Berkshire Business Journal
Where are the job seekers?
There are plenty of jobs available in the Berkshires but no one seems to to be filling them
By Jim T herrienPITTSFIELD — Pay levels in some jobs have surged since the pandemic hit three years ago and benefits, incentives and flexible working conditions have followed a similar trajectory.
But a lot of those jobs in the Berkshires aren’t being filled right now. And employers are struggling to find qualified candidates to take them.
Those in the Berkshires who are paid to consider these issues say the answers to these questions are not simple, and that they effect members of every generation that is eligible for employment.
“The pandemic has just really changed the workforce across the Berkshires, across Massachusetts and across the country in unprecedented ways that we have never experienced before,” said Heather Boulger, the executive director of the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board in Pittsfield, when asked about the current job market.
One of the most significant measurements, she said, is that the county has lost “2,000 people out of a workforce of 60,000, which is pretty significant. So companies have been faced with talent short-
ages throughout the pandemic, and they continue to struggle right now.”
In June, the Berkshire County unemployment rate increased by a half a percentage point to 2.9 percent, as the number of residents collecting jobless benefits increased by 338. The local rate is slightly higher than the state rate of 2.8 percent. Although half a percentage point is a significant bump, Berkshire unemployment has dropped more than a full percentage point from the 4.2 percent registered 12 months ago. Referring to the county’s current unemployment rate, Boulger said a figure that low is still “fantastic”, Boulger said, because any figure in the 2.5 percent range, “is considered full employment.”
“Anybody who is looking for a job should be able to find employment,” she said, referring to the current labor market. “But one challenge is that not everybody is looking for a job.”
The active job-seekers, in turn, know they have multiple options and most of them seem to be aware of that, giving them what may be an unprecedented advantage in the job market.
“I’ve seen the peaks and valleys,” Boulger said. “I’ve seen when it’s an employers’ market; I’ve seen when it is
an employee market, and right now it is really the job-seekers’ market. Not just in the Berkshires but everywhere, all across the country.”
That dynamic may be changing as the
pandemic recedes. Officials regularly in contact with job-seekers said they’ve noticed a hiring and job search uptick in recent weeks.
Local job fair events also are seeing an increase in participants, and the events are moving from the remote platform that popped up during the pandemic back to the traditional in-person model.
In an article titled “The Great Resignation”, The New York Times recently reported that after a mass of workers left jobs voluntarily during the pandemic the market seems to be tilting back towards more competition for jobs and more leverage for employers.
But some job force issues are unique to the Berkshires.
“We’ve had 50 years of low birth rate affecting the growth in population,” Boulger said. “We also have an aging population. (We’re) the second oldest region in Massachusetts (which has 14 counties.).”
Many older workers have also chosen to retire or leave the workforce for now, which further stresses local employers who are trying to fill openings. This helps explain the absence of those 2,000 workers.
Berkshire Workforce Board presents annual awards
The MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board presented fiscal 2023 Workforce Impact Awards to several companies and individuals recently at its annual meeting which took place at Hotel on North in Pittsfield.
• Robert Keegan of Crescent Creamery received the 2023 Board Member of The Year award for his 24 years of leadership, participation in career center activities, and serving as secretary and evaluation committee chair.
• The Brien Center received the 2023 Behavioral Health Employer of The Year award for partnering and implementing the region’s first behavioral health training grant, engaging trainees and participating in targeted job fairs.
• Owen O’Brien-Garvey from Lenox Memorial High School, who participated in internships, received the 2023 Youth Champion award. Tara Romeo and Pam Murray of Lenox Memorial High School were honored 2023 Career Readiness Ambassadors for developing innovative pathways in business finance and healthcare/social assistance.
• Interprint Inc. was named 2023 Manufacturing Employer of the Year for being proactive in addressing workforce needs and participating in MassHire career readiness and training programs.
• Berkshire Health Systems’ Education and Resource Departments were named 2023 Employer of the Year for making their employees a priority and establishing numerous workforce development pipeline and training programs.
CHP Mobile Health Team honored by Mass. Nonprofit Network
The Community Health Program’s Mobile Health Team was honored for being selected as a finalist for the “Excellence Resilience” award by the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network during a recent ceremony at the statehouse in Boston.
CHP was among more than 130 statewide nominees for the 2023 awards, which are presented to organizations and employees that exemplify the most innovative, creative, and effective work being done throughout the commonwealth.
Members of the mobile health team and CHP leadership attended the awards ceremony.
Finalists were selected in six categories; advocacy, innovation, leadership, resilience, small nonprofit, and young professional.
CHP was founded as a mobile health care in the mid-1970s, and on-the-road care has expanded as a key CHP operation. This year, CHP is adding three new mobile health vehicles to its fleet to provide additional medical care, dental care and a mobile farm stand providing fresh, free, local food.
Greylock Credit Union awards $16K in scholarships
Greylock Federal Credit Union has awarded a total of $16,000 in scholarships to 26 college bound high school seniors for their continuing education.
This year’s scholarships were awarded in two rounds. Twenty-two awards of $500 each were awarded to students in Berkshire County and Columbia County, N.Y., through the credit union’s annual Community Enrichment Scholarship.
Five scholastic achievement awards of $1,000 each were awarded to children of credit union employees as part of Greylock’s employee benefits package.
The funds will be applied toward tuition at state-accredited or nationally-accredited two or four-year colleges or universities or for a full-time technical school program.
The Community Enrichment Scholarship recipients are, Ruby Pullaro-Clark, BART Charter School; Sarah Kunzmann, who was homeschooled; Owen Dubreuil, Hoosac Valley High School; Anna Fusco and
Isabella Lovato, Lee High School; Alex Del Vecchio and Allison Lamm, Lenox Memorial High School; Vivianna Belanger and Keira Lennon. McCann Technical School; and Sofia Bernal and Isabella Viola, Monument Mountain Regional High School.
Also receiving Community Enrichment Scholarships were Anouk Bizalion and Margaret Sarnacki, Mount Everett Regional High School; Krish Sharma and Molly Sullivan, Mount Greylock Regional High School, Alexandra Sotek, New Lebanon, N.Y., High School; Abigail Archey and Kiera Devine, Pittsfield High School; Hunter Golin and Nicholas Guachione, Taconic High School;, and Abigail Cobb and Julia Wheeler, Wahconah Regional High School.
This year’s Scholastic Achievement Award recipients include Nia Franklin, BART Charter School; Lily Jayko and Abigail Whitley, Mount.Greylock Regional High School; Cecelia Jo Supranowicz, Pittsfield High School; and Jayon Black, Smith Vocational.
Wealth advisory group moves Williamstown office
Inspire Confidence Group, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services Inc., recently moved its Williamstown office to a new location at 173 Water St. suite 1.
Financial Advisor Matt Neely and Paraplanner Jennifer Bayliss began working out of the new office on June 16.
Inspire Confidence Group also has offices in Albany, N.Y.; Bel Air, Md.; Chazy, N.Y.; Kingston, N.Y. and New Brighton, Minn.
Goodwin receives Course of Distinction Award
Anne Goodwin, a biology professor at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, has been awarded a
2023 Course of Distinction Award by the Massachusetts Colleges Online Consortium for the second straight year.
The Course of Distinction Awards are given annually to recognize excellence in designing and delivering online and hybrid courses across multiple categories. This is the third time in the last four years that MCLA’s biology department has received this award.
Goodwin’s course, Medical Terminology, is a requirement of the radiologic technology program and an elective available for MCLA students. It uses interactive self-guided quizzing activities and a nocost e-book sourced in collaboration with MCLA’s Freel Library staff.
In 2022, Goodwin won a Course of Distinction Award for the course, Nutrition for Healthy Living. MCLA adjunct professor Maryann Schroder won the award in 2019 for the course Human Growth and Development.
Berkshire Workforce Board elects officers
The MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board’s board of directors elected officers for fiscal 2024 recently at the organization’s annual meeting.
Eva Sheridan of Jane Iredale was elected president; David Moresi of Moresi & Associates and Michael Taylor of the city of Pittsfield, vice presidents; and Doug McNally of Frosthollow Associates and Bryan House of 18 Degrees, youth council co-chairs.
Also elected were, James Brosnan of McCann Technical School, treasurer; Beth Petropulos of MountainOne, assistant treasurer; Chelsea Tyer of Neenah Paper, secretary; and Christopher Smith of Hillcrest Educational Centers and Albert Ingegni of Integritus, at-large members.
The board also voted on the fiscal 2024 Workforce
Business briefs
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Business Plan. Details can be found on the board’s website, www.MassHireBerkshire.com.
Pittsfield Cooperative Bank donates $2,500 to Brien Center program
The Brien Center has received a $2,500 donation from Pittsfield Cooperative Bank for its Patrick Miller Youth Substance Use Prevention and Intervention Program. The program served nearly 1,800 Berkshire County youths in 2022.
The initiative, which has been recognized for its innovation and success, provides a number of school and community evidence-based programs with proven results in prevention, intervention and referral to treatment. Prevention programming takes place before first use; intervention programming is effective after first use, but before a student is diagnosed with a substance use disorder. For youth who meet criteria for a substance use disorder diagnosis, referrals are made for treatment at the Brien Center.
Patrick Miller was raised in a loving family that was devoted to his well-being. He died of an accidental overdose. His parents, John and Rosaleen Miller, gave a large bequest to the Brien Center in 2005 to create the program in memory of their son.
Barrington Stage Company receives Shubert Foundation grant
Barrington Stage Company has received a $110,000 Shubert Foundation grant in the theatre category. The award will support key programming for the company’s 2023 season.
Barrington Stage is one of 609 not-for-profit theaters, dance companies, academic theater training programs and related talent agencies that have received a combined $37.6 million in this current round of funding from the Shubert Foundation, which is a leader in funding for the arts.
“It is meaningful to me that The Shubert Foundation not only maintained but increased their incredible support of Barrington Stage Company during my first season as Artistic Director,” said Alan Paul in a news release. “BSC treasures our relationship with the Foundation and thanks them for their vote of confidence in the future of Barrington Stage.”
MCLA student appointed to education advisory council
Taylor Hope, who recently completed her junior year at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, has been appointed to the Advisory Council for the Advancement of Representation in Education.
The council was formed by the Healey-Driscoll administration last month to expand access to college and career readiness tools for current Massachusetts students, according to MCLA. Hope was appointed ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision on the legality of race-based higher education admissions. Hope is studying political science and sociology at MCLA, serves on the student affairs committee for the board of trustees, and is the president of MCLA’s Student Government Association. She is one of eight student representatives from Massachusetts colleges on the council.
Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity receives state funding
Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity is among 11 community-based organizations across the state that have received a total of $8.1 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants to fund the redevelopment or rehabilitation of 56 affordable homes, including 24 new affordable homeownership opportunities.
Habitat for Humanity will build four new three-bedroom homeownership units at 82-84 Robbins Ave. and 266-268 Onota St. in Pittsfield’s West Side neighborhood. Central Berkshire Habitat will sell the new homes to lower-income, first-time homebuyers. The development is also receiving support from the city of Pittsfield and the city’s Community Preservation Committee, and is part of a broader redevelopment and investment plan for the West Side neighborhood.
MassHousing launched the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in 2022. To date, the program has awarded $12.7 million in funding, resulting in the construction or substantial rehabilitation of 87 homes, including 46 new homeownership opportunities for lower-income, first-time homebuyers.
Pittsfield Cooperative Bank approved to participate in home ownership program
Pittsfield Cooperative Bank has been approved to participate in the Lift Up Homeownership Program, a Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston pilot program designed to provide financial assistance to people of color purchasing their first home.
People of color is defined as Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander borrowers.
People of color earning up to 120 percent of the area median income are eligible to receive up to $50,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance on a firstcome, first-served basis to purchase their first home in New England. Homebuyers are required to complete a homebuyer counseling program prior to receiving LUH funds.
For information, contact Mary Coughlin at 413-6291605 or Rich Whalen at 413-629-1610.
Lee Bank Foundation awards second round of community funding grants
Lee Bank Foundation has awarded $50,000 to 12 Berkshire area organizations in its second-round of 2023 community funding.
Recipients were awarded grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to support their local programming.
The following organizations received funding:
Becket Athenaeum; Berkshire Bounty; Berkshire Center for Justice; Berkshire Children’s Chorus; Berkshire Community Diaper Project and Berkshire County Arc.
Also receiving grants were Berkshire South Regional Community Center; Community Access to the Arts; Elizabeth Freeman Center; Greenagers; Mass Audubon-Pleasant Valley; and Roots Rising.
The application deadline for the next round of 2023 Foundation funding is Sept. 1. The application and more information can be found on the community impact section of Lee Bank’s website.
To be considered for grant awards, applicants must be a (501)©(3) nonprofit organization. Applicants are only eligible to receive funding once in a 12-month period.
Sabic recognized by American Chemistry Council
Sabic has received a 2023 Sustainability Leadership Award for Exemplary Achievements in Circularity by the American Chemistry Council, recognizing the company’s pioneering collaborations to bring ocean-bound plastic back into a circular material.
The company received the 2023 Circularity Award for its leadership in implementing effective solutions using recovered and recycled ocean bound plastic. The projects include a collaboration with a Malaysia based plastics recycling company, a European manufacturer of flexible packaging film products, a Spanish food brand, and major Asian manufacturers of flexible packaging.
Ocean bound plastic is abandoned plastic waste found in areas up to 50 kilometers inland from waterways and at risk of eventually being washed into the ocean by rainfall, rivers or tides.
Greylock Credit Union approved for Lift Up Homeownership program
Greylock Federal Credit Union has been awarded access to $250,000 as part of a Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston pilot program designed to provide financial assistance to people of color purchasing their first home.
Through the program, Lift Up Homeownership, Greylock will provide $50,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance to qualified borrowers on a first-come, first-served basis.
The program is open to people of color earning up to 120 percent of the area median income to purchase their first home. Participants must complete a homebuyer counseling program before receiving program funds.
People of color is defined as Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander borrowers. Information: Greylock’s mortgage department, 413-236-4125.
Latinas413 awarded grant from Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts
Latinas413 has received a $24,800 grant from the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts for general operating support through 2025.
A fiscally sponsored project of Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires, Latinas413 will use the funds to expand its core mentorship program that connects Latinas to local resources, financial education, career opportunities, arts and culture, and outdoor recreation.
The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts recent-
ly awarded $208,900 in grants to 21 organizations that serve women and girls in the four counties of Western Massachusetts.
Berkshire Environmental Action Team recognized internationally
The Berkshire Environmental Action Team received a stewardship award at June’s International Conference on Ecology and Transportation for its work protecting and reconnecting wildlife habitat in the Berkshire Wildlife Linkage area.
This effort is part of a larger Staying Connected Initiative, which is a partnership of many conservation organizations that work together to maintain landscape connectivity across the Northern Appalachians in the Acadian Region of the U.S. and Canada.
BCC creates Water Quality Monitoring Certificate program
Berkshire Community College has created a Water Quality Monitoring Certificate Program, a new offering for the fall 2023 semester.
The program, designed to train the next generation of drinking water and wastewater professionals, requires the completion of three courses totaling 11 credits: ENV-205 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (4 credits); ENV-182 Environmental Advocacy (3 credits); and CHEM 150A Essentials of Chemistry (4 credits). Generally, CHEM 150A would be taken in the fall semester, with the remaining two courses taken in the spring.
The certificate can be completed in as little as two semesters and is “stackable,” meaning credits earned can be applied toward an associate degree in environmental sciences.
Information: Bruce Winn, bwinn@berkshirecc.edu, 413-236-4688.
Berkshire Music School announces Talent & Merit Scholarships
Berkshire Music School has announced the recipients of its 2023-24 Talent & Merit Scholarships.
They include: Keira Nicholls, voice and piano, Tracy R. Wilson Scholarship; Zoe-Ruth Brizan, piano, Dr. Edgar B. Taft Memorial Scholarship & The Paderweski Scholarship; Nina Rather, violin, Jan & Marjorie Stocklinski Memorial Scholarship; Rose Dupuis, voice, William Arthur “Billy” Kent Memorial Scholarship; Joe Weiner, piano, The Chopin Scholarship & Jason Marcus Memorial Scholarship; Clara Guatta Cescuni, voice, Paul Houston Memorial Scholarship; and Jack Bradway, bass, BMS Daniel Pearl Scholarship.
Also receiving scholarships were: Artois Sancho, piano, Helen and Milton Fink Memorial Scholarship; and Emily Dupuis, flute, Gia Cox Caird Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Honorable mentions were awarded to Anderson Durfee, piano; Sagun Meesala, flute; Sai Meesala, voice; Shira Weiner, guitar; Luc Brisebois, cello; Colin Behnke, violin; and Aurora Bartley, flute.
BCC awards professor emeritus certificates to Guertin, Zuber
Berkshire Community College awarded professor emeritus certificates to mathematics professors Annette Guertin and Nancy Zuber at commencement exercises at Tanglewood.
The title professor emeritus is bestowed upon retiring faculty members at the time of their retirement by the BCC board of trustees. Candidates for emeritus status must have taught for at least 20 years in higher education, with a minimum of 15 years at BCC; must have achieved full professor rank; and must have retired from the college in good standing.
Guertin was employed at BCC for 41 years, teaching classes ranging from elementary algebra to math of art and nature. With the philosophy that math is everywhere — in nature, in the arts, in the sciences, in the mundane and in the extraordinary — Guertin taught math “as a way of thinking that ties everything else in life together,” said BCC President Ellen Kennedy in her remarks. “Generations of students enjoyed success in math, sometimes for the very first time, because Annette made math matter to them.”
Zuber began her career at BCC 31 years ago, when she applied for a part-time job in the math lab. She taught a variety of mathematics classes, with a focus on algebra and calculus, for 30 years.
Zuber also helped establish BCC’s math task force, which led to a reimagined pre-college math sequence. She was instrumental in adding free practice sessions, called “recitations,” to math courses and in updating the calculus sequence.
Front pages
On the edge of innovation
SolaBlock has developed a new solar energy device that’s ready for production
By Tony DoBrowolskiPITTSFIELD — It’s a simple yet cutting edge concept.
Place solar panels in a standard size masonry block of cement. Include these embedded blocks in a building’s exterior walls. Let the energy generated by these exterior panels provide power to the inside of the structure. In other words, turn buildings into green energy producers.
It’s a great green idea that SolaBlock, a small Pittsfield high tech firm, has been working on for over a decade. It’s caught the eye of both city and state officials, who have both provided SolaBlock with funding through economic incentive packages. The city’s incentive package caused SolaBlock to move its headquarters from Easthampton to Pittsfield earlier this year
Now, the city and the state get to see if SolaBlock’s idea has been worth the wait.
