One of the “clearest signs of the health and success of a community,” says Craig Della Penna, “is the number of bicyclists and pedestrians you see on the streets.”
For well over a decade, Della Penna has devoted himself to increasing this number across the Commonwealth. Calling himself the “right of way guy,” he was the legislative agent and New England region political organizer for the Rails to Trails Conservancy; he ran his own consulting firm to help communities preserve their rail trails; he turned his home next to a trail into a bed and breakfast to promote living in close proximity to trails; and as an agent for Northampton’s Murphys Realtors, he has specialized in helping new homeowners find their own place near a trail.
This year, he is consolidating his advocacy efforts into a single business venture that focuses on promoting his passion in his hometown.
On Strong Avenue in Northampton, adjacent to a newly installed rail trail and next to the city’s original train station, he is opening Della Penna’s Trailside Realty, Inc., the nation’s first franchise of Pedal to Properties. Colorado-based Pedal to Properties offers an approach to real estate that meshes perfectly with Della Penna’s interests, combining a commitment to the community and environment with sophisticated technology and progressive values.
“Ninety percent of home buyers start house hunting on the Internet,” Della Penna said. “A realty office full of a sea of cubicles is not the wave of the future.” Instead of filling his office space with desks and filing cabinets, he is commissioning a large metal table designed by local metal sculptor Sam Ostroff. It will look like a train trestle, and it will be wired with Internet jacks so that clients and realtors can surf the Web before cycling off on the firm’s bike fleet to look at prospective homes.
“Initially, we’ll take customers out in the car to the various neighborhoods they might be interested in, but after they’ve gotten their bearings, subsequent visits will be by bicycle,” Della Penna said. “The best way to view a neighborhood is by the seat of a bike.”
In addition to his stripped-back approach to realty, Della Penna hopes to turn his office into a hub for neighbors who already have homes. Again, instead of cubicles, he is filling his downstairs with art by turning the space into a gallery that will be included in Northampton’s Arts Night Out, the monthly city-wide art opening. First to grace the walls will be local artist Star Drooker’s Polaroid collage portraits.
Additionally, weather permitting, Della Penna plans to provide bicycle tours of the local trails and offer talks on rail history each Tuesday evening from six until dusk for any interested bicyclist. He is busy planning other community and bicycle-oriented activities as well. On Saturday, April 10 at 9:30 a.m., for instance, he and other local businesspeople are sponsoring a citywide trail cleanup (see www.trailcleanup.com for more information).
When he started taking an interest in preserving rail trails in the 1990s, many former rail corridors were threatened with being divided and sold off to private interests, but Della Penna feels “the wave has crested.” Working with David Murphy (who was president of the Bay State Multiple Listing Service, the first regional MLS in Massachusetts), Della Penna had a hand in getting “near a bike path” added to standard real estate information forms, and he says many home buyers and sellers now see the value in this proximity. While there are still some places that need advocates to help preserve these routes, the public generally has embraced the trails, he says, citing over 200 rail trail development projects within a 100-mile radius of Northampton.
Della Penna is excited that, when his new realty office has its grand opening on May 12, he will have the opportunity to ride that wave.
