Letter: Letter Writer Has Confidence in Restaurant Architect

To the Editor:

In your article, "Porches Inn Gets OK to Proceed With River Street Demolition, New Restaurant," I was pleased to see that the project will be designed by the firm MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple, a Canadian firm.

I have crossed paths with Brian MacKay-Lyons over a period of more than 40 years. His award-winning work has consistently been of the highest quality and especially responsive to its setting. I have complete confidence that the Porches is doing North Adams a great service.

Sincerely,

Howard Itzkowitz
North Adams, Mass.

Architect (retired), Professor Emeritus, Southern Polytechnic State University

North Adams Glamping Project Teams With Luxury Resort for New Approvals

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:24AM / Friday, April 17, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Just last fall, wellness and fancy tents were the core of the glamping proposal for Notch Road.

 

On Monday, developer Benjamin Crespi of 196 Marine LLC, was back before the Planning Board with a dramatically different proposal: 49 two-bedroom tourists cabins with a restaurant and recreational amenities.

 

He was approved with a lengthy list of conditions hammered out between the project and a group of residents represented by attorney Alexandra Glover of Lazan Glover & Puciloski.

 

"After I think multiple rounds and many discussions with neighbors to understand what their reservations about the project were, we went back to the drawing board," said Crespi. "The main critical issues were the fact that my last permit allowed me to be open to the general public.

 

"There was concerns about the number of events and the size of those events. There was concern about noise impact in the neighborhood, traffic volume, traffic routing and wildlife interaction."

 

He detailed the 19 issues that the neighbors had and determined the way forward was to limit access only to paying customers and not open to the public for events.

 

"It was very clear that I had to reduce the volume of people on site. So if I reduce my guest count, and I've lost those profit centers, then I need to offset by going to a higher level of service. That's exactly what I've done," Crespi said.