In June, Underwriters Laboratories, which is run by the federal government, helped SolaBlock pass a major hurdle when it approved photovoltaic safety testing for the firm’s solar masonry unit, which will allow production to begin.
“What this means is that the product itself, the solar masonry unit, the prototype, is strong enough to pass the environmental testing so it can come to market,” said SolaBlock’s CEO Eric Planey.
SolaBlock won’t receive full UL certification until production is actually underway.
“No one gets full UL certification un-
til your assembly line is in operation,” Planey said. “When we’ve been telling county, state and city officials that we’re doing pretty well, they all know the hard part is over because they’ve been waiting for the product side.”
“So now it becomes a chicken and egg situation,” he said. “We have to get operational to get to this point and then we get the final sign off from UL.”
SolaBlock is currently looking at two buildings in Pittsfield to locate its production facility. “We’re not going to buy, we’re going to lease,” Planey said.
The company is in the process of raising an additional $2 to $3 million in venture capital to help fund the facility, a process that should be completed in the next few months, according to Planey.
But with the prototype having recently
received UL certification — “there’s nothing prohibiting us now,” Planey said — that process is expected to move quickly.
“We’re very, very active with one venture capital firm, Bay State Capital, and they’re expected to meet with their board,” Planey said. “We’ve got our steps and hurdles but if all that ties up we are looking to get somewhat operational and get into the building hopefully before Labor Day and start putting the assembly line together and everything after Labor Day.”
The city of Pittsfield has been watching this process closely, because both the city and the state of Massachusetts have contributed funding to this venture.
In April 2022, SolaBlock received $170,000 in investment tax credits when it was cleared for participation in the state’s Economic Development Incentive Program by the state Economic Assistance Coordinating Council. According to a news release that accompanied that announcement, SolaBlock plans to create 17 new full-time jobs, retain four as fulltime employees and invest $625,000.
The city is providing SolaBlock with $125,000 from Pittsfield’s Economic Development Fund. The company will receive $50,000 three months after it occupies its production facility and the remaining $75,000 after it hires eight fulltime employees, according to Michael Coakley, Pittsfield’s business development manager.
“I first heard about them when I was at
Front pages
SolaBlock
the BIC a couple of years ago,” Coakley said, “and then I went down to Easthampton and met with a couple of their executives down there and they took me through it. Their product is really interesting. You turn buildings into green energy producers. I talked with them about bringing their manufacturing to Pittsfield. Mayor (Linda) Tyer and I brought them to the City Council about a year ago.”
SolaBlock has also received a $25,000 technical assistance grant and a $40,000 business loan from the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corporation, a Berkshire regional entity that is based in Pittsfield.
Last winter, SolaBlock closed the facility in Easthampton that it had used for research and building prototypes for over a decade, and made Pittsfield its headquarters in anticipation of opening the production facility. SolaBlock already had an office at the Berkshire Innovation Center — it is one of the BIC’s 31 member companies — and also maintains a presence in Troy, N.Y.
Planey said SolaBlock appreciated Pittsfield’s interest. The company had discussed relocating its operations with other Western Massachusetts municipalities, “but most cities didn’t really react,” Planey said. “They said, ‘oh, that sounds great’, but there wasn’t really any program in place to help attract businesses. Pittsfield was completely the opposite.”
He said the city rolled out its red carpet program, an economic development initiative that the Tyer Administration began in 2017 to help streamline the process for businesses that were interested in relocating to Pittsfield. “We jokingly call it the green carpet program,” Planey said.
“The level of commitment from Pittsfield we didn’t see in other cities in Western Massachusetts,” Planey said.
Another bonus for moving to the Berkshires is that most of the manufacturers who helped SolaBlock develop its prototype are located near Pittsfield. “That is of benefit to us,” he said.
The company currently has 4 full time employees, including Planey and company founders Jason Laberty and Patrick Quinlan. It also has what Planey describes as a “myriad of people working for us part-time or as an advisor.
“In total with our advisors, we’re probably 10 or 11 people right now,” he said, adding that SolaBlock expects to have 18 employees once the production facility is under operation.
Laberty and Quinlan are distant cousins who literally pooled their talents to create SolaBock’s solar masonry unit. Laberty is a bricklayer/bricklaying instructor while Quinlan is a scientist and solar engineer who has worked at various government agencies. They began working on their project in 2012.
“They got together at a family outing and said, ‘why hasn’t anyone literally put solar into a side wall using cement block?’” said Planey, who joined SolaBlock as CEO in 2021. “They started prototyping these in their homes....It took a lot of sweat equity and a lot of design work...They were getting ready for testing when the (COVID-19) pandemic hit.”
SolaBlock’s solar masonry units are geared towards providing renewable energy for customers seeking green energy alternatives. The units are designed to be long lasting, highly weather resistant, and theft proof. SolaBlock says its product will provide an opportunity for buildings to achieve LEED certification while offsetting carbon on the way to achieving net zero emission status.
Established by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and provides a framework to create healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings. LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement.
“I’m all in favor of innovation in this space,” said Charley Stevenson, the owner/principal of Integrated Eco Strategy
of North Adams, a firm that helps buildings achieve Living Building Challenge Certification, a procedure that is even more stringent than LEED certification.
“Anything that makes solar more cost effective and an easier thing for a developer or a builder to consider is a positive,” said Stevenson, who is not familiar with SolaBlock’s product. “It looks from their website that this pitch is you’re building with blocks anyway so why not have those blocks lead to the power generation of your building.
“The idea of integrated solar has been around for awhile. I haven’t seen it in blocks before,” he said. “But it makes a lot of sense if you can do so in a cost effective way. Just putting up a wall and putting solar in as you go you’re saving a lot of labor and other costs.
“Another very positive thing I would say is that distributive solar makes great sense,” he said. “Every building that comes closer to powering itself minimizes our dependence on fossil fuels.”
SolaBlock’s idea has received praise from several local and regional business leaders, which are all listed as testimonials on the company’s website.
One testimonial is from Chris Kapiloff, who runs LTI Smart Glass of Pittsfield, which laminates the panels that SolaBlock plans to use in its solar arrays. LTI developed “School Guard Glass”, safety glass that is used to delay or thwart terror attacks in schools, embassies and government offices.
“In ten years this product will be so widely used that millions of people will know the name ‘SolaBlock’, Kapiloff wrote.
Asked to expand on his comments, Kapiloff said SolaBlock’s product can fill a void that’s present in the solar power industry
“When we think about solar we think of it exclusively as facing up,” Kapiloff said. “Whether it’s on the top of a roof or in a field it faces up because that’s where it attracts direct sunlight. But solar’s big drawback is that the hotter the panels get the less efficient they are. So panel efficiency is very high at the beginning of the
day, but as the day wears on the panels become less and less efficient as they become hotter and hotter.
“By putting panels on the side of a building and embedding them in concrete the panels are able to pass this off through the surrounding concrete, so SolaBlock’s panels stay more efficient for a significantly larger part of the day,” he said.
Solar panels placed on the sides of buildings can also pick up sunlight that panels placed on roofs are unable to access, he said.
“If you think about solar panels on the top of a roof they can get sunlight directly, which is great but there’s no reflected sunlight that lands on a solar panel when it’s on the top of your roof,” Kapiloff said . “But when it’s on the side of a building and the sunlight hits the panels it’s also getting sunlight from say, a parking lot, that refracts then hits the side of a building.
“So it’s something that the solar industry has never had a good answer for: how to make panels cool so they operate efficiently longer and how they pick up reflective light.,” he said. “SolaBlock’s product answers both of those questions better than anyone in the solar industry can answer right now.
“This is the their thing, their patent,” Kapiloff said, “and they’re the only ones doing it.”
SolaBlock was recently chosen to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Smart Manufacturing Innovation Initiative, which is based out of the University of California at Los Angeles and has a satellite office at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in nearby Troy. RPI is one of the BIC’s 12 academic partners.
“They’re going to work on setting up our factory operations,” Planey said.
SolaBlock’s solar masonry unit received its UL certification exactly one week after the company was admitted to the U.S. Energy program. UL put SolaBlock’s prototype through three batteries of tests that took two years to complete. One of those tests took 1,000 hours, according to Planey.
“Last summer we found out that we had passed two-thirds of the test, but not the remainder, and had to go back again to finish it,” Planey said. “We brought in some interns from RPI and they did some software modeling of what went wrong, and they confirmed our belief which was our testing rigs holding two of our blocks together were actually twisting and bending a little bit and that was cracking the mortar and water was seeping in a little bit. We also brought in a general manager who broke his teeth on UL testing for solar when he worked for UL. He’s semi-retired now and we brought him on as a consultant.”
The testing was done by Intertek, which is also a BIC member company, although the testing section of the firm is not located here.
“They put you through all these environmental settings that take you from minus 43 degrees centigrade to 90 degrees centigrade; zero percent humidity to 90 percent humidity,” Planey said. They really beat up these blocks....We passed all the difficult ones and flunked
the minor one. We had to get a new set of blocks for the minor tests and by the time they got set up it took a little bit of time, but the good news is we got the news that we passed.”
“The UL Photovoltaic Module Safety Certification is an incredibly rigorous process as it tests products in a multitude of extreme conditions to ensure the product’s safety,” said Chris Flueckiger, SolaBlock’s UL standards advisor and former UL principal engineer. “Passing UL product testing is a critical milestone towards full approval.”
Now it’s on to production. The city of Pittsfield, the state of Massachusetts, and the solar industry, await.
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Building the local food economy
Berkshire Agricultural Ventures is helping small farmers thrive
By John TownesGREAT BARRINGTON — It’s not easy being an independent farmers in the Berkshire region these days.
While there is widespread public support and a growing market for local food, independent farmers continue to face an array of financial and practical challenges.
Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, a non-profit organization based in Great Barrington, has been actively working to provide tangible solutions to bolster the agricultural economy and food system in Berkshire County, Litchfield County in Connecticut, and Columbia and Dutchess counties in New York.
Since it was launched in 2016, BAV has provided 33 low-interest loans to qualifying farms and other related enterprises and has awarded $1.6 million in grants to 49 recipients. It also supplies technical and business assistance and other forms of support.
Over the past year, the pace of activity at BAV has increased, as the organization implements several large grants it has received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources. It is advancing a variety of ongoing initiatives
and new services and in May hired a new executive director, Rebecca Busansky.
BAV was founded by the late Neil Chrisman, who died in May 2023, and Joel Millonzi. They brought together other proponents of regional agriculture to build the organization, which currently has a staff of eight and a nine-member board. BAV relies on a combination of grants and other institutional support, earned income, and contributions from the community for its funding.
According to its mission statement, the overall goal of BAV is to “support the development and viability of local farms and food businesses in order to build a thriving and equitable local food economy.”
Its objectives include preserving farmland, strengthening the infrastructure that serves the farming economy, and making healthy, locally-produced food available to people at all income levels.
A key element is providing low-interest financing to enable local farmers and food business to cover their expenses and acquire working capital for their operations, physical improvements, equipment, and other needs, Busansky said.
Another major focus is access to technical expertise and assistance from in-house sources and other specialists for business planning, budgeting, operations and strategies to become more efficient and profitable. It has provided these services to over 95 farm and food enterprises.
“There’s not a lot of funding available for farmers out there,” Busansky said . “People go into farming because they love it. But farms are businesses with the realities of spreadsheets, budgets and planning. We’re focused on finding creative ways of providing financing and other resources to help farmers succeed.”
BAV also supports value-added food producers, and businesses that provide services to the agricultural sector. It also collaborates with other non-profit organizations on educational programs and other projects.
Busansky succeeded Glenn Bergman, who had served as interim executive director for over two years and was instrumental in growing the organization while BAV prepared to hire a permanent director.
A graduate of Brown University with 30 years of experience in community economic development, Busansky was
FARM AID
Berkshire Agricultural Ventures has recently several received grants and provided donations to assist farmers in the Berkshire-Taconic region.
• Federal funding: BAV recently received A $630,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program. Combined with $210,000 in community donations, BAV will establish an $840,000 revolving loan fund intended to help meat processors in the Berkshire-Taconic foodshed absorb more deliveries from farms.
• Market Match program: In the second year of this program, BAV has donated $141,500 to 10 local farmer’s markets to help bring farm grown produce to the tables of SNAP, or Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, recipients at 10 regional farmers markets, including seven in the Berkshires. The program matches SNAP benefits up to $30 to give recipients access to freshly grown produce.
• Other financial assistance: In January, BAV awarded $100,000 in grants to nine Berkshire-area farmers markets to support SNAP matching programs. The grants were also awarded through the Market Match Fund. BAV was able to provide funding to every 2022 applicant, with grants ranging from $2,000 to $30,000.
previously Program Director at the Franklin County Community Development Corporation in Greenfield. In that position, Busansky helped establish the PVGrows Investment Fund, which provides financing and
technical assistance to farms and food entrepreneurs in the Pioneer Valley. She also managed the Mass Food Trust Program which funds initiatives to make affordable healthy food
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Agricultural Ventures
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available to underserved communities in the state.
She said she applied for the executive director’s position because of her experiences working with BAV in her previous job.
“I was really impressed by the staff of BAV,” she said. “They do a very deep dive and have had incredible results. I thought this would be a great opportunity to focus on the future of farming.”
In a written statement, BAV Board President Thomas Gardner said Busansky was selected because of her expertise and background in the region’s agricultural economy.
“Rebecca’s experience could not be more aligned with BAV’s mission and offerings,” Gardner said. “She brings a wealth of knowledge on farming and food systems in our region.”
Busansky noted that BAV’s coverage area purposely includes counties in other states. The organization’s activities also extend to other areas within Massachusetts, like the Pioneer Valley.
“People often refer to local farms and food, but the issues and solutions that impact local farmers often involve the larger region,” she said. “If we want to lift up local farms and the food system here we also have to look beyond the immediate area to leverage resources, and not get hung up on arbitrary boundaries.”
LOANS AND MICRO-LOANS
BAV offers loans and micro-loans of up to $50,000 to local farms and food businesses for a variety of purposes. Its Revolving Loan Fund provides flexible 0-to-4 percent interest loans. The fund is continuously recycled to create an ongoing source of financing.
It offers initiatives through the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, which BAV administers through a grant from the USDA. That program provides low-interest loans to eligible businesses that meet the USDA’s criteria for “rural business” and have fewer than 10 employees.
BAV also allocates grants through its own Resilience Fund for projects that align with its mission and focus on community impact. BAV typically awards micro-grants up to $5,000, although the amounts vary. And the organization provides bridge loans, advances that enable farmers to qualify for grants that require investment upfront.
Loans are granted for a variety of purposes, such as helping farms adopt sustainable agricultural practices, increase their income with new methods to extend their growing season, add new products, and utilize unused byproducts. Grants also are awarded to organizations to increase access to food.
And BAV provides bridge loans, advances that enable farmers to qualify for grants that require investment upfront.
“There’s been a trend towards grants that require that the work be done before the recipient is reimbursed,” Busansky said. “That places them in a difficult position if they are not able to pay for it at the time. So we give them a short-term, low-interest bridge loan that they pay back when they are reimbursed by the grant.”
BAV works with both established and newer farms.
As an example of its assistance, BAV provided both a micro-grant and a bridge loan to Uncle B And Katy Lou’s Farm in Richmond, which grows vegetables and cut-flowers and produces maple syrup emphasizing sustainable practices.
The financing enabled owners Brian and Katy Callahan to install a high tunnel, also known as a hoop house, an enclosed growing area that protects plants from severe weather and allows farmers to extend their growing season and create controlled conditions.
The Callahans operate the 11-acre
farm, which has been in business for three years, in addition to holding other jobs. Katy is also an occupational therapist and Brian is a horticulture teacher at Taconic High School in Pittsfield . “It’s full time for me in the summer which is the prime season and school’s not in session,” he said.
Brian described the Callahans’ experience with BAV as very positive.
“They’ve been wonderful to work with,” he said. “They’re very easy going and helpful. I think they are an especially great resource for young farmers who are in the early stages of farming.”
Shaker Creek Farm, located just over the state line in Stephentown, N.Y., also received a micro-grant and technical assistance from BAV. Owners Allison Basdekis and Keegan Schelling raise and sell chickens, grow culinary herbs, and have a micro-nursery that cultivates specialized fruit and nut trees. The grant financed the purchase of new infrastructure, including five new chicken tractors, which are huts that allow a chicken flock to move around a pasture.
The couple purchased the property in 2013. Originally, they produced food for their own use, and then established the business as a limited liability company to form a part time venture In 2017. Basdekis left her job at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield to operate the farm on a fulltime basis in 2020.
“We’ve had a strong relationship with BAV, which has helped us to grow from a small homestead operation into a revenue-producing farm,” Basdekis said. “In addition to financing, they gave us technical assistance for the design of the farm. We had a business advisor who gave us an amazing forecasting tool that projects variables like potential revenue sources and expenses to help us determine how we can scale up and what to expect if we do.”
Another recent recipient of BAV’s financing is Tommy’s Compost Service, which is owned by Mary Stucklen and named after her son. She regularly picks up business and residential compost from clients in central and northern Berkshire County, which is delivered to local farms. BAV recently provided a loan to enable Strucklen to purchase a truck.
SUPPORTING SNAP PROGRAMS
One grant program that recently gained new importance is Market Match, which BAV established in 2022 as a centralized fund to support Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at 10 Berkshire County farmers markets.
BAV enables participating farmers’ markets to offer customers who make purchases using SNAP benefits a dollar
for dollar match up to $30. This enables them to buy double the amount of food they would otherwise receive from their original SNAP benedits.
“It’s a win-win,” said Busansky. “It provides affordable access to healthy local food for consumers who use SNAP, while giving farmers added income. It also supports the farmers’ markets.”
The need for this program increased this spring when the federal emergency funding that had provided supplemental benefits to SNAP recipients for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic ended.
With the help of corporate sponsors and a crowdfunding campaign, BAV has increased the budget for its Market Match program from $117,500 last year to $140,000 this year. “This allows the program’s benefits to be expanded, which is important because of the cutbacks in SNAP,” Busansky said.
BAV also works with vendors and distributors of food. For example, BAV has been helping the New Lebanon Farmers’ Market in New York expand from a seasonal outdoor market to a year-round indoor store by providing a loan that enabled it to purchase new refrigeration equipment.
On another front, BAV recently gained a significant boost in its ongoing effort to increase the capacity of meat and poultry processing facilities. In May it received a $630,000 grant from the USDA Rural Development Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program.
BAV is combining this grant with an additional $210,000 match from community members to establish a dedicated, $840,000 revolving loan fund for poultry and meat processors who serve regional farmers, over the next three years. These will be available to help processing facilities increase their volume, which is a serious need here. As these loans are repaid, the money will be invested into a permanent funding mechanism to enhance BAV’s ability to support further expansions of processing.
