospace will support the creation of a dynamic MakerSpace in Girls Inc. of the Valley’s new headquarters and program center. The collaboration between Collins Aerospace and Girls Inc. of the Valley will include volunteer opportunities to conduct STEM workshops for students and assist teens navigating the college-application process, as well as job shadowing and internship opportunities. The MakerSpace and Collins Aerospace volunteers will have a major impact on Girls Inc.’s Eureka! Program, a unique curriculum that offers youth a sustained, five-year experience in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Eureka! is open to all Hampden County girls in grades 8-12. With $4.8 million raised toward the $5 million goal, Her Future, Our Future is Girls Inc. of the Valley’s comprehensive campaign that has three important goals: expand Girls Inc. programming to more Valley communities, support the growth of Eureka!, and complete a new headquarters and program center.

UMass Amherst, AIC to Share Classroom, Lab Space After Fire

SPRINGFIELD — UMass Amherst and American International College (AIC) signed an agreement allowing AIC to use clinical simulation laboratories and classrooms at the UMass Amherst Center at Springfield following a fire on the AIC campus in July. The agreement will assist AIC nursing students in continuing their education uninterrupted as repairs are made to AIC’s health-sciences facilities. The July 27 fire on AIC’s campus in Springfield, sparked by a lightning strike, caused extensive damage to Courniotes Hall, which houses the college’s nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and public health programs. Under the agreement, the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at UMass Amherst and AIC’s nursing program have developed a schedule to share instruction space at Tower Square in downtown Springfield through May 2024. This fall, more than 50 AIC students have used the facilities for instruction, assessments, and other activities.

The Children’s Trust Honors Square One with Award

BOSTON — The Children’s Trust, the state’s child-abuse-prevention agency, awarded Square One in Springfield with its Community Partnership Award at its annual A View from All Sides conference. The Community Partnership Award recognizes an organization that has demonstrated a commitment to the mission of the Children’s Trust and has developed strong and long-lasting relationships, understands the shared responsibility to support families and children, and has directly impacted the goals of the Children’s Trust. Square One’s programs include early education and care, serving 500 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers each day; and family-support services that impact more than 1,500 families each year. This past June, the Children’s Trust partnered with Square One to launch the Commonwealth’s first Financial Support Program for young, first-time parents. The pilot program provides cash assistance to parents enrolled in the Children’s Trust’s Healthy Families program in Springfield. Program participants receive $500 per month for the first 15 months, then three additional monthly payments of $550, $650, and $750, respectively, for a total of 18 months. Participants who enroll in the financial-assistance program while pregnant receive a lower monthly stipend of $100. Upon the baby’s birth, parents are then eligible to receive regular monthly payments to help support the transition to parenting and the baby’s first months. The Children’s Trust also offers optional financial skill-building courses to program participants. Because Healthy Families program participants meet with home visitors regularly, the first-of-its-kind financial-assistance program is unique in its built-in case-management component as well as access to referrals for other basic family needs.

IT’SUGAR Now Open at Holyoke Mall

HOLYOKE — IT’SUGAR, one of the largest specialty candy retailers in the U.S., has opened a 2,400-square-foot candy store inside Holyoke Mall. The Holyoke Mall location epitomizes what the brand is known for: hundreds of varieties of over-the-top sweets, humorous products, and immersive candy experiences from America’s beloved brands, including Sour Patch Kids, OREO, Nerds, Skittles, Reese’s, and Starburst. It also includes shops devoted to retro and international candy, TikTok-trending treats, and much more. IT’SUGAR’s new store is located on the upper level in Center Court, next to H&M.

Incorporations

Incorporations

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

AGAWAM

Anderson Hair Inc., 72 Sunnyslope Ave., Agawam, MA 01001. Alison Anderson, same. Hair salon.

CHICOPEE

NML Distribution Inc., 232 Pendleton Ave., Chicopee, MA 01020. Nicholas Lafrenaye, same. Distribution of baked goods.

EAST LONGMEADOW

US Latin Food Fairs Inc., 96 Windham Dr., East Longmeadow, MA 01028. Cesar Ruiz Jr., same. Retail food sales and food fairs.

HOLYOKE

Holyoke Family Dentistry, P.C., 150 Lower Westfield Road, Holyoke, MA 01040. Sarat Gaddipati, 1651 Bridge St., Dracut, MA 01826. Dental practice.

PITTSFIELD

Celacare Eco-Health Inc., 82 Wendell Ave., Suite 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Roselle O’Brien, same. Educational services.

Desmos Policy Institute, 82 Wendell Ave., Suite 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Georgios Laskaris, same. Think tank that transfers best practices from the U.S. to Greece.

Richard Silvano Painting Inc., 146 Daniels Ave., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Richard Silvano III, 146 Daniels Ave., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Painting and general construction for residential and commercial properties.

SPRINGFIELD

Frontrow Credit Repair Inc., 24 Old Brook Road, Springfield, MA 01118. Maria Gonzalez, same. Credit-repair services.

Landscaping That Fitz Inc., 235 State St., Unit 221, Springfield, MA 01103. Robert Fitzpatrick, same. Landscaping and other related activities.

Yankee Clippers Swim Team Inc., 562 Carew St., Springfield, MA 01104. Mark Gehring, same. Organizing and conducting swim events.

WILBRAHAM

Wilbraham Skin Studio Inc., 2341 Boston Road, Suite 203, Wilbraham, MA 01095. Maegen Arroyo, 14 George St., Palmer, MA 01069. Esthetician.

Doing Business as Certificates

DBA Certificates

The following business certificates and/or trade names were issued or renewed during the month of November 2023.

BELCHERTOWN

Christ Community Church
1255 Federal St.
Emmanuel Haqq

Cold Spring Recovery Service
27 Main St.
Sonja Carroll

Country Stylist
171 Federal St.
Marianne Abuselmi

Don Cole & Sons Excavating Contractor
297 Franklin St.
James Cole

Family First Consulting
15 Lamson Ave.
Stephan Corbin

Gaynor Property Services
447B Amherst Road
Leroy Gaynor

Holmes Construction
240 Warren Wright St.
David Holmes

Maine Dynomining & Minerals
90 Federal St.
Jonathan Spiegel

Massachusetts Veterans’ Chamber of Commerce
281 Chauncey Walker St., #176E
Lisa Ann Ducharme

The Master of Sparks Welding Co.
27 Main St.
Sonja Carroll

Physio-Logic Physical Therapy & Integrative Health
23 Everett Ave.
Linda Coffey

Points North Adventures
24 Ledgewood Circle
Scott Fugere

Quabbin Valley Acupuncture
74 Daniel Shays Highway
Dana Burton

Squires Seafood & Fish Market
25 Main St.
Sonja Carroll

WESTFIELD

Aesthetically You
77 Mill St.
Amber Whitehill

Cities Gateway
18 Whispering Wind Road
Jack Clemente

Hair by Christine Ouimette
77 Mill St.
Christine Ouimette

Indian Motorcyle of Springfield
962 Southampton Road
DNKB LLC

Kernels & Co.
344 Prospect St. Ext.
Bryant Keeney, Noah Rivera

Laflamme’s Auto & Truck Services Inc.
3335 Fairfield Ave.
Sarah Laflamme, Wayne Laflamme

Mr. Rooter Plumbing
845 Airport Industrial Park
David Tourville

M’s Creation
16 Union St.
Maureen Moriarty

Serendipity Psych Counseling and Consulting
193 Russell Road
Dallas Pilechi, Ariana Avezzie

WEST SPRINGFIELD

The Barber Room
698 Westfield St.
The Barber Room

Direct Results
2005 Riverdale St.
Direct Results

Frasco Fuel Oil
2383 Westfield St.
Frasco Fuel Oil

Joy Bowl
935 Riverdale St., Unit F102
Joy Bowl

Manchester Home Improvement
203 Circuit Ave.
Manchester Home Improvement

Olympia Ice Center
125 Capital Dr.
Massachusetts Skate Inc.

