Renovated historic 31 Elm Street property in Springfield opens next month

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The overhaul of the historic property located at 31 Elm Street in Springfield has been in the works for decades, and now city officials and the developers say it’s anticipating it will be open to tenants starting in December.

Springfield Mayor Sarno and city officials recently toured the redevelopment project with the developers. The 131,959 square foot building will have 74 apartments on the upper level with 15 percent of these apartments marked as workforce rate, and the ground floor will feature a 200+ seat restaurant.

The prime piece of real estate features impressive views of Court Square and the City of Springfield. According to a news release sent to 22News from the mayor’s office, city officials and the developers anticipate that tenants will be able to move into their new units in late December 2023 and early January 2024.

Bean Restaurant Group aims to open up a new restaurant, “Copper + Kin,” on the 1st floor of the building. “It’s going to be polished-casual in a sense, so it’s going to be featuring a chop section with lots of steak and seafood, and there’s going to be a hand-cut pasta section,” said Bean Restaurant Group director of hospitality Nathan Yee.

WinnCompanies website has a waitlist for apartments at 31 Elm, a one-bedroom apartment is $1,458 and two-bedroom apartments are $1,611. The apartments feature large windows, wood plank flooring, historic wood trim, and stainless steel appliances. Cats and dogs are welcome. For leasing information call 413-331-7816.

There are four retail spaces available, for commercial leasing information, call Frank Fitzgerald, Broker at Opal Real Estate at 413-726-9836.

1. 609 square-feet facing Court Square
2. 697 square-feet facing Court Square
3. 1,887 square-feet facing MGM Casino with high ceilings
4. Storefront Flex Space: 766 square-feet facing Court Square

Some of the notable architectural features were preserved and during the construction, letters, and postcards from the early 1900s were discovered. They plan to preserve them and put them on display when the building is complete.

Mayor Sarno states, “This is yet another significant milestone for this historic redevelopment project for our Court Square and downtown area.  The response for housing in this historic building has been incredible and exceeded all of our expectations in a good way.  With all of the positive economic development projects now open and operating or underway, between MGM Springfield, the ongoing renovations to our historic Court Square Park, a new Civic Center parking garage being built, pending redevelopment of the three significant properties on the corner of State Street and Main Street by national developer McCafferys, a new downtown Big Y grocery store at Tower Square, and all of events and activities at our MassMutual Center, all played a role in making 31 Elm Street a major draw for tenants to want to live in the heart of our downtown neighborhood.”

“I want to thank all of our public and private partners for their continued dedicated efforts in making this significant and historic economic development project happen,” said Mayor Sarno.  “Springfield’s mojo is thriving and I am proud that my administration has been able to advance all of these projects and initiatives to their completion.”

Michael V. O’Brien, Executive Vice President WinnCompanies, on behalf of their partnership with Peter Picknelly of OPAL stated, “We are so excited.  The response to leasing apartments at our 31 Elm has exceeded our always high expectations.  As of today, we have lease applications in hand for all of the 74 available units.  Truly unprecedented in our national experience.  We are still actively seeking and accepting lease applications per standard procedures.  We will maintain an active waiting list when all apartments are leased up.  Move-ins are expected in late December 2023 and early January 2024.  Clearly, the market has responded so positively to living in high quality apartments in Downtown Springfield.  We are humbled and grateful for that response.  Our instincts told us early on that our partnership with the State and the City on this significant endeavor would be a success.  So far so great!”

Peter Picknelly notes, “with all the improvements made to our city’s core center over the last few years, people are finding downtown Springfield a very desirable place to live and enjoy.”