Historic Holyoke church eyed for Indian motorcycle dealership, museum

By DUSTY CHRISTENSEN

Staff Writer

Published: 06-27-2022 8:03 PM

HOLYOKE — Plans are in the works to possibly turn a historic Highlands church on the corner of Pleasant and Hampden streets into a museum, restaurant and motorcycle dealership.

On Tuesday, the City Council’s Ordinance Committee will take up an application to change the zoning at 474 Pleasant St., where the United Congregational Church of Holyoke owns the brick-and-brownstone, Romanesque Revival church built in 1894. The zone-change application was submitted by Dennis Bolduc, owner of the Indian Motorcycle of Springfield dealership.

A voicemail left for Bolduc went unreturned Monday afternoon. UCC of Holyoke finance chair Martha May said Bolduc has agreed to buy and preserve the building, contingent on the City Council agreeing to change the zoning from residential to business-highway.

“When we had this particular person approach us with an offer, he explained to us what his plans are and everybody is very excited about it,” May said, noting that the congregation voted to approve the sale.

She said that Bolduc’s plans as presented are not to tear down the building but to maintain and improve it. The property would provide tax revenue for the city for the first time in some 128 years, she said, and in the process improve a neighborhood that is seeing increased investment.

“We see all of that as extremely positive for Holyoke,” May said.

The UCC of Holyoke, as it exists today, is the product of the mergers of five different churches over the years, according to a church history. The main church is at 300 Appleton St., and the church has for two decades owned the Pleasant Street church, renting it out to other smaller church congregations and an Alcoholics Anonymous group, for example.

But maintaining a building like that is expensive, and was made even more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic, May said. The congregation was resistant to selling the building five years ago, she said, but has now recognized the financial challenges the building presents for the church.

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“We have a broker we’ve been working with for about a year and we told them that we really wanted it sold and we were very willing to work it out with whoever is interested,” May said.

She said that all of the building’s current tenants, according to the prospective buyer, will stay on for the time being.

“It will take him time to start doing the work he wants to do on the building,” May said. 

She noted that the area has seen other recent projects, such as the construction of a Dunkin’ Donuts across the street. She said that a lot of houses of worship are closing down nowadays, and that finding an owner to not just maintain the building but to give it a “face-lift” is an exciting development.

“It just feels right,” she said.

The Indian Motorcycle Company was founded in 1897 as the Hendee Manufacturing Company, which manufactured bicycles, according to an online company history. The company opened its first factory in downtown Springfield in 1901 and produced motorcycles there until 1953, when it halted production of all models. 

The company was purchased and revitalized by Polaris Industries in 2011. The Springfield building sat vacant for years before it was recently turned into a housing complex now called Mason Square Apartments at Indian Motorcycle. 

Bolduc’s company, Indian Motorcycle of Springfield, is in Westfield. On the dealership’s website, he says that his grandfather worked for Indian Motorcycle from 1938 until 1959 and that the bikes have long been a part of his life.

The zone change will be in front of the Ordinance Committee of the City Council, which meets Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall together with the Planning Board.

Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.]]>