Rattigan_Best
1129 Riverdale St.
Rattigan_Best

Truehart Wellness
201 Park Ave.
Truehart Wellness

Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital West Springfield
134 Capital Dr.
Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital West Springfield

West Springfield G&S Trucking Inc.
1528 Riverdale St.
West Springfield G&S Trucking Inc.

Worldwide Travel
1446 Riverdale St.
Gorecki Enterprises Inc.

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Alkhatib, Mohammad
107 Starling Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/14/2023

Belden, Gregory A.
11 Witheridge St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 13
Date: 11/01/2023

Bitetti, Bronwen D.
75 Hancock Road
Williamstown, MA 01267
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/07/2023

Bradley, Alfred D.
102 Vincent St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/03/2023

Brown, Kevin E.
63 Telbar St.
Springfield, MA 01128
Chapter: 13
Date: 11/02/2023

Burgos, Carmen R.
55 Pine St., 2nd Fl.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Date: 11/14/2023

Claine, John H.
Claine, Kimberly L.
409 Chapman St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 13
Date: 11/13/2023

Collins, Matthew E.
95 Orange St., Fl. 2nd
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 10/31/2023

Cyr, Sandra J.
29 Abbey St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Date: 10/31/2023

Deline, Edward J.
1095 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/08/2023

Delgatto, Cindy S.
63 Nelson St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/03/2023

Gazda, Cindi
21 Jennifer Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 13
Date: 11/14/2023

Heller, Janine
a/k/a Provost, Janine
357 Irene St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Date: 10/31/2023

Kean, Ethan A.
d/b/a Beef Cheek Farms
31 Sturbridge Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Chapter: 13
Date: 11/03/2023

Lee, Emanuel R.
1551 Allen St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Date: 10/31/2023

Licata, Meghan J.
125 Hancock Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Date: 10/31/2023

Love, Marlene A.
a/k/a Mendonsa, Marlene A.
a/k/a Saucier, Marlene A.
833 Riceville Road
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 13
Date: 10/31/2023

Miller, Alexis B.
221 Chalmers St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Date: 10/31/2023

Montague, Matthew F.
61 Chesterfield Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 13
Date: 10/31/2023

Morales, Pablo Alejandro
19 Dianna Dr.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/15/2023

O’Connor, Lawrence G.
30 Woronoco Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Chapter: 13
Date: 10/31/2023

Perodeau, Amy
a/k/a McCartin, Amy
385 Lancaster Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Date: 10/31/2023

Silva, Alessandra Alves
228 Cordaville Road
Ashland, MA 01721
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/06/2023

Sisson Engineering Corp.
450 West River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 11
Date: 11/14/2023

Spear, Anthony J.
28 Penrose Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/07/2023

Williams, Edward H.
Williams, Elizabeth J.
17 Francis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Date: 11/14/2023

Real Estate Transactions

Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest available) were compiled by Banker & Tradesman and are published as they were received. Only transactions exceeding $115,000 are listed. Buyer and seller fields contain only the first name listed on the deed.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

ASHFIELD

168 Main St.
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $349,000
Buyer: Lea Banks
Seller: Jakub Muller
Date: 11/01/23

BERNARDSTON

44 Church St.
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: 44 Church Enterprises LLC
Seller: NL&E Associates LLC
Date: 11/06/23

BUCKLAND

83-A North St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $800,000
Buyer: Karl K. Rogler
Seller: Paula C. Parsons Int.
Date: 11/06/23

25 Elm St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: NLA Holdings LLC
Seller: Steven L. Howland
Date: 10/31/23

27 Elm St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: NLA Holdings LLC
Seller: Steven L. Howland
Date: 10/31/23

50 Prospect St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Robert N. Quigley
Seller: Rachael S. Riverwood
Date: 10/31/23

49 State St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Haley B. O’Neil
Seller: Diego Sharon
Date: 11/06/23

122 State St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Love Thy Neighbor LLC
Seller: Polly French
Date: 11/01/23

COLRAIN

2 Cider Mill Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: David E. Arsenault
Seller: AI Property Solutions LLC
Date: 11/07/23

4 Cromack Lane
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $382,000
Buyer: Kyle J. Welsh
Seller: Susan E. Wall
Date: 11/09/23

DEERFIELD

39 Graves St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $295,500
Buyer: Shelly Rifken
Seller: Corey J. Ramsay
Date: 11/03/23

72 North Hillside Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Lauren K. Hnath
Seller: Kownacki Int.
Date: 10/30/23

9 Thayer St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Ethan Wickline
Seller: Leslie A. Wickline
Date: 11/06/23

GREENFIELD

104 Davis St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: David R. Cramer
Seller: Ion Virlizanu
Date: 11/03/23

209-211 Deerfield St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $201,500
Buyer: Laura James
Date: 11/08/23

48 Harrison Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: William J. Carey
Seller: Lindsey M. Ennis
Date: 11/01/23

105 Laurel St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Troy Santerre
Seller: Timothy J. Stebbins
Date: 10/30/23

59 Newell Pond Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $352,000
Buyer: Timothy Kosuda
Seller: Barbara E. Woodcock
Date: 11/06/23

LEYDEN

148 East Hill Road
Leyden, MA 01337
Amount: $825,000
Buyer: Carole J. Rose RET
Seller: William R. Butler
Date: 11/01/23

MONTAGUE

79 2nd St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $126,000
Buyer: William R. Crosby
Seller: Margaret S. Glassman
Date: 11/03/23

113-115 Avenue A
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: 113 Ave A. LLC
Seller: Emily Ya-Ping
Date: 11/06/23

8 Grant St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Troy Santerre
Seller: Chadd Cocking
Date: 10/30/23

48 Millers Falls Road
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $307,000
Buyer: Austin M. Fortin
Seller: Jill M. Innes
Date: 10/31/23

123 Montague St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Joshua A. Lashway
Seller: Crochier, Leslie C., (Estate)
Date: 11/09/23

24 Vladish Ave.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Paxton P. Reed
Seller: Anthony D. Diaz
Date: 11/01/23

3 Wolcott
Montague, MA 01347
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Green River Collective LLC
Seller: Matherson, Brian Lee, (Estate)
Date: 11/06/23

NORTHFIELD

91 Main St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $1,025,000
Buyer: LCS Realty LLC
Seller: Northern Enterprises LLC
Date: 11/01/23

ORANGE

124 Drew Blvd.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Christine Richardson
Seller: Peter M. Jack
Date: 11/09/23

137 Eagleville Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Michael Gelinas
Seller: Kiernan R. Wilson
Date: 11/03/23

465 East River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Kimberly Maguy
Seller: Eugene F. Litchfield
Date: 11/09/23

60 Holmes Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $302,000
Buyer: 88 Lambert Ave. NT
Seller: Steven Gauvin
Date: 11/07/23

73-75 Pleasant St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Yunxiang Zhong
Seller: Tawny R. Evanson
Date: 10/31/23

2 West Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: 2 Main St. Orange LLC
Seller: James A. Stanley
Date: 11/09/23

