MassDevelopment - TDI, South High Street

MassDevelopment partnered with Rivera Consulting to produce a corridor analysis of Holyoke’s South High Street Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) district. MassDevelopment’s goals for the analysis included an assessment of the district’s structural inventory and assets, open spaces, strengths and weaknesses with respect to housing, pedestrian infrastructure, and market feasibility.

Our short-term and long-term recommendations identified strategies to improve existing physical conditions, target growth opportunities, strengthen the commercial ecosystem, and improve overall quality of life for businesses, residents, and visitors. This mixed-methods corridor analysis included four bilingual asset-mapping stakeholder focus groups and multiple one-on-one stakeholder interviews with municipal officials.

Combined with an independently conducted pro forma analysis of potential development sites, this engagement established shared context on the zoning, current land uses, streetscape, municipal development review process, local resident social determinants of health, and the social infrastructure that defines the future possibilities of the corridor.