End of construction signals rebirth for downtown area
Date: 5/30/2012
May 30, 2012By Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.comWESTFIELD — The commute through downtown Westfield is finally getting easier, and that's a good sign for the businesses and restaurants that line its newly paved streets.
"Westfield and the downtown [neighborhood] has really paid their dues with all of these significant construction projects," Maureen Belliveau, new director of the Westfield Business Improvement District (BID), said. "The energy [downtown] is a buzz, and it's only going to get better ... we look forward to seeing pedestrians enjoying the fabulous streetscapes."
Among those soon-to-be completed "fabulous street-scapes" is a block of storefronts stretching from the Westfield Senior Center to Subway, that owner Rocco J. Falcone, president and CEO of Rocky's Ace Hardware, said is undergoing some sprucing up to be in keeping with the city's renovated center.
"We're giving them a facelift and building some residential units upstairs," Falcone said, adding that the six market-rate apartments would be "top of the line, with great views of the new city center."
That renovation, he added, complements his company's recently opened store — a $2 million investment in the city's downtown that transformed one of his company's oldest locations into a new, state-of-the-art retail outlet.
Evan Dobelle, president of Westfield State University, said the university — which already has a significant presence in the downtown through an art gallery and the Landsdown student apartments it rents from Falcone — has started to increase its involvement with plans to bring a college-sponsored Barnes & Noble bookstore with a Starbucks outpost to the city's center. He noted the college is also relocating its Westfield State Foundation offices in a building adjacent to The Tavern restaurant. When the transportation center is completed, he said the college is interested in locating an education center, and possibly childcare, at the site.
Dobelle said he sees great potential for the rebirth of the city his college is so closely tied to.
Ward Two City Councilor James Brown said he was encouraged by Mayor Daniel Knapik's recent announcement that the city would be moving forward with plans to demolish unoccupied buildings on Elm and Arnold Streets "that have long blighted this major section of our downtown corridor."
He noted that the city's advancement officer, Jeff Daley, has already identified a funding source for any environmental cleanup that may be necessary in conjunction with those demolitions.
"I am also aware of a private investor seeking out available property in the downtown area to possibly build or complete a major renovation of a building to move their operations into the downtown," Brown said. "There are many other similar stories that the city is working on which will continue our revitalization one piece at a time."
Brown said he stands "behind the investments that the city has made to date in our downtown," and is looking forward "to being a part of the continued planned and controlled growth of the community. We are working towards making Westfield a destination rather than just another exit on the turnpike — and we will succeed.
