WESTFIELD – The PVTA will break ground in May on a new $3.2 million transportation pavilion and the pavilion plays a critical role in the Elm Street Urban Renewal Plan.
Recently, Joe Mitchell, the city’s advancement officer, provided an overview of the urban renewal plan to the City Council. The plan includes the PVTA transportation pavilion.
The plan also calls for constructing a mix-use, four-story, 100,000 square-foot building, which would include retail shops and restaurants on the first floor and commercial space on the upper floors.
The transportation pavilion is Phase I of the urban renewal plan.
John M. Burke, the PVTA’s manager of capital projects, said the pavilion in Westfield will provide a vital link in the region, especially with connections to Westfield State University (WSU) and the Columbia Bike Trail.
The pavilion will house a bike storage area and repair shop along with a small cafe. All buses are equipped with bike racks.
A few years ago, the PVTA partnered with the City of Holyoke, Peter Pan Bus lines and Holyoke Community College (HCC) to build the Holyoke Transportation Center on Main Street. HCC leases the center’s upper floors.
Burke said the pavilion means improved facilities for Westfield riders. The pavilion will act as a transfer point for transit services to and from Springfield, WSU and surrounding communities.
“It really becomes a hub and connects to the entire PVTA service area,” he said.
Besides the much needed shelter for passengers, the facility will have automatic ticket dispensers and provide real-time bus information on LCD screens.
“Passengers will have the ability to see when the buses arrive,” said Burke.
The pavilion cafe will be similar to the one in Holyoke, which is owned by Mt. Joe’s. The PVTA expects to announce a cafe tenant once the project is under construction.
Constructing will begin in mid-May and conclude in late-winter 2017, with a proposed opening in March.
The pavilion will be a modern, one-level structure of around 2,700 square feet. The city’s density and student population justify constructing the pavilion, he said. A feasibility study is underway in Northampton for a similar facility.
With the return of north-to-south Amtrak service in Springfield, Holyoke and Northampton, bus service has become a vital link to the stations. Burke said passengers regularly speak about the need for transportation centers being within walking or biking distance or when “biking trips become transit trips.”
The pavilion project will go out-to-bid in the coming weeks. The PVTA hired Reinhardt Associates, of Agawam, as the project’s architect.
For more information on the PVTA Transportation Pavilion, visit the authority’s website at www.pvta.com.
