The majority of the mall will have to be demolished as the 40-year-old big box stores are not suitable because of space and condition. 

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Berkshire Mall owners have paid their town taxes and plan to transform the property into more than 400 units of housing.

JMJ Holdings is entering into the design process for a nine-figure overhaul of the shuttered mall property into 420 to 450 units of senior housing. Town Administrator Gina Dario confirmed that the full fiscal year 2025 tax balance, totaling $293,380, has been paid.

"It's basically an apartment building that's catered towards older populations, people generally in their mid-60s, and the amenities on site really cater to that lifestyle. It's kind of all comprising," Timothy Grogan of the Housing Development Corp. explained, adding that there will also be assisted living, memory care, independent living, and senior affordable housing.

Grogan was hired as a consultant to guide a feasibility study for the property.  He said there haven't been recent conversations with the town "because we're really hashing it out, we want to come to them with a fully thought-out proposal in terms of the amount of supportable units."

"I think it would be a huge boon to Berkshire County, generally, in a way that the mall used to be," he said. "We're really excited about it. We're moving forward with full steam ahead."

The feasibility study determined that there could be up to 600 units, but the project team imagines a more conservative amount between 420 and 450 units.

It is being scoped as a Low Income Housing Tax Credit project, which means that at least 20 percent of the units would need to be reserved for people at/or below 50 percent of the area median income or at least 40 percent of the units would need to made affordable for persons with incomes at/or below 60 percent of the area median income.

Grogan said conversations have been scheduled with the offices of Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and state Secretary of Housing Ed Augustus.

"Given the political importance of this property and Governor Healey's emphasis on gateway cities, we don't expect that to be such a long lead item. That being said, this is envisioned to be a phased project where we have the assisted living, active adult and independent living kind of in one bucket with affordable housing in another one," he said.