SHELBURNE

11 Main St.
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $665,000
Buyer: John Petrovato
Seller: Kenneth R. Downes Int.
Date: 10/30/23

SHUTESBURY

27 Weatherwood Road
Shutesbury, MA 01002
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: Lipman & Cohen Joint LT
Seller: Paul S. Lipman TR
Date: 11/01/23

SUNDERLAND

621 Amherst Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Mary M. Cathcart
Seller: Damien T. McNally
Date: 11/02/23

247 Plumtree Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $545,000
Buyer: John T. McConnell Int.
Seller: Dolores M. Berwind RET
Date: 11/09/23

WENDELL

West St.
Wendell, MA 01379
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Sara C. Hsiang
Seller: Kevin M. Eckhardt
Date: 11/08/23

WHATELY

184 Haydenville Road
Whately, MA 01093
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Jenny A. Richards
Seller: Dwight, Elizabeth A., (Estate)
Date: 11/03/23

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

46 Federal St. Ext.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Scott Harlow
Seller: Jacob M. Kopyscinski
Date: 11/07/23

81 Burlington Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $820,000
Buyer: Mohammed A. Burhan
Seller: Konstantin Gut
Date: 11/01/23

18 Duclos Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Konstantin Gut
Seller: Ruth E. Chandler
Date: 11/01/23

61-63 High St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $536,100
Buyer: Kay T. Oo
Seller: Alexander Panchelyuga
Date: 11/02/23

42 Lincoln St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $187,500
Buyer: Thomas G. Gonet
Seller: William P. Gonet
Date: 11/03/23

48 Morningside Circle
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $422,900
Buyer: Nathaniel W. Karns
Seller: Johnson FT
Date: 11/03/23

6 Pheasant Run Circle
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Megliola Realty LLC
Seller: John J. O’Brien
Date: 11/02/23

65 South Park Ter.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jordyn L. Michaelson
Seller: Patnaude, Mary E., (Estate)
Date: 11/09/23

397 Southwick St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Silver Snake Properties LLC
Seller: Lynne M. Paquin
Date: 11/08/23

437 Southwick St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Umer F. Husain
Seller: Jonathan Zuber
Date: 11/10/23

64 Sunnyslope Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $293,000
Buyer: Scott Main
Seller: Raymond M. Pronovost
Date: 11/09/23

BLANDFORD

138 Chester Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Jacques Boilard
Seller: Roy, Gary L., (Estate)
Date: 10/31/23

49 North St.
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Kelsey M. McGinley
Seller: Aaron J. Labrecque
Date: 11/09/23

55 Russell Stage Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Stone Mitchell
Seller: Amanda R. Rudzik
Date: 11/09/23

20 Sperry Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Frances Kibbe
Seller: Sperry Road RT
Date: 11/02/23

CHICOPEE

149 Beauchamp Ter.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Jean C. Santiago-Reyes
Seller: Andrzej Soja
Date: 10/30/23

116 Bostwick Lane
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Jasmyn Quinones
Seller: Pah Properties LLC
Date: 10/31/23

71 Bray St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Kyle Soja
Seller: Green, George F., (Estate)
Date: 11/03/23

8 Canal St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Sabino D. Carballo-Diaz
Seller: Tabor, Jerzy Piotr, (Estate)
Date: 11/03/23

285 East St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Darnell Cortes
Seller: Dominic M. Cessarini
Date: 11/03/23

104 Gill St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $181,000
Buyer: USBank
Seller: Keith J. Dupont
Date: 11/08/23

54 Kennedy St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: William A. Fish
Seller: Marco A. Morgado
Date: 11/01/23

61 Kimball St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Orlando S. Gonzalez-Santos
Seller: JoeJoe Properties LLC
Date: 11/09/23

132 Nelson St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Honorio D. Velasquez
Seller: Leshia A. O’Neil-Wolcott
Date: 10/30/23

224 School St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Luis Capellan
Seller: Pah Properties LLC
Date: 11/09/23

100 Van Horn St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Marco A. Morgado
Seller: Gregorios Varypatakis
Date: 11/01/23

16 Woodcrest Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Pedro Sanchez
Seller: Elaine Bourgeois
Date: 11/10/23

EAST LONGMEADOW

Anna Marie Lane, Lot A
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Moltenbrey Builders LLC
Seller: Knox Trail RT
Date: 11/09/23

19 Bettswood Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Thomas F. Rivers
Seller: Brown, Patricia Fiske, (Estate)
Date: 11/10/23

55 Pineywoods Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Thomas J. Flanagan
Seller: Vladimir Strelnitski
Date: 11/10/23

208 Shaker Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $139,000
Buyer: Lachenauer LLC
Seller: Cwabs Inc. Series
Date: 11/08/23

HAMPDEN

73 Genevieve Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Brooke Logan
Seller: James E. Fiola
Date: 10/30/23

198 Stafford Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $540,000
Buyer: Rhonda Black
Seller: Johnny J. Johnson
Date: 11/07/23

HOLLAND

14 Craig Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Joshua Strasser
Seller: Amber L. Boucher
Date: 11/03/23

20 Joanie Lane
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $383,585
Buyer: Pantuosco FT
Seller: Andrew M. Pantuosco
Date: 11/08/23

64 Mashapaug Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Jonathan Fallon
Seller: Pebbles J. Carson
Date: 10/31/23

HOLYOKE

24 Ashley Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Cynthia H. Theriault
Seller: Robert C. Daniell RET
Date: 11/03/23

103 Chapin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: 103 Chapin St. LLC
Seller: Ronald E. Holland
Date: 11/01/23

24 Franks Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Viktor Biley
Seller: Falcetti, Una Mae, (Estate)
Date: 10/31/23

44 George St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Rosa Adorno
Seller: Theresa L. Asselin RET
Date: 11/06/23

354-356 High St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Pink Finch LLC
Seller: Bobo RT
Date: 11/07/23

414-416 High St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Acemar Leasing LLC
Seller: Holyoke Athletic & Social Club
Date: 11/03/23

462-464 Maple St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $2,600,000
Buyer: 220 Linden Realty LLC
Seller: Lacoste Properties LLC
Date: 10/30/23

1222 Northampton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $471,500
Buyer: Susan Fritz
Seller: Donoghue, Stephen, (Estate)
Date: 11/10/23

488-496 Pleasant St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $222,500
Buyer: 224 Westfield Road LLC
Seller: Corine M. Fitzpatrick LT
Date: 11/03/23

10 Quinn Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $337,000
Buyer: Brian Hunter
Seller: David D. McClain
Date: 10/31/23

11-13 School St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: 220 Linden Realty LLC
Seller: Lacoste Properties LLC
Date: 10/30/23

106 Sheehan Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Jefte A. Silva
Seller: Donna M. Daigle
Date: 11/06/23

92 Sycamore St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Jacob A. Carroll
Seller: Sachs Int.
Date: 10/31/23

16 Washington Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Gallagher Capital Group LLC
Seller: Edward J. Sokol
Date: 11/03/23

246 West Franklin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $278,000
Buyer: Meghan Carroll
Seller: Miguel Colon
Date: 11/09/23

2 Willow St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Michael Sanchez
Seller: Maria Rivera
Date: 11/10/23

LONGMEADOW

36 Belleclaire Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: CKJ Realty LLC
Seller: Custom Home Development Group LLC
Date: 11/07/23

51 Belleclaire Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $445,000
Buyer: CKJ Realty LLC
Seller: Custom Home Development Group LLC
Date: 11/07/23

