image description — The restaurant had closed abruptly in 2016.

Old Country Buffet Expected To Be Razed To Make Way For New Restaurant

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
07:04AM / Saturday, January 13, 2018Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The former Old Country Buffet at Berkshire Crossing is expected to be razed.

The plaza owners Brixmor Property Group received the OK from the Conservation Commission to take down the restaurant. The plan is to construct a new, 5,500 square-foot restaurant in its place.

"The footprint of the proposed restaurant is significantly smaller. The existing restaurant is a square, rectangular shape. The concept is we've located the restaurant in that same building footprint but completely out of the riverfront area," James Scalise of SK Design said.

Scalise said there is a tight schedule for the owners to finalize the lease. Which restaurant will take its place was not disclosed on Thursday.

Old Country Buffet has been closed for the last two years. It closed with little warning in February 2016 as workers arrived there one morning to find a sign announcing its closure.

The restaurant was one of 74 closed by Ovation Brands at the time. Now it appears another company is interested in taking over the location.

What would you like to see there?

Tags: restaurants,

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Lanesborough Hopes for Continued Talks on Mall Sale

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
06:41PM / Wednesday, November 11, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board is optimistic that talks for the Berkshire Mall sale will continue.

Chair Deborah Maynard and Vice Chair Juli Baker were to meet with mall owner JMJ Holdings, the Baker Hill Road District, and proposed buyer Cypress Equities on Tuesday to discuss next steps. As of Wednesday, iBerkshires had received a "we are optimistic" from Maynard on the talks. The Berkshire Eagle reported a response from a Cypress representative saying talks will continue.

Baker had updated the Select Board on Monday about the status of the sale and the efforts being undertaken by the renamed Baker Hill Business District.

Cypress Equities pulled out of a purchase-and sale-agreement with mall owner JMJ last week for the following reasons.

Not enough water service/pressure to the property to support redevelopment without constructing costly water tanks.
The current septic system and former treatment facility is not acceptable for a project of the scale and magnitude proposed.
There is existing asbestos and bad soil from the treatment system that needs to be remediated off site.
And the current structure and tax assessment of the Baker Hill Road District.

Baker has been working with what is now being called the Baker Hill Business District and said she and the district members are happy that Cypress has decided to leave the door open to more discussions and that they have been working hard to try and address the company's needs.

Last month, the town had asked state Sen. Paul Mark and state Rep. John Barrett III to support the state Department of Transportation taking over the Connector Road, funding for a mall connection to Pittsfield's wastewater treatment plant and a connection to the town's water main.

Baker said an amendment has been drafted to cap the district's taxes to not grow more than 2.5 percent a year. She noted that, historically, taxes have not grown by more than one percent per year, so it won't be difficult to meet that cap.

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