Pappas seeks to re-develop former visitors' center
Date: 6/7/2011
June 8,2011By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
SPRINGFIELD —The man who re-developed the former Basketball Hall of Fame building is in the running to take the vacant visitors' center building on Hall of Fame Boulevard and transform it into two businesses.
Peter Pappas submitted one of the two Requests for Proposal issued by the city for the re-development of the former visitors' center. He said his concept has been under development for several years.
Pappas explained to
Reminder Publications his proposal would gut the building to house a coffee and a gourmet burger restaurant. Both businesses would be family-oriented and be an addition not only to the complex by the river, but downtown as well.
Pappas is hoping to get the green light soon from the Springfield Redevelopment Authority and the Sarno Administration.
He would be financing the $1 million project with his own funds and said he is willing to either buy the property outright from the city or lease it, depending upon what city officials would like him to do.
The coffee shop would accommodate 30 patrons, while the hamburger restaurant would seat 50 customers, he explained. The current 41-space parking lot would be augmented by an additional 13 spaces.
He said the idea for a gourmet burger shop with a family atmosphere came to him when he was visiting his daughter in New Zealand, where she was an exchange student. Walking through the city of Queenstown, he saw a burger restaurant with an atmosphere that he thought could work in Springfield.
He said the restaurant would be affordable with hamburgers costing less than $5. It would feature counter services, but with an inviting atmosphere.
Pappas said that he has learned a lot of lessons from his former restaurant Onyx Fusion about what the Springfield market can afford and what kind of businesses would complement it.