“This is a major step forward for farmers in our region,” said Busansky. “There’s good demand for locally raised meat and poultry. However, a major obstacle has been a limited processing capacity, which hinders farmers’ ability to prepare their products for markets and reach consumers. These loans and technical assistance to processors will help to improve ‘that situation.”
An initial recipient of support from BAV is Plymouth Meats LLC, a full service USDA inspected facility in Terryville, Conn. which was established in 2017. Owner Kate Abbott received technical assistance from BAV’s Local Meat Processing Support Program. She worked for 18 months with Kitchen Table Consultants to develop business and management skills and with AgriForaging Food Safety to develop new food safety plans and
to design a new smoking program. She is building a smokehouse at the facility with a loan from BAV.
BAV is also bolstering its initiative to help farmers adopt farming practices known as agroecology, to foster resiliency and adapt to effects of climate change. It has established a Climate Smart Agriculture Program aimed at preparing for current and potential conditions such as extreme and uncertain weather patterns, droughts, pest and disease migration, and biodiversity loss. It also is intended to enhance agriculture’s potential to provide natural climate mitigation solutions, such as sequestering carbon in soils.
The initiative provides technical assistance, financial support, outreach, and education on soil management, irrigation, crop rotations, planting of trees and shrubs, and other environmentally sustainable strategies.
“It is based on teaching by example,” said Busansky. “In addition, it offers opportunities for farmers to become more efficient and create potential new income sources. “
BAV is building on this program over the next year by offering a risk assessment service. “This will help farmers analyze their operations for risks related to climate change, and develop plans to address them,” said Busansky.
These and other initiatives are occurring at a time when local farming and the food system are going through a more immediate transition period, as society moves beyond the COVID pandemic.
“Many people are analyzing the effects of the COVID pandemic on agriculture,” she said. “Different aspects had widely varied experiences. Some growers, such as flower farms, lost markets, because social activities were curtailed or cut back. The market of institutional food buyers also declined during the closures.”
However, it also strengthened the consumer market and role of local food production, due to shortages of inventory from outside the region, and nervousness about shopping in supermarkets.
“The flip side was that people became more interested in food from local sources, which translated to increased sales,” she said. “It also raised awareness of the vulnerabilities of Big Agriculture, as the larger food system did not serve us well during the crisis.”
As the pandemic has gradually subsided, the demand for local food has dropped, she sad.
“It’s currently in flux,” she said. “There are unanswered questions. Are people going back to their old ways of shopping, or have there been permanent changes that will continue to favor local foods? These will be answered over time. Hopefully, people have realized the benefits of having a strong regional food system. Even as we move beyond the recent pandemic, that will continue to be more important than ever for many reasons.”
Business voices
Searching for a good pair of socks
LEE — The Berkshire County retail landscape in 2023 embodies all the contradictions of the broader U.S. and global economies.
On the one hand, retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly rose 0.3 percent month-over-month in May, following a 0.4 percent increase in April, and beating forecasts of a 0.1 percent decline. The data signals that consumer spending remains resilient, despite higher inflation and interest rates.
Kohl’s opened a new location in Lenox last November and, across the state, book-store chain Barnes and Noble announced this month that it plans to open new stores in Wareham and Natick.
On the other hand, anyone who has shopped recently for a toaster, or a new pair of socks knows that the retail shakeout has left a dwindling menu of options in the Berkshires for shoppers. Sears? Nope. Bed Bath & Beyond? Gone. Kmart?
Long gone. The Berkshire Mall? Only if you’re going to Target.
Local retailers are also feeling the winds of change. Downtown Pittsfield has approximately 15 vacant storefronts with the recent closing of longtime small retailers like Berkshire General Store and Mission Bar + Tapas although the general store’s space is now occupied by Brazzucas, a Brazilian market.
There is no question that retailers face a challenging environment three years after COVID-19 created an existential threat to many stores. Inflation and rising interest rates continue to erode the purchasing power of consumers. And, severe labor shortages (the Massachusetts unemployment rate dropped to 2.6 percent in June) have left retailers curtailing hours and struggling to serve customers with skeleton crews. E-commerce is also a factor, though it is increasingly difficult to separate online-only sales from internet sales generated by Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target and other large brick-and-mortar chains.
E-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2023 accounted
for 15.1 percent of total sales compared to 14.80 percent last quarter and 14.50 percent last year. This is higher than the long-term average of 6.08 percent.
According to the National Retail Federation, “while many consumers continue to utilize the conveniences offered by online shopping, much of that growth is driven by multichannel sales, where the physical store still plays an important component in the fulfillment process. As the role of brick-and-mortar stores has evolved in recent years, they remain the primary point of purchase for consumers, accounting for approximately 70 percent of total retail sales.”
The biggest increases in last month’s retail report were seen in sales of building
materials and garden equipment (2.2 percent) and motor vehicles and parts (1.4 percent). The purchases were also higher at food services and drinking places (0.4 percent); general merchandise stores (0.4 percent); furniture stores (0.4 percent); food and beverages stores (0.3 percent); sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, and bookstores (0.3 percent); and electronics and appliances (0.2 percent).
Sales were flat at health, personal care, and clothing stores and fell 2.6 percent at gasoline stations and 1 percent at miscellaneous store retailers.
Overall, the NRF projects retail sales to grow four to six percent this year, hitting between $5.13 trillion and $5.23 trillion. This positive sign for retailers follows last year’s 7 percent an-
nual growth over 2021, with retail sales reaching $4.9 trillion. And while 2023’s growth will be lower than 2022’s, the forecast is above the pre-pandemic average annual retail sales growth rate of 3.6 percent.
The good news is that there are people here in the Berkshires working to jump-start retail development to capture some of that increase in consumer spending.
The Berkshire Black Economic Development Council is offering grants of up to $25,000 to businesses willing to move into some of the empty retail space in Pittsfield. The initiative, called Vibe North Street, aims to award either seed funding of up to $7,500 or sapling money of up to $25,000 to entrepreneurs looking to open up shop on North Street.
The vision, according to the BBEC, is to create a multi-stop destination.
“Maybe it’s the case that this business represents a particular culture or demographic that would attract new walks of life to North Street,” said BBEC Executive Director A.J. Enchill. The resilience of retail sales in the face of uncertain economic conditions is certainly good news, but the long-term restructuring of malls and downtown shopping areas will continue to change the economic landscape in Massachusetts.
In the meantime, anyone know where I can buy a good pair of socks?
Patricia Begrowicz, the president of Onyx Specialty Papers in Lee, is chair of the board of directors of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
Threads: A new era of social engagement
PITTSFIELD — The digital landscape is always evolving and new platforms can always enhance that experience.
Threads, a new platform launched by Meta in early July, offers a fresh perspective on social media interaction. Now, as a business owner you might be thinking, ‘”another social media network?”
That’s understandable. But Threads is more than just another platform. It’s a game-changer.
Threads, built by the Instagram team, is designed for sharing text updates and joining public conversations. Posts can be up to 500 characters
long, and the platform supports links, photos, and videos up to five minutes in length. But the real power of Threads lies in its ability to cut through the noise.
In the world of Threads, the mute button is your best friend. Muting isn’t blocking; it’s about clearing the feed, reducing the clutter, and focusing on what truly matters. As a business owner, this means you can mute accounts that merely recycle content and focus on those that bring value to your business.
The launch of Threads was met with an overwhelming response. It crossed
100 million sign-ups within five days of launching on July 7. This rapid adoption underscores the platform’s appeal and potential impact on the future of social media. But what does this mean for your business?
Threads offers an opportunity to be part of a quieter, more focused social media experience. It’s a place where real conversations happen, away from the psychological ambush of FOMO (fear of missing out)-inducing content. As a business owner, this means more meaningful engagement with your audience and a
chance to build deeper connections.
So, as we stand on the brink of this new era, remember: it’s not about adding another platform to your social media strategy. It’s about embracing a tool that allows you to mute the noise and focus on what truly matters: genuine engagement and meaningful conversations.
After all, that’s what we’re looking for in the long run.
Kaitlyn Pierce is the founder and chief strategist of PierceSocial, a digital marketing company.
Real estate stats show how hard it is to find a home
PITTSFIELD — It’s still hard to find a home in the Berkshires.
As we wrap up the second quarter of 2023, we note that Berkshire County housing sales are down from the same time period last year and inventory issues continue to challenge the market overall. As of June, 706 sales in all property types were recorded in the Multiple Listing Service countywide. That is a 25 percent decrease from the 937 sales recorded at the same time last year. Consider this: there were 569 residential homes on the market at some point during June, compared to 593 last year.
That equates to only 269 homes countywide available for purchase by the end of the month as properties sold, went under agreement, were withdrawn or expired from the market. For historical perspective, just 10 years ago in June 2013 there were 1,616 listings on the market, and in the summer of 2014 inventory rose to around 1,800, which was an all-time high.
With inventory a fraction of what it used to be, the market is churning at a rate of one-to-three months of inventory countywide at any given time.
The dollar volume transacted from January to June countywide topped $353 million with $270 million coming from residential sales. This is down 18 percent overall when compared to the first two quarters of 2022, due to the decrease in the number of homes available for sale.
With 449 residential sales year-todate, the Middle Berkshire Registry of Deeds in Pittsfield still accounts for the vast majority of homes sold and total dollar volume transacted. South County leads the region with the highest median sale price, yet those sales have also taken the longest time to sell from listing to closing date. Northern Berkshire remains the most affordable region for home sales, with low median prices running on average at $232,000 this year, compared to $300,000 in Middle Berkshire and $542,500 in the southern region. The multifamily market is robust in both northern and central Berkshire with $21.8 million of the $22.5 million in total sales transacted in those two areas.
Residential sales are down 24 percent compared to the same time last year and multifamily sales are down 26 percent. Condominium sales have dropped 19 percent, but the dollar volume of those transactions has increased from last year. Land sales are down 30 percent in the number of parcels that have been transacted, but at $12 million the dollar volume of those parcels is on par with the same time last year. Commercial sales have fallen slightly, but the dollar volume has increased 21 percent bringing the total amount to $21 million from $17 million in 2022. The vast majority of homes sold (80 percent) were purchased by buyers represented by a firm that did not list the property for sale, but who had cooperated on the sale through the MLS.
Our statistics at the Berkshire County Board of Realtors show that cooperative sales have a higher median sale price that comes closer to the asking price. These homes also sell faster from first listing to deed transfer as well as the days they spend on the market.
Looking ahead, we see a 14 percent decrease in inventory compared to last year, which was already at historically low levels. Going into the third quarter, which began July 1, there was a 19 percent reduction in the number of homes currently under agreement which indicated a slow start to this three month time period. The inventory in multifamily homes is also down 14 percent yet the number of units under contract is higher having increased by eight percent to 121 units this year. Condominium activity is on par with last year, but the number of pending sales has dropped by 10 percent. Land sales continue to struggle. Inventory in that category is down 24 percent.
Berkshire Realtors are meeting with legislators to discuss this ongoing housing crisis and what can be done to spur growth, redevelopment and investment in the community’s most prized asset — housing for the citizenship. We are also engaged and contributing to the Massachusetts Real Estate Community Alliance, a nonpartisan, non-profit organization created to support and protect property owners and the communities they help build. Information on the alliance can be found at https://www.massrecommunity.org.
Join us and the efforts of all communities in making the Berkshires a place to live for all. The full second quarter market update with historical data can be found at www.BerkshireRealtors.net.
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Collaborating with cannabis boosts local economy
LEE — In the Berkshires, we have discovered extraordinary co-sponsoring and co-branding collaboration opportunities between cannabis and non-cannabis businesses.
This wellspring is sowing seeds of understanding with traditional businesses who are recognizing the high traffic that the cannabis industry experiences daily, even during the current market compression, and thus seeing the value in the crossover of our customer bases — realizing that our customers are their customers, too. With efforts yielding real results and fostering increased cooperation, finding new collaborative ways of strengthening customer loyalty to the betterment of the local Berkshire economy around our area in South County is a wise move for all.
This mutual relationship between local businesses and cannabis companies like Canna Provisions is providing exciting prospects for the future while creating valuable content (see our partnerships with local cultural venues like Tanglewood and Shakespeare & Co.), forging strong collaborations, and helping normalize cannabis as a crucial engine for the local economy right now. Historically, when we reached out for creative collaborations with local businesses, the response was mixed. Today, the narrative is shifting towards overwhelming acceptance which itself signals the continued, broad societal shift in attitudes towards cannabis even right here in the Berkshires. And we’re not solely talking about business here, we’re talking about a communal language of prosperity.
Being active community participants fosters excitement and momentum, and more people are now initiating contact, eager to partner with us, just as we have with others. Our Weed and Wellness series of free yoga, wellness, and cannabis education at select venues across Lenox and Lee truly illustrates the power of community and brand building. Our recent event at The Mount received regional attention given the unlikely team-up. This ability to speak to mutual customers through well-conceived events is even evidenced via our ongoing curation of live music and music-themed bingo at local bars and music venues, which enriches experiences in our region in a collaborative way.
We’ve seen firsthand how collaboration can boost a local business and inject a newfound vigor into their week-to-week hustle. Take the Locker Room bar in Lee for instance. Our partnership has objectively boosted their mid-week business, and every Wednesday, we now see a thriving scene of community members bonding over food, drinks, and shared experiences (read: music bingo) that we helped usher in. We’re doing the same at Michael’s in Stockbridge. Imagine the possibilities if we expand this across multiple establishments.
We’re all struggling as businesses. Issues ranging from staffing to housing to the economy burdens us all, cannabis and non cannabis businesses alike. It may be small scale, but if we can change one day a week for one business by partnering with them and pushing our customers to engage with and spend their dollars with the local community, then that’s the game. And the community — local or tourist — pays attention.
I’m a member of the Berkshire Business and Professional Women’s group which has been around since 1965. We are a member of 1Berkshire and host entrepreneurial meetups at our Lee office. I am also on the board of the Lee Chamber of Commerce, and a member of both the Lenox and Stockbridge chambers as well and more. But I was
recently at the yearly Lions Club picnic here in Lee where I am a member, and the topic du jour was Canna Provisions collaboration events in the area. I can’t tell you the number of people that came up to me and gave me a hug and said thank you to me. That’s what it’s all about.
The cannabis industry is experiencing significant shifts nationwide. In a highly competitive state like Massachusetts, the contraction is palpable. However, there’s one effective differentiator — real community involvement, and voting with your dollars. Supporting those who support the community, and forming partnerships with like-minded businesses are cost-effective ways of spreading your brand. We stand at an interesting crossroad in the cannabis industry. The landscape is undulating, challenging us at every turn. But there’s an ace up our sleeve, and our commitment to community involvement as an ethos isn’t just an inexpensive marketing strategy, it’s a testament to our resolve to stay rooted in our community.
Our active participation at community events has not gone unnoticed. From the mayor to the city council, key figures in our communities we operate in acknowledge our dedication. This sense of belonging and recognition from our county’s gatekeepers is more than just political support; it’s a validation of our approach.
As we embrace collaboration and community involvement, we’re creating ripples of change that are both powerful and enduring. This is not just about doing good business; it’s about shaping perceptions, carving our space, and serving shared customers in a way that enriches everyone’s experience. When we work together towards a collaborative, thriving economy everyone wins. After all, when everyone wins, isn’t that the epitome of good business sense?
Jobs
In May 2022, Boulger told The Berkshire Eagle’s Larry Parnass, “we’ve come to conclude that those 2,000 people are mostly people who have taken early retirement. People who were working and just decided to leave the workforce.”
Then there are changes in national immigration policy. They have led to a decline in immigration in recent years, mostly among people seeking to obtain work visas, which has hampered Berkshire County where tourism and service jobs are an important part of the local economy
These various impacts have continued past COVID and are “leaving us with fewer working age people in the region,” Boulger said.
It was hoped a pandemic-related population boost from urban dwellers fleeing cities and purchasing homes in the Berkshires would provide new job-seekers, especially in skilled positions. Sales of single-family homes in the Berkshires skyrocketed during the pandemic when city dwellers began to migrate to rural areas.
“I think a lot of people have moved to the Berkshires during the pandemic, but I think they are not adding to the workforce as we thought that they would,” Boulger said. “I think they are still working remotely from wherever it was they came from.”
The pandemic-era labor market trends “have left us in a little bit of a hole, and it’s harder to find the workers that we need,” she said. “Our companies have done whatever it takes to retain workers, but it is going to take decades before we truly understand the impacts of the pandemic on the workforce.”
At the MassHire Berkshire Career Center in Pittsfield, staff have considered all options — including a number of new approaches — to help close the employment
gaps plaguing area companies.
“We have had to reassess how we provide services,” said Pamela Wojtkowski, the career center’s manager of program operations. “We are constantly looking at what are the job-seeker needs, what are the employer needs ... We are constantly thinking of innovative ways to provide services, because we can do some of these things now virtually.”
Employers across all sectors “are a little desperate,” she said.
The center staff hears the concerns “a lot from health care [employers], a lot from manufacturing, a lot from hospitality,” Wojtkowski said.
“Those are our major sectors, but I think the need is across the board.”
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begun doing all interviews via Zoom or similar platforms. The career center, which has a computer room job-seekers can access, can offer laptop access and technical assistance.
The career center also can offer streaming services that allow prospective employees at the enter to interact with employers in their offices.
But even when job-seekers find positions it doesn’t bring stability to their employers.
Workforce Statistics
• The Berkshire County workforce of about 60,000 has shrunk by 2,000 since the pandemic.
• Berkshire Career Center job listings filled about six double-spaced pages, now fill two dozen single-space pages.
• Nationally, 25 to 30 percent of workers have changed jobs since the pandemic began.
This dire need for workers in the Berkshires is best illustrated by the local job listings posted on MassHireBerkshirescc.com, she said.
• Surveys indicate about 23 percent of workers nationally plan to switch jobs within a year.
“Pre-COVID, it was four to six pages long, double spaced, and now it is maybe 24 to 26 pages, single spaced,” Wojtkowski said.
Career Center staff began offering job-search services virtually when restrictions were put into place during the pandemic and also to limit the spread of COVID-19. Now that those restrictions have been lifted, they’re offering those services in a hybrid approach that consists of virtual and in-person sessions, said MassHire Berkshire Workforce Business Advisor Melanie Herzig.
Herzig said that many employers have
Employers have told the career center that they will “schedule these interviews but the person doesn’t show up for the interview,” Boulger said.
Business owners also say they’ve hired job candidates during the interview process that either don’t show up for the first day of work or only stay a couple of days before leaving.
