One of the biggest universities in Massachusetts is expanding its footprint - and hoping to strengthen bonds with the town it resides in in the process.
Already sporting one of the biggest campuses in New England, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is expanding with a new store and meeting space downtown.
Dubbed "UMass Downtown," the spot on North Pleasant Street in Amherst spans about 1,500 square feet and is the university's latest foray into the college town - bringing with it a space that acts a gift shop, welcome center, meeting hub and more.
“UMass Downtown is a multipurpose retail meeting and micro-event space,” explains Micah Ariel James, the center’s director. “We have a conference room space that is a great space for members of the campus community to connect with the community and meet for various, typical meeting purposes, but also to get together and brainstorm and dream about possibilities as they make these connections from campus to the community and vice versa.”
Then there's the retail space that doubles as the main event space. It’s ideal for what James calls "micro events" aimed at getting several dozen campus and community members under one roof, like the ribbon-cutting Thursday afternoon.
The space had a soft opening prior to the event, but was packed with a wall of UMass sweaters, banners and other merchandise on one side and campus leadership on another – among them UMass Amherst Chancellor, Javier Reyes.
“… in a space that maybe seems small in a certain dimension, but believe me, the activity that is housed here represents so many corners of our campus and we believe that it's going to just grow from here in its vibrancy, as well as in the ways that it can communicate us with our community,” he said to the crowd gathered.
Project costs were not released to WAMC. Officials say UMass Amherst is leasing the space - part of a venture involving local developer, The Roberts Group, which also had a hand in a similar project involving Amherst College and the former AJ Hastings storefront also downtown.
The Roberts Group got a shoutout from Reyes, who also called for the space to not just be a portal to UMass, but the Amherst community in general.
UMass Amherst Executive Director of Community Strategic Initiatives Tony Maroulis tells WAMC the university wanted to make a space like this happen for some time.
Talk in 2023 materialized into actual construction work last October, not long after Amherst College set up shop.
“Just like the opening of the Amherst College store, what we're doing is we're firmly establishing the fact that we are a college town - we're both putting our own little embassies in town,” Maroulis said. “Our space is slightly different from theirs, in that it's multi-use, but the excitement around the increased engagement that we can have here - it's something that we've wanted to have for a very long time, that we've worked on for a very long time.”
Amherst Council President Lynn Griesemer echoed the sentiment, referencing the Amherst College shop and how it tends to be packed with alum during college events, who then trickle through the town - something the UMass space seems prime to replicate.
“Not only do we see it as a vehicle for that, but a meeting place - and it is a meeting place, we look forward to that. Amherst is a thriving community, but it's only if we work together, that we continue to thrive,” she said. “So, thank you so much for putting a stake in the ground, in downtown Amherst.”
In addition to retail and an office space said to be ideal for the university's HR department to conduct interviews in, officials hope the building will be a regular home for lectures, readings, workshops, performances and other events for small audiences.
