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More housing is in the pipeline for downtown Holyoke

Date: 10/30/2015

HOLYOKE – About 100 new units of mixed income housing and a new food service business will eventually be coming to downtown Holyoke.

The Holyoke Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Board reviewed and accepted two private investment proposals at its meeting on Oct. 21 and now the Planning & Economic Development staff will finalize agreements in the next few weeks in accordance with the city’s Urban Renewal Plan (URP).

WinnDevelopment is planning to create new rental housing at 216 Appleton St. and is a $38 million investment. The company has transformed 28 similar properties into housing in six states.

“We’re very happy to have attracted a company with the track record of success in mill redevelopment as is Winn. Their project would put over 150,000 square feet of empty space in the heart of our City back to productive use and add a very significant number of housing units where they’re needed most to stimulate the area’s economic activity,” Marcos Marrero, director of Planning & Economic Development and ex-officio Executive Director of the HRA, said.

The property had been used as a wool combing operation for the manufacturing and storage of wool products, until Hart Wool Combing ceased operations in 1990. A firm that made items from petrified wood, but has been vacant for several years then used it. The city has owned the property and it has undergone asbestos remediation.

Marrero told Reminder Publications about the next part of the process to develop the building. “We’ve developed an advanced purchase and sale agreement that we’re finalizing with them based on the HRA’s go-ahead last week and we expect it to be approved at the next HRA meeting. The next steps will be for them to do architectural drawings for the building and start the submission paperwork and process for historic tax credits later this calendar year. It will take a few rounds of historic tax credit and Low Income Housing Tax Credit applications (for the income-restricted units) to amass all the credits needed to make the deal work, so we would expect it to be two to three years out until construction can commence. This is similar to the Lyman Terrace project, where it has taken about that long to get the financing in place and that project will be breaking ground next spring.”

The other project was submitted by Bueno y Sano/Good & Healthy Inc., which wants to temporarily lease land between Main and Race streets along the second level Canal Walk to establish a mobile food truck operation. The truck would produce a new line of smoked meat menu items, both for sale on-site and for sale at its stores in Northampton, Springfield, West Springfield, Amherst and Acton in Massachusetts, and in Burlington, VT. The operations are expected to be set up next spring.

“We're happy to be part of the excitement in Holyoke,” Bob Lowry, owner of Bueno y Sano/Good & Healthy, Inc., said. “There is a strong sense of possibility and purpose.  That is a great combination.”

Marrero said, “For Bueno y Sano their investment is out of their own equity and will be approximately $65,000 as it's going into mostly equipment and mobile type structures. Their timeline is to start next spring with the change in the weather. We’re also finalizing terms with them based on the HRA’s green light and feedback.”

As far as economic impact from construction jobs, Marrero explained, “It’s still early to tell how many construction jobs will be associated with each. Judging by the Holyoke Catholic project, which was over 100 construction jobs I’d estimate the 216, Appleton one will be at least that but probably plenty more. The Bueno y Sano project won't entail much construction and will have a handful of employees that works on site to start off. Depending on how it goes they will consider expansion and a bricks and mortar construction.”

Mayor Alex Morse praised the HRA for its actions, and said, “The success in attracting a projects like these isn’t a coincidence. It takes many years of aggressive marketing and hard work to make sites ready for private interest and successfully execute the City’s Urban Renewal Plan. I thank WinnDevelopment and Bueno y Sano for their interest to invest here and look forward to welcoming them to Holyoke.”