Civic leaders see lower State Street corridor in Springfield turning corner

Link to January 10 Springfield Republican article.

Excerpt: Not that long ago, economic development along the lower State Street corridor was measured in mini-marts, video stores and fast food franchises.

Not anymore.

Not with a $70 million federal courthouse already open at 300 State St., and groundbreaking for a $110 million state data storage center on Elliot Street set to begin this spring.

The data center represents a potential boom for the Elliot Street neighborhood, where a well-known landmark is the abandoned hulk of the Technical High School building. As detailed on Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, the 115,000-square-foot facility will rise from the site of the old high school site.

To residents, the project will do more than just create 70 full-time jobs and restore the blighted school property that has been a fire hazard for more than 20 years.

“It’s a good sign for Springfield’s future, and it also shows that we are able to preserve the past,” said Carol A. Costa, past president of the Armoury Quadrangle Civic Association and resident of the nearby Classical Condominiums.

No one suggests that the data center will turn back the clock to the 1950s and 1960s, when lower State Street bustled with shops, restaurants and a movie theater.