434 Bliss Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $382,500
Buyer: B. D. Jimenez
Seller: Thomas Sophinos
Date: 10/31/23

64 Cambridge Circle
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Kristin Blanchard
Seller: Gallup FT
Date: 10/31/23

22 Falmouth Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $680,000
Buyer: Martin Boyle
Seller: Rolland M. Combe
Date: 11/03/23

291 Maple Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Branden J. Bertelli
Seller: 291 Maple Road RT
Date: 11/03/23

41 Shaker Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Plata O. Plomo Inc.
Seller: Nathan A. Nadeau
Date: 10/31/23

23 Skyridge St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Alyssa Milne
Seller: Susan L. French
Date: 10/31/23

LUDLOW

552 Alden St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $312,500
Buyer: Casey Gilbert
Seller: Mark S. Lyon
Date: 11/01/23

105 Booth St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Alexandria M. Ferreira
Seller: Thomas D. Cowell
Date: 11/02/23

317 Colonial Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $600,000
Buyer: Thomas Cowell
Seller: Rebecca L. Goncalves
Date: 11/02/23

17 Cote Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Jeremy P. Stoddard
Seller: Darnell Cortes
Date: 10/30/23

87 Cote Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: James J. Galica
Seller: Tina M. Lapierre
Date: 11/03/23

121 Fenton Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: Krista Mitchell
Seller: Danielle L. Beaulieu
Date: 11/01/23

30 Plymouth Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $515,000
Buyer: Anthony Gandelli
Seller: Hilary A. Considine
Date: 11/06/23

LUDLOW

64-66 Oak St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $374,000
Buyer: Joel Mata
Seller: Mario G. Carneiro
Date: 11/09/23

65 Parkview St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: John M. Faustino
Seller: Irene Faustino
Date: 11/08/23

187 Ventura St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Rebecca L. Goncalves
Seller: David J. Knapp
Date: 11/06/23

52 West Belmont St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $214,000
Buyer: Natalie A. Colapietro
Seller: Emilio Santos
Date: 11/09/23

MONTGOMERY

71 Herrick Road
Montgomery, MA 01050
Amount: $377,000
Buyer: Brian C. Kopinto
Seller: Gregory W. Smith
Date: 11/02/23

301 Main Road
Montgomery, MA 01085
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Nicole Marcotte
Seller: Audrey A. Kopinto
Date: 11/02/23

Pomeroy Road (off)
Montgomery, MA 01085
Amount: $377,000
Buyer: Brian C. Kopinto
Seller: Gregory W. Smith
Date: 11/02/23

PALMER

10-12 Fox St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Danielle M. Collins
Seller: Austin Collins
Date: 11/08/23

75 Griffin St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Justin K. Cordeiro
Seller: Logan J. Lehman
Date: 11/07/23

1461 North Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Briana Salerno
Seller: Dore Real Estate LLC
Date: 10/31/23

3006 South Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $292,500
Buyer: Annie Turnball
Seller: Ebenezer Construction & Cleaning
Date: 11/03/23

45-47 South St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Jeffery S. Columbus
Seller: Manuel S. Puyen Roche
Date: 10/31/23

127 Springfield St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Theresa A. Cofske
Seller: Justin K. Cordeiro
Date: 11/07/23

25 Ware St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $2,000,000
Buyer: 25 Ware Street LLC
Seller: Nlcp 25 Ware St. Mass. LLC
Date: 10/30/23

RUSSELL

70 Fairview Ave.
Russell, MA 01085
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Anthony C. Diaz
Seller: Decoteau, 3rd Robert S., (Estate)
Date: 11/10/23

SPRINGFIELD

37 Aberdeen Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Jackeline Diaz
Seller: Thomas Poudrier
Date: 10/31/23

1007 Allen St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $186,000
Buyer: Nick Zaporozhchenko
Seller: Cameron Perry
Date: 11/07/23

126 Ambrose St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Charles T. Hale
Seller: Charlene Joubert
Date: 10/30/23

524 Armory St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Carmen Reyes
Seller: 524 Armory RT
Date: 11/03/23

203 Arthur St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Jaime Casiano
Seller: Gail T. Cutler
Date: 11/09/23

305 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Genesis A. Agueda
Seller: Job Asiimwe
Date: 10/31/23

55 Beaufort Circle
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Dustin R. Rhodes
Seller: Lukasz M. Jacek
Date: 11/09/23

301-307 Belmont Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Cherlie Magny-Normilus
Seller: Christian Nguyen
Date: 10/31/23

632 Belmont Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Corey Lawrence-Godfrey
Seller: Antonio R. Sorcinelli
Date: 10/30/23

14 Bentley St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Ellika E. Nickerson
Seller: Catherine MacGovern
Date: 11/01/23

59 Berkshire St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $364,000
Buyer: Carlos Restrepo
Seller: Americo Freitas
Date: 11/07/23

73 Bremen St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $292,000
Buyer: Dylan Sliech
Seller: Elizabeth Imelio
Date: 11/10/23

41 Brookdale Dr.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $675,000
Buyer: NPN Realty LLC
Seller: Thomas Maziarz
Date: 11/02/23

22-24 Burke St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Igor Arbuzov
Seller: Tiyra L. Johnson
Date: 11/07/23

20 Cara Lane
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $406,500
Buyer: Andrew Amidon
Seller: Christie E. Hendrickson
Date: 11/03/23

27 Chester St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $207,000
Buyer: 27 Chester Street LLC
Seller: Property Advantage Inc.
Date: 11/02/23

28 Chilson St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Patriot Living Proprties LLC
Seller: Walter R. Kubacki
Date: 11/10/23

38 Collins St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Nicholas Avery
Seller: 38 Collins LLC
Date: 11/10/23

187 Connecticut Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Jose A. Rivera
Seller: Nereida Rivera
Date: 11/09/23

6 Devonshire Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Ingrid Serrano
Seller: Joaquim S. Madeira
Date: 11/01/23

110 Dewitt St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: David A. Brunato
Seller: Patricia A. Varney RET
Date: 11/06/23

80 Elaine Circle
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Eunice A. Andoh-Dadzie
Seller: Meredith E. Ballista
Date: 10/31/23

48 Emerald Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Jesus B. Ruiz
Seller: Smith, Wayne, (Estate)
Date: 10/31/23

14-16 Falmouth St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $332,000
Buyer: Victor Roule
Seller: Evelyn Rose LLC
Date: 11/03/23

39 Fenway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Latasha Downie
Seller: Jorge H. Bordonhos
Date: 10/31/23

130 Finch Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Joan Huff
Seller: Laurie Lemire
Date: 11/01/23

328 Gilbert Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Sonia N. Rodriguez
Seller: Minerva Aponte
Date: 11/06/23

15 Glenham St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $148,000
Buyer: Freedom Mortgage Corp.
Seller: Carmen D. Rosa
Date: 11/08/23

140 Glenwood St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Andrea M. Martins
Seller: Taylor Tran
Date: 11/08/23

164 Hampden St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Katherine Ramos
Seller: Ruby V. Jones
Date: 11/09/23

48-50 Howes St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $342,500
Buyer: Harshawardhan Banda
Seller: Eryn E. Locascio
Date: 11/03/23

80 Keddy St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Rosalinda Hernandez
Seller: Lor V. Yang
Date: 11/09/23

61 Kimberly Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Sebastian O. Garcia
Seller: Long River Realty LLC
Date: 11/09/23

75 Leyfred Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $312,500
Buyer: Juan C. Santiago
Seller: Fyxer Up Properties LLC
Date: 11/03/23