“They aren’t motivated,” Boulger said, “or they just don’t feel it’s the right position for them ... I’ve heard that from multiple business sectors, and from business leaders as well.”
This situation has occurred with workers of every generation, Boulger said.
“I think every generation has very hard working overachievers,” she added. “Every generation has some folks that don’t want to work, and everywhere in between.”
JOB SWITCHING
Lots of workers are also switching jobs. According to Boulger, 25 to 30 percent of employees nationally have changed jobs
since the pandemic began in 2020. Surveys indicate that 23 percent say they plan to switch jobs within the next year.
Workers are ready to look elsewhere and quickly, “if they are not 100 percent happy where they are,” she said.
“It is safe to say a good amount of what we see is individuals going from one job to the next, people moving around — going for extra pay, work-life balance, and better benefits,” Wojtowski said.
“It can be really hard on some employers when you have people who are job hopping,” added Herzig. “It takes a tremendous amount of employers’ effort to go get somebody trained for a position just to have them up and leave. It is making it very tough.”
The career center has developed programs to assist businesses with the cost of training each new employee, which can be a major investment.
At least one local business, 110 Grill in Lenox, has had to delay opening because it has had trouble find qualified candidates to fill positions. The new building that was constructed to house the regional restaurant chain based in Lowell was completed this spring, but the business has delayed opening until late summer. This is the second time the opening has been pushed back. The 110 Grill was originally scheduled to open in December
Posted openings for two full-time restaurant managers are listed on internet employment sites — one paying $54,000 to $66,000 per year, the other from $45,000 to $70,000.
“The wage battle is continuing,” Kimberly Wallace, 110 Grill’s director of operations, recently told The Berkshire Eagle. “However, we believe our culture is stronger and more positive than others. We have hired two strong leaders and will continue to look for two more.”
Speaking generally, Jessica Jones, who coordinates Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act programs for the ca-
reer center, and counsels job-seekers on career options, said. “one of the frustrations I hear most is that employers are not responsive.”
She said that’s primarily in terms of communicating with applicants about where the hiring process stands, and about their chances for being hired.
“It can be very frustrating, especially when you are lacking income,” Jones said.
“Pay is also one of the big complaints” among job-seekers, she said, especially in jobs that require some training or skills but pay at or near minimum wage levels. There also seems to be a “disconnect between the employers and the positions they have open, and what they are looking for, and the people who are applying for jobs,” Jones said.
Those disconnects might be over pay levels that job-seekers don’t feel they can live on, especially if they have transportation or other issues in their lives, or over what employers are looking for in an applicant on day one.
She said it seems both parties might benefit if employers reponded more to applicants, and also looked closely at what they actually need in a new hire versus whether an applicant has the potential to learn and grow into the job.
If training or new skills are required, she said, the career center can provide help.
There is a positive sign. The number of young people participating in the career center’s Youth Works program this year has risen to 150 from 80 in 2022, she said.
MONEY MONEY MONEY
While benefits and perks of all kinds are now more on the minds of job-seekers, wage levels in Berkshire County remain a long-standing local issue, said Laura Brennan, the economic development program manager for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission.
Sluggish hiring was an issue with companies who were struggling with well before the pandemic, she said, partly because of lower wages, but COVID “made all that more urgent.”
When preparing its recently released five-year county economic plan, Brennan said concerns were heard about a dearth of appropriately trained staff members. She said this issue was being addressed by a network of programs and entities targeting training, certifications and other issues.
But that is “a slow and methodical process,” she said. “In some cases, the pipeline hadn’t caught up, even before the pandemic.”
A lack of affordable housing is a long standing issue in the Berkshires. A few employers have begun helping new employees finding housing — especially those who work in lower paying service jobs in the restaurant and hospitality job sectors.
“ It is really a case-by-case basis,” Brennan said, “depending on what workers need, and what is realistic [for the employer].”
A lot of effort is going into “creating an environment that is appealing to today’s workforce,” she said.
But Brennan said “none of this curtails the need to increase wages.”
This is an area where the county lags behind the rest of the state.
Berkshire County has long been known for having lower wages and a higher cost of living than other areas of the state, said Brennan, referring to statistics in the BRPC’s five year report.
“The comparison between almost every category between Berkshire County and Massachusetts is quite stark,” she said.
“If the region wants to attract and retain workers in our key industries — let alone become more diversified in the industries we’re cultivating — employers will need to continue their efforts to offer competitive wages while at the same time improving their communication about the quality of life the Berkshires has to offer.”
Wanda Haley, of BerkshireJobs.com at Boxcar Media, said pay levels are extremely important to most jobseekers.
“I think one of the first things [job-seekers] check, is how much is it going to pay me,” she said. “That’s the big thing right now. I think if the employer doesn’t list what they pay, I think they lose the interest of the job-seekers.”
On the other side of the equation, she said, some employers seem willing to pay “whatever it takes” when they absolutely
need to fill a position.
But, like others in the field, Haley also noted a recent trend toward companies filling more of the open positions being advertised, of which BerkshireJobs.com listed more than 340 in early July.
“It has been going the right way,” Haley said of the June hiring and job-seeker inquiry figures.
BACK TO THE OFFICE
Being able to continue to work remotely also causes friction in the local job market, Wojtkowski said, although it is not a deal breaker.
“We are still seeing customers [at the career center] coming in who are looking for remote work, for which the opportunities are not as viable as they were during COVID,” she said. “And we are starting to see employers going back to the brick and mortar, you know, going back to the office. We are seeing some other employers that are not going to change that — and some employees are being a little reluctant about that; they kind of like working at home.”
I think the entire atmosphere of work has shifted, that we are at a point of re-evaluation,” she said. “I think businesses are re-evaluating right now what are the tasks that can be completed re -
motely. Whether hybrid schedule or fully remote. But if you’re customer-facing or have to be on the work site, they are really pushing for people to be back.”
So what will being employees back to the workplace?
“I think it is maybe the whole package,” Boulger said, referring to pay scales and the right range of benefits.
Benefits like employee appreciation activities “that don’t cost a whole lot of money but make people feel valued and appreciated,” she said. “Many more companies are doing that than three or four years ago.”
“For some companies that don’t have the opportunity to significantly raise their wages, they are trying to attract and retain employees other ways,” Boulger said, “such as offering a stronger benefit package, more flexible work times, a better workplace balance, maybe even some remote work. Most companies have reinvented their workforce, to try to be more flexible, offer more learning opportunities.
“Most companies have really invested in the importance of workers,” she said.
Will that be enough to entice job seekers to fill all the open positions in the Berkshires? We’ll see.
How innovation flourishes in the Berkshires
PITTSFIELD — This summer, in collaboration with the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board, the Berkshire Innovation Center has launched a new original podcast series called “Innovation Lives Here.”
In a region internationally renowned as a destination for its natural beauty and cultural attractions, the phrase “Innovation Lives Here” is a broad acknowledgement that technology and innovation are also part of the Berkshire’s industrial past, present, and future.
Hosted by PJ Moynihan, an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and executive producer of BIC Studios, the podcast delves into the human side of stories that underpin the Berkshire’s innovation economy, and explores topics and trends that are relevant to employer and job seekers. The first installment of the podcast, entitled “The Changing Workforce,” is a six-episode limited series investigating the evolving landscape of the job market through the stories of firms and workers that make up the fabric of Berkshire County’s technology-focused sectors.
As Moynihan observes, “from AI and the breakneck pace of technological advancement to the churn in labor markets and the rise of emerging industries, the waters are choppy and challenging to navigate for both employers and job seekers.”
I had the pleasure of being a guest on the first episode, along with Brenda Burdick of General Dynamics Mission Systems and James Kupernick of VidMob. Getting an inside perspective from industry partners like General Dynamics and VidMob is always fascinating, and we dove into several topics that were particularly interesting — from post-COVID management practices to the ways in which their firms look for and evaluate talent. What I enjoyed most, however, were the narratives from James and Brenda describing their personal journeys that led them to their current roles. Like me, both James and Brenda were born and raised in Berkshire County and all three of us noted that when we graduated from area high schools, we figured we would have to head to a bigger city — Boston, New York, Providence, Washington D.C., etc. — for career opportunities. For each of us, one opportunity led to another, and though the path was not always linear, we all ultimately found rewarding and challenging positions right here at home.
I told a story that I often share with those who visit the BIC. When I was growing up here, my parents and teachers took me to all of our amazing cultural and outdoor attractions — Tanglewood, Hancock Shaker Village, the Clark, Bish Bash Falls, Mount Greylock, the Norman Rockwell Museum, Mass MoCA, Jacob’s Pillow, the list goes on. People from around the world come to the Berkshires to enjoy these attractions and early on it was ingrained in me just how lucky I was to have these places and even more having them right in my backyard. Though I left the Berkshires to attend college, I always dreamed of returning and raising my own family in this special place.
What I didn’t know as a kid growing up, and what I didn’t come to fully understand until I started my job at the BIC, was the rich history of innovation in the Berkshires and just how many amazing firms are thriving here today. When I started in my position as executive director, the first thing I did was embark on a whirlwind tour of our advanced manufacturers and other tech-focused businesses.
I toured long-established employers like General Dynamics, Boyd Biomedical, Lenco Armored Vehicles, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, Sinicon Plastics, Interprint Inc., Sabic, and Spectrum Plastics, and met with young and growing companies like Electro Magnetic Applications, VidMob, SolaBlock, United Aircraft Technologies, and IdleSmart.
To say that I was blown away is an understatement. For someone new to
advanced manufacturing and hi-tech engineering, seeing firsthand how sophisticated products for medical, military, and clean energy applications were being made here was fascinating. More importantly, however, seeing all this amazing technology right here in the Berkshires changed my entire understanding of my hometown. The Berkshires is indeed a world-class cultural destination and a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, but it is also a place where innovation lives and innovation is thriving.
This is a message that we reiterate every day at the BIC and a message that is at the heart of the podcast. It is also a message that underlies our cornerstone programming at the BIC, including our BETA (Berkshire E-Talent Accelerator) program.
BETA, which is in high-gear right now, is an intensive five-week experiential learning program designed to connect high school students with local businesses, work with them to explore idea development and business strategies, and give them the opportunity to engage with the technologies offered at the BIC and our member companies. The program seeks to build new pathways to technical careers in the region, offering a solution that is based around driving awareness and building a more diverse workforce.
My favorite aspect of the program is the visits to local industry partners. Just like I did when I started at the BIC, the BETA students go door-to-door touring the most innovative companies in the region. The reactions are very much like mine — students are blown away both by the amazing technology that they see and by the fact that these cutting-edge firms are operating right in their own backyard.
BETA alums from previous years have obviously gotten the “innovation lives here” message, as I see more and more of them interning with regional firms or even landing full-time positions. This is always a thrill, and it inspires the BIC team as we work with this year’s BETA cohort.
This year’s BETA cohort features 19 students from 11 regional high schools, all of whom applied and were selected by our review committee. They include: Dominic Campoli, John Cook, Tucker Danylin, Justin Rodriguez, and Jace Ziarnik from BART Charter School; Rose Briggs from the Darrow School; David Scholz from Hoosac Valley High School; Aiden Smith from Lee High School; Shaffer Kropke, Cormac Mathews and Eleanor Kropke from Lenox Memorial High School; Sophie Gentlemen and Bianca Kerr from Miss Hall’s School; Lana Kellar from Monument Mountain Regional High School; Silas Sims from
Mount Greylock Regional High School; Jackson Jezewski from Pittsfield High School; Henry Benson and Tucker Thomas from Taconic High School; and Ryan Beaulieu from Wahconah Regional High School.
It’s been a pleasure working with these future leaders. Thank you to those who hosted them for a visit, and to the sponsors and mentors who have made
this experience so special. In the Berkshires, we need to reach downstream and convey a strong message to the talented young people who already know about the quality of life that our region has to offer, and let them know that Innovation Lives Here, too.
Financial sustainability by artificial intelligence
By L iana Toscanini
GREAT BARRINGTON — Sustainability weighs heavily on the minds of nonprofit leaders and their funders, no matter where the advice comes from.
I wrote this column after receiving 500 words of solid sustainability advice in 20 seconds using ChatGPT on openai.com. That was pretty impressive and kind of fun. While I agree with everything that ChatGPT recommends, I find it interesting that nothing was mentioned about investing in marketing as an integral part of fundraising success. So based on that, I guess I’m not out of a job just yet.
Nonprofits that want to explore some of the suggestions below in more detail are welcome to contact the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires for advice, resources, a quick brainstorming session, or office hours with an expert. Since the NPC has engaged in all of these practices over the last seven years, we are happy to share our successes, challenges, and Berkshires-specific advice. So see what you think of the following words of artificial intelligence wisdom:
“Financial sustainability is vital for nonprofits to fulfill their missions and ensure their long-term success. By adopting sound financial practices, nonprofits can effectively manage their resources, attract funding, and maintain stability.
Here are 10 financial sustainability tips for nonprofits, courtesy of AI:
• Diversify your funding sources. Relying on a single source of funding can be risky. Diversify your funding streams by seeking support from individual donors, corporate sponsorships, grants, and earned income. This approach reduces dependency on a single source and provides stability.
• Develop a fundraising strategy. Create a comprehensive fundraising strategy that aligns with your organization’s mission and goals. Identify fundraising priorities, target audiences, and appropriate fundraising methods. Regularly review and update your strategy to adapt to changing circumstances and emerging opportunities.
• Cultivate donor relationships. Build strong relationships with your donors by engaging them in meaningful ways. Communicate your impact, provide regular updates, and express gratitude for their support. Donor stewardship and retention are key to securing ongoing financial support.
• Invest in donor acquisition. While donor retention is important, it is equally crucial to invest in donor acquisition. Expand your donor base by reaching out to new individuals and organizations who share an affinity with your cause. Utilize marketing techniques, social media, events, and networking to attract new supporters.
• Budget strategically. Develop a realistic and detailed budget that aligns with your strategic goals. Allocate resources efficiently and effectively, considering both short-term needs and long-term sustainability. Regularly monitor and review your budget to ensure financial stability.
• Prioritize financial transparency. Maintain transparency in your financial practices. Clearly communicate how funds are used and demonstrate accountability to donors, stakeholders, and the public. Provide regular financial reports and engage in independent audits to build trust and credibility.
• Explore earned income opportunities. Identify opportunities to generate revenue through earned income. This could include charging fees for services, selling merchandise, or organizing events. Consider how your organization’s expertise and mission can be
We can do remarkable things now with artificial intelligence. ChatGPT even helped
But though the words were generated by AI the message in them is not artificial: financial
greatly benefits nonprofit organizations.
leveraged to create revenue-generating activities.
• Control expenses. Review your expenses regularly and identify areas where cost savings can be achieved without compromising the quality of your programs and services. Negotiate favorable contracts with suppliers, explore shared services with other organizations, and ensure efficient use of resources.
• Build organizational capacity: Invest in building the capacity of your organization’s staff and leadership. Provide training and professional development opportunities to enhance financial management skills. Strong financial leadership and expertise are essential for maintaining financial sustainability.
• Plan for contingencies. Anticipate potential financial risks and plan accordingly. Maintain a reserve fund to address unforeseen circumstances, such as economic downturns, emergencies, or fluctuations in funding. Having a financial cushion provides stability during challenging times.
By implementing these financial sustainability tips, nonprofits can establish a solid financial foundation, attract ongoing support, and ensure their ability to create lasting impact. Remember to regularly review and adapt your financial practices to respond to the evolving needs of your organization and the communities you serve.
ChatGPT may provide great tips, but it doesn’t do the actual work for you. For this column, it saved me about an hour’s worth of writing time. That was great. Who doesn’t love having an extra hour to cultivate donors or even gardens?
So go do the work. It’s worth it. Remember, financial sustainability is a good investment. You don’t need AI or ChatGPT to tell you that.
BHS plans to reopen North Adams Regional Hospital
By M att M artinez & Sten SpinellaNORTH ADAMS — Berkshire Health Systems
recently unveiled a plan to reopen North Adams Regional Hospital this winter.
It could take months before BHS obtains the proper approvals to do so, but the announcement in late June that the hospital could reopen with 25 inpatient beds on a medical-surgical floor this winter has been greeted with optimism in the community. BHS is aiming to open the hospital in January.
“BHS continues to invest in our region, and a Critical Access Hospital in North Adams signals an investment not only in the facility, but in the health of all North County residents,” said North Adams Mayor Jennifer A. Macksey, in a Berkshire Health Systems news release. “I look forward to continued collaboration with BHS as we seek to improve health outcomes for patients across our region.”
“This investment in reestablishing inpatient beds in North County represents a new chapter, not only for North Adams but for our system’s ongoing efforts to improve the health and overall quality of life of the many communities we serve across Berkshire County,” said Bart Raser, the chairman of Berkshire Health System’s board of trustees.
Nearly a decade after Northern Berkshire Healthcare went bankrupt and closed North Adams Regional abruptly in March 2014, the announcement represents an extraordinary development for the health — and the heart — of Northern Berkshire County. The reopening restores a hospital for some 30,000 residents in the Northern Berkshires and southwestern Vermont.
Long seen as an intractable hurdle, re-
opening the facility as a so-called critical access hospital is now possible due to a change in federal regulations. The plan still needs federal and state approvals, but such a designation makes providing hospital-level care financially viable.
“Once approved, the updated North Adams Regional Hospital will offer stateof-the-art medical and surgical services on a scale that meets the needs of Northern Berkshire residents today and into the future,” said Darlene Rodowicz, the president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems.
NARH’s closing put more than 500
Berkshire Bank to keep ATM open in Otis
Move comes with bank closing two Berkshire branches
By Jane K auf M anpeople out of work and created a health care desert in Northern Berkshire. BHS bought the North Adams hospital campus in September 2014 and renamed it Berkshire Health North. Over the years, Berkshire Health System restored levels of care ranging from 24-hour emergency services to outpatient procedures, from surgeries to diagnostics.
The addition of up to 25 inpatient beds means patients will not, out of necessity, need to head to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield or Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vt., for their inpatient care. The medical-surgical floor means people who need treatment for ailments such as chronic medical conditions, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and post-operation services will have it back in North Adams.
Rodowicz said the hospital will not be
offering a full scope of intensive services.
The medical/surgical floor will be able to handle chronic conditions, chronic heart failure and the aforementioned afflictions, but may fall short in handling complex oncology care and stroke services.
The hospital, once reopened, will not have ventilated beds, and will likely continue sending intense cases, such as inpatient vascular and neurosurgical procedures, down to Berkshire Medical Center.
The hospital will also not feature an area birthing center, Rodowicz said. In order to justify having a birthing center by today’s standards, an area should have about 800 new births a year. Before the hospital closed, they were averaging around 180 deliveries, per administrators.
