07-05-2025
Springfield committee recommends a $300,000 Community Preservation Act grant to Paramount Theater
SPRINGFIELD — Concerns a leaking roof would cause more deterioration to the historic Paramount Theater and Massasoit House convinced members of the Community Preservation Committee to act on a request to help fund repairs.
Initially, the application for a $300,000 grant from the new owners of the theater generated a lukewarm interest from the committee, but presentations from applicants and discussions about the requests changed some members' minds, said Robert McCarroll, chairman of the committee.
In its Tuesday meeting, the Community Preservation Committee voted to recommend funding for 13 applications totaling $2.5 million. Included on the list was the $300,000 recommendation for the Paramount and Massasoit House, parts of which date to 1843.
'The Paramount (application) was on the top of my list. I think we have to do triage on some of the historic buildings," McCarroll said. 'Clearly we don't want the building to become more deteriorated and water is not a good thing for historic buildings.'
In its first round of recommendations, the committee approved funding to help replace multiple roofs, including for a church, for the same reason, he said.
This is the eighth year of funding applications since the city voted to accept the Community Preservation Act and place a 1.5% surcharge on city taxes that is used for housing, open space, recreation and historic preservation.
The committee, which receives applications and makes funding recommendations, received 35 requests that totaled $8 million. Since the tax generated about $3 million this year, it will have to say no to some of the asks, McCarroll said.
The committee still has about $957,000 in remaining funds to recommend. It will continue to prioritize applications in upcoming meetings and hopes to bring all the recommendations to the City Council in June, McCarroll said.
The City Council will have the final say in approving the applications. It has only rejected two in the eight years, however, and only because there were legal questions about both, McCarroll said.
The Paramount has been closed for more than a decade. Just one storefront in the complex along Main Street is now occupied. The property was purchased nine months ago by Mohan Sachdev, owner of Sachdev Real Estate Development of Suffield, Connecticut, for $750,000 from the New England Farm Workers Council.
Owners soon found the council never finished a project to repair the roof so water pours into the interior of the building every time it rains. The cost of the roof repairs alone is $1.2 million.
Sachdev could not be reached for comment.
'I was super excited they did approve it. The Paramount is a very important building and one we want to see preserved,' said Erica Swallow, president of the Springfield Preservation Trust.
The Springfield Preservation Trust placed the Paramount and Massasoit on its list of most endangered historic resources in August.
The committee also approved the Springfield Preservation Trust's application for $300,000 to stabilize the historic building at 7-9 Stockbridge St., which is the second-oldest commercial building in the city.
Initial estimates show the trust will need at least $1.2 million to renovate the long-vacant building on Stockbridge Street, but the trust has now commissioned a more in-depth financial study of the building.
'This is critical funding for us,' Swallow said, of the Community Preservation Act funding.
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Read the original article on MassLive.
