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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Dalton Finance Makes Reserve Fund Transfers
By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee made two reserve fund transfers last Wednesday night.
The reserve fund balance is currently $60,000. This is the first reserve fund transfer the town has made this fiscal year, committee clerk Karen Schmidt said.
A transfer to the vocational education tuition account for $16,000 was approved. The original appropriation was $605,020 and the present balance is $4,527.
It had been previously demonstrated that setting the budget for this account can be challenging due to the uncertainty about how many students will choose to attend vocational education programs.
The vocational education account was reduced by $90,000 during a September special town meeting; however, a spot opened up at a vocational program, so a student decided to transfer after the start of the second quarter.
A transfer for the employee fringe benefits account was approved for $10,000. The original appropriation was $64,180.
The present balance is $4,412.77 and is not sufficient to cover the vacation payouts and sick buy backs of the six employees who left this year.
Jewish Federation of the Berkshires President Arlene Schiff opened the festivities with a recognition of the victims of Sunday's mass shooting in Australia and praise for a hero who helped stop the killing.
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The Friday morning fire that gutted the Wagon Wheel Inn is still under investigation, and several people who were living at the motel have moved to another one.
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