ATHOL — No developers showed up to a site visit at the parcel next to the North Quabbin Commons shopping center on Market Drive, where Athol’s Economic Development & Industrial Corp. (EDIC) and other town officials are hoping to build a hotel.
The site visit on July 29, 2024, attended by members of the EDIC, Town Manager Shaun Suhoski, and Athol Planning and Development Director Eric Smith, occurred about two weeks after the town issued a request for proposal (RFP) and advertised the visit in several regional and statewide business publications, the Athol Daily News reported.
Suhoski’s not discouraged about the no-show at the site visit. He and the EDIC plan on continuing reaching out to national hotel chains, the state’s Offices of Business/Economic Development, and add the RFP to online directories.
“We’re going to reach out to the Massachusetts Office of Development, I’m going to reach out to other contacts I have to see if they have any suggestions. We’ll try to list the site on CoStar, a commercial real estate platform,” Suhoski said, adding that he will also contact DeMoulas. “We’ve talked to them before because we got an easement for the water tower, and we’ve also talked with them about this development.”
Suhoski mentioned that EDIC member Mark Wright pointed out in a recent meeting that the upcoming presidential election might be making developers hypervigilant.
“People may be waiting to see how the election comes out, as well as waiting on the Federal Reserve to make a decision on interest rates,” Suhoski explained.
The day after the site visit, the EDIC received three inquiries for information about the development proposal from “nationally branded [hotel] chains,” which resulted in town administrator(s) sending out a link to the RFP on the town’s website via email.
“That’s great, but they’re just inquiries,” EDIC Chair Keith McGuirk said. “I mean, it’s not like somebody called up and said, ‘We want to buy the place.’ They are inquiries for information and they were sent the link to the RFP on the town website that they need.”
McGuirk noted that the commercial market has been negatively impacted in recent years by “substantial” increases in both interest rates and inflation.
“Frankly, the commercial market throughout this country is not great right now; it has not been for several years,” McGuirk said. “There’s been substantial inflation, along with a substantial increase in interest rates, even more so on the commercial side than what we’ve seen on the residential side. This has put the kibosh to a lot of things. That’s not something that anyone involved with commercial ventures doesn’t already know.”
Nevertheless, McGuirk said the lack of attendance at last week’s site meeting is not a cause for concern.
“It’s a process,” he said. “It all comes down to getting the word out, getting people interested, and getting it known in those circles that we need to get it known in, that this is available. As things improve, we will have more [of an] opportunity to attract some people. Obviously, we’d like to see someone come along right now, but we’re aware that it’s a process.”
