Chris Richmond admitted Wednesday that the 18-acre former Pillsbury Mills site on Springfield’s north end was the engine that propelled him to a professional life.
Richmond, the president of Moving Pillsbury Forward and the former Springfield fire marshal, also knows it has been “the root cause” of a lot of the demise around the neighborhood.
“It’s a large, blighted piece of property,” Richmond said at a press conference Wednesday in an unlit garage dripping from the outside rain. “We know once we get this property dealt with and removed, it gives the rest of the neighborhood a chance to actually buoy up and shine at a brighter level than it has.”
For Richmond and Moving Pillsbury Forward, the non-profit he helped start up three years ago, the work is just beginning.
Over the weekend, the group was deeded over the property from P Mills LLC for $1.
While Pillsbury has been “a tragic story” for the last decade and a half, Richmond said Wednesday he hoped MPF has turned a corner.
One of the first “next steps,” Richmond said, was contracting with an environmental firm within the next 30 days. By fall, Richmond is hoping to have a final report that will give MPF a roadmap of how to deal with the remediation and demolition activities moving ahead.