Letter: Downtown Needs Affordable Retail Space
One East Pleasant Street. Photo: amherstma.gov
Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to members of the Town Council on March 12.
I am writing to express my dismay about the direction development is heading in downtown Amherst. When I moved here 15 or so years ago, there was an interesting mix of retail in town, including small specialty shops of all kinds. Yes, I am talking about the Carriage Shops and the adjacent properties. Maybe those buildings had reached the end of their lives, but they should have been replaced with something that provided space suitable for small businesses. Instead the northern end of downtown is now essentially a wasteland of concrete, plate glass, and empty “retail” space. When I walk downtown, I literally cross the road so I won’t have to walk past that hideous jutting corner of One East Pleasant Street.
My guess is that the price per foot of the ground floor of that building is so high that it will never be occupied by any local business (except, perhaps, yet another restaurant). I have seen the results of this type of development in other small college towns (Columbia, MO, Chapel Hill, NC)—basically block after block of student apartments, national chains for retail, maybe a few old businesses hanging on because they happen to own their own buildings. I think affordable retail and office space has to be part of the deal for any development downtown. And for the sake of everything holy, decrease the height limit, increase the setback, and include apartments suitable for families!
Laura Green
Laura Green is a freelance scientific editor living in Amherst.
Sadly, Laura, you perfectly describe exactly what we should expect: “basically block after block of student apartments, national chains for retail, maybe a few old businesses hanging on because they happen to own their own buildings.” Small business owners now supporting the Chamber of Commerce and the BID dense urban corridor vision won’t be able to compete with chains such as Anthropologie, Paper Source, Sephora, CB2 and their ilk. Those owning their buildings will likely sell to developers.
the last affordable retail space? long gone carriage shops.
so much for diversity and “small business” in amherst.
People will come to Amherst to shop, eat and see movies, not to visit a sparkling, new library. I do not see why the BID and Chamber are such zealous supporters of the library, while their member businesses are forced to move for lack of affordable space.
I love the library, and just a suggestion: build Wildwood/ Fort River Schools on present Fort River site; turn Wildwood School into main library and community resource center, that has ample parking and on the “campus” of the middle and high schools. The repurpose the jones library as something amazing for downtown Amherst.
That also avoids the future fight of stopping the town from selling Wildwood’s site for development, and keeping it as a town resource.
Yes, I too cross the street to avoid the unpleasantness of such a narrow sidewalk and looming edifice. There are ample appropriate locations in Amherst for such a building. Yes, it is now there, but can we not learn from our mistakes?