EASTHAMPTON — With new and expanding businesses in Easthampton, some say the downtown area and mill district have gone through a revitalization.
“I did three ribbon cuttings last week,” Mayor Karen Cadieux said recently.
The city has a whole different vibe than it did two decades ago. In 1995 the Gazette described Easthampton as a “once thriving mill town, now a community struggling to find an identity.”
People are bringing something new and different to Easthampton, Cadieux said.
In the past six months, at least six businesses have popped up along Cottage and Union streets: Corsello Butcheria, a Roman-style butcher shop; Kisara Asian Bistro, a Japanese and Korean restaurant; Esoteric Empyre, a custom design clothing store; Head Eaze, a smoke shop; I do Flowers, custom flower and plant shop; and Black Labyrinth Tattoo Syndicate.
“They’re bringing something different to our community,” Cadieux said, adding that, in the past, when it came to food in the city, there was just a lot of pizza.
Kisara is unique to Easthampton, Cadieux said, and it has been slammed with customers since it opened.
“As you can see, everyone’s really excited about the new Asian restaurant,” she said.
The Nashawannuck Pond promenade, which opened in 2015, has increased foot traffic on Cottage Street. Mt. Tom’s Homemade Ice Cream owner Jim Ingram told the Gazette in a previous interview that the boardwalk has been the best thing to happen to his shop. He said he’s seen a jump in business and sales have sustained the bump.
The boardwalk also sparked a business opportunity for Melanie Salvaggio and Katie MacCallum, who opened Valley Paddler in May, offering paddle boat, kayak and canoe rentals on the pond.
In the 1990s, a UMass student did a study on Easthampton’s mills for the university’s Center for Economic Development. She found that if the mills were developed to accommodate a combination of residential, commercial and manufacturing needs, it could be the key to revitalizing Easthampton.
Many of the mills have been renovated and Eastworks owner Will Bundy said the mill district is continuing to grow as well as the number of options for people at the mills — residential, commercial and event space.
“There’s still 250,000 square feet of undeveloped space,” he said.
Bundy said Eastworks is in the process of renovating Club 121 as well as a ballroom space that can be used for anything from weddings and performances to craft shows.
Bundy said a big addition to the mill buildings on Pleasant Street is the freshly paved parking. He said in the past, people would walk to the mills for work and enter through the side facing the pond. Bundy said he hopes to create another main entrance on the pond side of the mill.
New City Brewery and Abandoned Building Brewery, at the neighboring mill building on Pleasant Street, have brought life to the back end of the mill buildings, according to Bundy. Food trucks and people will fill the parking lot for brewery events on select nights.
“Without those breweries it’s unlikely that Millpond.Live would have happened,” Bundy said.
The mill space has also allowed businesses to grow.
Bundy said Puzzled Escape Games at Eastworks is expanding into another space at the mill building. Easthampton Media, which used to be housed at White Brook Middle School, is in the process of renovating space in its new location at Eastworks.
Julie Tuman opened Crooked Stick Pops, selling gourmet popsicles, in Eastworks this June. She started the business in 2016 with a tricycle going to local events. Now she supplies popsicles wholesale and sells them at large events like the Green River Festival in Greenfield.
Her shop at Eastworks is right by an entrance to the building across from Riff’s Joint.
“There’s a good amount of foot traffic in Eastworks,” she said.
At the Keystone mill building, the medical marijuana dispensary Hampden Care facility is in the works.
“Easthampton has a unique character and flavor, and people are drawn to it,” said Moe Belliveau, executive director of the Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce.
Belliveau has been the director for the past three years and launched a new citywide gift card program, for use at participating businesses. She said the initiative is doing well and about 50 members are now participating in the program.
Former mayor Michael Tautznik said there was a time, decades ago, when Easthampton was booming. The streets were lined with busy shops such as the national chain W.T. Grant & Co., clothing stores, shoe stores, soda fountains and candy shops.
But when the mill buildings closed, Tautznik said, it brought distress to Easthampton.
He said there has always been a steady flow of traffic through the city, but people continued to raise the question, “How do we get some of those cars to stop?”
When Easthampton changed its charter from a town form of government to a city in 1996, Tautznik said, that’s when it started to thrive.
Rather than a select board that would meet once a week and compromise on a plan, a mayor could focus on projects, according to Tautznik.
In the late 1990s, the city went through an “envisioning” process to make goals for the future. Forums were conducted with business owners and residents to gather thoughts and goals on how to revitalize Easthampton.
Development of the Millside Park off Ferry Street by the Lower Mill Pond, which has a basketball court and an amphitheater, provided the venue for the concert series Millpond.Live. Old rail beds were converted into the Manhan Rail bike path.
Tautznik said the success of Easthampton was achieved by people in the community working together.
Cadieux said part of her campaign when she first ran for mayor in 2013 was to “blow open the doors of communication.”
And that’s what she did for those looking to start a business in the area.
In her two terms as mayor, Cadieux said she held what she calls “roundtable discussions” for those who wanted to start a business in Easthampton. The roundtable would have someone from the department the business owner would need to talk to, such as the fire, planning and health departments, to help streamline the permitting and inspection process.
There are still plans to increase foot traffic and safe routes for pedestrians and bicyclists on Union Street with a “complete streets” design.
“It’s an attractive place to be,” Cadieux said. “We have something for everybody.”
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.