LEE, Mass. — Springfield-based supermarket chain Big Y Foods, Inc., has paid $4.25 million for 9.8 acres of property on which it intends to build a new store.

The site, situated between Exit 2 of the Massachusetts Turnpike and the Lee Prime Outlets, was originally home to Diesel Dan’s Travel Complex.

Colebrook Realty Services, Inc. brokered the sale of the property and its improvements.  Colebrook Principals B. John Dill and Mitch Bolotin represented the seller, NortherEdge/Plant One Realty Trust.  According to documents filed in the Registration of Deeds, the closing date was Sept 20.

Big Y plans to develop a 48,000 square-foot supermarket on the site, with 5,000 square feet of additional retail space. The Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously on Sept. 1 in  favor of the construction, which is scheduled to begin by the end of the year.

“We are excited to be one step closer to building a Big Y World Class Market in Lee as we continue to move forward with our plans to open this market to better affect customer service strategy for South County,” said Charles L. D'Amour, President and COO of Big Y Foods, Inc., in a statement released by Colebrook today, Oct. 7.

The sale of the property is part of a broader portfolio restructuring on the part of F.L. Roberts & Company, Inc.

According to Steven M. Roberts, President of F.L. Roberts & Company, Inc., “Along came our repurchase opportunity for some of our formerly owned Sunoco station and Colebrook Realty was instrumental in providing a key element to our asset shuffling strategy: a timely Purchase and Sale Agreement with Big Y.  Mitch and Jack did an excellent job in a difficult real estate market.”

MassDevelopment is shuttling a bevy of real estate professionals out to the hinterlands on Tuesday to size up opportunities in Lee, Lenox and Pittsfield.

The Berkshire Economic Development Corp. will host Walter Upton, director of construction at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Fred Kramer, president of Boston design firm Add Inc.; Maury Wolfe, a partner in the Boston architectural firm of DiMarinisi and Wolfe; and Eden Milroy, president of development and property management firm Pilot Development, along with some 25 real estate professionals and local officials.

The group will get a bus tour of Lee and Lenox before heading to the William Stanley Business Park in Pittsfield sometime after 11 a.m. Then they'll look at the former KB Toys building on West Street before having lunch at the Colonial Theatre. The whirlwind tour wraps up at 1 when the bus departs back for Boston.

The BEDC is hoping to spark interest in some of the vacant business properties in the area, particularly the stalled Pittsfield business park whose sole tenant at the moment is a field of solar panels.

The good news is that the response for the Berkshire trip was high, we're told. The panel is also expected to offer advice and insight on how best to reuse and market some of the properties.

FLORIDA, Mass. — The old Wigwam Cabins on the Western Summit have been purchased by Nancy Fitzpatrick, adding to her collection of historic properties that include the 1773 Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge.

Fitzpatrick, as LMNO Properties LLC, purchased the cabins, guest house and gift shop from the Berkshire Natural Resources Council on Aug. 13 for $275,000. The deal includes a right of first refusal for the nature conservation group should Fitzpatrick ever decide to sell it.

The council took ownership of the buildings last year, when it purchased 37 acres for $470,000 with plans to add it to some 730 acres along the Hoosac Range to conserve the land and restore a three-mile long trail.

The buildings and just under 4 acres were put on the market for $350,000 this spring.

"I'd been eyeballing the cabins longingly for years. I hated the thought that they might disappear," said Fitzpatrick in a news release announcing the purchase. "This style of roadside architecture, from the early days of automobile travel, is underappreciated and endangered. I can't wait to get going on this project."

The site has been a tourist destination with three-state views since the early part of the last century. It will be managed by the Porches Inn in North Adams, another historic property developed out of old houses on River Street by Fitzpatrick and and Williams College alum Jack Wadsworth.

Fitzpatrick is renovating the vintage cabins and will operate them seasonally beginning in spring 2011. She's interested in American road tripping and the hotels and motels that were built during the development of the Interstate Highway System.

Guests at the cabins will have easy access to the trail system being undertaken by the Berkshire Natural Resource Council that will ultimately connect the Florida and Savoy Mountain state forests and include a major hiking trail, the envisioned 100-mile Mahican-Mohawk Trail for Northern Berkshire County. This trail will start at the Wigwam site, ending at Spruce Hill, in the Savoy Mountain State Forest. The anticipated completion date for the trail is in June 2011.

"The Wigwam will capture the imagination and spirit of adventure of its guests, by recalling the nostalgia of bygone days of motor-touring on Route 2," said Bruce Finn, general manager of the Porches and Red Lion inns, in the press release. "The Wigwam Cabins will give travelers access to the Hoosac Range Trail, and — ultimately — the Mahican-Mohawk Trail. It is also a short, five-mile drive to the center of North Adams, Mass MoCA, and The Porches Inn through scenic winding mountain roads, and just a bit longer to Williamstown. Guests will enjoy breathtaking views from their rustic cabin settings, with easy access to all there is to do in the area."

Guests of the Wigwam will have full use of all guest amenities at the Porches, including the hotel's year-round pool, hot tub and exercise facilities. The property will be renovated with each cabin or guestroom offering a private bath and shower. The cabins will feature comfortable furnishings, wood stoves, refrigerators and coffee-making facilities.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Morningside Initiative is hosting a meeting of the Tyler Street Business Group on Tuesday, May 11, at 7:30 a.m. at the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority office, 81 Kellogg St. 

The purpose of the meeting is to give support to the business community on Tyler Street and Dalton Avenue, and to give them a voice in shaping the future of their community by helping promote its positive attributes, while increasing quality of life.

The Pittsfield Police Department and city councilors will be in attendance to answer questions. This meeting is open to anyone who runs a business on Tyler Street and Dalton Avenue. The Morningside Initiative's mission is to preserve and restore the integrity of the neighborhood and empower residents. 

DALTON, Mass. — Crane & Co. officials were on hand this morning as the new $100 bill was unveiled in the U.S. Treasury Department's Cash Room in Washington. The Dalton printer has been making the specialized paper for the nation's folding currency for more than 100 years.
 
The bill includes a variety of high-tech additions to help defeat counterfeiting; the U.S. $100 bill is the most widely counterfeited note.

Find out the cool things happening on the new $100 bill.

"As the supplier of the paper used to produce the redesigned $100 bill, Crane & Co. worked diligently to provide the Bureau of Engraving & Printing with paper that contains an updated suite of security elements," said Douglas Crane, vice president, in a statement. "These features were designed to address the government's twin objectives of elevating the security of the world's most recognized banknote, while at the same time enhancing its ease of use — both of which serve to support and extend the public’s confidence in the banknote."

The security includes a micro-optic "Motion" feature that creates simulated images on the security thread that appear to move as the bill is tilted and also switches from one image to another — from $100 to the Liberty Bell — in an stylized inkwell. That should create a major challenge to potential counterfeiters, said Crane.

The bill also has the traditional anti-counterfeit devices like scattered blue and red fibers, a facial watermark of Ben Franklin, embedded security thread that glows under ultraviolet and darker number watermarks.

Crane officials will be demonstrating the bill's new attributes at the Dalton mill on Friday to a select group of officials and press that includes iBerkshires.