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Date: 4/12/2021
HOLYOKE– A historic Holyoke building that has long sat vacant will undergo development bringing affordable housing, jobs and a new business to the city.
Hotel Jess, which sits on the corner of Main and Dwight Streets, built in 1880s, has sat vacant for decades. Anthony Witman, president of Witman Properties, said prior to his company purchasing the building from MassDevelopment in 2018 the building “had a succession of buyers” and was nearly demolished in the ‘90s. “But a group purchased it in 2001, SHH Save Historic Holyoke, and saved it from demolition,” he said.
Witman said MassDevelopment put out a proposal request searching for developers for the building. He said they “had to present a couple plans to them,” and then they purchased the building in 2018.
In the years since the building was purchased, Witman said the company had been working on a “couple different projects,” but had finished the installation of a new roof on the building along with some architectural work. Witman explained the first top two floors of the three-floor building would be transformed into residential apartments. “There’ll be eight residential units up there,” he said.
The bottom floor, he explained, would be “one big commercial space.” Witman said the intention for the space was a “restaurant [or] maybe a coffee shop kind of space.” He said they were actively “working to identify an operator” and “have had a lot of interest” in the space.
Aaron Vega, Holyoke’s director of Planning and Economic Development, said the city had been aiming to develop the building for quite some time. “This has been one of the target buildings for a while to get developed,” he said.
Vega said with the city’s quickly growing cannabis industry restoring or rebuilding old mill buildings, it was imperative to think about the smaller historical buildings in the city as well. “It’s equally important, with the boom of the cannabis industry, thinking about smaller buildings and how to preserve them. There’s some restoration, but a lot of tear downs,” he said.
He said when developers such as Witman were committed to “do the long work to save the building,” the city and his department “really try to support those efforts.” He said, “It’s easier to demolish the building, but that removes the historic character.”
One of the ways the city is supporting Witman in his development of the building was by approving a five-year tax increment finance (TIF). Vega explained that this tax break would allow for Witman to pay less taxes at first. “We need the tax revenue so it’s much better to support this early on. These deals, you pay less taxes as you develop the building,” he said. “As you get the business going, then you tax in conjunction.”
Additionally, both Vega and Witman agreed that the location of the building was great for the city. Witman said many people don’t see improvements in the city, such as the development taking place on Race Street. However, he said with how accessible the building is to both the highway and the city’s Amtrak platform, more people would be exposed to the city’s progress and improvements. “Once this project is developed, that’s when the public going up and down 391 is going to say ‘Holyoke is changing,’” Witman said.
Vega said, “The key is the location is critical, it’s near the train station, in the hub of new businesses coming in.” In addition to adding to the location, Witman said simply developing the long vacant building will raise property value in the area.
“Whenever one of these buildings gets fixed up, it raises the property value around it,” he said.
Witman said the next steps in the development were to “get approval from the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP).” After that, he said, they could then “start with phase one of construction.” That phase, Witman explained, would consist of “structural improvements, rough framing, mechanical improvements” and store front windows. He said that while these improvements and construction were taking place they would also be seeking an operator for the commercial space.
Vega said the development of the space was great for Holyoke for a variety of reasons, but highlighted two local immediate benefits that would come with the completed development. The first, he said, was increased affordable housing in the Holyoke and Western Massachusetts area. This, he said, has been an ongoing problem and something the city had been working to address.
"We’re constantly trying to increase housing options, whether that’s affordable options, rentals, condos. It fits in with a couple other developments with housing,” he said. “We know we have a housing shortage in Holyoke and in Western Mass.”
Additionally, he said the development, which is slated to create 10 jobs, will bring additional jobs to the city, especially in the restaurant industry. He said with the HCC Culinary Institute it was a great outlet to keep recent graduates in Holyoke in addition to restaurants having the space to test out their menu. “We always want those students going to HCC to stay in Holyoke, it would be great if there’s job availability right in the area,” he said.
Witman said development of the building was expected to be completed at the end of August in 2023.