vermont.craigslist.org
www.control.cisdata.net
1000- 100,000 SF
HEALTH CENTER, ANCHOR TENANT
Dramatic river front mill building with a decidedly upscale feel and rich in history. Ample on site and covered parking. Easy I-91 access. Strategically located between Brattleboro and Lebanon, NH. Bring your medical related or service business to this new business hub.
Springfield is awash with long term, vacant, commercial, and industrial real estate. Bank auctions seldom attract a bidder. Few enterprises can thrive here. Nothing happens without a grant. Yet no one asks why.
ReplyDeleteUm... why?
ReplyDeleteAccording to realtor.com, there are currently 140 homes or homesites for sale in Springfield. Lack of economic opportunity and maybe, just maybe, a states prison in our midst.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be more of them, and houses ARE selling. Old listings sell, new ones come up, that's how it goes. On my street, at least, people are buying the houses, moving into them, and fixing them up. I've been seeing it happening, here and there, all over town, so it's not as bad as it seems. The main problem is the post-industrial blight and those hideous low-income rooming houses off of downtown. Fix THAT and you'll see the town come back.
Delete@7:20 PM, Primarily, local homes sold are less than $100K, with $60K-$80K being typical. I recently sold a spectacular home here for half what it once appraised for. Buyers are most often low income, unskilled, non residents attracted by the low cost and endless social services. An element that places little value on up keep and appearances. Becomes a self perpetuating deflation of value. No one in their right mind buys property here looking to build equity. I sincerely hope those on the present and past Select Boards are proud of their social engineering folly. THIS PLACE SUCKS!
DeleteEVERYTHING IN AMERICA APPRAISES FOR LESS THAN IT DID! Quite honestly, anybody that paid more than 60-80k for most of the houses around here got ripped off! As far as "low income" people who "place little value on up keep and appearance," speak for yourself!!!!! YOU'RE the ones that let this town go to hell, WE'RE FIXING IT UP, and boosting the local economy in the process!
DeleteWhat this town is "awash" in is run down, beat up commercial and industrial real estate. Businesses want a fresh start, without a lot of extra work. Expecting businesses to come here and have to renovate half the town BEFORE they start is ridiculous. Fix it up first, then they'll come. Businesses want to move to a town that has its act together, or at least LOOKS like it.
ReplyDelete@9:49 AM, Do you own a start up business?
DeleteNo, I worked for a living. Having known a lot of business people, (including some worth more than our President-elect and, by the way, didn't think too much of him) I know what they look for. Since most of them would live here, run down factories and squalid low-income housing would cause them to run screaming into the night! This town has a lot of positives; that "New England charm," low (yes, I said it) taxes, and reasonable real estate prices, when compared to much of the country. All that is really needed is to remove or renovate the blighted commercial and rental properties, and ADVERTISE!
DeleteThere's a story in the mainstream media about rental prices in Silicon Valley-- $3,800 a month. Those renters would have an extra $2,500 a month if they moved to Springfield. We could re-develop this town in a hurry by letting them know they could make a life here.
ReplyDeleteChuck, your plan is missing few, key elements. Vermont's oppressive corporate taxes, environmental regulations, and non existent, skilled labor pool add up to a poor choice for high tech industry.
DeleteThink about it Chuck, regardless of commercial real estate value, no cutting edge, high tech firm would open shop in some impoverished, opiate plagued, crime infested, ugly, debris strewn, depressing, backwater, Mississippi town populated by profoundly ignorant goobers. Well, Springfield is in exactly the same boat.
Have to disagree, Anon 1:00. Far as I know, none of our goobers are profound in any way.
ReplyDeleteBS on the excessive corporate taxes, environmental regulations and labor pool quality.
ReplyDeleteTom Watson decided the Dogpatch-Level of culture and infrastructure of the Burlington area was exactly what IBM was looking for when he decided where to build a plant. The rest is history.
Chuck, unless you've owned a business and funded a payroll may wish to reserve comment.
DeleteRegarding vacant commercial/industrial real estate, the facts speak for themselves,
http://taxfoundation.org/article/2017-state-business-tax-climate-index
The Tax Foundation is one of those operations funded by right wing millionaires who seek to peddle greedy self-interest as a way of keeping businessmen on Main Street unable to protect themselves from Wall Street. If you want to discuss any particular point it brings up, let me know.