38-40 Longhill St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Tavernier Investments LLC
Seller: Reed D. Hosten
Date: 11/06/23

14 Los Angeles St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $166,000
Buyer: Phillips Asset Management LLC
Seller: Christine S. Messier
Date: 11/09/23

17 Manitoba St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $292,000
Buyer: Baerbel Kittelmann
Seller: Edward F. Hobaica
Date: 11/02/23

49 Marchioness Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $327,500
Buyer: Jimmie L. Whitecotton
Seller: Karen Kelley
Date: 10/31/23

93 Melville St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: John M. Martin
Seller: Reginald P. Johnson
Date: 11/02/23

159 Middle St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Theresa Robinson
Seller: Walters, Jane A., (Estate)
Date: 11/01/23

61-63 Monrovia St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Paula B. Dos Santos
Seller: Michael Katsounakis
Date: 11/01/23

83 Moss Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Evan W. King
Seller: Ariel R. Clemmer
Date: 11/03/23

295 Newhouse St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Hannah Bilodeau
Seller: Jose A. Hernandez
Date: 10/30/23

327 Orange St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: RCF 2 Acquisition TR
Seller: Joseph K. Perez-Gonzales
Date: 11/08/23

169 Penrose St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Robin L. Youmans
Seller: Kennedy Acquisitions LLC
Date: 11/09/23

601-603 Plainfield St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Auris E. Done
Seller: Jacqueline Martinez
Date: 11/09/23

160-234 Rocus St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $1,075,000
Buyer: Morais Enterprises LLC
Seller: S. R. Energy Inc.
Date: 11/06/23

1225 Saint James Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Rose Cash
Seller: Fab Holdings LLC
Date: 11/09/23

73 Sunapee St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: Jouly T. Yang
Seller: Florence N. Fay
Date: 11/09/23

105 Welland Road
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $291,000
Buyer: Jaimilly T. Garcia
Seller: Nelida Medina
Date: 11/06/23

60 Westbrook Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $311,000
Buyer: Albert Adomako
Seller: Barbara J. Miller
Date: 10/30/23

41 White Birch Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $293,500
Buyer: Geraldo Zayas
Seller: Peter J. & L. Danmalis RET
Date: 11/07/23

556 White St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Leanny Puello
Seller: Thomas F. Rivers
Date: 11/10/23

919 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $262,500
Buyer: Melissa Blais
Seller: Lori P. Venezia
Date: 10/30/23

11 Winding Lane
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: David Toum
Seller: Charles K. Burke
Date: 10/31/23

SOUTHWICK

152 Feeding Hills Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $299,987
Buyer: Morris J. Govan
Seller: Christopher M. Thomas
Date: 11/08/23

18 Meadow Lane
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $775,000
Buyer: Vincent Petrangelo
Seller: Craig S. Miller
Date: 11/10/23

17 Gargon Ter.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Richard Conroy
Seller: Pah Properties LLC
Date: 10/31/23

72 Granville Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Richard Blaser
Seller: Soundview Home Loan TR
Date: 10/30/23

465 North Loomis St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $600,000
Buyer: Lisa Freeman
Seller: Alfred J. Beauregard
Date: 11/07/23

5 Tall Pines Trail
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $649,000
Buyer: Mario J. Bernal
Seller: Hamelin Framing Inc.
Date: 10/31/23

TOLLAND

84 Lakeview Lane
Tolland, MA 01034
Amount: $549,000
Buyer: Howard S. Hoffman
Seller: Spidal NT
Date: 11/10/23

WEST SPRINGFIELD

9 Abigaile Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $635,000
Buyer: Brian G. Signet
Seller: Richard R. Poe
Date: 10/31/23

34 Belle Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Nickolas R. Rodriguez
Seller: Skyspec LLC
Date: 11/10/23

68 Christine Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $740,000
Buyer: Muhammad D. Sabir
Seller: Ahmed Elmogy
Date: 10/31/23

32 Glenview Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Tianyi Zhou
Seller: Jason D. Leary
Date: 11/08/23

132 Grandview Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $317,000
Buyer: Arpana Rai
Seller: Jahjan LLC
Date: 11/09/23

18 Hillside Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $270,500
Buyer: Amber Fragoso
Seller: Justin S. Bergeron
Date: 11/02/23

81 Lennys Way
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $695,000
Buyer: Greg Varypatakis
Seller: Mohammad A. Burhan
Date: 11/01/23

250 Main St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $243,078
Buyer: TD Bank
Seller: Cam M. Pham
Date: 11/09/23

33 Maple St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Andrew P. Gould
Seller: Colleen V. Jenkins
Date: 11/01/23

1269 Morgan Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Jamie J. Mitchell
Seller: Christine M. Orwat
Date: 11/01/23

326 Morton St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Benjamin M. Ward
Seller: Tiberiu Poshtaru
Date: 11/09/23

42 Old Barn Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: Justin Bergeron
Seller: Jeffrey B. Lavoine
Date: 11/02/23

154 Pease Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: John J. Steup
Seller: James P. Galica
Date: 10/31/23

154 Pease Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $309,000
Buyer: Beau D. Salamon-Davis
Seller: James P. Galica
Date: 11/10/23

94 Smyrna St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Kimberly A. Constance
Seller: James A. Richard
Date: 10/31/23

45-47 Southworth St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Andrew Morin
Seller: Jessica Korobkov
Date: 10/31/23

2355 Westfield St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Christina Suheen
Seller: Suk RT
Date: 11/10/23

WESTFIELD

49 Canal Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Capela Reality Group LLC
Seller: Charles A. Mathieu
Date: 11/01/23

184 Birch Bluffs Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Seth T. Philipp
Seller: Holden Canty
Date: 11/09/23

27 Furrowtown Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $470,000
Buyer: Gabriel Lopez
Seller: Steven J. Sheldon
Date: 11/10/23

230 Granville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Fitzgerald Home Solutions LLC
Seller: John G. Moriarty
Date: 11/03/23

60 Lewis Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $505,000
Buyer: Katie Spaulding
Seller: Sergiy Suprunchuk
Date: 10/31/23

15 Malone Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $311,000
Buyer: Gregory Smith
Seller: Darron G. Hillman
Date: 11/02/23

7 Medieros Way
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: DM United Realty LLC
Seller: MPS Realty LLC
Date: 11/03/23

503 Montgomery Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Shawn Barsalou
Seller: Dennis R. Blakely
Date: 10/30/23

43 Jaeger Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Nextgen Real Estate LLC
Seller: Joanne C. Lisee
Date: 11/08/23

100 Park Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Caitlyn N. Champagne
Seller: Archie F. Hogue
Date: 11/09/23

5 Pequot Point Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: David J. Oleksak
Seller: David J. Oleksak
Date: 11/08/23

122 Putnam Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Serhii Storcheus
Seller: Manchester Enterprises LLC
Date: 11/03/23

305 Springdale Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Jacob Mead
Seller: Jay A. Fournier
Date: 10/30/23

259 Steiger Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Michael Wheeler
Seller: Kathryn L. Buttrick RET
Date: 11/09/23

WILBRAHAM

21 Jewell Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Trevor J. Ziomek
Seller: Gregory A. Coutu
Date: 11/09/23

57 Manchonis Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Zachary Yacteen
Seller: Lori A. Jacquinet
Date: 11/03/23

15 McIntosh Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $685,000
Buyer: Heidi Li
Seller: Jay S. Steingrub TR
Date: 11/03/23

