How quickly a business can move depends on its insurance coverage and possibly the terms of its lease.
William L. Feinberg, owner of BelMar Insurance, conducts business via cellphone outside his office in the background on Main Street in Springfield.SPRINGFIELD – William L. Feinberg paced the pavement Monday at the intersection of Main and William streets.
It’s as close as he could get to doing business at his insurance agency, Bel-Mar Insurance Inc., which closed Wednesday after the tornado hit and had yet to reopen. Much of the neighborhood he served is still a tangle of wreckage patrolled by state troopers and National Guard members.
“We’ll be able to get back in the building, but I don’t know when,” Feinberg said.
He’s already secured temporary offices at 61 Century Way in West Springfield. He just hopes his customers can get to him.
“This is a poor neighborhood and people don’t have checking accounts,” Feinberg said. “They are used to dropping by and paying their bills in cash.”
In the meantime, he hasn’t done any real business since Wednesday and is losing about $3,000 a day.
Gregory P. Bialecki, the state secretary of housing and economic development, toured the South End Monday afternoon. He heard from businesses like the Red Rose Pizzeria and Mom & Rico’s Specialty Market that plan to reopen once streets are clear and customers can make their way to the neighborhood.
But Bialecki said businesses whose buildings are destroyed need firm information as to how much insurance they will get, what state and federal assistance will be available and a definite timetable as to when they can start rebuilding and when they can expect to move back in.
Robert J. Greeley, president of R.J. Greeley Co, has already helped a displaced business move into the Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park and he has a number of people coming in to look at space.
“The market can provide space for all these businesses,” he said. “It might not be your first choice. But there is space.”
But he said it could take months to work out details like insurance claims and lease provisions. Some commercial leases allow a tenant to force a landlord to rebuild. Others give landlords 30 days to make up their mind.
“So then a business waits only to be told that the landlord won’t rebuild,” he said. “A total loss is always easier to deal with than partial damage. With partial damage there are just so many variables. This will take months to sort out.”
Charles A. Christianson, owner of CMD Technology Group in East Longmeadow, said he’s already helped the town of Monson, Premier Source Credit Union and the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts move and reboot their computer systems.
“In today’s world if you don’t have your computers, you don’t have your business,” Christianson said. “ That’s all your accounts, your payroll and in many cases your work product.”