Springfield Business Improvement District plans re-branding
Date: 11/15/2011
Nov. 14, 2011By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Business Improvement District (SBID) is undergoing a number of changes that ultimately will re-brand and strengthen the economic development agency, according to Donald Courtemanche, its executive director.
The offices of the SBID have moved to temporary quarters at 168 Worthington St. in anticipation of moving into the former Asylum building on the corner of Main and Worthington streets next spring, Courtemanche explained.
The SBID had been at 1441 Main St. in the TD Bank building.
The move is also a way to maximize the organization’s budget, as the temporary space is saving money, he added, which can be allocated to services.
Courtemanche said he has long maintained that if the organization was going to pay rent, it should do so to help light up a storefront.
The SBID signed a memorandum of agreement with the city to use the majority of the former Asylum building, which may also house the offices of the Springfield Parking Authority, Courtemanche said.
Besides a new building with a storefront, the SBID would also have access to the new parking lot that is part of the redevelopment. That lot would be used for a variety of events, including a flea market and a farmers’ market on weekends, he explained.
The new offices would also feature a “Springfield store,” which would sell a number of items from T-shirts to postcards. Courtemanche said there is a “big demand” for such items, but they are difficult to find.
Courtemanche said that as another move to improve efficiency the SBID has hired Service Group Inc. to cross train the SBID employees that were involved in the security, landscaping and cleaning functions of the SBID. The security and landscaping staff were out-sourced and the cleaning team members were SBID employees, he said. This move eliminated three levels of management and Courtemanche added there were no layoffs.
With the completion of an examination of how to best use the SBID budget, Courtemanche said now there is a renewed effort to reach out to SBID members and the public. There is now a new quarterly newsletter and a new logo, both designed by TSM Design.
Courtemanche has seen “slow progress” in downtown revitalization.
“Despite the fact the global economy is an absolute wreck, there are strides moving forward downtown,” he said.
Courtemanche explained, “A lot of the growth in downtown can’t been seen from the street or by pedestrians.”
He was referring to additions such as a new handbag store at Tower Square and the move of Cambridge College into the same building.
He described downtown as stable and dynamic during the day, with creating it as a residential neighborhood the next step.
Developing housing at the former Court Square Theater complex at 31 Elm St. is the “lynchpin” for that part of downtown, he said.
The apartments at Morgan Square presents a similar anchor, Courtemanche explained. The 285-apartment complex is now under new management by NAI Plotkin and Associates, which have plans to improve landscaping in the courtyard, seek an operator for a restaurant and improve the quality of the apartments.
With reports of casino developers eyeing sites in the city, Courtemanche said it was his personal opinion — not that of the SBID board — that Springfield would benefit far more by a casino within its city limits rather than “the casino in the woods” model offered by developers for Holyoke and Palmer locations.
Courtemanche said the idea that people would stop in Springfield on their way to a Holyoke casino to eat a meal, for instance, is wrong.
He doesn’t see a Springfield casino as “ economic salvation” but rather “ just another interesting part of Springfield.”