7 Rice Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Matthew A. Gay
Seller: Teresa M. Strandberg
Date: 11/09/23

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AHMERST

40 Hop Brook Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $825,000
Buyer: Jason Ditzian
Seller: Rolf Nelson
Date: 11/03/23

1117 North Pleasant St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $469,000
Buyer: 1117 North Pleasant St. LLC
Seller: Mimsy Cove LLC
Date: 11/01/23

49 Sheerman Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $683,049
Buyer: Sidney Strickland
Seller: Barbara H. Goldstein
Date: 10/31/23

27 The Hollow
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $408,000
Buyer: Cil Realty Of Mass. Inc.
Seller: Rgink LLC
Date: 11/09/23

21 Valley View Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $544,900
Buyer: Timothy S. Nixon
Seller: Deana Whittlesey
Date: 11/02/23

51 Valley View Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Malia Homebuyers LLC
Seller: Bonnie B. Anderson
Date: 11/06/23

BELCHERTOWN

19 Dana Hill
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Ruth Huyler
Seller: Christopher F. Fitzgerald
Date: 11/10/23

11 Eastview Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Brian Jette
Seller: Carl E. Brown
Date: 10/31/23

633 Federal St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $412,000
Buyer: Wendie Levitan
Seller: Jason S. Balut
Date: 11/03/23

High Bluff Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $1,281,000
Buyer: Vanessa Homes LLC
Seller: S&M Equipment LLC
Date: 11/03/23

44 Mountain View Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $426,000
Buyer: Pubali Datta
Seller: Stephen M. Weibel
Date: 11/02/23

15 Old Farm Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Jeremy Breef-Pilz
Seller: Jacqueline Habib
Date: 11/03/23

16 Pheasant Run
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $725,000
Buyer: Patrice L. Housey
Seller: Victor L. Rodrigues
Date: 11/09/23

42 South Liberty St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Richard P. McGuire
Seller: Dulude FT
Date: 10/30/23

CUMMINGTON

95 Berkshire Trail
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Ryan C. Miller
Seller: Robert N. Quigley
Date: 10/31/23

605 Berkshire Trail
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $271,000
Buyer: Jonathan Foley
Seller: Antoni J. Sakowicz
Date: 11/03/23

149 Porter Hill Road
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Hhcp LLC
Seller: Bruce H. Hoag
Date: 11/08/23

EASTHAMPTON

10 Conrad Circle, Lot 10
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $549,900
Buyer: Ann E. Silver
Seller: Loudville Condominiums LLC
Date: 11/01/23

10 Duda Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: Michael R. Dion
Seller: Brown Jr., Kenneth, (Estate)
Date: 11/10/23

393 Main St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Fiverobin LLC
Seller: Kevin M. Schmitter
Date: 11/07/23

2 Park Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Matthew H. Ghazarian
Seller: Peter E. Lustenberger
Date: 10/31/23

63 Phelps St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $237,500
Buyer: Silver Snake Properties LLC
Seller: Hughes, Sally J., (Estate)
Date: 10/30/23

12 Steplar Xing, Lot 12
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $594,900
Buyer: Wendy J. Allen
Seller: Loudville Condominiums LLC
Date: 10/30/23

GOSHEN

2 Maple Road
Goshen, MA 01096
Amount: $203,000
Buyer: Linda B. Putnam
Seller: Courtney C. MacLachlan TR
Date: 11/03/23

GRANBY

122 Carver St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Oleh Pikulskiy
Seller: Alexandr Nejelski
Date: 11/10/23

31 Forge Pond Road
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Richard Landry
Seller: Diane Soriano
Date: 11/08/23

HADLEY

230 Russell St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $525,000
Buyer: Artiga Enterprise LLC
Seller: Stanley Adams
Date: 10/31/23

HUNTINGTON

Route 112
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $279,000
Buyer: Archimedes Plumbing & Heating
Seller: Huntington Country Store
Date: 11/01/23

34 Worthington Road
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $214,000
Buyer: Kostis J. Zarvis
Seller: Colby M. Lurgio
Date: 10/30/23

70 Worthington Road
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $279,000
Buyer: Archimedes Plumbing & Heating
Seller: Huntington Country Store
Date: 11/01/23

NORTHAMPTON

389 Bridge Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $237,500
Buyer: Alisa M. Wagman
Seller: Marlene A. O’Connell
Date: 11/09/23

9 Corticelli St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Rebecca L. Butler
Seller: Jason Ditzian
Date: 11/03/23

13-A Finn St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Rachel S. Riverwood
Seller: Shane R. Rogers
Date: 11/01/23

135 King St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $1,052,500
Buyer: Mill River Music Inc.
Seller: Barry G. Goldberg
Date: 11/01/23

69 Market St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $335,400
Buyer: Brian Kane
Seller: Arthur L. Desantis
Date: 10/30/23

260 North Maple St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Andrea M. Kureczka
Seller: Marilyn J. Buuck
Date: 10/31/23

661 Park Hill Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $739,000
Buyer: Toby S. Nelson
Seller: Elisa S. Daus
Date: 11/07/23

9 Corticelli St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Rebecca L. Butler
Seller: Jason Ditzian
Date: 11/03/23

13-A Finn St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Rachel S. Riverwood
Seller: Shane R. Rogers
Date: 11/01/23

135 King St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $1,052,500
Buyer: Mill River Music Inc.
Seller: Barry G. Goldberg
Date: 11/01/23

69 Market St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $335,400
Buyer: Brian Kane
Seller: Arthur L. Desantis
Date: 10/30/23

260 North Maple St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Andrea M. Kureczka
Seller: Marilyn J. Buuck
Date: 10/31/23

58 Ridge View Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $640,000
Buyer: Charlene R. Gentes
Seller: Sheila M. Coy RET
Date: 10/30/23

3 Riverbank Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Danielle Delucia
Seller: Mary Kennedy
Date: 10/30/23

418 Ryan Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Timothy J. Lepore
Seller: Tina T. Champagne
Date: 11/07/23

245 South St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $535,000
Buyer: Daniel Cavanaugh
Seller: DNB Properties LLC
Date: 11/01/23

9 Villone Dr.
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $481,000
Buyer: Asher Sarlin
Seller: Paul S. Cook
Date: 11/03/23

701 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Dasher J. Rattray
Seller: Claudia Viele
Date: 11/06/23

735 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $585,000
Buyer: Carl D. Tietjen
Seller: David L. Fradkin
Date: 11/08/23

PELHAM

59 Meetinghouse Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Michael B. Mahoney
Seller: Bank Of America
Date: 11/10/23

SOUTH HADLEY

14 Country Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Jason P. Grigas
Seller: Laura S. Fitzgerald
Date: 11/01/23

18 Garden St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: GITSIT SOLUTIONS LLC
Seller: Robert M. Stapley
Date: 10/30/23

123 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Roland W. Cox
Seller: Lorraine D. Lavallee
Date: 11/07/23

37 Haig Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Daviau & Robert Properties LLC
Seller: ZCG Properties LLC
Date: 11/01/23

12 Lithia Springs Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Paul J. Wanat
Seller: Barbara J. Smith
Date: 11/09/23

36 Ludlow Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Esther H. Chandler
Seller: Adam Lukomski
Date: 11/06/23

21 Lyon Green
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $574,900
Buyer: Terres FT
Seller: J.N. Duquette & Son Construction Inc.
Date: 11/02/23

209 Mosier St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $352,000
Buyer: Cheryl A. Kiras
Seller: Katelyn Labrie
Date: 10/30/23

394 Newton St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $469,900
Buyer: Jeremy Nosser
Seller: Terie Fleury
Date: 11/02/23

