Valley Opportunity Council and the city of Chicopee hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the new Belcher Apartments at 10 Southwick St.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet
CHICOPEE — The city of Chicopee and the Valley Opportunity Council hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Nov. 13 for its newly renovated apartment building at the former Belcher School on 10 Southwick St.
The city and VOC renovated the former Belcher School into much needed housing. VOC acquired the property from the city in 2016 and has worked on renovating the space ever since.
The newly renovated Belcher Apartments will include 25 apartments, with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The majority will be available as affordable housing.
The building is 100% electric and features solar panels on the roof, producing 74,000 kwh per year, or the equivalent of seven houses.
Before the ribbon was cut, Mayor John Vieau talked about how Chicopee has focused on the need for more housing in the community during a time where Massachusetts faces a significant shortage statewide. Vieau added that Western Mass. alone faces a 20,000-unit shortage.
Vieau said, “I know personally that I’ve been waiting for over 10 years to see this project come to fruition and thanks to federal, local, nonprofit partnerships, VOC has just created 25 new residential units. Not repurposed, created new, which is huge with this … housing shortage.”
Vieau also highlighted that the building historic, so it had to be repurposed.
Included in the newly renovated building are the first triple pane energy efficient historic-approved windows in the region, custom-made entry doors based on old plans discovered in archives by the historic consultant, reuse of the original granite steps in parking lot entry and reuse of all the original trim in the building. VOC and the city also brought back parts of the original chalkboards in every unit.
The budget for the project was $13 million and funding came from Chicopee’s American Rescue
Plan Act funds, state historic tax credits, federal historic tax credits, federal low-income housing tax credit, the Housing Stabilization Fund, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation.
VOC Executive Director Stephen Huntley said the mission of VOC is to eliminate poverty by providing opportunity. He explained how this project helps with that mission.
He stated, “The way we interpret that for housing is a little different than every other one. We consider the apartments for our residents as really resilience hubs; places where if life has treated you poorly that day, you can go, you can reset and you can get after it the next day, and that is what this is meant to be. We invested in the grounds so our residents are proud to come here. It’s affordable housing, that means it’s housing you can afford.”
An open house and tour followed the ribbon cutting ceremony to showcase the new apartments.
Vieau concluded, “I couldn’t think of a better way than turn it into housing. I know there’s a huge demand already to live here, so wait until you see these beautiful new apartments.”
