NORTHAMPTON Chanel Lobdell, a graduate student at UMass Amherst, says she visits downtown Northampton once a month. On a particular sunny day in May, Lobdell was strolling down the city’s main street with his family, who had come from Orlando for his degree.
For this urban planning student, Lobdell says she loves what downtown has to offer, with one exception.
I like to shop at local boutiques and there are lots of great restaurants, Lobdell said. But it’s sad that there is no live music scene. It should come back.
A persistent obstacle for Northampton to fully recover from the economic impact of the pandemic has been the dearth of nightlife around the town, buoyed by the closure of several entertainment venues owned by local property mogul Eric Suher. Five of those Suhers-owned venues have been consistently closed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, leaving a big hole in a city known as an arts and cultural hub.
Suher was criticized for continuing to shut down venues such as Pearl Street and Iron Horse, with the Northampton Licensing Commission initially stripping him of a liquor license and putting several other licenses under review before reaching a deal with Suher in which he agreed either to sell or reopen its establishments by September 29.
Additionally, the agreement requires any third party or Suher to have a certain level of activity on each site in order for the license agreement to be honored. Basement and Iron Horse locations are to be open four nights a week and the Green Room six nights a week, and Pearl Street and Calvin Theater are to have four to six shows a month.
While these venues have been closed, others in Florence and nearby communities, the Drake in Amherst, the Marigold in Easthampton and the Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity in Florence have filled the void and offered people other places where to go.
Although Suher has a history of breaking promises about reopening sites, city officials hope the terms of the deal will inspire Suher to finally sell some of his property.
Mayor Sciarra is about to be, I think, hopefully, the first person in history to convince Eric Suher to sell a building, said Alan Wolf, the mayor’s chief of staff. And I hope he likes the way it feels, like I had a place that didn’t do anything for me, and now I have money. And hopefully that will start to break the ice.
Meanwhile, although officials in Northampton have considered an ordinance similar to that passed in Easthampton that would require property owners with empty storefronts to register with the city’s building commission and pay a fee to take supports a database of spaces available for rent in the city, there are no immediate plans for such a proposal.
I don’t know if Northampton could, but I also feel like for properties that tend to be chronically vacant, I don’t know if a tax will have an impact, Amy Cahillane, Executive Director of Downtown Northampton Association.
Other new businesses in Northampton are looking to fill the void for the city’s current lack of nightlife. The upcoming Mexcalito Taco Bar plans to open its bar until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, as it does at its current location in Amherst. Main Streets Gombo will have its bar open until midnight on the same days, with plans to bring live jazz music to add to its New Orleans-inspired atmosphere.
Planned where, after hours, the restaurant closes, bar only, and a four-piece band from New Orleans every Friday night, said Gombo owner John Piskor. It’s just something completely different from anything that’s going on.