Architect Authorized to Put Drury Renovation Project Out to Bid

12:00AM / Wednesday, July 26, 2000Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — School Building Committee members in North Adams gave a green light July 25 to the bidding process for the renovation of Drury High School.

"If you haven't heard, the letter from the state came that authorizes us to go to bid. We've completed our documents," said project architect James M. Morrissey of Tessier Associates, West Springfield. "And we're now prepared to go to bid. We've completed the work that leads to the bid stage. ...

"We planned it, cut it, trimmed it, modified it and [have] done everything we can."

Committee members voted to authorize Tessier to send the project out to bid on the following schedule: The project will be advertised in the Central Register on Aug. 2, an on-site pre-bid meeting to answer potential bidders' questions will be held on Aug. 15, sub-bids will be received on Aug. 30, and general bids will be received Sept. 12.

"They haven't put out the final list of the rankings, but they've authorized us to go out to bid," Morrissey said of the state.

"We're on our way," said North Adams Mayor and School Committee Chairman John Barrett III when members voted to authorize the bidding process.

Earlier in the meeting, Morrissey presented committee members with four "alternates," items which do not affect the educational area of the building, but which school officials would like to be part of the renovation and be put in the bid documents, to be done if funds permit. Members approved the list.

These, in descending order of priority, are: replacement of the seats and footboards on the football bleachers; the raising of the grade of the lower parking lot; refurbishing of the existing running track. The fourth alternate dealt with what material would be used to raise the parking lot, if local arrangements for fill cannot be made.

"If we're fortunate enough and able to find funding for these, these will be bonuses of the project we would add on," Morrissey said.

Barrett said the raising of the lower parking lot would be done for "security reasons. There's been a problem down there."

This is an opportunity to possibly get the 87 percent reimbursement funding from the state for these additional projects that the district has for the school renovation project, he said. For example, if the additional three projects cost $1 million, it would add just $130,000 to the project's cost.

"So we would be foolish not to pursue this," Barrett said. "It's not a wish list. We're actually going to go out and bid it, and if it falls into the parameters of what the state will spend on this particular project, we'll be able to do it."

On another matter, Morrissey said there had been meetings with several vendors, and it was determined that Lucent Systems would provide the most appropriate telephone system for the school.

Lucent is a subdivision of AT&T, and other public buildings in North Adams, including schools, use a Lucent system.

Building committee members voted to authorize Tessier to proceed with arrangements and specifications for the city to purchase a Lucent telephone system for the school. This system would have a cost benefit as well.

"In fact, it also gives you an opportunity to buy this off of the state bids list," Morrissey said. "The state has already bid the phone system as well — so it's already been pre-bid — it's the best number that you can get."

He continued, "there is a big savings here that we would realize [because] it's already bid ... It meets the needs of the school, it can be tied into the central system, it can be tied into ... the computer system."

This phone system is fully expandable, Morrissey said.

Committee members also voted to make Ceco cafeteria tables a prioritized item.

"Over the years the school department has had many different types of cafeteria tables," Morrissey said. "They're probably something that take some of the greatest beatings in the building."

Some 50 of these tables will be purchased. These tables are tough, and if they are used in every school, parts can be interchanged. Brayton School has these tables now. There won't be a cost savings in prioritizing the tables, but this will guarantee getting these tables.

The tables will not be purchased on state bid, but are budgeted for in the renovation plan, officials said.

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Main & Mill: A Vibrant New Restaurant on Main Street

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:10PM / Thursday, August 06, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — You can now enjoy another eatery on Main Street by well-known restaurant siblings Colleen and Sean Taylor.

Their restaurant Main & Mill opened for the first time Tuesday, bringing their vision of creating something vibrant and new to downtown North Adams.

"We have created Main & Mill to be part of our day. It's very seasonal ingredients, thoughtful cooking, beauty, beautiful presentation and dishes. And we really wanted to be part of the community, the downtown area, and start a vibrant area on this end, which has been shuttered for a while," said Colleen.

The building is owned by Ginko on Main Street LLC, which has granted 20 years exclusive possession of the property to Latent Builds as the developer. Jack and Suzy Wadsworth, behind Ginko, are development partners with Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry of Latent.

The bank closed in early 2021 and was purchased by Ginko late that year. Plans for the property unveiled three years ago envisioned a restaurant, retail, a park and rooftop bar.

Colleen saw potential and said she initially wanted the building when it first went up for sale. Being good friends with Rothstein and Perry, she helped them design the kitchen and the bar before learning in March that she could lease it as a restaurant space, something she told them would be a great idea.

She said one of the most important things about the restaurant was the collaboration between Rothstein, Perry, and the Wadsworths, who put a lot of time and energy into the building.

"If Sean and I had done it, we would not be able to do what the collaboration supported. The collaboration of the three of us being able to really have that kind of money to put in down here. The design that the architecture firm that Carla and Sal own is stunning," she said. "The time and effort, everyone came together to do this in a really trusting manner."

The two wanted the restaurant to be an all-day venture, so people could eat at any point throughout the day, all week long.

"We wanted it to be open for coffee and socialization in the morning where people can meet, have their cup of coffee, have a quiche, a vegetarian quiche, or croissant or yogurt. Something intentional with their coffee," she said. "Then move into a lunchtime for the downtown business or anybody, and then go into supper, dinner, with drinks later into the evening. So have it really be open all day long, so that there wasn't a void on any particular day."

They also wanted to do something different than the other restaurants they owned.

"We didn't want to mimic any other restaurant in town. We wanted to bring something that was inspiring, something that had some familiar things that people would see, and other things that we would bring to them for them to experience," she said.

As a woman business owner, Colleen said she wanted to bring a female chef into the kitchen.

Colleen brought on Chef Anna DeRose, who she said puts twists on a lot of her dishes.

"So we have a creme brulee, but our creme brulee is topped with marshmallow," she said. "Our creme brulee is like almost two desserts in one. It's a s'mores creme brulee. So you could have a s'mores, and you could have a creme brulee - but when you put both of them together, fireworks go off."

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