Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 11/3/2022
SPRINGFIELD – After weeks of deliberation, the City Council approved the $1.125 million acquisition of the former Friendly’s property at 65 Sumner Ave. during their Oct. 24 meeting. The city previously leased the space for $40,000 a year in order to provide additional parking for the Sumner Avenue Elementary School after the Friendly’s closure in 2018.
Discussions on the acquisition began during a Sept. 26 joint Finance and Public Safety City Council Subcommittee meeting. Superintendent Daniel Warwick, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer (CAFO) for Springfield TJ Plante and Chief Financial & Operations Officer at Springfield Public Schools Patrick Roach discussed the plan with the committees.
The Sumner Avenue Elementary School space was originally built in the 1920s. Warwick shared that the school received an expansion in the 1990s that was funded by the state’s School Board Authority. Warwick said the new addition did not feature the appropriate parking space needed to accommodate the renovations.
“They never bought the appropriate property to accommodate the parking, the arrival and dismissal that a school would need … We’ve been running the school for the last 20 to 25 years without the space to properly execute arrival, dismissal and parking for the staff,” said Warwick.
The Sumner Avenue Elementary School currently features 68 parking spaces and three handicap parking spaces for their staff of over 100 employees. To address the additional need, Friendly’s made an agreement with the school district that allowed staff to utilize some back area parking spaces during school hours.
“Without that, we couldn’t have run the school,” said Warwick.
Roach shared that the parking area addresses the school’s needs by offering an additional 85 parking spaces. The school also utilizes the area for school arrival and dismissal to help expedite high-traffic times on Sumner Avenue. The street is considered to be a main thoroughfare by Warwick.
Plante shared that the $1.125 million figure represents a compromise between different appraisals. The city’s last appraisal for the area equaled $925,000, while the land owner’s appraisal was estimated around $1.3 million. Plante stressed that the compromise would prevent the need for a hostile eminent domain takeover – which would lead to additional court expenses and other damages.
“We figured since we didn’t want to tie up all of our time in a hostile taking, we do a friendly eminent domain taking and split the number in the middle,” said Plante.
During an Oct. 17 Public Safety Committee meeting, Ward 6 City Councilor Victor Davila shared that the acquisition idea received approval from the Forest Park Civic Association.
“For me, it was extremely important to have that neighborhood input on this project because this is an important piece of land,” said Davila.
Warwick discussed the potential reuse of the former Friendly’s building. He said possibilities include offices for a virtual school or retooling the building to accommodate for preschool classes. However, Warwick stressed that his main focus is ensuring that the property properly assists Sumner Avenue Elementary School before starting a redevelopment project.
“Down the road, we could use the building for some purposes, possibly for a virtual school or some preschool classes, but the first order of business would be design in that parking lot,” said Warwick.
Warwick also revealed that there are no plans to demolish the former Friendly’s building.
Sumner Avenue Elementary School Principal James McCann shared that the additional parking would be “helpful” to the school.
“It would be really helpful to have that extra space … As everyone knows, Sumner gets very congested, so it would be really helpful to make our entry and dismissal safer,” said McCann.
The City Council ultimately voted unanimously to approve the acquisition during their Oct. 24 meeting.