GREENFIELD — Plans are in motion for a new retail plaza and possibly a hotel on the site of the now closed Rodeway Inn on the Mohawk Trail.
Shardool Parmar, president of Pioneer Valley Hotel Group, said his company purchased the property Dec. 29 and plans to demolish the one-time Howard Johnson’s and construct an 8,000-square-foot retail plaza and possibly a hotel. The Rodeway Inn at 125 Mohawk Trail was more recently a Quality Inn but rebranded itself in 2015.
“My family has been in western Mass. for over 30 years now. We have hotels in Hadley, Ludlow and Springfield, and we felt that Greenfield was our next site. We wanted to go north of where we were,” Parmar said. “We feel that there’s a great deal of opportunity in the Greenfield market.”
Mayor William Martin said Parmar has been working with the town for more than four years and was initially part of the group interested in creating a boutique hotel above Wilson’s Department Store.
“We weren’t able to complete that, and we looked at other places in town,” Martin said. “He was able to work out a negotiated purchase and he will be presenting to the Planning Board within the next couple of months and looking for late summer or early fall construction.”
The former Rodeway Inn was fenced off this week. Martin said the $10 million to $12 million project will create a number of jobs and improve the hospitality sector in Greenfield. Parmar purchased the property for $1.59 million, according to a quitclaim deed.
“This isn’t finished yet; there’s the whole permitting process to go through, so it takes time,” Martin added. “Jobs, expanding the tax base and having upgraded hospitality are really great benefits for the city.”
Parmar said plans are still fluid, and his company is working with local tenants to find out what their requirements are, as well as what is allowed by zoning. He said the plaza will be renamed, but said it’s too early to say what it will be called.
Pioneer Valley Hotel Group owns a mix of hotels and commercial retail space, including the Hampton Inn and Comfort Inn in Hadley, Hadley Farms Meeting House, the Holiday Inn Express in Ludlow and La Quinta Inn and Suites in Springfield. The company is also in the process of building a Homewood Suites hotel in Hadley.
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