SPRINGFIELD – A Chicopee-based developer is planning to convert a long-vacant office building near Interstate-91 into a 39-unit apartment complex.
The City Council granted Patrick Gottschlicht a special permit in a 12-0 vote last week, allowing him to go ahead with his planned project at 333 East Columbus Ave.
Gottschlicht told the council that he grew up in the Forest Park neighborhood, has driven by the building many times and saw an opportunity to reuse it. His plan is to completely gut the inside and then convert it to housing. The units will be one bedrooms and studios ranging from 500 to 624 square feet.
“It has been vacant for at least 10 years. It was once a Howard Johnson’s and then it was converted to office space,” Gottschlicht said at the council meeting.
The apartments will be market rate, renting at approximately $1,200 to $1,400 a month, he said.
The building is two stories but built into a hill so the second floor is accessible to the ground level and the first floor will also be accessed from the back of the property, he said.
“It is in my ward … I’m happy to see it is going to be developed and it is going to bring stability to the area,” said City Councilor Victor Davila.
Councilor Kateri Walsh, who also lives in the Forest Park neighborhood, agreed and said the building has long been an eyesore and it is located at the entrance of the city so it sends the wrong message about Springfield to visitors.
“We are in dire need of housing,” City Councilor Zaida Govan said. “I want to commend the developer for looking at a blighted property.”
Councilor Jose Delgado agreed that he is anxious to see the property returned to use but added the access to the property is challenging.
Currently the only entrance is through a curb cut off East Columbus Avenue, which is a busy one-way street. But Gottschlicht has an option to purchase the adjacent property as well and plans to create an easement on that land to give it a second access from Bruno Street, said Anthony Wilson, the attorney representing him.
Both properties are owned by S&L Realty and trustee Mark Paley and under agreement by Gottschlicht, he said.
The Planning Board and some City Councilors also aired concerns about the noise created by the highway creating problems for tenants but did not add conditions for additional sound buffering.
Wilson and Gottschlicht met earlier with members of the Forest Park Civic Association and the South End Citizens Council and received endorsements from both for the project.
While the building is in the Forest Park section of the city, it is on the border with the South End.
Leo Florian, president of the South End Citizens Council, said there has been a lot of illegal dumping on the property since it has become vacant, turning the property into an eyesore.
He called the new development a “homerun” for the neighborhood and for the city since it will generate new tax revenue and added needed housing to ease the shortage.
