GREENFIELD Bank Row buildings targeted

[The Voice of Reason]

04/04/2008- The Republican GREENFIELD - The Greenfield Redevelopment Authority yesterday voted unanimously to take three properties on Bank Row by eminent domain after failing to get a response from owners to a request to negotiate their purchase.

"There's been no response," Town Councilor William F. Martin, chairman of the authority, said of efforts to negotiate with the owners and their lawyer.

The three properties targeted by the authority are commercial buildings at 21-23, 25-27 and 3 Bank Row.

All three are in the Bank Row Urban Renewal District, which the authority seeks to redevelop. The district also includes properties on Olive Street and the Greenfield Garden Cinema building on Main Street.

Through in-hand grants and other funding sources the authority intends to purchase the 21-23 and 25-27 Bank Row buildings, then quickly sell them to a developer, using the proceeds to pay for 3 Bank Row, also known as the Allen Block.

The authority is also sitting in the wings on redevelopment of another district property, the Toyota of Greenfield property at 12 Olive St., because the Franklin Regional Transit Authority is at work on the site, planning to turn it into an intermodal transportation center, primarily for buses but possibly also as a train stop if passenger rail service makes a return.

I bolded that last part because I a a huge fan of the Springfield Hartford new Haven rail line that is planned.

But Its good to see Springfield area using some muscle to fix things up a little.

so much potential up there!