Pittsfield's Former Polish Club Eyed For $20 Million Condo Project

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With a sizable grant from the state, the former Polish Community Club is eyed for a 40-unit housing development that adds four additional buildings to the property.

On Wednesday, the Affordable Housing Trust heard from developer Robert Shan about the project that could cost as much as $20 million.  Planners are vying for $10 million through the MassHousing CommonWealth Builder Program created to facilitate the construction of single-family homes and condominiums affordable to households with moderate incomes.

"We're looking not just to do a one-off but to have a presence in Pittsfield, a presence in Berkshire County, and look to bring forward attainable and affordable housing to many communities," he said.

"We see this as as as the first step and it's ready to go. We've put a tremendous amount of work into it and we're looking forward to being able to work with you."

While utilizing the former club, the plot at 55 Linden Street would have five buildings of one to three-bedroom condominiums for first-time homebuyers.  The final costs have not yet been determined but it is estimated that a unit for those of the 80 percent area median income will cost between $150,000 and $200,000 and those in between 80 and 100 percent AMI will cost between $190,000 and $250,000.

The proposed condos are single-story units with an entrance from the street with the first-floor units having a private fenced backyard.  The existing building is staged for single-story condos and two-story townhouses.

Planners aim to bring the character of the 1872 structure into the new construction through colors and architectural elements.

"In developing housing for first-time buyers, we wanted a form that all had entries from grade, from outside without common corridors, without elevators to get that feeling of homeownership," Shan explained.

"While we can't afford to build and get these first-time families at the single-family homes, we wanted a hybrid product that really felt and operated like a home where a lot of the units have backyards, is its own community, etc. So in that, we have not maximized the density."

Because the plan does not utilize the density allowance of up to 70 units, there will be enough room for the multi-bedroom units to have two parking spaces, and one-bedroom units to have one space and visitor parking.

"We have provided much more parking than is actually required," he said.

The property would be developed by a condominium association with a monthly fee attached.  Owners would be responsible for their units and all outside matters such as snow plowing, maintenance, and garbage removal would be captured in the fee.

He and partner Jodi Tartell have been involved in numerous housing communities in the U.S. and in Canada, many of them in the affordable market and nonprofit housing.

The CommonWealth Builder program provides $250,000 per unit, Shan reported, and it is capped at $275 million.  There is some urgency to get onboard as soon as possible, as he believes there are around $100 million committed already.

"If we wait too far, there we will be so far behind many applications, the funds will be dried up, and this opportunity to bring forward affordable for-sale housing will disappear."

Using this program, developers cannot tap into other state subsidies and all other support needs to come from local, county, or federal levels.  This is what brought the proprietors to the trust, hoping to work with it and the city to help fill the million-dollar gap in funding for the project.

The planners are working to get final calculations for materials construction and when those are determined, the goal is to have work sessions with the trust and other city panels.

Trustee Kamaar Taliaferro said it is a little difficult to square the sparsely developed plan with the spirit of the Downtown Creative District, which was amended to include the property along with other housing project sites. 

"Hearing you talk a little bit about density and about sort of the private backyards that will be afforded to everybody who are in these units, it's a little difficult for me personally, and this is just my own opinion to square that with what the spirit of the creative overlay district," he said.

"It's like we want to activate these public spaces by having a relationship between buildings and the street."

He pointed to local initiatives such as the Pittsfield Community Design Center and the Bike Facilities Master Plan that aim to connect people with the streets and encourage transportation other than personal vehicles.

"It's within your right to develop in a vernacular you see fit and I think from the elevations you showed us, they look really good," Taliaferro said.

"But it just seems to me that there's this emphasis on parking spaces in particular but also how this development will integrate within the existing neighborhood and integrate with future visions of the neighborhood but you can only do what you can do."

Trustee Michael McCarthy was impressed with the presentation and said that the panel will discuss how they can help.

"This really is an impressive project that I personally am very pleased with," he said.

 

Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:04AM / Sunday, April 05, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing. 

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said. 

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today." 

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback. 

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director. 

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care.  Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires. 

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs. 

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said. 

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.