October 2014

DevelopSpringfield Partners & Supporters

Tour 83 Maple Street Property

DevelopSpringfield's Partnership Investment Program contributors and other supporters were recently treated to an exclusive tour of the Ansel Phelps House at 83 Maple Street.

We purchased this property in April of 2013 with the intent to restore and rehabilitate this 1841 era home, originally built for Solymon Merrick, the inventor of the monkey wrench.

Our goal is to rehabilitate the property in an historically appropriate manner with plans to convert the home to a wonderful and unique office space.

Exterior rehabilitation of this historic home are near completion and inside work will begin soon. Peter Hamm of Historic Preservation Associates provided background to tour visitors on the painstaking rehabilitation process and described the efforts made to restore the porch columns and railings along with other unique characteristics of this project. Work will soon begin on rehabilitation of the inside of the building to create a two level office environment.

If you are interested in learning more about leasing opportunities, please click here.

Partnership Investment Program ~ Get Involved

DevelopSpringfield continues to strengthen its efforts to stimulate revitalization and economic development in Springfield.

Our annual campaign for our Partnership Investment Program is underway, and you are invited to invest in the work of DevelopSpringfield. By joining us as a Partner, you will help to provide a foundation of financial support to strengthen our work while having the opportunity to participate in strategic planning and advisory groups that help shape our direction and focus in areas such as real estate strategy; and urban development and design.

Our current Business and Non Profit Partners who have joined us already in our 2014-2015 campaign include: 122 Chestnut, LLC; Associated Building Wreckers Inc.;Columbia Gas of Massachusetts; GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc.; Hampden Bank; HAPHousing; Jennings Real Estate Services; Liberty Mutual Group; New North Citizens' Council; North End Housing Initiative; NUVO Bank & Trust Co. We are grateful to all of them for their support as well as our Individual Partners. Special thanks goes out to MassMutual Financial Group for their extraordinary support as a Leadership Partner. Please join them in supporting DevelopSpringfield in our collective efforts to revitalize Springfield.

Becoming a Partner is easy! Join online and learn more about the program benefits--click here for more details. Or, feel free to call our office at 413-209-8808 to speak with us about your interest.

Curb Appeal Program

DevelopSpringfield's Curb Appeal Program is in full swing with more than a dozen improvement projects underway in the Six Corners neighborhood.

The program aims to promote neighborhood revitalization by providing small grants of up to $5,000 for blight reduction and beautification. These grants were used to improve the exterior appearance of residential properties in a target tornado-impacted zone near Central Street, the new Elias Brookings Elementary School, and Springfield College. As homeowners invest in their properties, the fabric of the neighborhood will be strengthened and property values will increase.

The program has allocated all current funds. The photo here shows improvements made to one of the homes in the neighborhood. We look forward to sharing updates on other projects as they are completed. Check out program details on our website where we will also continue to post progress.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the City of Springfield, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (Eugene A. Dexter Charitable Fund), DevelopSpringfield and Viva Development.

We're Participating in Valley Gives Day!

DevelopSpringfield will be participating in Valley Gives Day again this year, a community wide e-philanthropy event to raise funds on-line for charitable organizations throughout the Pioneer Valley.

Please mark your calendars for 12/10/14 (Wednesday, December 10) as a reminder to plan to visit the Valley Gives website to make your contribution. Gifts made on this special day will help to leverage additional bonus gifts to participating charitable organizations like ours! So, please plan ahead by marking your calendar and stay tuned for additional updates from us on the simple process for making your gift.

We will be promoting the opportunity to contribute to support the work of DevelopSpringfield on this day especially as we join together with the communities of western Massachusetts for this extraordinary charity fundraising event.

As a social media event, all of the participating organizations will be spreading the word through e-newsletters, facebook and Twitter.

Please "Like" us on Facebook and "Follow" us on Twitter and also share our posts and tweets with your own network. The success of this event will rely on expanding our reach, and inspiring you and others to help support the revitalization of Springfield by making a gift to DevelopSpringfield.

Please forward this newsletter to others in the Springfield community to help spread the news!

Our mission is to help create conditions that encourage private development, with a bricks-and-mortar focus and always with an eye toward understanding and meeting Springfield's unique and diverse redevelopment needs.

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