PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual meeting this Friday, Dec. 17, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in the Crowne Plaza ballroom. Themed "Leadership," the meeting will honor various community and chamber members..

Outgoing Board Chair Karen Zink, president of Berkshire Gas, will call the meeting to order at 7:30. The agenda will include the election of directors and officers, a salute to the outgoing chair and a welcome from the incoming chair Gerard Burke, president of Hillcrest Educational Centers, Inc.

The 2010 Esther Quinn Award, in memory of Esther Quinn, a former chamber volunteer and advocate for volunteer efforts, will be presented to June Roy-Martin, Communications and Business Development manager at Quality Printing Company. Former North Adams Mayor John Barrett III and outgoing state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley will each be presented with the 2010 Francis H. Hayden Award. The Hayden Award honors the memory of Francis Hayden, a two-term president of the Northern Berkshire Chamber who made significant contributions to the community as president and through his involvement with several other organizations.

This year’s annual meeting is sponsored by Berkshire Bank, TD Bank, Legacy Banks, SABIC Innovative Plastics, CornerStone, and Quality Printing.

The chamber’s 2010 members of the month will also be presented with certificates of recognition. The 2010 members of the month are Boys & Girls Club of Pittsfield, Miss Hall’s School, Charter Oak Consulting Group, Richard Fabozzi “Presents”, Berkshire United Way, Inc., Northern Berkshire United Way, Mission Bar + Tapas, Bascom Lodge, Pine Cone Hill; The Annie Selke Companies, and Bisque Beads & Beyond.

Tickets are $30 per person and include a breakfast buffet. The event is open exclusively to members of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. To register, call 413-499-4000, e-mail choyt@berkshirechamber.com or register at www.berkshirechamber.com.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — More than a year after announcing the construction of a BJ's Wholesale Club on Hubbard Avenue, the Braintree developer secured a $9.2 million construction loan for the project this weekend.

Reported on Monday by Waltham-based Bostonsf.com, Cape Breton Corporation and Saxon Partners worked with real estate intermediary Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. to get the loan through Sovereign Santander Bank.

The developers plan to build a 85,188-square-foot freestanding building and fueling station behind Berkshire Crossings.

The project was announced in October of 2009 when Robert MacPherson, president of Cape Breton, said the group will begin the formal permitting process aiming to break ground in 2010. It will be the county's first BJ's club and City Hall said it would create about 120 new jobs. The closest BJ's clubs to Berkshire County are in Greenfield, Springfield and Albany, N.Y.

BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. is a leading operator of membership warehouse clubs in the East. The company, now in its 25th year, currently employees more than 20,000 team members and operates 180 clubs in 15 states from Maine to Florida.

Formed in 1998, Saxon Partners is a retail and residential developer focused on the New England region and Cape Breton Corporation is a real estate development company specializing in the site acquisition and local permitting of retail buildings and shopping centers.

BJsAnnouncement

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass — After four years working at In Touch Day Spa, beautician Karen Brown has ventured off on her own.

Brown signed a lease at a 173 Water St. suite in mid-October and eight weeks later on Dec. 2, opened her own salon, "U".  She said Wednesday most of her former clients have already found her and business has started strong. Though she does not expect all of her former clients, she does expect to gain some at the new location.

Co-owner Jodi Spencer and Brown perform designer cuts, coloring, dimensional hair color, keratin treatments, shampooing and blow drying, facial waxing and manicures.