Sal Lupoli announces the Renovation of 600,000 More Square Feet of Office Space at Riverwalk
By: Tom Duggan – August 27, 2014
Sal Lupilo of Sal’s Pizza and Lupoli Properties, owner of Sal’s Riverwalk on Merrimack Street in Lawrence has donated 700 square feet of office space for a police sub-station for the auxiliary police. Lupoli is not only giving the space to the City of Lawrence for Free but is paying out-of-pocket for expenses and utilities for the new station on Merrimack Street in Lawrence.
At a press conference Wednesday, Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera praised Lupoli for his dedication to the city and the help he has given the residents.
“We have an exemplary auxiliary police force and we wanted to make sure we supported them the right way,” Rivera said flanked by Lawrence Police, Auxiliary police, and local dignitaries.
“We were able to put ten new police officers on the roads this year. We also can’t forget the amount of effort and support we get from the merchants in our community. But, no one in the last few years has shown that they can do that more readily and more effectively in our community than Sal Lupoli and his companies. I want to make sure we thank Sal and his team for all the work they are doing here at Riverwalk and throughout the city to make us a more industrious community.
Public-Private Partnerships
“This is a great day,” Lupoli said from the microphone.
“It’s a great day because this is another example of what happens when the public and the private come together to create opportunity.”
“First of all ten years ago, eleven years ago, at Riverwalk this complex was a completely abandoned complex. There were no cars in the parking lot. As a result only, and I will say it unequivocally like this, as a result only of the public- private partnership, we were able to contact the mayor much like we did with Mayor Rivera and said ‘we can still create more job opportunities, we need a presence. We need to make some of these people who aren’t Lawrencians that we want to bring into the City of Lawrence, to feel comfortable. We know what our adversities are, we know what some of the things are that we have to overcome. And today is a commitment of not only the mayor, but the fine people behind me and nowhere else will you find an opportunity like this or an announcement like this where you find city councilors, state representatives and a whole array of people contributing to the success of something like this here today.”
“And it’s because of that partnership. It’s not just the mayor. It’s not just the state rep. It’s not just the city council, it’s everybody together and these auxiliary police officer that are standing behind me. I am so proud to have them in this organization, but what I am really proud of sir,” he said looking at Mayor Rivera, “is that when they want a cup of coffee they are going next door (to Coffee Cann) when they want a slice of pizza they are going to go right down the street, (to Salvatore’s) and when they want a scoop of ice cream it’s right next door to them (at ScoopTopia).”
600,000 More Square Feet of Office Space
“So, I want to tell you how much I appreciate Mayor Rivera. It’s because of your leadership mayor, that the Lupoli Companies will continue to move forward. We are proud to tell you that we are in a position right now to renovate and expand another 600,00 square feet of opportunity in this complex you see right here and the building next door where you see almost 4,500 new jobs. So, what great things are we going to do together with the city, with the state, it’s because of your leadership and the leadership behind us that we are going to be able to do that.”
The Valley Patriot asked Lupoli why he was paying for utilities and expenses out of his own pocket for the new Lawrence Police Sub-station.
“You know, the city can’t do it all by themselves. The City has budgetary constraints. We all want more police on the road and more police protecting us. The more police we have the better product we have to sell, which is the city. I think if all the merchants came together, and all the developers came together and we understood that we can all do our own little things to support [the city] so that they can spend the money, not on rent, not on expenses and utilities but more on getting the police on the road, that’s helps everybody.
Lupo0li was asked why he is so committed to Lawrence.
“It’s my culture, you know what is my culture? My culture is coming from a family that knows how to work and didn’t have a lot of opportunities, that knows how to put your boots on every single day and go to work and work hard. And from that, opportunity is created. So, I looked at this as an opportunity in a section of the city that was abandoned and nobody had a lot of faith in, and we root for the underdog, we are underdogs ourselves.”
“We saw this as an opportunity to create something from nothing. But we realized that the key, the special sauce if you will, the key ingredients to this is time. We are not coming into the city of Lawrence to make a quick profit and then jump out. You have to be committed to the city because with that commitment comes responsibility and we have a responsibility to the city to provide jobs, create opportunities, make an investment and not just run away. We are not a buy and then sell kind of organization. We are committed, we are buy and hold.”