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Date: 6/13/2023
NORTHAMPTON — After four years of extensive work, a Community Resilience Hub is officially coming to Northampton.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra announced on June 2 that the city officially signed its agreement to purchase the former First Baptist Church building located at 298 Main St. to house the Community Resilience Hub. According to the announcement, the city — along with its partner Community Action Pioneer Valley — purchased the building from business mogul Eric Suher.
“I am incredibly proud to reach this milestone for the City of Northampton,” Sciarra said. “We have great plans for this space, and for the services it will provide to our entire community and especially our most vulnerable members. I am profoundly grateful to everyone who worked hard for years to make this acquisition a reality.”
Background
For several years, Northampton, and its partner Community Action Pioneer Valley, have been actively seeking a location for this hub.
According to press release sent to Reminder Publishing, the idea for a Community Resilience Hub began in 2019 as a key recommendation from the report, “A Downtown Northampton for Everyone: Residents, Visitors, Merchants and People at Risk.”
Planning for this hub was accelerated in 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic emphasized the need for this resource.
Under former Mayor David Narkewicz, the Office of Planning & Sustainability and the mayor’s office convened meetings with architects, local and regional stakeholders, and service providers. Community Action Pioneer Valley became the city’s social service partner and lead operational partner for the hub and collaborate on support services it would ultimately provide.
In late 2021, Reminder Publishing reported that the city has a program to create a Community Resilience Hub “as a downtown facility with a coordinated program for frontline communities and any residents who face chronic and acute stress due to disasters, pandemics, climate change and other social and economic challenges.” A hub would look to provide access to a resource, a social network and building social resilience.
The city considered the St. John Cantius Church as an option for a hub location, but the owner rejected the city’s offer of $550,000 to buy the church.
Northampton also considered the historic Roundhouse building on 244 Main St., but according to the mayor’s office, a signed option with the owner was never achieved. The mayor’s Chief of Staff Alan Wolf said in a statement, “we couldn’t quite work it out for the special needs of the user group for our purposes.”
Former First Baptist Church building
The former church building, which is located between Forbes Library and downtown Northampton, was $3.175 million to acquire, according to the city. The location was chosen after an extensive real estate search and extensive advertising for proposals.
The building has approximately 14,500 square feet of space and was built in 1904 by the First Baptist Church of Northampton to replace a church that had been destroyed by a fire in 1863.
In 1988, the First Baptist Church congregation merged with the First Congregational Church to create First Churches of Northampton. The building has been vacant since 1993, when it was purchased by a developer and Iron Horse Entertainment Group owner Eric Suher with the intention of turning it into a music venue and catering facility.
During a Dec. 15, 2022 City Council meeting, Sciarra said that the hub will essentially serve four purposes. It would serve as a day hub for frontline vulnerability members who need certain amenities like showers, lockers, internet and more.
The location will also serve as a connection hub providing services and support for housing, food security, job-seeking and various recovery services while also acting as a broad community space for meetings or other creative endeavors.
Lastly, the hub would provide crisis response in case of an environmental crisis or other unforeseen emergencies.
“We want this particular building to serve those purposes and do it in a really beautiful and inviting place that people want to use and that reaffirms a feeling of belonging and dignity and community here,” said Sciarra.
The mayor also added that the building will incorporate public health offices from the city’s Department of Health and Human Services.
“We are asking a lot of this space, but we believe this building fits the bill,” said Sciarra. “There’s been a huge number of improvements [at First Baptist] that are also really important and valuable for our project.”