SPRINGFIELD — The owners of Nathan Bill’s Bar & Restaurant are buying the nearly empty Island Pond Plaza where they’ve done business for nearly 12 years.
They say they will clean up the neglected property and hope to attract new retailers.
Partners John Sullivan and Joe Sullivan — no relation — said the closing date is today. Additionally, the partners are in early talks with local and national grocery chains to occupy space that was once an A&P and a ShopRite. They’ve partnered with other investors on the plaza.
“It’s exciting,” John Sullivan said. “Nathan Bill’s has suffered from being in an empty plaza. The neighborhood deserves something better. … We want the plaza to work for everyone.”
This section of East Forest Park — which recently got expanded Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus service — has been crying for a supermarket. The Stop & Shop at 415 Cooley St. closed in October.
The partners are buying the plaza from Walgreen’s. Deed records show Illinois-based Walgreens bought the plaza in 2023 from a real estate arm of the Rite Aid chain for $3.3 million.
“We’ve been trying to buy the plaza since day one,” Joe Sullivan said.
But the property at 112-118 Island Pond didn’t come on the market until two years ago. The partners will pay $1.75 million for the plaza, down from the original asking price of $3.2 million.
Additionally, they already have signed with Kevin Jennings of Jennings Real Estate as a leasing agent and are talking with city officials about redevelopment.
“It’s the least well-kept secret in Springfield,” John Sullivan said.
But the Sullivans said they are now ready to go public with the real estate closing set for today.
The pair had tried to keep things under wraps until the transaction was set. But being a bar and a local gathering spot, word got out.
The Island Pond Road Shopping Center in Springfield, home of Nathan Bill’s Bar & Restaurant and other businesses. (Don Treeger / The Republican) The Republican
They plan to repaint and update the plaza’s looks, and to seal the parking lot. They also aim to get Nathan Bill’s name up on the big sign out front.
John Sullivan said they’ve made a lot of contacts over the years, which is helping them scout for tenants.
Joe Sullivan said it’d be ideal to find new neighbors interested in partnering to help out worthy causes.
The 6-acre parcel stretches from Island Pond Road to Watershops Pond/Lake Massasoit.
The Island Pond Road Shopping Center in Springfield, home of Nathan Bill’s Bar & Restaurant and other businesses. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 11/26/2024The Republican
When Joe and John Sullivan opened Nathan Bill’s in 2013, it was hard to get a parking spot in the bustling plaza.
Today, Walgreens is gone. A library branch left when the new East Forest Park branch opened on Surrey Road in 2019. And Caristo’s Cleaners is gone. That leaves Nathan Bill’s, a small Bank of America branch, Advance Auto Parts and a lot of opportunities that the two Sullivans hope to harness.
Built in stages starting in 1958, according to city tax records, the plaza has had a succession of anchor tenants over the years: ShopRite, A&P, Maxi-Drug, Brooks Pharmacy, Rite Aid and then finally Walgreens.
Other tenants included Major Video, Santaniello Opticians, China Bowl Restaurant and Panache Beauty Salon.
The plaza is now under new ownership.The Republican
Bank of America, or its predecessors, have been in the plaza since the 1970s.
John Sullivan said Walgreens wasn’t hands-on as a landlord, leaving him at times unsure where to send the rent or who to contact if there were problems.
He said liquor license owners cannot renew each year if there are outstanding debts to the city for taxes, fees or fines for illegal dumping. It doesn’t matter if the license holder is a renter or not.
“So we’ve been taking care of all that,” he said. “We had to get supplemental snowplowing here in the winter to clean up after their plows. Just for safety.”
Worried about the future of the plaza and with their lease a few years away from expiring, they started looking to diversify.
“We went into survival mode,” John Sullivan said.
Besides Nathan Bill’s, they own East Village Tavern in East Longmeadow, and Sullivan’s Allen Package Store and The Boulevard on Page Boulevard in Springfield.
A file photo from 2014 depicting the East Forest Park Branch of the Springfield Public Library at 122 Island Pond Rd. the mostly vacant plaza has been sold.Staff-Shot
The ownership group includes a lot of business experience and local ties.
Joe and John Sullivan are the managing partners.
Other partners are businessman James Garvey, who is originally from East Forest Park; Luke Giusto and Dom Santaniello of Naples Realty Group, Naples Homebuyers and Naples Waste Removal; and Marco Basile of Rent-A-Tent and Dreamscapes Designs.
The partners buying the Island Pond Plaza in Springfield are (from left), Luke Giusto, Marco Basile, John Sullivan, Joe Sullivan, Dom Santaniello and Jim Garvey. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 12/18/2024The Republican