Rodowicz said that in spite of this, the hospital’s services will be roughly the same as what was there before, based on the staff at the center.
“We’ll be replicating what was available,” Rodowicz said.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees critical access hospitals, proposed a regulatory change in June of last year, and finalized it in November. Previously, per federal guidelines, hospitals had to be located at least 35 miles away from each other by primary roads, defined as a numbered state or federal highway with at least two lanes going in each direction.
But last year’s change made an exception for hospitals located around secondary roads — or one-lane highways — and mountainous regions. Such health centers only have to be 15 miles away from the nearest hospital. That allows the North Adams Regional Hospital, and hospitals in rural areas around the country, to pursue or convert to the designation.
What makes the critical access designation attractive is it triggers increased cost-based reimbursement for provided services, which Rodowicz said will prevent a reopened North Adams Regional HOSPITAL, Page 19
OTIS
— Berkshire Bank is closing two county branches, but in a small but perhaps significant victory for local residents, will leave its ATM open at one of those locations in Otis.
The two branches slated for closure are located on 734 Williams St. in Pittsfield and on 30 East Otis Road in Otis, where it is the town’s only banking facility.
They will both close on Sept. 29 as the regional bank continues a trend towards more online banking services. But in response to residents’ concerns after the announcement, Berkshire Bank said it will keep its ATM open at its former Otis branch even if it decides to sell the building, which it owns.
Residents recently told The Berkshire Eagle they were concerned about the loss of the bank branch, particularly the ATM, because it was the only reliable local source of cash to residents and the town’s burgeoning summer population, which greatly increases the number of residents. Some residents penned objections, and the Select Board planned to file one to the state commissioner of banks. The next closest banks to Otis are in Lee and Great Barrington.
In a statement, Berkshire Bank said the decision to keep the ATM open in Otis was made, “in response to community concerns.”
“The bank plans on selling the building as part of the normal part of closure, and desires to work with a buyer of the building to retain ATM services at this location,“ according to the statement.
Berkshire is also planning to close two other branches on Sept 29, in Marlborough in Middlesex County and in Westborough in Worcester County. No jobs will be lost.
Brian Sullivan, chief retail administrative officer at Berkshire Bank, said the pandemic accelerated a trend toward online banking that was already taking hold.
“We constantly evaluate our franchise,” Sullivan said. “We constantly evaluate customer behavior.”
Berkshire Bank expanded substantially from 2011 to 2019 through a series of mergers and acquisitions, but began to down-
size and sell off some of those assets after current president and CEO Nitin Mhatre took over in 2019. The bank, which went public in 2000, has over 100 locations in New England and New York state, including 14 in Berkshire County.
The Otis branch has been only fully open just on Tuesdays in recent months, and was shut down completely for a time during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Williams Street branch has been temporarily closed since the pandemic.
Sullivan said Otis customers may choose to use branches in Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox or Sheffield — or they may move to online banking or My Banker, a personal banking service offered by Berkshire Bank.
“Part of our communication strategy to customers is making sure that customers are aware of those different choices,” Sullivan said. “We call them flexible banking options.”
Gary Levante, Berkshire’s chief of corporate responsibility and communications, said last year Berkshire Bank announced an expanded partnership with the tech company Narmi “to deliver new digital online and mobile banking solutions for our customers.”
Employees are now testing those online services prior to a customer rollout possibly this fall.
Berkshire Bank moved its corporate headquarters to Boston in 2017, but its operational headquarters have remained in Pittsfield, where the bank was founded. Levante said Berkshire County is still important to the bank.
“We were founded here 177 years ago,” he said, noting that the bank’s first $25 deposit came from a Pittsfield farming couple.
Berkshire Bank Foundation Director
Lori Gazzillo Kiely, who is also president of the bank’s Berkshire County/ Vermont region, said the foundation has contributed $4 million to the region in the last five years along with more than 59,000 volunteer hours valued at more than $1.6 million.
Berkshire Bank has $12 billion in assets and approximately 1,300 employees.
Privacy Campground sold to neighbors
Off-the-grid camp sold to neighbors
By Jane K aufmanHANCOCK — Privacy Campground on the east side of Brodie Mountain has been sold to longtime neighbors of the off-the-grid campsite. But don’t worry, founder André Rambaud is staying put.
The sale of 485 acres along with the camp, now in its 50th season, was recorded in May at the Central Berkshire Registry of Deeds for $325,000.
The buyer is Wildwood Outdoor Resort LLC. That company is led by Peter Morin and his wife, Dr. Rachaele Carver Morin, with Peter Morin’s sister and brother-inlaw, Jan and Eric Lillie, as minority partners. The two couples both live across Route 43 on family property.
Rambaud, 91, said he’s too old to maintain the off-the-grid campground, which has a hydroelectric generator that is housed beside a 60-foot-by-25-foot bomb shelter. His house is attached to the campground’s office, so he’ll continue to live on the property, even after the sale.
“I’m sure it’s in good hands,” Rambaud said. “I built this house to retire [in], so I want to live here.”
A
DELIBERATE CHOICE
Things might have gone in a different direction.
“I was very picky,” said Rambaud about who he would sell the campground to, adding he received multiple offers. “I wasn’t out for a lot of money. I wanted to preserve the property because I worked very hard to build the campground and I want it to stay the way it is, just the way it is, in its natural surrounding.”
The new owners are financing the sale with a $355,000 loan in the form of a mortgage that Rambaud holds.
They will pursue a conservation easement on most of the land that would bar it from being developed or managed for profit. They hope to double the number of cabins, from five to 10, add lean-tos and platform tents. There are no plans for glamping.
Included in the sale were three antique automobiles: a 1939 Pontiac, a 1948
Citroen and a 1951 Jeep. They’re stored in the bomb shelter Rambaud built when he was Hancock’s civil defense director in the 1970s.
Rambaud offered a tour of the property recently, hopping behind the wheel of an electric-powered Yamaha golf court on gravel roads.
“It’s fun to play with these things,” Rambaud said as he drove past construction equipment. “You feel like a kid playing with Tonka toys.”
There’s an A-frame house, first built as a summer house. In addition to five cabins, there are 35 tent sites, three ponds and a recreation room. There is also a playground with a train that runs on about 50 feet of track.
Peter Morin remembers riding that train after his family moved across the road when he was 5 in 1980.
FROM FRANCE TO HANCOCK
Born in France in January of 1932, Rambaud, his mother and younger brother boarded the Serpa Pinto, a ship in Lisbon, Portugal, to flee during World War II in 1940. His father met the rest of the family in New York City.
The Rambauds moved to Long Island, where André first learned English at school. After graduating from College du Montcel in France, he returned to Long Island and became an electrician. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951, serving in Korea during the Korean War and in the United States running emergency generators at U.S. bases. On the GI Bill, he earned his private pilot’s license and flew to Massachusetts.
He hoped to buy land for a weekend place in the Berkshires he could fly to. Instead, in 1960 he bought his first 220 acres on the mountainside in Hancock for $4 an acre.
About that time, Rambaud met Birgit Nielson at a club in New York and the two were married in 1964. A co-worker at Clark Aiken Co. in Lee suggested he build a campground.
The Rambauds opened Privacy Campground in June of 1973, the day of an
In Lenox, 110 Grill waiting on staff
Hiring challenges push back opening to late summer
By ClarenCe fanto,LENOX — Berkshire County’s first 110 Grill is ready to open — its building adjacent to Kohl’s in The Center at Lenox off Route 7/20 was completed in late spring.
But diners will have to wait for opening day until late summer, according to the latest projection from company headquarters in Westford, near Lowell. The restaurant had been scheduled to begin operating before the summer peak season — and even that was delayed from the original target of last December.
Why the delay? It’s no longer supply chain issues, said Kimberly Wallace, the regional chain’s director of operations.
Hiring/staffing challenges continue to ease compared to last year, she said.
“The wage battle is continuing,” Wallace stated. “However, we believe our culture is stronger and more positive than others. We have hired two strong leaders and will continue to look for two more.”
Posted openings for two full-time restaurant managers are listed on internet employment sites — one paying $54,000 to $66,000 per year, the other from $45,000 to $70,000.
110 Grill, which plans to employ up to 50 staffers at the Lenox site, lists its core values as “consistency, collaboration, respect, integrity and excellence/ success.” Hourly positions to be filled include servers, bartenders, hosts, line cook, prep cook and dishwasher, according to the company’s online job application page.
The chain’s local site is a single-story, 5,700-square-foot building — with a 1,700-square-foot outdoor patio next to Kohl’s, which opened last November. In April 2022, the Lenox Select Board approved the all-alcohol restaurant and entertainment licenses. The site plan for Kohl’s and 110 Grill was green-lit in June 2021.
Company attorney Kevin Eriksen had told the Select Board that opening dates were moving targets, especially with supply chain issues that surfaced during the pandemic.
In addition to Kohl’s, The Center at Lenox, 489 Pittsfield Road just south of the city line, also is home to Price Chopper/Market 32, CVS Pharmacy, Carr Hardware, Marshalls, a Berkshire Bank branch, Verizon Wireless and Luxury Nails and Spa.
110 Grill has 39 current and pending locations in Massachusetts (including Holyoke and Hadley), Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, as well as restaurants in Albany and Latham in New York. The group brands itself as an upscale family restaurant, with an open kitchen and modern American cuisine, including gluten-free and vegetarian options.
The menu includes calorie counts for most choices, though not the desserts. The setting is described as “a trendy, casual atmosphere, with large, horseshoe-shaped bars and outdoor patios with fire pits,” the website states.
The Lenox location will offer lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch on some weekends.
enormous flood. Birgit helped run it until her death in 1998, as did their daughter, Veronica Zenaro.
A NATURAL TRANSITION
Now chief information security officer at Synagex in Pittsfield, Peter Morin had his eye on Privacy Campground for years.
In the past several years, he has worked with Rambaud on the property.
Born in Pittsfield, Morin graduated from McCann Technical School in North Adams and from Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., where he spent time camping.
He returned in 2006 and met his wife when he went to see her professionally as a dentist. The two had their first dinner date at Hobson’s Choice in Williamstown. Six months later they got married at Jiminy Peak.
Both Peter Morin and Rachaele Carv-
er Morin have studied alternative approaches to wellness with a focus on energy work.
“I think it was Pete’s dream, but I was very excited to be out in nature,” Rachaele Carver Morin said. “I don’t think people spend enough time outdoors in nature anymore. So I was excited to have more land and be outside, getting my kids more interested in being outdoors.”
She said the campground is both exciting and overwhelming.
“Working with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, I think it’s really going to be a family legacy,” she said.
Having grappled with multiple health issues over the years, he turned to the outdoors for healing.
“I’ve always wanted to be outdoors more,” Peter Morin said. “And that’s what I look forward to. Just working outside, being connected with nature.”
New trails for Paul Joffe
He’s closing Flying Church coffee gazebo to sail round the world
By H eat H er BellowGREAT BARRINGTON — Paul Joffe worked hard his entire life and traveled very little.
But he is determined to reverse that pattern and very soon.
Joffe is closing the bright yellow roadside Flying Church Coffee gazebo that he built from scratch, selling his New Marlborough property, buying a boat and setting sail.
“I just want to sail around the world,” said Joffe, 61. “It’s a dream.”
Fear not for the end of coffee in what is otherwise an espresso desert north of Rubiners alley. Fear not for the end of the breakfast sandwiches and smoothies.
They just might not be Joffe’s — the place is for rent. And nearly a dozen prospective tenants have contacted him since he posted to Facebook recently about his closing this summer.
Joffe’s departure, however, might leave the town wanting for Joffe’s community spirit and brand of humor. His logo shows angel wings flapping on holy trinity steam rising from a cup. He also took possession, at some point, of the giant ”Creepy Santa” that had changed hands a number of times. Joffe stored it in his cow pasture for a time.
Joffe built the little yellow takeout-only shop in 2019 just before the pandemic hit. He had already finished redeveloping the Flying Church, so named by locals when Joffe jacked the historic former United Methodist Church off Main Street up on steel stilts to create a lower retail level.
That’s where the Pixie Boulangerie bakery and Stephen Donaldson Photography are now located. The offices upstairs are occupied, and the entire build-
ing is about 90 percent full.
The one stubborn vacancy is in the heart of the church — a 5,000-square-foot space designed for a restaurant or music venue or both.
It was his 20th historic renovation project, most of which were in New York.
His interest in coffee had drove him into roasting, then to learn more about the trade in Seattle. His shop was the first business of his in any of his development projects.
“The coffee shop was special,” he said, though his spirit is casting him in a new direction. “I want to finally retire.”
He put his home, a historic building and former school on 340 acres, on the market. When it sells, he’ll buy a sailboat and likely take some lessons since, he said, “I don’t even know how to sail.”
New brewery restaurant eyed for city
By M att M artinezPITTSFIELD — Robert Bernardo is looking to add to Pittsfield’s solar system soon.
Bernardo, owner of the forthcoming 10th Planet Brewery and Restaurant, has big plans for the space at 1231 W. Housatonic St., which formerly housed The Dragon Restaurant and International House of Tacos.
He wants to turn it into a planetarium of sorts: putting black epoxy on the floor and adding vinyl stickers with star shapes and heavenly bodies and adorning the walls with science paraphernalia.
“Right here, we’ll have a sticker and it’ll be a planet,” Bernardo said, gesturing toward the floor near one of the tables.
“You’re sitting at Mars, you’re sitting at Venus … it’s gotta have a fun twist to it.”
That will be the atmosphere for people to enjoy a selection of what Bernardo hopes will be a wide array of beers including stouts, IPAs, brown ales, pale ales and Hefeweizens, plus the “real, true American” beers, the California common and the Kentucky common. There will also be “pub-style favorites” such as burgers, footlong hot dogs, chicken sandwiches and handcut fries and potato chips.
He’s planning on repainting the building, adding light and dark grays inside and outside to play off of a fresh coat of black window trim. He wants the new brewery to have its own identity, he said.
“I want people to walk in here and say ‘This is not The Dragon,
this is not House of Tacos,’ or whatever else it was,” Bernardo said. “This is a different building after we get done with it.”
And he’ll need to make it practically a whole new building before it can open: the roof has been shot for about three years and most of the kitchen equipment has incurred damage, rendering most of it inoperable. The wood paneling in the bar and dining areas have grown black mold, which he has been working diligently to remove.
The building has been empty since the pandemic started, he said. Recent excess rain hasn’t
helped. A number of maladies have befallen the building; Bernardo recently had to have the water turned off because of a burst pipe.
Bernardo is currently working four days a week — about 36 hours — as a landscaper with Dr. Lahey’s Garden Center and Landscaping, then he comes on weekends and evenings to work on developing the space. So far, that’s included cleaning up garbage accrued at the building over the last three years — over 300 nip bottles alone — and trimming overgrowth all around the building so he could allow roof-
ers access to patch it.
Bernardo is renting the building for $1 a month right now. Once he gets the business up and running, he hopes to buy it outright within the next two years with the proceeds. But it’s going to take weeks to fix the roof, and even more time to clean up the damage the leaking has caused. The building’s air conditioning unit doesn’t work, and he’s trying to get kitchen and brewing equipment installed in there as quickly as he can.
He also needs to get the building back up to code and will require certification from the
city’s health department before he can start serving there.
Bernardo has been chronicling some of the rehab work on his Facebook page.
It’s going to be a lot of work. But it’s a dream — one that he caught on the open road.
“I go to these breweries, I’ve been to so many of them,” Bernardo said. “My parents and I, we do a lot of motorcycle trips … we do all of these trips to breweries and stuff, so I’ve seen so many of them — ones that are multimillion dollar facilities and ones that are a little tiny hole in the wall.”
Bernardo is aiming to have the brewery open by fall — late October is most likely.
For Bernardo, community is going to be key. He wants everyone to feel safe at the bar — Bernardo is gay, and said he plans to give opportunities to LGBTQ+ employees as much as possible. He also wants the place to be a neighborhood hangout, bringing more food back to West Housatonic.
Bernardo said the brewery won’t be making a ruckus, though; he plans to be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with food service stopping around 8 p.m.
One of his biggest goals for fostering community was simply to give people a place to gather, he said.
“Togetherness,” Bernardo said. “I think in today’s age, the communities need a way to come together and talk. We’re all stuck on our phones, we’re all stuck on social media and texting.”
Repair shop changes hands due to retirement
By tony DoBrowolskiPITTSFIELD — Mike Golin is an auto mechanic who’s been working over, under and around automobiles professionally for almost 50 years.
That’s a lot of bending, crawling, crouching and sliding. Over the years the constant physical activity has taken its toll.
“My body is telling me to stop doing this everyday,” said Golin, who turned 66 on May 5.
Some people keep working in their chosen professions even when they know it’s time to go, but Golin is not one of them.
He recently retired from Mike Golin
Automotive, the Pittsfield auto repair shop he’s run with his wife Jean since 1986, after selling the business to a much younger mechanic in late June.
“It’s time to give it up and let somebody else do it,” said Golin, who’s worked as a professional auto mechanic in the Berkshires since 1975, including 37 years operating his own business.
The new owner is Eric Lefebvre, who turns 40 in September. He is planning to change the shop’s name to Eric Lefebvre Auto Repair. The business is located at 1500 East St. in a space that Golin had leased.
“In a week or two everything should be set,” said Lefebvre, who has already been involved in the auto repair business professionally for almost 20 years.
Golin and Lefebvre are almost 30 years apart in age, but they share a common trait. They are both highly qualified Subaru mechanics. Golin is listed as a “Subaru specialist” on his business’ website and Lefebvre is certified as a Subaru master technician and as both a master technician and advanced level specialist under Automotive Ser-
vice Excellence standards.
Both men worked at Subaru dealerships — Golin for 12 years at the former Pete’s Motors, Lefebvre for eight at Haddad Subaru — before deciding to go out on their own.
Lefebvre, who holds an associates degree in automotive science from Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y., also worked at the former Southgate Motors in Pittsfield and at Turner’s Automotive Repair before joining Haddad Subaru.
He approached Golin about buying the business when he heard he was going to retire.
“The stars aligned,” Lefebvre said, referring to the transaction. “I figured I’d
take over and work for myself. There’s nothing better than working for yourself.”
Lefebvre will continue to work on Subarus at the repair shop, but said he will also service all makes and models. He plans to work by himself for awhile.
“If I want to make it bigger I may hire one or two guys,” he said.
Mike Golin Automotive’s only current employees are Mike and Jean, who has kept the company’s books since the business opened on Merrill Road in early 1986. According to Eagle files, the Golins originally opened their shop on Merrill Road because it was near the General Electric Co.’s plant and they hoped to attract a lot of customers from GE.
