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

Marshall Street Crash Under Investigation; Businesses Remain Closed Until Damage Repaired.

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
06:31PM / Friday, August 28, 2026

Glass litters Tres Ninos' floor on Friday. Right, the front logo from the truck is screwed into the plywood covering the front of the building.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Two local businesses are closed for an indefinite amount of time after a pickup truck slammed through the front of Brewster's antique shop on Marshall Street on Thursday night. 

 

Police Chief Mark Bailey said the crash is still under investigation and didn't have have any further information on Friday morning on one of the truck's occupants who was taken to the hospital. 

 

Brewster's owner Casey Albert was standing in line at another antique shop on Friday, hoping to replace some merchandise shattered in the collision. 

 

"I mean half the store is gone," she said. "He pushed a lot of things way far back, the whole front is just gone."

 

Albert said building owner David Carver said it would be months before she could re-open. Right now, she can get into the back half of the store but was told not to touch anything in the front until the insurance adjuster can look at it. 

 

It's not clear, she said, how long it will take to repair the damage to the building. But her business is taking a big hit. 

 

"You can't replace antiques," Albert said. "That's why they're usually expensive."