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Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD About 110 people attended a morning event to show developers opportunities that exist in the city of Springfield on Thursday morning. Starting with a breakfast and a short speaking program to present what is currently happening in the city, the group then left on a bus tour to show them the York Street Jail site, the Smith & Wesson industrial park, and areas downtown that are awaiting re-development. The tour was going to end with lunch at Onyx Fusion, the newly opened restaurant at the former Basketball Hall of Fame. David Panagore, the city's chief development officer, gave the developers a quick review of some of the current development activities in the city. He noted the Request for Qualifications process is now underway to pick the developer for the former Court Square Hotel site at 31 Elm St. There are four finalists the city is presently considering. The goal, he said, is to increase the downtown housing base. The York Street Jail site offers developers a four-acre site next to I-91. A 2004 MassHighways Department study noted that 111,700 cars pass the location daily. The $13 million State Street Corridor project that will begin this spring will renovate one of the city's main thoroughfares, Panagore said. The proposed shopping center development at the former site of Westinghouse is a project that was solicited by city officials, but was brought to the city by a developer who recognized the potential of the site, he said. He said the consolidation of the departments into the city office building on Tapley Street has helped give developers quicker response to their questions on permitting and other subjects. The other location for development Panagore shared was Union Station. He said the work is now being done to reassess the real estate market, the region's transportation needs and how the building could be used for a variety of uses to create a "realistic project" that would be announced by June. David May, the vice president and manager of service operations for Liberty Mutual, explained the reduced costs of doing business in Western Massachusetts and the availability of trained workers were factors in why the company recently announced it would open a call center in Springfield that will employ 150 people by the end of the year. May said he has seen strong internal interest among Liberty Mutual employees in offices located in Phoenix, Ariz., and Tampa, Fla., to relocate to the Springfield office. He added the insurance firm is encouraged by the State Street Corridor Project, as the center is located in the Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park complex on State Street. Sarno said after the presentation that development-wise, "the glass is half full." "It's a good thing to be in Springfield," he added. He has been visiting two to three businesses a week to talk about their needs in an effort to retain businesses in the city, he said. There were developers from Boston and New York City attending the presentation, he said. "They know there are good deals in the city of Springfield," he said. What he sees as priorities include the redevelopment of the Federal Building on Main Street as well as the selection of a developer for the Court Square Hotel. According to Sarno, building up housing in the downtown is important. He would like to see a re-use of the Old First Church that would generate income for the city and believes it will play a role in his efforts to rebuild the city with green-oriented businesses and the arts. He also said he will be reaching a decision soon on the new location of the Mason Square Library. "There are a lot of things that could click at one time," he said. |
