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Date: 10/5/2022
SPRINGFIELD – The former Friendly’s restaurant on 65 Sumner Ave. was acquired by private investors for $600,000 in 2020 after years in dormancy. City leadership now envisions acquiring the property in a plan to potentially reutilize the space and fortify additional Sumner Avenue Elementary School parking.
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 during a Sept. 26 joint Finance and Public Safety City Council Subcommittee meeting.
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. Under his tenure as superintendent, Warwick shared that the school district now focuses on including ample parking and space for new schools and renovation projects.
The current property owner now maintains a $40,000 a year lease agreement for the back parking area with the school district. Roach shared that the parking area addresses the school’s needs by offering an additional 30 to 40 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.
Roach shared that if the property is acquired by the city, the school department will work with Director of Public Works (DPW) Christopher Cignoli in creating a full engineering study of the back parking lot and the Friendly’s property. The study would allow the city to renovate in order to best utilize both spaces.
Plante discussed the city’s current negotiation process with the Friendly’s property owner. In June, the City Council approved a $1.125 million request for the potential purchase of the property but declared that an eminent domain acquisition by the city would need to be addressed in a subcommittee meeting.
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.
Plante placed emphasis on completing the purchase in the near future. He shared that the property owner currently has two inquiries for leasing the space long term.
“They have two interested long-term leasers, one is a dry-cleaning company and the other is potentially a restaurant. The long-term lease is something that they would really like to do because it’s better for them financially. However, they said they committed to the city that if we go for the agreed upon number, they’ll just sell it to the city,” said Plante.
While the city envisions a direct use for the back parking lot, the future of the Friendly’s property is unresolved. Plante said the city could either utilize the property as a city-owned structure or issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for interested developers. One rumored idea is that the city could utilize the space for offices for the school district’s virtual school, according to City Council President Jesse Lederman.
Lederman stressed the importance of involving the Forest Park Civic Association in the city’s process after discussing the matter with neighbors of the area.
“The concern that I heard was that the neighborhood had long envisioned an economic use for the building and the use that was brought forward for the taking was for administrative offices for the virtual school – which is the first folks heard about that,” said Lederman.
Plante said the city “is not married” to a specific reuse of the space. He expects the study to provide additional clarity to the city’s process before they decide on the future of the former Friendly’s. He stressed that the city can construct a reuse of the space that will be agreeable to all parties after the purchase is completed.
“I personally want us to control the property … The quicker we lock in, the better off we will be,” said Plante.
The subject matter is expected to be a topic of the Forest Park Civic Association’s Oct. 11 meeting before the City Council discusses the it during their Oct. 17 regular meeting.