Springfield City Council President Tracye Whitfield, At Large Councilor Justin Hurst, state Rep. Bud Williams and members of the community stand in support of Liberty Junction’s Springfield Regional Justice Center project.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
SPRINGFIELD — Liberty Junction LLC, the developers behind the Springfield Regional Justice Center, wants residents to know they have plans to revitalize the area around the future courthouse — and the community it is invited to come along.
About 75 people, including state Sen. Adam Gomez, City Council President Tracye Whitfield, At Large City Councilor Justin Hurst, School Committee member Denise Hurst, Ward 5 City Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce, Ward 3 City Councilor Melvin Edwards and several faith leaders, attended a meeting at Rebecca Johnson Elementary School on Oct. 27 to discuss how the community might benefit from the courthouse project.
Many who oppose the site chosen for the new courthouse have stated that it is cut off from the rest of downtown Springfield and will hurt the restaurants, retail shops and other businesses that rely on the foot traffic that the building generates. However, Liberty Junction’s vision extends beyond the courthouse.
“We’re going to have all of that foot traffic right here,” said Claiborne Williams of FD Stonewater, a partner in Liberty Junction. Liberty Junction has parcels under contract on three of the four corners of the intersection of Liberty and Dwight streets. Across the street from the courthouse site is 280 Chestnut St., which currently houses the offices of Baystate Health. Diagonal from the courthouse is 616 Dwight St., a vacant property.
Claiborne Williams said Liberty Junction plans to redevelop the two properties to serve the needs of the area and the new courthouse. He envisioned restaurants, retail shops, low-income housing and offices for law firms and associated businesses.
Because the courthouse cannot have parking beneath it due to security reasons, Claiborne Williams said the courthouse will make use of the 550-parking space garage at the Chestnut Street property, and it will build more the 600 new parking spaces at 616 Dwight St. when that property is redeveloped. Williams did not yet have a timeline for development of the Chestnut and Dwight street properties.
Ashley Rao at architect Leers Weinzappel Associates, said of the area, “It seems distressed now, but we’re going to make it vibrant.”
At least two of Springfield’s city councilors see the possibilities. “I see it as an opportunity,” said Whitfield. “We can create more little transport companies. Everybody’s not going to stay right in the vicinity of the courthouse. We support all businesses … We have to branch out.”
Justin Hurst agreed. “I think at the end of the day, it’ll bring the entire downtown together. Otherwise, we’re centered around MGM,” he said, referencing the MGM Springfield casino. “And we’ve always said we have to focus on more than just MGM.”
Community involvement
Perhaps more than expanding the vibrancy of downtown, Whitfield and Hurst embraced Liberty Junction’s plans to include the community, particularly Black and brown residents, in the courthouse project.
Whitfield commented, “I like what they’re doing, getting the community involved. I love that they’re focused on economic mobility.” Speaking about the economic realities for Black communities, she quoted an August report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which found that the median wealth of a white family in the state is $549,200, while the median wealth of a Black family was $7,800. Whitfield said many families in Springfield cannot cover unexpected costs of $400.
“We cannot close the wealth gap by simply asking for a seat at someone else’s table. We must also build our own table together,” Whitfield said.
Hurst said, “Quite often, what happens in the city of Springfield with developers is they come in and nobody looks like the people they are wanting to serve.” He noted that is not the case with Liberty Junction, in which developer Conan Harris, who is Black, is a partner. “It can’t be underestimated what that means to an entire community.” The councilor added that the community expected jobs and beneficial economic development to come out of the courthouse project, and he said the community would hold the developers to those standards.
Like Hurst, state Rep. Bud Williams touted Liberty Junction as a Black-owned business, but resident Liz O’Gilvie pointed out that Harris, the only Black or brown member of the Liberty Junction team, owns just 5% of the project. The developers have committed to having 25% of the project’s workforce be of minority backgrounds, but O’Gilvie said, “We are a majority city of people of color.” She challenged the developers to create a “community covenant” with Springfield to hire Springfield trade students rather than just those from the Greater Springfield area.
“We will work on it,” Claiborne Williams told her.
Community activist Charles Stokes said young people having tradespeople and entrepreneurs as role models will decrease gun violence and incarceration. People who can read instructions to build ghost guns can learn to read blueprints, he said, adding, “You cannot ask young people to put down the drugs, to put down the guns, and you give them nothing to pick up.”
Jamilee Fish, senior manager of trade partner advancement, spoke at length about the Build With Us @ Suffolk program. The program is a four-week business accelerator for minority-, women- and veteran-owned small enterprises that teaches construction processes, technology solutions and reporting systems, as well as estimating and contractual rules of engagement. People who go through the program are given a mentor from Suffolk leadership to learn from.
One resident who spoke had been through the Build With Us @ Suffolk program and was a trade partner in 2025. She praised the project, including the mentor with whom she was connected, and said that her experience allowed her to pursue her first $100,000 project. “We need this type of help,” she said.
Whitfield said many emerging developers may not have the bonding capacity for large projects. Bonding capacity is how much credit a professional financial insurance company is willing to extend, and is usually based on a contractor’s working capital. She urged small contractors and other professionals to pool capital as a way of gaining access to larger projects and opportunities.
Fish said Suffolk works with several agencies and organizations that can help smaller contractors enter joint ventures. Suffolk’s trading partners are also eligible for help in the bonding process through a third party.
When asked by Whitfield, Joe Berry, senior vice president at Suffolk Construction, explained that everyone need not be a union member, but they must sign onto a union agreement. He said Suffolk can help subcontractors navigate adhering to the project labor agreement.
LaTonia Monroe-Naylor, a member of the School Committee, asked how the developers plan to engage with Springfield trade students. Fish said students can fill out the Build With Us @ Suffolk application, available at tinyurl.com/3wsb53ae. Through that program, people can be connected with Suffolk’s trade partners. Monroe-Naylor told the developers that Springfield’s Putnam Vocational Technical Academy is an award-winning school. Berry said he hoped Suffolk would be invited into the school’s classrooms to discuss entering trade careers.
Discussing how small contractors in Springfield can gain access to the bidding process, Fish said the public will be made aware of when bids go out and share with them how to get involved and ensure that they are qualified. She said the goal is to remove barriers. Harris said many small businesses are not DCAMM-certified, and part of the goal is to support them in becoming certified. Harris said not all people are going to be ready for an apprenticeship. For them, he said there is a pre-apprentice program to get people up to speed.
A resident who works at the Sheraton Hotel asked if there was a plan to keep the downtown area vibrant. Whitfield responded that there is more to the city than just the downtown area. “Downtown gets the majority of the dollars right now,” she said. Referring to the developers, she said, “We need a full revitalization plan that does not depend on these folks.”
Whitfield said that the city is declining. “If we keep the same leadership in the city of Springfield … we’re going to get the same results,” she said, then added, “We need to be putting our foot down and telling this administration, and any administration after it, what we want to see.”
