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| By Paula Canning Staff Writer CHICOPEE The new 156,00 square foot Chicopee Marketplace on Memorial Drive received a warm welcome last Friday when representatives from CBL & Associates Properties Inc., local officials, and other interested parties gathered at the site of the new shopping center for a ceremonial ribbon cutting. Anchored by Wal-Mart and Home Depot, the new shopping center includes such stores as Marshalls, Staples, and IParty, with eight other retailers including Sleepy's, Fashion Bug, and Payless ShoeSource set to open over the course of the year. "We are excited to celebrate the grand opening of the Chicopee Marketplace and bring an attractive line-up of national and regional retailers to area shoppers," said Mark Mancuso, vice president of Community Center Development for CBL and Associates, which owns the mall. "The shopping center has a diversified mix of stores that truly complements this area." Formerly the Fairfield Mall, Mancuso said that the new shopping center, which is projected to bring an estimated 200 new jobs and $250,000 in tax dollars to the city each year, marks the "rebirth of a wonderful retail location." As it sits in such close proximity to Home Depot and Wal-Mart, Macuso said that mall offers consumers the chance to shop at "two of the largest retailers in the country," while also giving shoppers "the local flavor" or Massachusetts based retailers such as Marshalls and iParty. Mancuso said that shoppers who were once driven out to other areas of western Massachusetts to do their shopping can now enjoy the convenient location of the mall. "Now the people of Chicopee can stay near home and shop close by," he said. Agreeing that the new shopping center is now an added convenience for Chicopee residents, Mayor Richard Goyette expressed his gratitude to CBL & Associates and for developing the mall. " I want to thank CBL [& Associates] for developing this shopping center," Goyette said. "As the second largest city in western Massachusetts, we finally have some great retailers," Goyette said. According to Mancuso, one of CBL's goals is to "create a real connection to the community." To demonstrate this effort, CBL hosted a canned food drive collection for Lorraine's Soup Kitchen at the grand-opening event, where they presented Executive Director of the Soup Kitchen Lorraine Houle with a $500 check. "We wanted to find an organization that serves an enormous, important, social purpose, and Lorraine's Soup Kitchen does just that," Mancuso said, adding that he hopes that the community will continue to give to the organization. CBL & Associates Project Manager William H. McCabe III, who has seen the planning and construction of the shopping center through since it's inception in 1998, said that the mall is "looking spectacular." "It's an incredible upgrade from what it was before," McCabe said. He said that retailers such as Fashion Bug, which will occupy a 7,200 square-foot space, along with Payless Shoe Source, which will occupy a 2,800 square-foot space are scheduled to open in the next month, and that the rest of the stores will open over the course of the year. These other stores include Olympia Sports, Royal Buffet Miami Nails, and $.99 Depot. A 5,500-square-foot restaurant is also in the works, according to McCabe. He said that the mall is the "fantastic," result of all of the hard work on the project, offering, for him and CBL & Associates, "a sweet ending." |