The Golins moved the business to
East Street in 2005 because the space was bigger.
“When we started our boys were three and five,” Jean Golin said. “Now we have grandchildren who are nine and 12.” Mike, who graduated from the auto mechanic’s program at Taconic High School, said he originally became a mechanic because the trade runs in his family.
“My uncles are mechanics,” he said. The business has changed greatly over the years.
“Everything now is computerized and it takes a lot longer to diagnose those things,” he said. “Back in the old days we had carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps. Now we have computers running everything.”
He’s stuck with the profession for almost half a century, “because it’s what I know.” But the physical demands that come with the trade have become harder to deal with growing older than the changes in technology.
“I was getting worn out,” he said. “This business takes a lot out of you. Picking up engines, tires, rotors and stuff. Everything’s heavy.”
He began thinking about retirement about a year ago. “Turning 66 years old, I just decided it was time to turn the reins over to somebody else.”
The Golins say they are thankful for all the customers who provided their loyalty and support over the years that are “like family to us.”
When asked what he planned to do in retirement, Mike said, “relax.”
Asked to be more specific, he said, “when I get done with the honey do list I’ll relax. I’m going to do a little bit of traveling. I’ve got plenty of stuff to do around the house. Go to car shows. Ride my motorcycle.”
And reflect on a long career.
”I’m worn out,”: said Mike Golin, who has spent almost 50 years in the profession
STEPHANIE ZOLLSHANAuto mechanic Eric Lefebvre, right, has taken over Mike Golin Automotive in Pittsfield after Golin recently retired.
Purple Dragon Games to close
Will sell inventory before shutting down in September
By Greta JochemWILLIAMSTOWN
— After a six-year run, Purple Dragon Games is closing its doors.
“I was ready to move on,” shop owner Niko White said in the store recently while taking a break from organizing an event for the card game Magic: The Gathering.
He plans to close by early September and hopes to move abroad to Tokyo, a city he fell in love with while visiting. Running a small game shop is precarious, he said. “Because I don’t have huge retirement savings or the like and can’t afford to gradually lose what I have invested in the store, it was clear the time was coming for me to move on,” he wrote in an online message to customers about the closure.
White, who grew up in Williamstown and graduated from Williams College in 2004, opened the Spring Street store in 2017. He previously worked at Pandemonium Books and Games in Cambridge.
“I’ve been a gamer basically forever,” he said. He remembers as a kid playing Magic: The Gathering and in college, he started a Magic club.
He loves hosting regular events at his shop. Each week, there’s a board game night, a Dungeons & Dragons event and Magic nights.
“The community is by far the best part,” he said. “I wanted to have a gaming community, and the sensible way to support it is selling games.”
Shop regulars like Steve Kurzban, a retired Williamstown resident who fre-
quents the game store weekly, were sad to hear the news.
“It was a refuge,” Kurzban said, “a place that you felt, instead of feeling out of place, that you were with kindred spirits. You were surrounded by games and gamers.”
Two years ago, Kurzban started a weekly board game event at the store that’s drawn a loyal following. They’ve met every week consecutively for 100 Wednesday nights, even in rain and snowstorms. “We’ve formed a community,” he said.
Kurzban is looking at other locations to keep the game night going, and is sad to see Purple Dragon Games go. “In
gamer parlance, a game store is known as a FLGS, a friendly local games store. They are a dying breed — it’s a very hard model to monetize.”
Though White was ready to move on from the shop, he looked at passing the store along to someone else, but ran into financial barriers. In looking at the prospect of someone else taking over the store, his landlord, Williams College, said it planned to change his rent structure.
Currently, White pays a percentage of his sales, with a cap at market rate rent, to lease the space. White said he never came close to selling enough to pay market rate rent. “They were giving me a really good deal,” he said.
Prime Steakhouse closing after 35 years
By clarence FantoIn the future, the college plans to change the lease for the space and charge market rate, and that would increase rent significantly from what White has been paying.
The college does give deals on rent sometimes to help businesses get started, said Jim Reische, the college’s chief communications officer.
“We want a flourishing Spring Street,” he said. “We also want to be attentive to the fact we’re not the only landlord on Spring Street and we don’t want to create imbalance or inequality in terms of business opportunities on the street.”
For White, the effective rent increase and difficulty turning a profit with the game store would make it difficult to pass the business along to another owner.
“It’s hard to communicate how little money in this there is,” White said, adding he did not pay himself minimum wage. Living with his parents helped him make it work, he said.
It’s virtually impossible for him to sell games for less than the price Amazon does and stay afloat, he said. A Dungeons & Dragons book he stocks he purchases from a distributor for $34, and he sells it for $50, while Amazon can sell it for $36, he said. Selling as low as Amazon as a small shop, “that’s just not a way to pay the bills,” he said. It’s not game-store specific, he said. “Any small retail is getting harder.”
Until early September, the store will be discounting items to clear out its stock.
White doesn’t see the closure as a failure. “To me, this was a really valuable thing to do,” he said of his time running the shop. “I really enjoyed doing it, and we’ve gotten a great crew and I’ll be sorry to not hangout with them anymore.”
Now, he’s looking forward to his time abroad. “It’s going to be a big adventure.”
FROM PAGE 16
Hospital from operating at a loss.
LENOX
— Prime Italian Steakhouse & Bar, the longest continuously operated, family-owned restaurant in the downtown business district, is closing after 35 years.
Its 15 Franklin St. building is on the real estate market for $2.45 million.
The Gallo family, which established the business as Antonio’s Ristorante before it was renovated and rebranded in 2004, announced the official closing in a recent Facebook post. Prime had been closed for its annual winter break since last January.
The family had aimed to lease the business to a restaurant operator while retaining the building just off Main Street, across from Haven Cafe. But with no leaseholder emerging, the doors remained closed for the spring and summer tourism season.
“We changed gears and decided to close permanently,” according to the Gallo family’s statement signed by Caterina, Anthony, Tina, Gennaro, Maria, Luca and Marcello.
The restaurant was opened in 1988 by Antonio and Caterina Gallo and turned over to their son, Gennaro, in 2005. This past January, Carol Gallo told The Eagle that “everyone’s looking to retire” but that the family intended to keep the real estate while seeking a leaseholder. The restaurant seated 70 in the main dining room and bar, as well as 60 more diners in the outdoor patio.
“Antonio and Caterina have shifted into a well-deserved retirement, while Gennaro is happily planning his next chapter,” the Facebook post stated. “Over the past few months, circumstances led to the natural decision to retire rather than to reopen.”
Gennaro “Jerry” Gallo was not available for comment this week.
Now, the property is being offered
as a restaurant or other commercial venture on the ground floor and two residential units above. Each unit includes two bedrooms, a full bath and fully equipped kitchen, according to the listing by Jeffrey Loholdt of the William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty office in Great Barrington.
“Rentals would be the obvious choice in an already difficult rental market,” he stated, with a turnkey restaurant below for an owner-operator.
“This is not a single-family home, but rather a mixed-use commercial with residential aspect offering more flexibility to new owners,” Loholdt said.
A new owner could work and live at the property while renting one of the residential spaces. Or the buyer of the property could lease the commercial space to a new restaurant chef/operator. Loholdt also suggest-
ed that the site could be a good investment opportunity.
Asked whether the ground floor space could be used for a different commercial venture, Loholdt said that “while the existing use and recent remodel is best served for a restaurant, other uses would be possible by working through the town’s zoning board and bylaws.”
The offering is “all-inclusive” for the business, real estate and residential units, he said. The listing has attracted interest by potential chef-owners from eastern Massachusetts, Miami and Dallas, Loholdt added.
The offering does not include the adjacent structure at 17 Franklin St., also owned by the Gallo family, which was used previously as outdoor dining space and briefly as a frozen yogurt venture and a panini eatery.
A critical access designation could mean 101 percent reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid. Hospitals that have undergone the change report an increase in federal money of millions of dollars, though it’s unclear how a reopened NARH would be impacted financially.
According to information provided by the state Department of Public Health to The Berkshire Eagle, there are three CAHs in Massachusetts: Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, Athol Hospital and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Fairview, which is also run by Berkshire Health Systems, was recently named one of the country’s top 20 critical access hospitals for overall performance by the National Rural Health Association.
As described by Berkshire Health Systems, in order to obtain the CAH designation, the project needs three major pieces: a determination of need study, a new license for the hospital and the designation itself.
Rodowicz told The Eagle recently that the health system has to review all of its blueprints for the hospital to make sure it is up to code and submit a licensing application to the state — the commonwealth will consider it a brand new hospital with a brand new license, so it needs to meet the standards as such.
The application process typically takes months. State Rep. John Barrett III, D-North Adams, told The Eagle that the Berkshire legislative delegation has been and will continue to be vocal about the need for a hospital in North Adams.
During the CAH application process, auditors will determine financial feasibility for the project, and a public meeting will be held some time after July to allow for community input.
Rodowicz said that working with Secretary of Health and Human Services Jane Walsh and her team has been a benefit: The state is allowing the health system to work on all three of these application elements simultaneously, rather than one after the other. That, she said, should save months of work.
Real estate transactions
Berkshire County Real Estate Transactions for May 29 to June 30
ADAMS
Daniel J. Lahey sold property at East Orchard Terrace, Adams, to Benjamin J. and Allison L. Kleiner, $36,500.
Aaron T. Harrington sold property at 17 Newark St., Adams, to April Zaragoza and Nicholas Filchak, $184,500.
Trevor P. O’Bryan sold property at 17 Highland Ave., Adams, to William E. Kelly, $254,000.
Manuel Hernandez sold property at 3 Hayer St., Adams, to M. Emilie Holland and Charles G. Westcott, $280,000.
William E. Kelly sold property at 27 Anthony St., Adams, to Jack J. Wolfe, $250,000.
Stephen J. and Teresa M. Vigna sold property at 41 North Summer St., Adams, to Lorenzo Cristofolini, $227,700.
Joseph A. Solari sold property at 7 East Orchard Terrace, Adams, to Nathan Andrew and Sarah Prouty, $150,000.
Dorothy A. Taft sold property at 15 Meadow St., Adams, to Sierra C. Tatro, $163,500.
Jeanne M. Garofano, trustee of the Jeanne M. Garofano RVT, sold property at 23 East Orchard Terrace, Adams, to Jason Nocher, $200,000.
Sandra A. Elwell sold property at 18 East Road, Adams, to Mark P. Silverman, trustee of the Mark P. Silverman RVT, $445,000.
J Crew Properties LLC sold property at 13 East Hoosac St., Adams, to Matthew A. and Ronald F. Hayden, $220,000.
Donna Bernardi Briggs, personal rep. of Dennis Francis Bernardi, sold property at 66 Lime St., Adams, to Cassandra Crosier and David Crittelli, $170,000.
Dorene A. Sadlow, trustee of the Sadlow Family RT, sold property at 2 Pleasant St., Adams, to Michael W. and Wendy Sue Robert, $45,000.
Deborah Dalton Loomer and Brian R. and Bruce F. Dalton sold property at 43 Valley St., Adams, to Katie L. Lemanski, $218,000.
Walter W. Levesque, individually and as trustee of the WAN Realty Company, sold property at 50 Dean St., Adams, to TCI Holdings LLC, $50,000.
Curtis M. Gazaille sold property at 12 Summit Ave., Adams, to Samuel A. and Rebecca M. Cuscaden Marvin, $300,000.
Kathleen Pew, trustee of the Pew Investment Trust, sold property at 48 Summer St., Adams, to Ashley Galvez, $96,500.
Richard A. and Cynthia J. Berti sold property at 42 Valley St., Adams, to Jason M. and Christian J. Garner, $200,000.
Tracey A. Wojcik sold property at 27-29 Spring St., Adams, to D&B Real Estate Ventures LLC, $365,000.
PB Summer Street LLC sold property at 54 Maple St., Adams, to Bey & Bey Holdings LLC, $117,500.
Regina A. Hill, personal rep. of Barbara F. Couture, sold property at 33 Crandall St., Adams, to Benjamin Woolnough and Lauren Redowicz, $215,000.
Celia M., Robert D., Keith A., and Randy M. Wroblewski, Amber L.
Frederick, Nancy Bourdon, and Linda S. Blake sold property at 2 Water St., Adams, to David and Lorraine Boschetti, $192,615.45.
Frederick W. Diamond, personal rep. of Sandra Ann Diamond, sold property at 2 Water St., Adams, to David and Lorraine Boschetti, $43,084.55.
ALFORD
Richard R. Alford sold property at 10 West Road, Alford, to Artur Sapek & Mollie Conlee, $700,000.
BECKET
George T. Samuel III and Toni M. Samuel sold property at Woodmere Road, Becket, to Carleton E. Corrales, $35,000.
Kristen H. Deburro, individually, heir and personal rep. of the Estate of Patricia Hachadourian, and Susan K. Santaniello, heir, sold property at South Cove Drive, Becket, to Jane Farrell Link, $19,000.
Peter Mark Murray and Sarita Posada sold property at 176 Beech Tree Lane, Becket, to Mark T. Goracke and Emily K. Wiecek, $720,000.
Anna K. Corcoran, trustee, Anna K. Corcoran RVT, and Charles F. Corcoran III, trustee, Charles F. Corcoran III RVT, sold property at 254 Benton Hill Road and Surriner Road, Becket, to Daniel P. Reiff and Kate S. Hubbell, $69,000.
Amy M. Robandt sold property at 2349 Main St., Becket, to Paul Hinkel, $255,000.
Mark Drusedum and Molly L. Knorr sold property at 343 Trail Circle, Becket, to Lawrence Jay and Nancy Ellen Thaul, $615,000.
Sage and Cori D. Kalmus sold property at 201 Lancelot Lane, Becket, to Cynthia M. Veazie, $263,000.
Ronald D. and Marilyn H. Sturgill sold property at Shawnee Shore Road, Becket, to Derrick and Tara White, $10,000.
Lukas Behrndt sold property at Prince John Drive, Becket, to Mark Cannizzaro, $7,000.
John Graham and Holly R. Gurry, trustees, Graham and Holly Gurry Trust AGMT, sold property at 225 East Shore Road, Becket, to Mary K. Canty and Robert Linden, $450,000.
Barbara A. Shaw, trustee, Frank L Lecchi Jr. Living Trust, sold property at Bonny Rigg Hill Road, Becket, to Joseph I. Cosentino, $70,000.
James Steven Fetter, trustee, James Steven Fetter Trust, sold property at Sir Walter Road, Becket, to Mark F. Butler and James L. Gibbs, $3,000.
0 Tyringham Road LLC sold property at Tyringham Road, Becket, to David A. Johnson and Karen M. Bump, $28,500.
0 Tyringham Road LLC sold property at Tyringham Road, Becket, to Scott and Julie Craumer, $51,000.
CHESHIRE
Kristin O’Connor sold property at 200 Willow Cove, Cheshire, to NKS Investment Properties LLC, $207,000.
Donald R. Kruszyna sold property at Greylock Road, Cheshire, to Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, $110,000.
CLARKSBURG
HLP Realty Holdings LLC sold property at 31 Wheeler Ave., Clarksburg, to Candace Hope
Sacilowski, $207,900.
Julie A. Kucyn sold property at 77 Mountain View Drive, Clarksburg, to Michael A. Daigneault and Robyn A. Lawson, $320,000.
Ronald D. Miles and Maria Bartini sold property at 619 East Road, Clarksburg, to Daniel K. and Jessica M. Marshburn, $400,000.
DALTON
Jessica Brandi Levy and Jennifer Brandi sold property at 12 Richard Drive, Dalton, to Christopher Michael Peltier, $291,604.
John A. and Robin S. Anastasio sold property at 162 Hinsdale Road, Dalton, to Nicholas Robert and Kelsey Jean Anatasio, $485,000.
Kimberly A. Johnston and Christopher W. Morehouse sold property at 87 High St., Dalton, to Gianna Grace Renzi and Jacob Michael Martin, $262,000.
Lawrence F. Pularo sold property at 490 Kirchner Road, Dalton, to Ryan G. and Mehgan O’Donnell, $400,000.
Eugene A. DiNicola Jr. and Kathleen M. DiNicola sold property at 69 Elmore Drive, Dalton, to J.D. Building Co. Inc., $55,000.
Matthew C. Porter sold property at 35 River St. Extension, Dalton, to Sherry M. Sweetser and Harry E. Horton Jr., $190,000.
Linda S. Galok and Eric R. Scott sold property at 661 East St., Dalton, to Timothy S. and Linda S. Galok, $90,000.
Holly M. Hunter sold property at 621 Kirchner Road, Dalton, to Daniel M. Kasuba, $370,000.
Bruce Lee and Joan K. Johnston sold property at 95 Bruce Drive, Dalton, to Christopher William and Michelle Bush, $355,000.
Colin M. Elliott sold property at 437 East Housatonic St., Dalton, to Michael James Smith and Mary Jane O’Connor, trustees, James Michael Smith and Jean Marie Smith FT, $380,000.
HLP Realty Holdings LLC sold property at 32 River St., Dalton, to Anthony Michael Goodwin, $107,000.
EGREMONT
Jean M. Briggs, trustee of Virginia L. Farnum Irrevocable Trust of 2009, sold property at 61 Sheffield Road, Egremont, to Sarah Claire Tranter and Hunter William Tranter, $403,500.
Alice Greene and Elizabeth Greene, trustees of Martin Greene Revocable Trust Agreement & Barbara Greene Revocable Trust Agreement, sold property at 7 Brookvale Road, Egremont, to Alice Greene and Susan Fine, $465,000.
FLORIDA
Dawn M. Salvaggio sold property at 0 Monroe Road, Florida, to Nickolas C. Keating, $60,000. Janice Giordano sold property at Mohawk Trail, Florida, to Michael G. George, $85,000.
John Descoteau sold property at 190 Central Shaft Road, Florida, to Robert P. Brooks, $70,000.
Marlene L. Coates sold property at 65 Central Shaft Road, Florida, to Deborah M. Morandi and Mark Meehan, $155,000.
Todd A. and Anne F. Poirot sold property at Mohawk Trail, Florida, to Hunter Sessions, $70,000.
GREAT BARRINGTON
Ronald J. Dlugosz and Sharon M. Dlugosz, co-trustees of Ronald J. Dlugosz Revocable Trust and co-trustees of Sharon M. Dlugosz Revocable Trust, sold property at 14 Lake View Road, Great Barrington, to Thomas Maguire & Michele Maguire, $1,250,000.
Alex McPhail and Arielle Tillou sold property at 18 Wyantenuck St., Great Barrington, to Mary Margaret E. Clark, $335,000.
Canaan Mountain LLC sold property at 306-310 Main St., Great Barrington, to CDCSB Sumner Block Inc., $1,600,000.