39 Old County Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $510,000
Buyer: Arthur Williamson
Seller: Eeps LLC
Date: 11/09/23

11 Pittroff Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Tonya Skowyra
Seller: Oliver O. Akamnonu
Date: 10/30/23

47 School St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Yassine Zian
Seller: Crochetiere, Robert P., (Estate)
Date: 10/31/23

11 Yale St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Sarah L. Brecher
Seller: Emalie D. Clark
Date: 10/30/23

SOUTHAMPTON

29 Bluemer Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Rgb Industries Inc.
Seller: Darleen A. Poulin
Date: 10/30/23

125 Glendale Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $600,000
Buyer: Mary E. Longabaugh RET
Seller: Jennifer Siegel
Date: 11/08/23

12 Middle Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Melvin M. Cortes
Seller: Richard E. Krzanowski
Date: 11/01/23

WARE

7 Big Tree Dr.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Shawn Donnelly
Seller: Peter T. Bassignani
Date: 10/31/23

23 Clifford Ave.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Ontour Properties Inc.
Seller: Jeffrey A. Mlynarski
Date: 10/31/23

Building Permits

Building Permits

The following building permits were issued during the month of November 2023.

CHICOPEE

Grace Slavic Pentecostal
5 Meadow St.
$5,000 — Remove front overhang roof, patch wall

Charles Sourmaidis
467 Memorial Dr.
$40,000 — Demolition at former Denny’s restaurant

EASTHAMPTON

60-62 Main Street LLC
60-62 Main St.
$5,000 — Remove pergola and deck over lot line

Richard Burgielewicz
51 Brook St.
$154,963 — Verizon Wireless to swap 12 antennas, add four antennas, swap six radios, add six radios, swap two hybrid cables, and swap three-sector monopole platform to four-sector monopole

Debra Davis
359 Main St.
$37,732.80 — Insulation, weatherization, air sealing

Easthampton Congregational Church
116 Main St.
$85,000 — Place fiber-optic cabinet, generator, propane tank, electric meter frame, and fencing of equipment compound

Eastworks LLP
116 Pleasant St.
$3,000 — Reverse swing for three doors, construct new walls for frames

Stephen Henderson, Classic Management
359 Main St.
$15,100 — Roofing on Building 16

HADLEY

Bakurental LLC
49 Middle St.
N/A — Remove and repair porch flooring

Russell Street Hospitality LLC
340 Russell St.
N/A — Homewood Suites signage rebranding

LENOX

Boston University
45 West St.
$15,300 — Roofing

PVI Lenox Village LLC
21 Housatonic St.
$34,400 — Install new wet fire sprinkler system

Town of Lenox
275 Main St.
$33,390 — Roofing

NORTHAMPTON

32 Masonic Street LLC
32 Masonic St., Unit A
$15,000 — Remove two windows and fill in openings, repair siding

ADB-1 Properties LLC
12 Hockanum Road
$22,500 — Convert porch to laundry room

The BV Hampshire House Trust
38 Franklin St.
$110,000 — Construct new porch

Dewey Court Properties
34 Dewey Court
$380,000 — Kitchen renovation and addition, bath renovation, add second-floor laundry and bathroom, new windows, remove porches

Florence Civic & Business Assoc. Inc.
90 Park St.
$7,435 — Insulation

Hampshire Regional YMCA
286 Prospect St.
$305,679 — Install mono-slope open-air pavilion

Harmonic Rock Realty LLC
125 Pleasant St.
$4,200 — Fire-suppression system

Hill Institute
83 Pine St.
$23,000 — Alter side entrance

Northampton Golf Inc.
135 Main St.
$30,000 — Replace plate glass with frame construction

Pun Family LLC
176 Pine St.
$8,000 — Insulation and weatherization

Smith College
7 College Lane
$116,400 — Interior renovation to classroom and offices

Smith College
7 College Lane
$97,000 — Interior renovation

Smith College
70 Dryads Green
$28,900 — Roofing

Smith College
79 Elm St.
$50,000 — Rebuild porch

Smith College
14 Green St.
$5,000 — Interior renovation for Many Graces

Smith College
25 Henshaw Ave.
$244,163 — Exterior handrails, ramp, and kitchen upgrades

Smith College
29 Kensington Ave.
$29,500 — Roofing

Smith College
64 Kensington Ave.
$14,500 — Roofing

Sunwood Development Corp.
31 Chapel St.
$113,641 — Install new sprinkler system

Taylor Northampton RE II Holdings
29 Edwards Square
$1,000 — Insulation and weatherization

PITTSFIELD

Lori McHugh
7 Coleman Ter.
$19,995 — Install ramp

SPRINGFIELD

401 Liberty Street LLC
163 Stafford St.
$28,800 — Erect two walls for new machinery room in warehouse

1277 Liberty Street LLC
1327 Liberty St.
$77,857.50 — Remodel tenant space for new afterschool program at On and On Childcare

1277 Liberty Street LLC
1327 Liberty St.
$10,000 — Install monitored fire-alarm system at On and On Childcare

City of Springfield
605 Worthington St.
$325,760 — Remove and replace roof covering at Fire Department headquarters

MGM Springfield Redevelopment LLC
101 State Way
$25,000 — T-Mobile to remove six roof-mounted cellular antennas and install five new antennas with associated equipment at MGM Springfield

PS Springfield LLC
461 Boston Road
$855,131 — Erect recreational cannabis dispensary for Kur Retailers

Springfield Jewish Community Center
1160 Dickinson St.
$1,500,000 — Phase 1 fire restoration; alter space for interior fit-out and additional repairs to women’s locker rooms

What We’d Like to See in 2024

By Editorial December 6, 2023

Opinion

Editorial

“Honestly, this was one of our busiest years I can remember.”

“It’s been a very challenging year.”

Those are two quotes from this issue of BusinessWest, one from the world of construction, the other from hospital administration.

And if you asked leaders of other sectors — from education to auto sales; from real estate to insurance — how things are going, you’d probably encounter the same range of answers.

Because these are unusual times. In some ways, the economy is strong, with historically low unemployment, real wages rising, and energy prices falling. But in other ways — indeed, the ways in which people feel it most immediately — things are not getting better: inflation is still too high, housing is increasingly unattainable, and employers are struggling to find talent.

But even by those negative measures, the U.S. has seen improvement over the past year, and in many industries, business is steady. We hope for even more improvement in 2024, of course, and while we do, here are four other developments we wouldn’t mind seeing, both locally and nationally.

• Lower interest rates. Not only has it been a terrible year for banks on that front, but consumers have been struggling with the dual issues of housing availability and higher mortage rates. Now that inflation is easing, mortgage rates are expected to make a slow decline throughout 2024. Realtor.com forecasts that rates will be 6.8% on average for 2024 and 6.5% by the year’s end, following a high of 7.79% earlier this year.

• Movement on east-west rail in Massachusetts. Obviously, any movement here will be painfully slow, but there has been some progress toward connecting Springfield (and even Pittsfield) with Boston. This fall, the federal government awarded a grant of $108 million to Massachusetts for infrastructure upgrades, and Gov. Maura Healey signed off on $12.5 million in DOT funding in the state’s FY 2024 budget toward the effort.

• Federal cannabis decriminalization. Well over half of U.S. citizens live where cannabis is legal in some way statewide, that number is rising every year, and about 60% of Americans want the drug legal for recreational use. But the federal government’s continued categorization of cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug — and the related Section 280E issues in the Internal Revenue Code — continue to hamper the industry in many ways, from banking and taxes to security and transportation. Descheduling marijuana seems to have bipartisan support in Congress, but there has been little movement.

