USA, MA: White Lion Brewing eyeing May opening in Springfield

White Lion Brewing will open its brewery and tasting room at Springfield’s Tower Square in May, one of the building’s owners said on February 26.

The news came as Vid Mitta — one of several investors who bought the 50-year-old mall, hotel and office complex two years ago — gave an update on the building during an unveiling ceremony for the James Kitchen sculpture “Tower Squares."

White Lion has announced a “sneak peek” tour and open house of its new setup from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 19.

Tower Square General Manger Fred Christensen said Springfield-based White Lion ran into construction complications because the space it is leasing — once a restaurant called Spaghetti Freddy’s — was not built to handle the weight of brewing tanks full of liquid. There is a basement under the space, and Christensen said the floors have been reinforced.

Longtime second-floor tenant Skin Catering, meanwhile, is expanding into first-floor space in the Tower Square mall that was most recently a convenience store, Mitta said.

In June 2017, MassMutual announced plans to sell Tower Square, including the 28-floor office tower, mall, hotel, parking garage and Steiger Park across Main Street. A year later, the investors — Mitta, of Lexington and Dinesh Patel, of East Longmeadow, and Rohit Patel and Kamlesh Patel, of Maine — bought the hotel for $10.5 million and the office tower, mall, parking decks and park in a separate $7 million deal.

MassMutual has since moved its Barings investment management operation out of the office tower.

At the hotel, $10 million worth of renovations are underway and will be done by the end of 2020. Mitta said he expects to have the Marriott branding back once work is completed.

The owners displayed artist mock-ups of the new hotel space behind Kitchen’s sculpture.

UMass will continue its tenancy for an additional five-years, Mitta said.

Wellfleet, an insurance company owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, moved its headquarters from Roosevelt Avenue into Tower Square last year. On Wednesday, Mitta said Wellfleet is looking to take even more space in the office tower.

Wellfleet plans to put its name on the building, Christensen said, but the work has been delayed until spring.

“We are looking at several interesting prospective tenants right now, primarily in the office tower,” he added.

Speaking at the sculpture unveiling, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno thanked the partners for breathing new life into Tower Square.

“They took a challenging property,” Sarno said. “And brought an eclectic mix to downtown Springfield.”

27 February, 2020