Seth Levy sold property at 6 Kirk St., Great Barrington, to Jeffrey M. Mitchell, $450,000.
Nancy E. King, trustee of Nancy E. King Revocable Trust of 2012, sold property at 680 South Egremont Road, Great Barrington, to Benjamin A. Weinberger and Deborah M. Lehmann, $630,000.
Gregg O. Wellenkamp and Eric H. Wellencamp sold property at 0 North Plain Road, Great Barrington, to Thomas A. Cappaert and Kimberly A. Munroe, $80,000.
Jolly Roger Realty LLC sold property at 414 Park St., Great Barrington, to Three Black Rabbits LLC, $806,550.
Gerald F. Johnson & Beverly P. Johnson sold property at 163 North Plain Road, Great Barrington, to Russell C. Lord & Dana B. Gruber, $510,000.
Diana Gittelman sold property at 3 Burning Tree Road, Unit 24, Cottages at Barrington Brook Condominium, Great Barrington, to Raymond K. Komow & Catherine J. Favreau, $1,100,000.
Sarah L. Zanin sold property at 216 South St., Great Barrington, to Anna Taiga, $410,000.
George Ramirez sold property at 77 Brush Hill Road, Great Barrington, to William S. Landay & Susan D. Landay, $150,000.
Richard H. Crisci & Barbara L. Crisci sold property at 79 Brush Hill Road, Great Barrington, to William S. Landay & Susan D. Landay, $879,000.
Sean Stanton sold property at 25 Hart St., Great Barrington, to Tess Diamond Stafford and Loretta Anne Diamond, $325,000.
Sigmund S. Semon, personal rep. for the Estate of Thelma Blanche Wallach, sold property at 22 Monument Valley Road, Great Barrington, to Robert G. Clarke & Elizabeth M. Clarke, $520,000.
Deann Halper, trustee of Deann Halper Revocable Trust, sold property at 5-7 Copper Beech Lane, Great Barrington, to Kristen M. Colston, $1,800,000.
HANCOCK
Andre L.H. Rambaud sold property at Williamstown Road, Hancock and New Ashford, to Wildwood Outdoor Resort LLC, $325,000.
Kristina M. Klingbeil sold property at Corey Road, Hancock, to Howard Greenspan, $115,000.
Lynn Mora sold property at 199 Main St., Hancock, to Katherine Marie Mora, $177,500.
John A. and Lauren M. Torres sold property at 37 Corey Road, Unit 823, Hancock, to Rodwest3 LLC, $262,500.
HINSDALE
Joann M. Farrell, trustee, Louis J. Carmel RVT, sold property at 99 Plunkett Ave., Hinsdale, to David J. Bassett, $250,000.
Boris Basora and Michele Girard-Basora sold property at 11 Ethier St., Hinsdale, to
John A. and Robin S. Anastasio, $330,000.
Annick M. Kanter-St. Hubert sold property at 851 East Washington Road, Hinsdale, to Jarred Hagerty and Angie B. Lamica, $350,000.
Gregory P. and Jennifer D. Coscia sold property at 139 South Shore Road, Hinsdale, to Sarovar LLC, $820,000.
LANESBOROUGH
Irene Powers sold property at 580 South Main St., Unit 6, Building 1, Lanesborough, to Rocco Errichetto Jr., $130,000.
Gary P. and Deanna L. Traversa sold property at 455 Summer St., Lanesborough, to RRR 455 Summer Street LLC, $740,000.
Lynn M. Bassett sold property at 6 Lacona St., Lanesborough, to Gordon Service, $250,000.
Joseph S. Szczepaniak Jr. sold property at 820 Cheshire Road, Lanesborough, to Robert Szczepaniak, $250,000.
Kent Fox and Alan J. Righi, personal rep. of Kory L. Fox, sold property at 38 Meadow Lane, Lanesborough, to Christopher and Tiffanie Smith, $450,000.
Barnes & Kiley Water Conditioning LLC sold property at 720 South Main St., Lanesborough, to MKAT Properties LLC, $220,000.
LEE
Douglas T. and Lorita A. Trombly sold property at 45 School St., Lee, to Paul H. and Dawn R. Face, $230,000.
Mark E. and Clara L. Abel sold property at 880 East St., Lee, to Bonnie C. and Kenneth T. Likely, $385,000.
Deborah Johansen Harris and Christen Johansen, personal reps. of the Estate of Mary Lee Johansen, sold property at 545 Stockbridge Road, Lee, to Kelley R. Vickery, $975,000.
Leon Vilinsky, trustee of the Rita Vilinsky Qualified Personal Residence Trust, and Rita Vilinsky, trustee of the Leon Vilinsky Qualified Personal Residence Trust, sold property at 65 Elk Drive, Lee, to Deborah S. Wells, $376,650.
Edward A. Forfa sold property at 48 Rose Ave., Lee, to Sergio D. Norena and Alejandra Giraldo, $185,000.
Lisa Pincus Hamroff sold property at 355 Fairview St., Lee, to Alex J. Bolder and Avery Vanasse, $558,500.
George Jerzy Jr. and Barbaralee Sass sold property at 6 Jennifer St., Lee, to 6 Jennifer Street LLC, $241,000.
LENOX
Heather Beth Frank and Vincent Henri Lucien Turk sold property at 6 Cedar Lane, Lenox, to Kenneth Cohen and Jodi A. Nussbaum, $815,000.
Elissa Rogovin, trustee, Joanne Rogovin RVT, sold property at 15 Wexford Court, Lenox, to William E. Cramer and Neil E. Bomberg, $550,000.
FP Lend Fund I LLC sold property at 52 West Mountain Road, Lenox, to Kevin M. MacDonald and Brittany C. Darji, $314,000.
John Legere sold property at 165 Kemble St., Lenox, to Donna Cochran McLarty, trustee, Donna Cochran McLarty RVT, $2,100,000.
Susan Bergen Hart, formerly known as Susan Bergen Schultz, sold property at 12 Meadow Lane, Unit 12, Lenox, to M. Greely and Mary Castro Summers, $335,000.
Sheila K. Donath sold property at 18 Meadow Lane, Unit 4, Lenox, to Samar S. Habl, $315,000.
HKN Inc. sold property at Pittsfield Road, Lenox, to 474 Pittsfield Road LLC, $203,500.
Shyamji Inc. sold property at 474 Pittsfield Road, Lenox, to 474 Pittsfield Road LLC, $896,500.
MONTEREY
Carole A. Katz sold property at 454 Main Road, Unit 9, Monterey, to Ninu Alexandri Quirk, $104,000.
Eric Friedman, Vicki Ann Schwarts, individually and as personal rep. of the estate of Albert Louis Friedman, sold property at 3 Lakeside Ave., Monterey, to Joel Michael Goldstein & Melissa Anne Smith, $1,375,000.
Rachel L. Rivin & Corinne J. Heyes sold property at 83 Main Road, Monterey, to Richard J. McCormick & Kris C. Lowe, $975,000.
Elizabeth Sorlie, Linda Pilloud and Richard D. Tryon Jr. sold property at Harmon Road, Monterey, to Roger Collins Tryon and Katherine Jean Reis Tryon, $220,000.
Je rey W. Rubin sold property at 6 Main Road, Monterey, to Beth Adams, trustee of 6 Main Road Nominee Trust, $149,000.
Adam Cohen sold property at 84 Beartown Mountain Road, Monterey, to Michael Kantor and Kathy Landau, $575,000.
Carrie E. Negrini sold property at 158 Main Road, Route 23, Monterey, to Andrew G. Ritter, $210,000.
NEW ASHFORD
J.W. Kelly’s Enterprises Inc. sold property at 92 Beach Hill Road, New Ashford, to 92 Beach Hill Road LLC, $325,000.
J.W. Kelly’s Enterprises Inc. sold property at Mallery Road, New Ashford, to Steepleview New Ashford LLC, $310,000.
J.W. Kelly’s Family LLC sold property at Mallery Road, New Ashford, to Steepleview New Ashford LLC, $40,000.
New Marlborough
Berkshire Property Rentals LLC sold property at 26 Cross to Canaan Valley Road, New Marlborough, to Brian M. Barlow and Sarah A. Barlow, $775,000.
James H. Perkins sold property at 1976 Clayton Mill River Road, New Marlborough, to Timothy Martin, $50,000.
Kevin M. McCrea and Kim C. McCrea sold property at 82 New Marlborough-Southfield Road, New Marlborough, to HLP Realty Holdings LLC, $280,000.
Alan D. Lafer and Susan Rose-Lafer sold property at 164 Peter Menaker Road, New Marlborough, to Juan Andrade and Sandra H. Andrade, $3,667,400.
Keith Francis & Barbara L. Francis sold property at 529 Hayes Hill Road, New Marlborough, to Linda Stewart & Joseph Figueiredo, $190,000.
Camille Breslin sold property at 2318 Canaan Southfield Road, New Marlborough, to Bruce H. Poor, $700,000.
Arthur P. Fisch sold property at Clayton and Sodom Road, New Marlborough, to Roland W. Betts & Lois P. Betts, $450,000.
NORTH ADAMS
Norman E. Rosch sold property at 375 Eagle St., North Adams, to Daina R. Bouquin and Owen S. Rogers, $130,000.
Joseph and Angelo Russotto sold property at 286-288 Walnut St., North Adams, to Veronica Beatriz Ferreyra, trustee of the Lord Cope Family NT, $175,000.
Christopher B. and Graziana Ramsden sold property at 282 Church St., North Adams, to Kyleen Boutte, $250,000.
John J. Mirallegro, personal rep. of Debra Marie McDaniels, sold property at 273 State Road, North Adams, to Tyler J. Roberts, $159,900.
Cady Street LLC sold property at 472 Union St., North Adams, to Michael J. Rossi, Austin R. Alibozek and Mitchell J. Bresett, co-trustees of the Mamba Rentals NT, $112,500.
Mark A. and Cindy M. Rosenburg sold property at 391 Walnut St., North Adams, to Julie A. Reilly, trustee of the Julie A. Reilly RVT, $258,000.
Marjorie Connors sold property at 73-75 Hall St., North Adams, to Jose Domingo Quizhpi, $120,000.
Morgan J. Lemire sold property at 334 Franklin St., North Adams, to Lisa J. McPherson, $230,000.
Daniel C. and Julie A. Daub, trustees of the DJ Holdings Trust, sold property at 271 Notch Road, North Adams, to Scott Robert and Emily Avidon, $195,000.
Daniel W. and Sandra L. Gaylord sold property at 45 Hall St., North Adams, to Jason Nocher, $120,000.
Richard M. and Bonnie M. Sheehan sold property at Oak Hill, North Adams, to Stephen G. and Kristy A. Sherman, $85,000.
Alfred F. Anderson sold property at 31 Natural Bridge Road, North Adams, to Gabriel Gomez, $300,000.
Dolores Martin sold property at 380 Union St., North Adams, to Jhon Quintero, $25,000.
Donna Bernardi Briggs, personal rep. of Dennis Francis Bernardi, sold property at 221 Corinth St., North Adams, to Chris and Elizabeth Constantopoulos, $210,000. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Foundation Inc. sold property at 17 North Church St, Unit 1, North Adams, to Andrew Nienow, $65,000.
Ellen Millard, trustee of River Street RT, sold property at 156-160 River St., North Adams, to YT Adams LLC, $300,000. Pedro Guadalupe Quade sold property at 660 East Main St., North Adams, to M. Emile Holland and Charles G. Westcott, $315,000.
Je rey R. and Susan J. Cellana, individually and as trustees of Cellana Family NT, sold property at 100-108 Furnace St., North Adams, to Wenninger Family LP, $199,900. Edward S. Serken, personal rep. of Jay E. Serken, sold property at 23 Bradley St., North Adams, to Jonah V. Friszell, $179,000.
DSM Properties LLC sold property at 355 State St., North Adams, to Kelli N. Newby, $202,000.
David C. Atwell and Deanna L. Salvagni-Atwell sold property at 60 Murray Ave., North Adams, to Joseph R. and Emma M. Wood, $175,900.
Linda Allen sold property at 243 Union St, Unit 303, North Adams, to Kathleen Kennedy, $350,000.
Lisa M. Rennell, personal rep. of Diane M. O’Brien, sold property at 135-137 River St., North Adams, to Kenneth Kau man, $200,000.
William Reyburn sold property at 141 Cli St., North Adams, to D&B Real Estate Ventures LLC, $165,000.
Edith T. Leu sold property at 50 Hawthorne Ave., North Adams, to Curtis M. and Laurie Gazaille, $290,000.
Maia Robbins-Zust, trustee of Rex Realty Trust, sold property at 40-42 Jackson St., North Adams, to Ronald R. McDowell, $230,000.
Henry G. Doran, trustee of the Marcia G. Doran NT, sold property at 672 Barbour St., North Adams, to William F. and Brigita Fuhrmann, $330,000.
Mary F. Terio sold property at 27 East Ave., North Adams, to Scott A. Henderson, $245,000.
Thomas J. Rotolo sold property at Tremont Street, North Adams, to Kevin Gadde, $26,000.
Laurie J. Boucher sold property at 70 Frederick St., North Adams, to Sonia Domkarova, $232,000.
Tara L. and Andrew J. Floriani sold property at 44 Cady St., North Adams, to Patrick W. and Dawn J. Schoorlemmer, $75,000.
OTIS
James Murad, personal rep. of the Estate of Carl P. Feidner, sold property at 481 West Center Road, Otis, to Jason Isaacson and Katherine Behar, $560,000.
John F., David M., Mary Jane, and Barry T. O’Connell, and Susan Leblanc sold property at 74 Ridge Ave., Otis, to Mark Steven
Anthony, $62,000.
John E., Steven H. and Daniel J. Jury and Lori R. Eyer sold property at 69 South St., Otis, to Kalmia Perseverance LLC, $115,000.
Martin and Susan Schultz sold property at 49 Judd Road, Otis, to Lisa Ann Thomas, $642,000.
Joseph and Joan M. Reilly sold property at 368 Deer Run, Otis and Sandisfield, to Brian and Kathryn MacKintosh, $595,000.
Michael G. and Marjorie B. Kurcias, trustees M&M Kurcias FT, sold property at 5 Sequena Drive, Otis and Sandisfield, to Hyun Jung Ji, $577,500.
Craig Michael and Lindsey Reilly MacDowell sold property at 2261 North Main Road, Otis, to Thomas W. and Deborah L. Curry, $530,000.
Jean A. Smith, Robin G. Schaub and Kim A. Huette sold property at North Street, Otis, to Mark Steven Anthony and Wendy Medeiros Anthony, $3,000.
Shonni Silverberg and John Shapiro, trustees, Mervin Silverberg 2015 Trust AGMT, sold property at 63 Tyringham Road, Otis, to Yael Silverberg-Urian, $410,000.
Michael H. and Mishele L. Tarr sold property at Route 8, Otis, to Bettina Laviana, $53,000.
PERU
Justin R. and Jessica A. Russell sold property at Haskell Road, Peru, to Maryellen E. Smith and William L. Smith Jr., $1,600.
PITTSFIELD
Bernadette McMahon, Brenda A. Whiteaker and Barbara J. Scace sold property at 186 Lebanon Ave., Pittsfield, to Bruce Smachetti, $135,000.
Cavalier Holdings LLC sold property at 162 Woodlawn Ave., Pittsfield, to Berkshire Capital LLC, $735,000.
Joseph A. Carusotto sold property at 33 Crown St., Pittsfield, to Kervans Alcide, $211,000.
Richard A. and Lynn M. Penna sold prop-
erty at 75 Somerset Ave., Pittsfield, to Madison J. Soldato, $315,000.
Nathan G. and Migdeliz Girard, trustees of the Migdeliz Girard Living Trust, sold property at Eastbrook Lane, Pittsfield, to Pamela R. and Jay R. Green, $43,470.
David A. Colli sold property at 271 Barker Road, Pittsfield, to Melissa Hunter, $272,500.
Stuart A. and Elizabeth J. Racine Lambert sold property at 46 Broadway St., Pittsfield, to Donna M. and Glenn M. Murphy, $244,000.
Cynthia Risatti Litano sold property at 45-51 Greylock Terrace, Pittsfield, to T&D Rental Properties Inc., $180,000.
Mohammad Bilal Hanif sold property at 161 Allengate Ave., Pittsfield, to Marina Y. Barahona, $281,300.
David B. Robillard sold property at 121-123, 125 and 289-291 Second St. and Wallace Place, Pittsfield, to Second Street Rentals LLC, $650,000.
Berkshire Home Rentals LLC sold property at 139-141 Francis Ave., Pittsfield, to Osvaldo Cruz-Melendez and Ocvaldo CruzJimenez, $200,000.
Giang Huynh sold property at 15 Longfellow Ave., Pittsfield, to Kristina B. Hallock and Evan Boulais, $257,500.
Nancy A. Daly sold property at 234 California Ave., Pittsfield, to Carl Hanson, $244,000.
Patricia Makes and Susan Pivero, trustees of the Angelina Rufo 2017 Irrevocable Trust, sold property at 31 Churchill Crest, Pittsfield, to Timothy Michael Donovan and Susan Annette Hajjar, $265,000.
Emily R. Ostho sold property at 42 Lowden St., Pittsfield, to Parker Blessing and Lauren Aitken, $260,000.
Kevin Co man Bopp, trustee of the SNK NT, sold property at 1249 Churchill St., Pittsfield, to Helen Blythe Kielty, $1,150,000.
Marcy G. Cohen sold property at 3 Woodland Circle, Pittsfield, to Corey J. Van Splinter and Daniela Marshall, $750,000.
TRANSACTIONS, Page 22
Judith A. Green, personal rep. of the Estate of Diane K. Green, sold property at 1073 Dalton Ave., Pittsfield, to Paul R. Lewis, $144,000.
Aron Callahan sold property at Dewey Avenue, Pittsfield, to Roderick S. Stanbrook and Ulrike Nagel, $37,000.
Shavelle L. Boire sold property at 27 Westover St., Pittsfield, to Taylor A. Robinson, $235,000.
Robert W. Shade sold property at 263 Barker Road, Pittsfield, to Trinity Ventures LLC, $120,000.
James P. and Tammy E. Dalton sold property at 35 Crestview Drive, Pittsfield, to Emellin Pineda, $240,000.
Wajid Mahmood and Mahmood S. Awan sold property at 43-45 Lake St., Pittsfield, to Parker Springside LLC, $185,000.
Kristina Brooke Hallock sold property at 297 Connecticut Ave., Pittsfield, to Pamela Monterosso and Charles H. Biegel, $230,000.
