SOUTH DEERFIELD — The building that hosts four businesses and housed the popular Jerry’s Place eatery for 26½ years at the corner of North Main and Elm streets has been purchased by two young entrepreneurs just getting into the real estate business.
Justin Killeen, 28, and Jason Kicza, 35, bought 55 North Main St. on Jan. 7 with the hope of revitalizing the structure.
“It’s just a landmark and staple of the town, something that both us are very passionate about restoring and bringing back to what it should be,” said Killeen, of Montague.
The men purchased the two-story building from Michael McGrath of Hatfield. They declined to disclose the purchase price.
“We’re really hoping to breathe a little bit of life into the center of Deerfield,” said Kicza, who lives in town.
The building, across the street from the South Deerfield Town Common, is commercial on the first floor and has 19 apartments on the second. Killeen said 10 of the apartments are occupied. The first floor consists of Ciesluk’s Market, Giving Circle Thrift Shop, The Tavern, and a Subway sandwich restaurant. Jerry and Pat Dagrosa, who ran Jerry’s Place, a breakfast and lunch spot, closed it in October to start a new chapter in their lives. Killeen and Kicza said they are trying to finalize an agreement with a candidate interested in filling that spot with a business that meets the needs of the town and its working community. Both declined to disclose the interested party, but said it is important to them to get someone who is passionate about operating in the building for a long time.
Coincidentally, Giving Circle, a program of The Care Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that assists elders and their caregivers, plans to move across the common into the former Deerfield Arts Bank’s building at 3 Sugarloaf St. Director Sue Pratt said the decision to move was made before the building was purchased and has nothing to do with the new owners, who she believes she would have worked with very well. Giving Circle, she said, has simply outgrown its space and the Arts Bank building has more room for storage.
Killeen and Kicza said they plan to touch up the building, primarily its exterior, when the weather gets warmer.
The men separately own other businesses in western Massachusetts. Killeen owns 50/50 Fitness/Nutrition in Hadley, while Kicza owns Northeast Tree Care in Sunderland.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.