Salvatore Lupoli remembers sitting at the edge of his sick father’s bed and talking about his business. “You’re going to be successful,” his father told him. That was a given. But he had a question for his son, too: “How are you going to help people’s lives?”
Without a doubt, Sal Lupoli has helped people’s lives, especially the people of Lawrence. He’s spent the past 12 years investing more than $200 million in acquisition, renovation, and job investment for a 46-acre former mill complex that has become the hugely successful, mixed-use Riverwalk Properties.
To say that Riverwalk has revitalized its Lawrence neighborhood is a vast understatement. Today, Riverwalk is home to not only Lupoli Companies but also more than 200 other companies, such as Imajine That, government offices, eateries, medical offices, a gym, a childcare center, a salon, and much more. It comprises roughly one-third of Lawrence’s tax base. Lupoli Companies also recently acquired Lawrence’s Monarch Lofts, allowing for the creation of a “live, work, play” mill complex that combines the living space of the Lofts with the business space of Riverwalk, right in the heart of Lawrence and within a stone’s throw of the Boston commuter rail.
In doing all this, Lupoli Companies has created more than 4,500 jobs at Riverwalk, many of them belonging to the Lawrence residents. “Almost 50 percent of our workforce is from Lawrence, and we’re proud of that,” he says.
Despite his success in the hospitality world as the owner of Sal’s Pizza, the Northeastern- and MIT-educated Lupoli was met with intense skepticism and received little support when he first embarked on his Riverwalk venture. He was looking for a new location for his company and knew of the vacant mills in Lawrence.
“It was almost like time had forgotten them and almost abandoned them,” he says. Lupoli might have seen potential there, but he seemed to be the only one. He couldn’t get a loan or any support from banks.“I could find no lender,” he says. “They recited the facts about Lawrence.”
Here are a few of those facts: It’s the poorest city in Massachusetts, with more than 29 percent of its residents living below the poverty level. It’s been considered the arson capitol of the United States, and has high drug and crime rates. Its schools were placed in state receivership in 2011.
“Don’t you know what the history of Lawrence is?” Lupoli says people asked him. “Who’s going to come to Lawrence and open a business? Who’s going to sit down and dine?”
But Lupoli says if everyone had such a negative attitude, nothing would ever change. And besides, he believed in himself. So he rolled up his sleeves and mortgaged everything he had, including the assets of his pizza business. He had enough money to last 18 months, but he was guided by a simple principle.
“If not me, then, who? If not now then when?” he says. “Sometimes in life when your back is against the wall, you perform, and you perform at a level you didn’t think you were capable of.”
The first business to move into Riverwalk was his own: the restaurant and function facility Salvatore’s. Lupoli Companies is also headquartered there. Other businesses followed his example. “That we settled in Lawrence I think speaks to our commitment,” he says.
His phenomenal success with Riverwalk is part of a larger plan to help revitalize the city and give back. He says he could’ve sold Riverwalk many times, but instead remains committed to the vision of growth and progress there.
“If you can’t look yourself in the mirror and say because of you, you made a difference in someone’s life other than your own, that’s a missed opportunity,” he says.
The company’s efforts to elevate the city of Lawrence extend far beyond the business world. Lupoli Companies, the Lupoli Family Foundation, and Sal himself are generous and involved philanthropists, whose contributions are too numerous to list, but here are a few: He donated $250,000 to Lawrence General Hospital, which renamed its inpatient pediatric program Lupoli Family Pediatric Care. He donated space at Riverwalk to the Lawrence Police to open an auxiliary substation there. He supports youth sports and Habitat for Humanity, and even coaches football in Chelmsford, since he himself benefitted from a full athletic scholarship to Northeastern University. He also serves on the Chelmsford school committee.
He says he’ll continue to invest in Lawrence and attract people to live and work there, because he believes that ultimately, that’s how real and lasting change will come to the city.
“I believe if you work in a community and you live in that community, you have skin in the game,” he says. And with any luck, those Lawrence newcomers will become involved themselves, join committees, run for office, and work for change. Lupoli is eager to continue leading the way.
“You can’t say, listen to me because I’m telling you,” he says. “You can say, listen to me because I did it.”
