PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Waterstone fully intends to move forward with a development at the William Stanley Business Park.
The company has spent five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars designing the project, which had been aimed at bringing a Walmart Supercenter to the 16.5-acre site known as the teens.
However, Walmart has since backed out of the project and Waterstone is now proceeding with confidence that another one of its retail clients will become the anchor.
"We are proceeding with the project. We are moving forward as planned without a business agreement with Walmart," said Waterstone Principal Anton Melchionda on Wednesday.
That does not necessarily mean Walmart is out, but it leaves a question of what tenant could be there. Waterstone has worked with hundreds of clients on developments like the Woodlawn Crossing project. Waterstone has a lease and sales agreement on the location and has put some $65,000 as a down payment.
"We have relationships with hundreds of retailers, many of whom have expressed interest in the site," Melchionda said.
Melchionda said Waterstone hasn't had a business agreement with Walmart for at least six months. The company had been waiting for Walmart's approval to move forward with permitting. Eventually, Waterstone opted to continue with the permitting process, with the Walmart plans essentially being a placeholder for whatever retailer it ultimately signs an agreement with to occupy the location.
Melchionda said changes will be made as the process unfolds.
The company submitted plans for the project on Monday. The plans clearly identified and show Walmart as the tenant but shortly after reports appeared in the media about the filing, Walmart released a statement saying it no longer planned to relocate its Pittsfield store.
"Waterstone's decision to proceed with entitlement was their own. We no longer plan to relocate our store in Pittsfield. However, we are committed to continuing our investment and community involvement in Western Massachusetts," reads a statement from Phillip Keene, director of corporate communications for Walmart, released Tuesday evening.
"We operate more than 50 Walmart stores and Sam's Clubs in Massachusetts and we continue to execute our plan to invest across the state this year by remodeling locations, introducing and expanding Online Grocery Pick-Up to new stores in Western Massachusetts, and opening new associate training academies. We remain very grateful for the support and professionalism of Pittsfield's leadership while we worked through the development process and we look forward to continuing to serve our customers at our existing location in the city and online at Walmart.com."
Walmart has scaled back significantly the number of Supercenters it plans to build this year.
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Pittsfield Celebrates Robert 'Bob' Presutti on Arbor Day
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Bob Presutti, right, is presented the Hebert Award in 2017 for his volunteer efforts at Springside Park. He died in 2023 at age 88.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A tree has been planted next to the Berkshire Athenaeum in honor of local "giant" Robert Presutti.
Officials celebrated Arbor Day on Friday by installing a commemorative plaque next to the American elm sapling. This is a tree that James McGrath, the city's park program manager, said Presutti would have been particularly proud of.
"Today is a day where we yes, celebrate trees, but today is also a day where here in the city we intentionally try to acknowledge the good work of folks in our community who spend their time and their efforts and their talents to make Pittsfield a more beautiful place," he said to a crowd of about 20 people.
"Today we are honoring a longtime community volunteer named Bob Presutti. I'm sure a lot of you here know Bob and know his contributions to the city, not only when it comes to trees and parks but also to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program."
The longtime volunteer passed away last year at the age of 88. He contributed more than 10,600 hours to RSVP and had great impacts on the Parks Department over the years from sharing his knowledge and talents to ensuring that workers were safe when working on trees.
"This morning I went through my emails to see how many emails Bob Presutti sent me since the year 2001 when I started with the city. Bob Presutti sent me 14,000 emails and nearly every single one of those was about trees," McGrath said, prompting laughter and smiles from attendees.
One thread struck him as particularly important because it showed Presutti's empathy when it comes to the safety of city workers while caring for trees.
"There were multiple emails from Bob about the need to get the Parks Department maintenance guys into a program learning about chainsaw safety and learning about ladder safety. He was really into making certain that our city workers were well cared for and had all of the instruction that they needed and in fact, he even offered his own time and services after he became certified to teach our city workers," McGrath said.
Officials celebrated Arbor Day on Friday by installing a commemorative plaque next to the American elm sapling. This is a tree that James McGrath, the city's park program manager, said Presutti would have been particularly proud of.
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Albert Ingegni III was applauded for four decades of service on the Zoning Board of Appeals during City Council. Mayor Peter Marchetti presented him with a certificate of thanks for his commitment to the community.
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Between disagreements about site design and a formal funding process not yet established, more time is needed before a decision can be made.
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The Ordinances and Rules subcommittee on Monday unanimously supported a pay raise for election workers, free downtown parking for veterans, and safeguards to better protect wetlands.
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