City of Pittsfield sold property at 33-35
John St. and 1-3 Gilbert St., Pittsfield, to Lloyd E. and Edna M. Johnston, $200.
Berkshire Home Rentals LLC sold property at 144 Madison Ave., Pittsfield, to JDRF Properties LLC, $197,500.
Daniel J. and Kathy B. Rapp sold property at 30 Churchill Crest, Pittsfield, to Clare Kapner, $275,000.
Justin L. Davis sold property at 406 Elm St., Pittsfield, to XK Ventures LLC, $160,000.
Michael J. Sukiennik sold property at Pondview Drive, Pittsfield, to Paul Michael and Ursula Allen Maloy, $204,000.
Richard L. Blaney Jr. and Michele L. Blaney sold property at 35 Dickinson Ave., Pittsfield, to Stephen and Brenda Johns, $230,000.
Michele Purcell sold property at 71 Howard St., Pittsfield, to Raven A.W. Loya, $305,000.
Karen M. Adams and Kelly A. Devanny sold property at 53 Bernard Ave., Pittsfield, to Dana C., David B. and Patricia A. Drugmand, $230,500.
Thomas C. Dawley Jr. and Kim Dawley sold property at 15 Cobblestone Cove, Pittsfield, to Margaret Hand-Miller, $235,000.
Aaron R. Brasie and Jessica Faye Caritey sold property at 79 Pine Grove Drive, Pittsfield, to Daniel Shea DeMarco and Gabriella DiBattista, $300,000.
Downing Parkway 74 LLC sold property at 74 Downing Parkway, Pittsfield, to OBCC Holdings LLC, $1,900,000.
David J. Shufelt, trustee, Quinn NT, sold property at 216-218 Robbins Ave., Pittsfield, to Carlos Eduardo and Margareth Reis Rigonato, $172,500.
Kari A. Mendel sold property at 200 Doreen St., Pittsfield, to Joy E. Mendel and Mark Mendel, $87,330.67.
Sarah J. Dean, personal rep. of the Estate of Norman K. Dean, sold property at 329 Connecticut Ave., Pittsfield, to Scott P. Connors, $267,000.
Angelo J. Garzone Jr. and Terri M. Garzone sold property at 15 Burke Ave., Pittsfield, to Rakiswende Nathalie Compaore and Eliezer V. Behanzin, $301,500.
Adelmo A. and Maureen C. Almeida sold property at 61-63 Edward Ave., Pittsfield, to Jose Cajamarca-Huiracocha, $305,000.
Andrea R. Jones sold property at 26 Alcove St., Pittsfield, to Kelly A. Hagadorn, $200,000.
Tanya W. LeRose sold property at 200 Gale Ave., Pittsfield, to David A. Pyenson, $260,000.
Greylock Federal Credit Union and Christopher Goodell sold property at 44 Peck’s Road, Pittsfield, to Robs Estate LLC, $35,000.
Leo E. Ouellette, trustee, Leo E. Ouellette RVT, sold property at 81-83 Sadler Ave., Pittsfield, to Christine Ahoussi, $307,000. 555 East Street Realty LLC sold property at 19 Hillside Ave., Pittsfield, to Sherry M. Saunders, $225,000.
Theresa M. Fiero and Kim A. Leach, person-
al rep. of the Estate of James D. Russo, sold property at 894 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, to Tyler James Lecours and Kamryn Mary Dunton, $230,000.
Mary C. Zuber, trustee, Peter W. Zuber RVT, sold property at 32 Highlawn Drive, Pittsfield, to Karen E. Zuber, $245,000.
Nancy Harley, Eileen Oliveri and Patricia Slomowitz sold property at 77 Fort Hill Ave., Pittsfield, to Anna M. Petruolo and Alice P. Gosselin, $300,000.
Janice J. Harris sold property at 31 Trova Terrace, Pittsfield, to Vincent and Whitney Leydet, $435,000.
West Housy Realty LLC sold property at 108 West Housatonic St., Pittsfield, to 108 West Housatonic LLC, $270,000.
Andrew R. and Nancy T. Sweetser sold property at 453 Elm St., Pittsfield, to Abbey J. Laurin, $230,000.
Blue Diamond Housing LLC sold property at 163 Francis Ave., Pittsfield, to Brenda Romero Rodriguez, $170,000.
Genevieve Amuso sold property at 799 Churchill St., Pittsfield, to Joanne Elizabeth Amuso and Jeffrey Robert Moreau, $250,000.
John M. and Paula A. Anderson, trustees, John M. Anderson RVT, sold property at 20 Churchill St., Pittsfield, to Jason T. and Meagan E. Jones, $449,000.
Joanne E. Amuso sold property at 6 Louise St., Pittsfield, to Tannia E. Zradi, $219,900.
Margery L. Senecal sold property at 29 State St., Pittsfield, to Gabriela Rasuk, $260,000.
Holly Rogers, personal rep. of the Estate of Rosario Valenti, sold property at 46 Cecelia Terrace, Pittsfield, to Luke Brown and Bailey N. Prescott, $195,000.
Jonathan Budaj sold property at 68 Yokun St., Pittsfield, to Peter Brown, $90,000. Nobuko Kawai sold property at 8 Filomena Drive, Pittsfield, to Parth Engineer and Pinal Patel, $35,000.
Hanjiro J. Kawai sold property at 8 Filomena Drive, Pittsfield, to Pinal Patel and Parth Engineer, $715,000.
Thomas P. Dafonte, personal rep. of the Estate of Thomas B. Dafonte, sold property at 52 Brooks Ave., Pittsfield, to Jake Robinette, $184,000.
Edward H. Weeden sold property at 261 Highland Ave., Pittsfield, to Trinity Ventures LLC, $65,000.
Robert W. and Marcia A. Graham sold property at 7 Jackson St., Pittsfield, to Edward C. and Kolumbia M. Granger, $235,000.
Patrick B. Donovan sold property at 21 Roberta Road, Pittsfield, to Yuval Elan, $362,000.
Jeremy A. Wilson sold property at 40-42 Plunkett St., Pittsfield, to Carlos and Eulogia Cortes Ambrosio, $265,000.
Thomas J. Wheeler sold property at 36 Brighton Ave., Pittsfield, to Matthew H. Malloy and Jaclyn M. Keefe, $280,000. Devon W. and Anna M. Grierson sold property at 149 Crane Ave., Pittsfield, to Christopher M. and Cailin K.B. McGowan, $275,000.
Jake William Brodeur sold property at 13 Vivian Ave., Pittsfield, to Kristin M. Valentine and Haley M. Levey, $220,000.
Timothy O’Neil and Melissa D. O’Neil, formerly known as Melissa D. Wrba, sold property at 71 Shaker Lane, Pittsfield, to Jacob D. and Mallory L. Van Deusen, $342,500.
David R. Cianflone, personal rep. of the Estate of Louise Forrest Cianflone, sold property at Churchill Street, Pittsfield, to Shawn Lee Shoemaker and Rachel Faye Smith, $40,000.
59 Dewey Avenue LLC sold property at 59 Dewey Ave., Pittsfield, to James P. Kalweit, $52,000.
David Boivin sold property at 18 Lebanon Ave., Pittsfield, to Sarah C. Cox, $218,000.
Olivia L. Daly sold property at 64 Cleveland St., Pittsfield, to Yavuz and Fatma Ceylan, $291,500.
Benjamin C. Evans and Jessica F. Evans, formerly known as Jessica M. Fitzgerald, sold property at 2500 State Road and Route 41, Pittsfield, to Cory Parker Andrus, $365,000. Phyllis M. Somerville, trustee, Schultz Fam-
ily 2022 Trust, sold property at 152 Strong Ave., Pittsfield, to Muhammad Salman Janjua, $290,000.
Ronald R. Mazzeo Jr. and Rose L. Mazzeo sold property at 18 Pacific St., Pittsfield, to Pacific Hills LLC, $193,000.
Dianna Courtney-Chmiel, personal rep. of the Estate of Edward Thomas Courtney, sold property at 223 Chapel St., Pittsfield, to Thomas F. Stevens II and Lillian K. Silk, $305,000.
David A. and Kyneret Albert sold property at 67 Flintstone Drive, Pittsfield, to Daniel M. and Maria C. Levine, $645,000.
Adrian D. Iusco and Gabriela Goloman sold property at 43 Baldwin Ave., Pittsfield, to Shanjun Helian and Yijing Ding, $430,000.
Chester J. and Stephanie W. Johnston sold property at 175-177 West Housatonic St., Pittsfield, to Pittsfield RE Investing LLC, $225,000.
Chester J. and Stephanie W. Johnston sold property at 179-181 West Housatonic St., Pittsfield, to Jonathan Couper, $300,000.
Roger V. LaRoche sold property at 79-81 Maplewood Ave., Pittsfield, to Suprano Properties LLC, $150,000.
Stuart J. Silver, personal rep. of the Estate of Constance R. Silver, sold property at 33 Maplewood Ave., Unit 306, Pittsfield, to Stephen Craig Jr. and Heather Kollist Connors, $195,500.
Jason Smegal sold property at 561 Peck’s Road, Pittsfield, to George A. Sender, $470,000.
Betnr Industrial Development Corp. sold property at 21 Downing III, Pittsfield, to 21 Downing Three LLC, $3,100,000.
Robert Davis sold property at 123-125 Circular Ave., Pittsfield, to Thomas A. Andrews, $215,000.
Kim Taglieri sold property at 579 Fenn St., Pittsfield, to Independent Connections LLC, $260,000.
Carolee R. Harrigan sold property at 275 Hungerford St., Pittsfield, to Onota Brook Industries LLC, $250,000.
Experienced!
Real Estate Investments Northeast LLC sold property at 4 Ring St., Pittsfield, to Shackelton Joseph Jr., $218,900.
U.S. Bank Trust National Association, trustee, sold property at 210 Woodlawn Ave., Pittsfield, to Peter Brown, $168,000.
Therese Michaud, trustee, Gaetan M. Michaud RVT of 2010, sold property at 156-158 Francis Ave., Pittsfield, to Luiz Fernando Ferreira Dos Santos, $186,000.
Andrew W. and Susannah P. Long sold property at 10 Eastbrook Lane, Pittsfield, to Robert A. Proskin, $1,100,000.
Christopher and Tiffanie Smith sold property at 45 Grace Terrace, Pittsfield, to Patrick Kalinowsky, $325,000.
Eileen M. Champoux, personal rep. of the Estate of Jean E. Kycia, sold property at 72 Morningview Drive, Pittsfield, to Darnell and Marcela Alston, $226,000.
Audrey M. Dobrowolski, individually and as personal rep. of the Estate of Joseph Dobrowolski, and Mary A. O’Neil sold property at 59 Merriam St., Pittsfield, to Dennis J. and Mary A. O’Neil, $72,500.
Shaun Keeler, trustee Gloria J. Berne 2022 RVT, sold property at 370 Fort Hill Ave., Pittsfield, to Michael D. Carnevale and Carly R. Decelles, $225,000.
Alan and Sandra Rubin sold property at 5 Woodland Drive, Pittsfield, to Anthony W. and Kimberly A. Ringie, $649,000.
Delalba Holdings LLC sold property at Commercial Street, Pittsfield, to Sonya J. and Thomas M. Wells Jr., $25,000.
Judith I. LeVardi sold property at 42 Rhode Island Ave., Pittsfield, to Alexander Cruz Torres and Elizabeth Lay Aguayo, $180,000. Thomas W. and Deborah L. Curry sold property at 188 Windsor Ave., Pittsfield, to Vincent M. McDermott and Tracey L. Fagan-Green, $379,900.
Carol A. Hoyda, personal rep. of the Estate of Michael L. Travers, sold property at 117-119 Lincoln St., Pittsfield, to Top Line Properties LLC, $50,000.
TRANSACTIONS, Page 23
Joel D. Curran, individually and as personal rep. of the Estate of Phyllis S. Curran, sold property at 29 Valentine Road, Pittsfield, to Susan Bergen Hart, $576,000. Allison M. Geary Gobbi, personal rep. of the Estate of Linda A. Geary, sold property at 900 West St., Pittsfield, to Joel and Jennifer Sendek, $1,100,000.
Robert J. and Ann Marie Perry sold property at 21 Beacon Ave., Pittsfield, to Brittney White, $227,750.
RICHMOND
Edward Konzen, administrator of the Estate of Stephen John Konzen, sold property at Walnut Road, Richmond, to Skyline Properties Inc., $1,500.
Anthony and Freya Segal, trustees, Freya Segal Living Trust and Anthony Segal Living Trust, sold property at 1220 Lenox Road, Richmond, to Michael D. and Janet L. Goodman, $925,000.
Besty A. Bemis sold property at 1867 Dublin Road, Richmond, to Garrett and Molly Claire Colvin, $395,000.
SANDISFIELD
Richard A. Gurfein sold property at 302 Sequena Drive, Sandisfield, to Howard D. Strickler, $685,000.
Alexandra N. Tinari sold property at 121 West St., Sandisfield, to Edward L. Hardie & Denise R. Hardie, $380,000.
Charles Schleien sold property at 355 Lakeshore Drive, Sandisfield, to Paul G. Gillespie & Susan F. Gillespie, $698,000.
David P. Etzel Jr., Beryl Jesser, Michael
J. Etzel, Alan G. Etzel, Suzanne Etzel, Peter M. Etzel, Lisa Etzel, and Eileen N. McDonald, trustee of Ann M. McDonald Trust Agreement, sold property at Cold Spring to West Otis Road, Sandisfield, to Commonwealth of Mass. Department of Conservation & Recreation, $190,000.
SAVOY
Christina D. Palmer, personal rep. of Sheila Ann Palmer, sold property at Barnard Road, Savoy, to Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, $250,000.
SHEFFIELD
Todd Michael Clay and Maria Bravo-Clay sold property at 310 Miller Ave., Sheffield, to Robert G. Robles, $250,000.
Glenn A. Curtiss and Sandra D. Sermini-Curtiss sold property at Home Road, Sheffield, to Mary R. White, $70,000.
Patricia Ann Barbiere, trustee of Barbiere Nominee Trust, sold property at 549 Sheffield Plain Road, Sheffield, to L Evans LLC, $287,000.
William Power IV & Lynn Power, sold property at 301 Shunpike Road, Sheffield, to 301 Shunpike LLC, $1,846,500.
Ernest R. Beckwith Jr. and Linda M. Beckwith sold property at 1354 County Road, Sheffield, to Matthew Warner and Cassandra Warner, $475,000.
Robert W. Davis sold property at 1350 Berkshire School Road, Sheffield, to Berkshire Black Rock LLC, $900,000.
Stockbridge
David E. and Charles S. Gittleman, personal rep. of the Estate of Norman Alan Gittleman, sold property at 12 Castle Hill Road, Stockbridge, to Jeffrey and Arielle Dufour, $1,425,000.
Avi Laub, trustee of the Dori Laub RVT, and Israel Inbar and Dori Laub sold property at Route 183 Glendale Road, Stockbridge, to Avi Laub, trustee of the Dori Laub RVT, $150,000.
Edward Steve Lichtenberg and Betsy Suzanne Aubrey, trustees of the Lichtenberg Aubrey RVT, sold property at 18 Beachwood Drive, Stockbridge, to Andrew and Sharon Silow-Carroll, $464,000.
Lynn Caponera sold property at 21A Interlaken Road, Stockbridge, to Jason
Macioge, $277,500.
Robert H. and Janet Ann Spero sold property at 6 Maple Lane, Stockbridge, to 80 Norwood Delaware Associates LLC, $1,165,000.
Marc and Michael Teich and Jaime Teich Entner, trustees, Jack Teich 2005 FT, sold property at Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, to Stanley G. and Norma J. Bolton, $150,000.
WASHINGTON
Steven Nelson sold property at 325 Cross Place Road, Washington, to Andrew John and Smitha Piedilato, $500,000.
Michele T. Beemer sold property at 79 Heartwood Road, Washington, to Robert C. Sweet Jr. and Lara Tupper, $208,000.
West Stockbridge
Avi Laub, trustee of Dori Laub Revocable Trust, and Israel Inbar, sold property at Route 183, Glendale Road, West Stockbridge, to Avi Laub, trustee of Dori Laub Revocable Trust, $150,000.
WILLIAMSTOWN
Bobby Earle and Carol Irene Cohen sold property at 139 Sweet Farm Road, Williamstown, to Steward J. and Lauren S. Levine, $362,250.
Hugh L. Guilderson and Arlene C. Kirsch, trustees of the Guilderson Kirsch FT, sold property at 189 Stratton Road, D-5, Williamstown, to Erica Domeier, $192,000.
David P. and Suzanne G. Kemple sold property at 75 Hill Province Road, Williamstown, to Christopher A. and Katherine Barker Swindell, $859,000.
Guy R. and Suzanne A. Shepherd sold property at Cold Spring Road, Williamstown, to KEQ Cold Spring Road LLC, $70,000.
160 Water LLC sold property at 160 Water St, Unit 404, Williamstown, to Christopher and Sarah Wolf, $595,000.
Gordon C. Squire, trustee of the Gordon C. Squire RVT, sold property at 714 Strat-
ton Road, Williamstown, to Christopher D. May and Chad A. White, $425,000.
R. Andrew Webb and Kim Cameron sold property at 1211 Main St., Williamstown, to Comstock Green LLC, $213,000.
Rebecca Palley sold property at 120 Stoney Ledge Road, Williamstown, to Leslie A. Milton, $720,000.
The President and Trustees of Williams College sold property at 340 Pine Cobble Road, Williamstown, to Matthew Chao, $721,002.
Paul D. and Lisa K. Jennings sold property at 1541 Green River Road, Unit 1, Williamstown, to Albert P. Naclerio and Ann W. Grasing, $590,000.
Jane Eckert sold property at 1 River Run, Unit 1, Williamstown, to 10 Casper Partners LLC, $860,000.
The President and Trustees of Williams College sold property at 230 Pine Cobble Road, Williamstown, to Christiann L. and Madison J. Kelsey, $496,000.
Nathan P. and Jessica Whitcomb Cook sold property at 754 Simonds Road, Williamstown, to Andrew J. and Kathryn M. Agostini, $375,000.
Matthew J. and Jeannette N. Smith sold property at 7 Sycamore Drive, Williamstown, to Noah and Shawnette J. KaneSmalls, $399,900.
Daie Shirayama and Nami Aoyagi sold property at 882 Simonds Road, Williamstown, to Ilia D. Partuk, $260,000.
FT — Family Trust
LLC — Limited Partnership
LT — Life Trust
NT — Nominee Trust
RET — Real Estate Trust
RT — Realty Trust
RVT — Revocable Trust
The real estate transactions are provided by the Middle Berkshire, North Berkshire and South Berkshire Registry of Deeds offices.
