HADLEY — A Citizens Bank branch will be coming to a former restaurant building on Route 9, close to the Amherst town line.
The Planning Board Tuesday began reviewing plans for the reuse of the old Friendly’s Restaurant at 455 Russell St., which opened in the 1970s and closed in 2025.
The company handling the development application, Bisbano and Associates of Providence, Rhode Island, is requesting a waiver of site plans for the project. That entails rehabilitating the boarded-up building and constructing a stand-alone drive-up ATM toward the rear of the site.
Citizens Bank would be the third new bank on Route 9 in recent years. Earlier this year, a Chase Bank opened at 373 Russell St., at the edge of the Hampshire Mall parking lot, while on the opposite corner, a Bank of America is expected to break ground at 359 Russell St., where a vacant commercial building has stood in front of Mountain Farms Mall.
Robbie Scott, a representative of Bisbano and Associates, said the work on the building will be putting in new windows over the plywood, removing a freezer door, taking down the canopy over the ice cream window and the four pillars holding it up, and changing the existing main entrance by taking away the decorative trim and a small canopy.
The cupola on top of the building will also be removed and patched over, at client request, Scott said.
Planning Board Chairman James Maksimoski said this could be a problem. “Hadley likes cupolas,” Maksimoski said. “I am not a fan of removing the cupola.”
Scott said the building will also get a fresh coat of paint, with white, gray and green accent colors.
Kristen Sy, also a representative of Bisbano, said plans are for repaving the entire site because the existing asphalt is in rough shape.
“There will be a little bit of landscaping work and a new irrigation system, as well,” Sy said.
The work on the exterior will ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The parking lot will be lit by shielded or shoebox style lights.
The possible site plan waiver discussion will continue at the board’s Sept. 15 meeting, when plans for the signs that will be attached to the building and be positioned along Route 9 will be examined.
Planning Board Clerk William Dwyer said the project is a little more complex than a typical waiver of site plan approval, so planners would want to see more information about certain aspects, including the lighting.
Other business
In other business, the board approved a new sign for the Ghoyang Restaurant at 113 Russell St., part of what has been called a summer refresh of the property.
Tracy Janik of Sign Techniques of Chicopee said the letters will be non-illuminated, 18-inch aluminum letters. They would be attached to the front facade of the building, and would eventually be lit by gooseneck lights, which will be part of a separate application.
