Breaking ground in East Longmeadow Friday. (Photo by Dan T. Chase)
By DAN CHASE
Bay Path College Communications Department
EAST LONGMEADOW — It has been decades since Bay Path College has undertaken significant new construction but on Friday that all changed. Unlike other buildings on the 115-year-old school’s primary Longmeadow campus, this project the College looked east.
The 58,000-square foot, state-of-the-art facility will be the new home for the Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) and M.S. Physician Assistant Studies (MS in PA) graduate degree programs. On eleven acres in East Longmeadow’s industrial district, right across the street from the Hasbro world headquarters, the day’s official groundbreaking launched one of the largest building projects in the college’s history.
Joining Bay Path president Dr. Carol Leary for the groundbreaking were the Chair of the College’s Board of Trustees, George Keady III, East Longmeadow Town Administrator Nick Breault, East Longmeadow Select Board member Debra Boronski, State Senator Gale Candaras, State Representative Brian Ashe, and graduate students Sarah Hernandez ‘13 G ‘14 and Thomas Kwapien G ‘14, representing both disciplines to be housed in the new facility.
Construction on the building will begin immediately, with first classes expected for spring 2015. The architect of the project is Ben Schenkelberg, of Green Bay, Wisc., and the general contractor is Crocker Building Company from Springfield. Site Engineer for the project is R. Levesque Associates of Westfield.
For the college, this marks a major expansion outside their Longmeadow campus. The enrollment numbers of the two popular MOT and MS in PA programs exceeded the limitations for new construction there. For the town of East Longmeadow, they couldn’t be happier to host the college’s newest venture. Telling the assembled guests that she has been honored to know Leary for over a decade, Boronski added that “We are now blessed to welcome Bay Path into our home. Thank you for choosing us.”
“Your college is a flourishing institution with a diverse student body, and we are just thrilled to have them as part of our business community today,” she said.
Leary thanked the town and state officials for their commitment to seeing the building come to East Longmeadow, and for the great support the college received from the very start.
“We’re joining a family,” she said. “And we are glad to be part of your home.”
