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Managing Editor CHICOPEE City officials and representatives from Development Associates gathered at a site on Padgette Drive last Tuesday to break ground on the 38th commercial building in the Westover Airpark Industrial West. The 72,000 square foot multi-tenant building is expected to be finished in January 2009 and ready for the first tenant in February, Ken Delude Sr., vice president of Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation, said. The building will be built on one of the last remaining plots of the original industrial park area. The structure on the nearly eight-acre site represents a $6 million investment. Delude said, "This is economic development at the ground level." The multi-tenant approach is important, he added, as there are businesses too small to have their own buildings at the industrial park. "It's difficult to create parcels for smaller businesses," he said. The anchor tenant, a flooring materials distributor, will use 25,000 square feet of the space. Other businesses will have the opportunity of leasing 4,000 square foot areas. Once fully occupied, Delude said there should be 100 additional people working in the park. Currently, businesses in the industrial park employ about 2,500 people and pay $2 million in property taxes. Ken Vincunas, Development Associates general manager and partner, said the company had shown the building's investor sites in Chicopee and Springfield and the one at the airpark had met all of the proposed project's requirements. Vincunas said there is also a very easy permitting process in the city that helps developers. Charles D'Amour, chair of the Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation, said, "This is a pretty exciting day. We saved one of the best parcels for last." Mayor Michael Bissonnette said, "We're not running out of land [for business development]. There is plenty more coming on line." | ||||||
