Northampton gateway properties near I-91, primed for development, bought as group

The properties purchased by Patriot Property Management Group are in an area between Pleasant and Conz streets that was rezoned by the city a few years ago to allow business, mixed use or business and industrial uses. 

The properties purchased by Patriot Property Management Group are in an area between Pleasant and Conz streets that was rezoned by the city a few years ago to allow business, mixed use or business and industrial uses.  GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 11-01-2024 5:50 PM

NORTHAMPTON — Nine properties within a gateway area to the city, bounded by Pleasant and Conz streets and including Service Center Road, were recently purchased by a West Springfield property management company.

The sites, which include buildings with retail, service and medical aspects and totaling 5.8 acres, were acquired for $7.04 million by Nolava LLC, which is part of the Patriot Property Management Group. The sellers were Service Properties Inc. and Dimension Realty LLC, both of which are managed by Florence resident Jack Fortier, according to transactions recorded with the Hampshire Registry of Deeds.

The properties include 395 Pleasant St., the home of Northampton Integrative Medicine; 23 Service Center Road, where the Daily Hampshire Gazette and other offices are located; the building housing Northampton Rental Center and Valley Fabrics at 59 Service Center Road; a commercial building at 78 Conz St.; the 82 Conz St. building where WEB — America’s Yarn Store is located; 84 Conz St., the home of Fresenius Kidney Care; and a residence at 86 Conz St. The sale also includes parking lots associated with the buildings.

All of the properties are within the Central Business Gateway District, just north of the roundabout at Conz and Pleasant streets and a short distance from Interstate 91’s Exit 23.

No redevelopment or other plans have yet been announced. Calls and emails to Marc Murphy, one of the Realtors who runs Patriot Property, were not immediately returned.

Patrick Goggins, real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Community Realtors, said he anticipates that any redevelopment would provide a nice gateway to the city, especially for those visiting Northampton.

“Most people I’ve talked to believe that in the end there will be something dramatically different,” Goggins said. “That parcel, with frontage on Pleasant and Conz and access to the various parcels from Service Center Road, really is unique and located in an area that has regional appeal.”

That strong appeal has already been evident in recent years, both when the NETA cannabis dispensary opened, as well as the continued build-out of Atwood Drive, where various services are offered for people throughout the Pioneer Valley.

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“This sale is an assembly of very valuable parcels that will be very important to the future of that area of the city,” Goggins said.

Carolyn Misch, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Sustainability, wrote in an email that the parcels have all primarily been zoned for business, mixed use or business and industrial uses. A few years ago, they were rezoned to create more consistent zoning in that part of the city.

The rezoning, Misch said, allows for a mix of uses, from multifamily residential to commercial, including retail, restaurant, entertainment and office, while emphasizing a specific form for buildings. The goal is for buildings, which can rise to 70 feet, to frame the street to create a vibrant, safe, active pedestrian streetscape.

Buildings also can be built to the edge of the sidewalk or have small front setbacks, which Misch said would be occupied by high-quality semi-public spaces, used for expanded pedestrian throughway space, cafe seating, outdoor display space, green stormwater management, ornamental landscaping and other pedestrian-oriented elements.

“This area between Pleasant and Conz could certainly support more uses and greater density with well thought-out organized circulation,” Misch wrote.

This is being demonstrated by projects already announced. At the nearby former Pleasant Journey used car lot at 5 Fulton Ave., a redevelopment that will include a retail building, with accompanying electric vehicle charging stations, is getting underway, while a hotel and residential building are planned for 115 Conz St., where the Gazette building was previously located.

Any redevelopment would come as the reconstruction of the Interstate 91 bridges over Route 5, a yearslong project that has included extending a sidewalk along Pleasant Street to Atwood Drive and putting in new bicycle lanes along Route 5, nears completion.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.