Baker-Polito Administration Supports Nine Community-Driven Initiatives
Urban Agenda Grant Program builds on community-driven initiatives to create new economic opportunities for residents BOSTON, MA – February 12, 2018 – Today, the Baker-Polito Administration awarded $500,000 to nine projects through the Urban Agenda Grant Program. The program seeks to unlock community-driven responses to local obstacles, and promote economic development opportunities through partnership-building, problem…
2 mostly-vacant Chicopee industrial parks receive state grants for development, marketing
State Rep. Joseph F. Wagner, D-Chicopee, chairman of the economic development committee, announced the awards of two Site Readiness Program grants. A total of $255,200 will go to Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation to develop the relatively new Air Park South and $70,000 will go to Westmass Area Development to help in master planning and marketing…
Berkshire Innovation Center looks to bolster manufacturers, tech firms (photos, video)
With a reputation as a hub for arts and culture, Berkshire County also boasts a rich history of manufacturing and technology. That’s something local business leaders and officials are looking to highlight and build upon with the creation of the long-awaited Berkshire Innovation Center. The project, which has faced delays due to funding shortfalls since…
East Longmeadow factory grows workforce, will start making Craftsman tools
Local workers will once again make Craftsman tools here in the Pioneer Valley. Stanley Black & Decker, which bought the Craftsman brand from ailing Sears in January 2017 for $775 million, will likely start making Craftsman-brand saw blades and other tools at the former Lenox American Saw plant in the second half of 2018, said…
Springfield seeks bids for downtown property once planned for 32-story ‘Space Needle’ tower
The city is advertising for proposals for the redevelopment of two adjacent parcels on lower Worthington Street that 30 years ago was considered for the “Spire,” a 32-story condominium tower nicknamed “Springfield’s Space Needle.” The site is now mostly vacant with just a lean-to structure and roof, and the city is particularly interested in uses…
New Projects Energize Palmer’s Neighborhoods
In a neighborhood struggling to regain some momentum, any new development matters — no matter how humble. Literally, in the case of Humble Pie, a restaurant with a façade as nondescript as its name and a farm-to-table ethos that has quickly won over locals since opening in December on Main Street in the Three Rivers…
Bradley International Airport to Launch Non-stop Service to St. Louis
The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) announced the debut of new daily, non-stop service between Bradley International Airport and St. Louis Lambert International Airport on Southwest Airlines. “I’ve long advocated that we need to utilize Bradley International Airport as an economic driver to boost growth in our region, and adding an additional direct flight to a…
MassMutual Foundation donates $1 million to Springfield schools
The MassMutual Foundation Inc. will grant $1 million to Springfield Public Schools to expand the City Connects program into eight additional elementary schools throughout the city. City Connects is a national program executed by the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. The program supports students based on their individual needs by addressing out-of-school challenges that affect student success, and…
Chicopee downtown mill renovation project granted special permit
A Holyoke businessman who plans to convert a historic mill building that dates to the 1840s has been given the go-ahead to begin the project. The City Council voted 12-0 last week to grant a special permit to Mount Holyoke Development, owned by Herbert Berezin, which will allow him to convert the long-vacant 65,000 square-foot,…
Valley Venture Mentors co-founder Paul Silva is ‘rock star’ of entrepreneurship in Western Mass.: Outlook 2018
As a senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2000, Silva cofounded the Entreclub because he needed help building his start-up Zform. That’s where his duck tie first made its appearance as a silly way to make his fellow students feel less nervous when pitching their ideas. Since then, the ducks have been…
Springfield recycler Northstar Pulp & Paper repurposes to meet 21st century demands
Thirty years ago, when Lori Goodman Novak was a teenager, she worked in the office for the family business, Northstar Pulp & Paper, answering the phone, weighing trucks on the scale and sorting mail. Nearly two decades later, while Novak was teaching kindergarten, her half-brother, Aaron Goodman, was old enough to work at the plant…
Blackjack 101: Get an inside look at MGM Springfield’s table games school (photos, video) | masslive.com
MGM Springfield said Tuesday that it will reimburse tuition for students at the Massachusetts Casino Career Training Institute who learn two or more casino table games, pass MGM’s audition and work for the new Springfield casino for at least a year. The news came during an open house at the school, a partnership among MGM,…