ReplyDeleteHey Chuck, how about putting your money where your mouth is and bankrolling a new business here? Heck, if this is such a utopia of business and industry you could put a lot of folks to work and revitalize the community.
DeleteI'm putting my money where my mouth is and rehabilitating my neighborhood at my own expense. How about you?
DeleteHave to lure those, yes, flatlanders into town. I say build a Casino in one of the vacant industrial buildings. Neon lights, the works. And if the space is big enough....factory outlets.
ReplyDelete@ 3:29 PM
DeleteOdd you would mention a casino. About 20(?) years ago the old, Fellows building hosted wildly popular, big bucks bingo games. Tour companies bused in hundreds of flatlanders every week. Game promoters donated thousands and thousands of dollars to local agencies. I believe a new, fire truck was donated. Local restaurants and inns benefited too.
Want to guess what happened? Yeah that's right, Vermont's self-rightious, do-gooders destroyed that enterprise too. And what did our useless representatives do to support and defend this cash cow? Not a damn thing!
Are you getting the picture how much it sucks to live here?
The belief that you must "lure" people into town with sleaze and decadence, in order to separate us from our money, displays the very same provincial HICK attitude that drives people away! News flash, BUBBA, we're not a bunch of ignorant sleazeballs with money! For most of us, this isn't our first "rodeo" either! The bush league crap I've seen here so far is laughable at best, disgusting at worst. Penny-ante scams that anyone with half a brain can see right through! AND THERE'S WAY TO MANY OF THEM! Fleecing the "city slickers" that roll off the turnpike? REALLY? If that's all you've got, you guys are SCREWED!
DeleteWho mentioned fleecing? I mentioned businesses that would bring people to SF to spend money, not fleece it. Sounds like you are a flatlander (sleazeball or not) without money, so don't bother us.
DeleteA gambling casino is the kind of "business" that does EXACTLY that; lures people in and then takes their money. Me? I'm doing just fine, retired at 50. Didn't get there by letting people scam me, so the prospects of getting your rat-claws on my cash are pretty slim. If you think that gambling casinos, and the filth that go with them, are what it takes to "Make America Great Again" perhaps you should move to Atlantic City. Well, I'm finished with you now, you are dismissed!
DeleteGambling attracts exactly the sort of entrepreneurs no town needs. Not the customers, but the management.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the seemingly stupid idea of a Casino. How about Factory Outlet stores, or bed and bath housing for the Welfare families. Roller skating rink ?
ReplyDeleteFactory outlets, a skating rink, these are good ideas. I don't have a problem with stores, attractions, and other things that give out-of-towners something for the money they spend. THAT'S LEGITIMATE BUSINESS. My objection was the attitude that we are all somehow sub-human and deserve to be exploited, instead of, perhaps, honest and decent people looking for a nice place to live. I know this town is going through hard times, but scapegoating people that had NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, is just plain wrong. Here's another thing; people looking to move here DO READ THIS BLOG! I did, and decided to move here DESPITE what I read. I didn't think that EVERYBODY here had a crappy attitude, or that things were as bad as some had said. Jury's still out on that one, but I'll stay here for a while, at least long enough to renovate my house and sell it. The rest is up to you.
DeleteActually, a casino's a great money-maker-- IF you own it!
ReplyDeleteWhat Springfield could use is something that will have people coming from all over the country to take back to their communities-- One Springfield kid left here to develop a new psychotherapy method, and she's now teaching it all across the country. If we could get her to establish an institute here to train therapists, we'd have a gem!
At least a few people are making suggestions of possible businesses.
DeleteRE: a casino's a great money-maker-- IF you own it!
ReplyDeleteChuck, how does that differ from any other entrepreneur's successful enterprise? It's been asked before, why do you despise those who worked hard, took risks and earned a measure of wealth? Wealth that you seem to avail yourself of by loitering in their establishments using their WIFI to post here?
Blog master, please start a blog for ideas of possible businesses to locate or start up in sf. Kind of a group brainstorming session. Actually that is what companies do to solve problems. Been there done that.
ReplyDeleteSpringfield has a distinct demographic best served by the following business,
DeletePawn Shops
Check Cashing
24 Hour Liquor
Adult Book & Video
Plasma Center
Asian Message
Bail Bonds
Pay Here, Used Car Lots
Smoke Shop/Adult Novelty
Illegitimate Child Day Care
STD Testing Lab
Legal Aid
National Democratic Headquarters