The Nov. 4, vote against Ballot Question 3 and the Repeal the Casino Deal movement locked in a promising future for MGM Springfield, which plans to break ground on its downtown casino complex before the end of the calendar year. But the future is less clear for many of the current occupants of the 41 property parcels now under MGM ownership.
These three blocks in Springfield’s South End neighborhood — from State Street over to Union Street and from Main Street down to Columbus Avenue — add up to approximately 15 acres and contain a mix of small businesses and firms, nonprofit organizations, and retail shops. A few buildings will remain standing, folded into construction of the casino floor and its satellite restaurants, retail, and residential spaces. Others will be torn down.
“It’s crazy. People who have been coming in here for 30 years, they always say how quiet it is now,” Yonok Elsner, the owner of O-Mi Oriental Grocery on Main Street. “Very quiet. People who are walking by, they’re at home by four or five o’clock now. Stores close earlier now. It’s a ghost town.”
These few blocks in particular are still haunted by the severe damage sustained from the June 2011 tornado. Many properties are vacant. These include the 109-year-old Howard Street School, which MGM will demolish to make room for a parking garage.
Other damaged buildings within the casino footprint will find new life within the MGM complex. One example: the stone castle at 29 Howard St., which formerly housed the State Armory, will be converted into a restaurant and bar. It will sit within a 35,000 square foot pedestrian courtyard, alongside a cinema, bowling complex, and ice skating rink.
With these family-friendly attractions, MGM plans to revitalize downtown tourism. David Dudley, the owner of Dave’s Furniture at the corner of Union and Main Streets, is optimistic about these plans.
“You’ll see Main Street nice and busy,” he said, looking ahead three years to when construction is completed. “It’s going to make Springfield. When they get it all going, it will be great. It’s going to be a beautiful city again.”
Dave’s Furniture took a beating from the tornado — the store closed in June 2011, received $10,000 from the city in building funds, and reopened in March 2012. This past Thursday, Dudley and his store manager Linda Guidetti grabbed rolls of tape and stuck “Going Out Of Business” signs in the window.
“The casino made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” he said. “I’m 75 years old. It’s time for me to quit. They gave me a good deal.”
The store will close January 30, Guidetti said. When she was a child, Guidetti said the South End was a much different place.
“As kids, this is where we shopped. There was a lot of vitality down here. Not anymore. Downtown isn’t busy. The casino can only help,” she said.
Dudley said he remembers when the South End had 17 furniture stores. Today, he’s the only one left.
O-Mi owner Elsner said she’s been told by other businesses that MGM will help her with relocation efforts for the grocery store, but no one from the casino has reached out to her yet.
“We’re stressed. A lot of customer are asking where we are going,” she said.
Elsner isn’t the only business owner on Main Street who has declined to sing the casino’s praises. Next door at Tony’s Famous Barber Shop, the staff is silent. “Yeah,” said one barber, sighing heavily. “We’re not gonna comment on that.”
Tony Caputo is apprehensive, too. He and his sister Rita manage Red Rose Pizzeria on Main Street, which their parents opened in 1963. This sizable restaurant and banquet space is the only business between Union and State streets that is expected to stay open through the transition.
“We’re at ground zero here,” said Caputo, who’s family owns the property. “We’ve been here for 50 years, and we want to be here for another 50.
“Once all the construction is over, hopefully the people who have been loyal to us will still be coming.”
All businesses in the casino footprint will need to make wholesale adjustments to their future plans. Whether relocation is possible or not, every business — minus Red Rose — will have to begin with closing the doors of their current spaces. It will affect Springfield Rescue Mission, which runs shelter and rehabilitation programs on Bliss Street. It will affect the AIDS Foundation of Western Massachusetts, which will have to vacate their Main Street offices. So will the Springfield Southwest Community Health Center and the pediatrics and obstetrics facility run by Caring Health Center.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamden County will have to move from the old Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Building, which is the future home of MGM Springfield’s administrative offices at the corner of Main and State streets. Also located in that building: Focus Springfield Community Television, which moved into new studios and programming space there this past June.
Jay Minkarah, the president of the nonprofit organization DevelopSpringfield, is optimistic.
“We’ve put a high priority on developing areas directly impacted by the tornado,” he said. “And much of the casino’s footprint is that same area. So, seeing the MGM plan moving forward … I think does a great deal to address our goals.”
Minkarah acknowledged that the logistics of relocating storefronts and residents on these blocks are challening.
“But there’s a positive impact there, too, in that these relocations will absorb some vacant retail and office spaces, not just downtown but perhaps in other areas, too,” he said.
Going forward, Minkarah said, DevelopSpringfield will be putting more focus on areas that are blighted or underserved. But first things first — DevelopSpringfield has to move. They fall in the footprint as well, and they will need to leave to make room for the casino they’ve been championing.
“I haven’t heard a definitive move-out date yet,” he said. “But we’re in the process of finding another home. It’s a challenge we welcome. Although, frankly, it is a challenge.”•