• More momentum in downtown Springfield. The good news is plentiful: MGM posted some of its best-ever months this year. The Thunderbirds generate a $126 million effect on the local economy, according to a UMass Donahue Institute study. The market-rate housing development at the former Court Square Hotel has been taking applications, with the promise of bringing more foot traffic to the area. All the downtown office towers report new tenants or progress toward that goal. Downtown may never attain the energy of its mid-20th-century heyday, but the progress has been encouraging.

Rosalynn Carter Was Beacon of Hope

By Contributor December 6, 2023

Opinion

By Kimberley Lee

In the vast landscape of public service, few figures stand as tall and unwavering in their commitment to mental-health advocacy as Rosalynn Carter. The former U.S. first lady carved a legacy defined by compassion, resilience, and an unyielding dedication to destigmatizing mental health. Her journey, spanning decades, has transformed the conversation around mental well-being and left an indelible mark on the global pursuit of mental-health awareness.

Carter’s journey into mental-health advocacy began at a time when discussing mental illnesses was often shrouded in silence and shame. In the 1970s, as the first lady, she fearlessly stepped into the spotlight to challenge societal norms, becoming a powerful voice for those whose struggles were often overlooked. Her early advocacy laid the foundation for a lifelong commitment to breaking down barriers and fostering understanding.

In 1991, she took a monumental step by establishing the Carter Center Mental Health Program. This initiative, born out of a deep sense of empathy, has been a driving force in shaping mental-health policies, conducting groundbreaking research, and providing resources to educate the public. It stands as a testament to Carter’s foresight and determination to create a world where mental health is prioritized.

At the core of Carter’s advocacy was a relentless pursuit of accessibility to mental healthcare. She tirelessly championed policies that recognized mental health on par with physical health, dismantling obstacles that impede individuals from seeking the support they deserve. Her vision extended beyond borders, advocating for a global approach to mental health that transcends cultural boundaries.

A defining aspect of Carter’s impact was her courage in confronting the stigma surrounding mental health. Through personal stories and public discourse, she became a beacon of hope, normalizing conversations that were once deemed uncomfortable. Her ability to connect with people on a personal level inspired others to share their experiences and contribute to the ongoing dialogue.

Beyond the accolades and recognition, Carter’s legacy is one of empathy in action. Her work has not only shifted policies, but has also sown the seeds of understanding and compassion in communities worldwide. In a world where mental health is gaining the recognition it deserves, she stands as a pioneer, a visionary who dedicated much of her life to ensuring that no one feels alone in their mental-health journey.

As we reflect on her profound impact, we are reminded that the journey toward mental-health acceptance is ongoing. Her example serves as both a call to action and a source of inspiration for individuals, communities, and nations to continue the important work of fostering a world where mental health is a priority and compassion knows no bounds.

Our work at MiraVista is very much a reflection of Rosalynn Carter’s significant contributions and commitment as our daily efforts continue with a profound sense of purpose and dedication, directly contributing to improving mental-health awareness and access to services.

Kimberley Lee is chief of Creative Strategy and Development at MiraVista Behavioral Health Center in Holyoke.

STCC Names Karen-Louise Walker to Leadership Position

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) appointed Karen-Louise (Rucks) Walker as assistant vice president of Advancement and executive director to the STCC Foundation.

Walker began her appointment at STCC on Dec. 4. She will be responsible for managing all aspects of STCC’s fundraising, philanthropy, alumni relations, and foundation-supported work, including overseeing communications and branding functions. She will work with President John Cook, administrators, and faculty to support the mission of STCC.

“We are delighted Dr. Walker is joining us at STCC,” Cook said. “She is familiar to many in the Springfield community, having worked in a leadership role at Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Services. Karen brings a wealth of higher-education fundraising experience to the position. She will help our ecosystem of alumni, donors, businesses, and community organizations that support our unique community college.”

Walker most recently served as vice president for Advancement at Alliance University in New York City. She previously served as vice president of Development at Ascentria Care Alliance, a nonprofit agency serving Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut. Prior to that, she served as executive director of Advancement at Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) in Worcester, where she was responsible for the management and oversight of all aspects of institutional advancement. During her tenure at QCC, she secured more than $45 million in grants, increased private giving by 30%, and tripled the QCC Foundation revenue.

Her professional experience also includes serving as vice president of Programs for MLK Jr. Family Services, a nonprofit social-service agency supporting families and children throughout Western Mass.; executive director of the Council of Churches of Greater Springfield; and assistant EEO administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services. She serves on various boards in Western and Central Mass.

“I am excited to join STCC and use my experience to help advance its mission,” Walker said. “This is an exciting time at STCC, just a few years shy of its 60th year of providing affordable, quality education. The college launched its annual campaign this fall, and I look forward to implementing a comprehensive development plan that engages and inspires alumni, local businesses, companies, and community members to support STCC students’ pathways to success and transformed lives through scholarships and state-of-the-art educational programs critical to the Western Massachusetts workforce and economy.”

Conval Announces Two Appointments

ENFIELD, Conn. — Conval, a global manufacturer of high-performance severe service valves, recently announced the appointment of Andrea Bedard as HR manager and Mike Mikaelian as inside sales engineer.

Bedard graduated from Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. She has enjoyed a solid career in human resources, including stints at TTM Technologies in Stafford Springs, Conn., as well as Health New England, E Ink Corp., KBE Building Corp., and Paychex.

Mikaelian holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Western New England University and earned a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification from Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I. He previously served as design engineer at Judd Wire in Turners Falls, senior sales engineer and production manager at Dipwell Techware in Northampton, route service representative at Quest Diagnostics in Marlborough, and in various engineering and sales positions at BETE Fog Nozzle in Greenfield.

Founded in 1967, Conval moved to its new, 72,000-square-foot advanced-manufacturing center at 96 Phoenix Ave. in Enfield in 2018. The company has 68 employees and is currently hiring CNC machinists.

STEM Scholarships Available at HCC for Spring Semester

HOLYOKE — Students enrolled in chemistry, biology, engineering, mathematics, physics, or other STEM fields at Holyoke Community College (HCC) can apply now for a National Science Foundation scholarship of up to $10,000 a year for tuition and fees.

Through HCC, the National Science Foundation Scholarship offers, on average, $6,500 per year to qualified full-time students and prorated amounts for part-time students. Both new and returning HCC students are encouraged to apply.

The application deadline for the spring 2024 semester is Jan. 7, 2024. Students will be notified by Jan. 12.

Students chosen for the NSF scholarship become members of HCC’s STEM Scholars 2.0 Program, also known as SCoRE (STEM Cohorts for Research & Engagement).

STEM Scholars are expected to maintain enrollment in a STEM program, be in good academic standing, complete an associate degree at HCC, and/or transfer to an accredited STEM degree program at a four-year institution. The scholarships are renewable every year students continue to meet the eligibility criteria.

Beside the financial awards, STEM Scholars become part of a learning community that fosters a sense of belonging and academic success, and includes mentoring, research, honors experiences, community service, and internships.

STEM disciplines include biological sciences, physical sciences, math, computer and information services, geosciences, and engineering, among others.

Eligibility guidelines for the National Science Foundation Scholarship in STEM can be viewed at hcc.edu/stem-scholarship.

Baystate Health Names Dr. Seth Gemme Chair of Department of Emergency Medicine