PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Wayfair has finalized a lease in the Clocktower Building and expects to move in this fall.
Spokeswoman Molly Delaney said on Friday that the lease has been finalized at 75 South Church St. in Building 3. The company will occupy 40,000 square-feet.
The former Sheaffer-Eaton Mill, now known as the Clocktower Building, is owned by CT Management under the holding company Clocktower Partners LLC. The company purchased the building for $1 million in 2016.
Wayfair is planning a service center in the portion of the building which sits between the Clocktower Condos and the main office space area. The expansion into Pittsfield will come with the creation of 300 new jobs to the city, which is considered one of the city's biggest economic development wins in a number of years.
Wayfair's total expansion will be 3,300 after the state approved $31.4 million in tax breaks to the Boston-based retailer. The majority of the jobs will be in the Boston area with 300 coming to Pittsfield. The home-decor company is owned by Niraj Shah, a Pittsfield native, who has reportedly teased the idea that there could be more expansion into the Berkshire in the future.
The e-commerce company is expected to hire 265 customer service representatives and 35 managers at the Pittsfield location. It will be the company's ninth call center.
When the announcement was made in December there was no location identified though it was widely known that the Clocktower building was the leading potential location.
The mill was constructed in 1883 by Eli Terry. A decade later it was sold to Arthur W. Eaton who turned it into the Sheaffer-Eaton mill (after a merger with the Sheaffer pens) and employed a total of 900 people at one point.
In 1987, the mill was sold to Miller family, then owners of The Berkshire Eagle. In the 1990s, the Millers renovated the entire building into offices and moved paper's operation there. Miller sold the building and business to Media News Group, which then sold it to CT Management.
The large complex houses around 40 businesses but was reportedly only about 60 to 75 percent occupied when CT Management purchased it. Delaney said she expects the company to move into the location this fall.
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Pittsfield Schools Schedule Morningside, Budget Hearings This Week
On Thursday, April 9, at 6 p.m., community members will have the chance to give feedback in the Reid Middle School library. Last month, the Pittsfield Public Schools announced the possible closure of Morningside, which serves elementary grades, for the 2026-2027 school year and redistribution of its students to other city schools.
Morningside Community School was built in the mid-1970s with an open classroom concept. Morningside serves about 374 students and has a 7 percent accountability score, outperformed by 93 percent of the state.
For fiscal year 2027, the district has allocated about $5.2 million for the school. The committee has also requested a version of the proposed $87.2 million district budget with Morningside closed.
Pittsfield has another open concept school, Conte Community School, that is planned to consolidate with Crosby Elementary School, and possibly Stearns Elementary School, in a new building on the Crosby site by 2030. The status of the project's owner's project manager will be discussed on Tuesday, April 7, at 5 p.m. at Taconic High School during the School Building Needs Commission meeting.
That leaves the school officials wondering if Morningside students could have better educational outcomes if resources followed them to other nearby schools. Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips has stressed that a decision has not yet been made.
Considerations for the school’s closure include: The feasibility of the facility to provide a conducive teaching and learning environment with an open campus design, the funding allocation needed to ensure Morningside students can have equitable learning opportunities, and declining enrollment across Pittsfield elementary schools.