Lynch School undergoing demolition, to become two new buildings

Date: 4/19/2021

HOLYOKE – After more than a decade of sitting vacant, the former Lynch School in Holyoke is being torn down to make way for new business opportunities.

The building, which was constructed at 1575 Northampton St. in the ‘50s, closed permanently in 2009 and was later purchased by The Colvest Group of Springfield for $250,000 in 2018.The group’s site plans were approved in August of 2020 after a years-long process of receiving approval for building plans from the Holyoke Planning Board, which involved a lawsuit from the group after their plans were denied in December of 2019.

Frank Colaccino, president of The Colvest Group, told Reminder Publishing that as of April 12 the hazardous waste remediation and compliance had been met for the building and it was “ready to be demolished.”      

Colaccino outlined the plans for the site where the former school sat, which includes the construction of two buildings. The buildings, he said, could host a variety of businesses which “could be either restaurants or retail.”

The first building, he said, could host up to four businesses, however it was dependent on the size of the business. “It depends on the sizes [of the businesses], it could be from three, perhaps four, but as little as two.”

The second building, Colaccino said, was bigger and therefore had the potential to host “as many as eight to 10 tenants.” He said that the group would soon “reach out to tenants, put a for lease sign out very soon [and] list the property on rental sites” to attract potential business owners to lease the space.

While he couldn’t give a complete timeline for the project, Colaccino said he was hoping to have the “first building go up in mid to late summer.”

In addition to providing Holyoke residents with new businesses, Colaccino said he felt as though the group purchasing the long vacant building would benefit the city economically as well. “From the city’s perspective, they were able to get this property off their books and into private hands. We’ll now pay real estate taxes,” he said. “They used to spend a bit to maintain the building. That’s a benefit for the city.”