Springfield on the rise: What's new in the downtown Transformative Development Initiative District?

MassDevelopment's Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) and the Springfield TDI partnership hosted Discover Downtown Springfield: A Community Tour, an event intended to showcase redevelopment efforts taking place in Springfield's downtown and TDI District. (Phot by Don Treeger / The Republican)

By Jim Kinney, jkinney@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD — From cafes to office tenants, MassDevelopment had a lot to show off on a tour this week of its Transformative Development Initiative District in downtown Springfield.

Begun in 2014, the TDI program aims to focus economic development efforts in just a few downtown blocks of Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities.

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MassDevelopment's Transformative Development Initiative and the Springfield TDI partnership hosted Discover Downtown Springfield: A Community Tour, an event intended to showcase redevelopment efforts taking place in Springfield's downtown and TDI District. (Photo by Don Treeger / The Republican)

Focused development

In Springfield, the TDI District is a neighborhood running basically from Tower Square north to the rebuilt Springfield Union Station and from Main Street East to Dwight Street.

MassDevelopment hosted a walking tour Wednesday of new businesses and ongoing projects this week. Here is some of what tour-goers saw:

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MassDevelopment has workers repairing the former Skyplex building at 8-12 Stearns Square in Springfield. (Photo by Jim Kinney/ The Republican)

8-12 Stearns Square

MassDevelopment, Massachusetts' economic development and finance agency, bought the 20,000-square-foot, two-story building that was once home to the Skyplex nightclub in November 2015 for $600,000.

Since then, MassDevelopment has spent $1.4 million renovating the building for one or two restaurant tenants. Sarah M. Eisinger, vice president of real estate for MassDevelopment, said Wednesday that she’s in talks now with a few potential tenants including a brewpub and a farm-to-table restaurant.

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United Personnel headquarters in Springfield on Bridge Street. (Photo by Dave Roback / The Republican)

United Personnel

United Personnel moved last year into 289 Bridge St., the Stearns Building, which dates to 1912. The offices face a corner of Steiger Park, once the site of the Steiger's Department Store, and are across the street from the under-construction Springfield Innovation Center at 270-280 Bridge St.

The staffing company has about 20 employees in the mostly full office building.

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Discover Downtown Springfield: A Community Tour started at The Community Foundation of Western Mass. (Photo by Don Treeger / The Republican)

The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts

The Foundation moved in April from 5,300 square feet of office space in Tower Square, where it has been for 25 years, to 8,000 square feet of street-level office space at 333 Bridge St.

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During the Discover Downtown Springfield: A Community Tour event, a group visits the soon-to-open Ground Up Cafe on Bridge Street. (Photo Don Treeger / The Republican)

Springfield Innovation Center and Ground Up Cafe

Dining and innovation come together at Ground Up Cafe as part of the Springfield Innovation Center, a DevelopSpringfield project at 270-284 Bridge St. Featuring food, coffee and craft cocktails, head chef John Peter Wentworth said he hopes to open in the fall.

The Innovation Center will also be home to Valley Venture Mentors starting in the fall.

The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts has already moved in.

The $5.5 million project cost includes money spent buying the properties. DevelopSpringfield received a $2.2 million grant from the state's MassWorks Infrastructure Program, $500,000 from MassMutual Financial Group and $30,000 from the Beveredge Family Foundation.

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This is a model apartment at Silverbrick Lofts. (Photo by Dave Roback / The Republican)

Silverbrick Lofts

New owners Silverbrick Group have renovated most of the the 280 apartments at Silverbrick Lofts in downtown Springfield.

The New York City-based real estate developer bought the complex of four downtown buildings once known as Morgan Square Apartments in 2014 for $9 million from The Lone Star Fund of Dallas.

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Snapchef's location on Bridge Street in Springfield. (Photo by Jim Kinney / The Republican)

Snapchef

SnapChef Founder and CEO Todd Snopkowski opened a Springfield branch in April with offices on Bridge Street.

The company trains and educates chefs while also acting as a staffing agency providing chefs by the day to employers who need help either for a short while or over a longer period.

Snopkowski already had branches in Dorchester, Worcester and Cranston, Rhode Island.

In Springfield, he’s working with the New England Farm Workers Council not only to provide training but to develop menus and cook food at the beer garden at 1600 Main St.

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The former federal courthouse at 1550 Main St. (Photo by Jim Kinney / The Republican)

1550 Main St.

The former federal building at 1550 Main St. is expected to get a new private-sector tenant, Eisinger said, but she won’t have more details to release until January or so. The building already houses offices including those of the Springfield School Department and Baystate Health’s computer operations.

MassDevelopment bought the building in 2009 for $2.5 million. It  invested approximately $3.6 million in renovations.

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New England Public Radio executive director of broadcasting Richard Malanista in the technical operations room at 1525 Main St. (The Republican file photo)

WFCR

New England Public Radio and 39 of its employees are on the first floor of 1525 Main St. NEPR spent $6.4 million buying and rehabbing 15,000 square feet of space. The Dennis group, an engineering company, occupies the rest of the building.

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The Shops at Marketplace

The Shops at Marketplace, 1341 Main St., is a group of small boutique shops opening to the same courtyard. The shops cooperate on special events.

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