Springfield’s Proactive Public Realm Initiatives Target Unlocking Private Investment
/By Michael A. Wang
Rendering of a reconceived Apremont Triangle
The 2012 gas explosion in Springfield’s Northeast Downtown District wiped out blocks of urban fabric in a neighborhood that was already searching for a clear identity. Strategically located between a revitalized Union Station, the Springfield Museums Quadrangle and a Main Street core that recently added the MGM Springfield casino and entertainment complex, the district has been the subject of numerous urban planning studies over the past decade.
Diagram showing the study area and proposed new access to the downtown
Many of these studies have identified similar goals; promote market-rate multi-family residential development, adaptively reuse buildings of historic merit, and consider improvements to public infrastructure. Form + Place, a Newton-based architecture and planning firm, has been working with the City’s Department of Planning and Economic Development over the past nine months to develop a phased implementation plan that is truly executable. Phase One of the plan calls for targeted City investment in public realm infrastructure that will promote place-making goals and, in turn, incentivize private development dollars to follow. Ultimately, the vision imagines the addition of 1,000-1,500 new residential units, transforming the district into a thriving downtown mixed-use neighborhood.
Rendering of Chestnut Street as a two-way Complete Street
The western edge of the district is bordered by Chestnut Street, a one-way thoroughfare that parallels Main Street, heading to the north out of the downtown. Chestnut Street has been identified in Springfield’s Complete Streets Implementation Guide as a street that should become a more prominent two-way artery. Building on previous studies, Form + Place, together with Allen & Major and in collaboration with the city’s DPW, has performed an in-depth analysis exploring the possibility of transforming Chestnut Street into a Complete Street, ripe for mixed-use development. When approaching Springfield by car from the Mass Pike, as well as I-91S, via I-291, a large percentage of traffic utilizes the Chestnut Street exit to enter the downtown. Today, due to the one-way configuration, however, the neighborhood is largely bypassed, with people trying to access to the museums, in particular, forced to take a circuitous route.
Aerial view of Apremont Triangle today
In addition to the opportunity to revitalize Chestnut Street into a mixed-use commercial “spine” for the district, the City plans to invest in the redesign of Apremont Triangle – an underutilized public space in the neighborhood. Form + Place’s proposal to close one of the three streets that surround the triangle, will substantially increase the size of the park, transforming it into an active and usable focal point for the area. A new green space, with enhanced sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, will provide the opportunity to accommodate everything from outdoor dining, to flexible market space to a place for entertainment and gathering.
Street level rendering of a revitalized Apremont Triangle with outdoor dining
These Phase One public investments hold tremendous potential to reshape the district and, when considered in conjunction with the City’s desire to create an additional new public park in the neighborhood, seem entirely implementable, given that they do not require onerous land purchases or takings. The increase in traffic through the district will provide greater visibility for commercial tenants and the dramatic improvements to the public realm should create the framework that attracts residential developers to invest in the area. There are already some promising signs with development entities, such as Davenport Companies, working to adaptively reuse key historic assets, including the Willys Overland building. The proximity of the district to Union Station positions it as a perfect transit-oriented development opportunity and this upfront investment by the City should go a long way towards remedying the perception of the district as having blighted, vacant lots and unsafe streets.
Despite the current challenges of COVID-19, there should certainly be a demographic that will still long for an engaging urban lifestyle in a neighborhood with easy access to transit, a range of downtown amenities at their fingertips and a newly revitalized public realm consisting of Complete Streets and flexible open spaces.
Future infill development completing a mixed-use Chestnut Street corridor