Prospective Tenants on Horizon for William Stanley Business Park, Funding Sought After
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The William Stanley Business Park has a number of prospective tenants and will be reapplying for a MassWorks grant it missed out on.
At Wednesday's meeting of the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, it was reported that every prospect for the park is still alive.
Preparation work is underway for the nearly $10 million Site 9 redevelopment project, which was awarded an $880,000 grant from the state last year. Concrete on the former General Electric parcel has to be crushed and filled for development.
"They're surveying that they're doing ground-penetrating radar to try to find what's underneath there," Business Development Manager Michael Coakley said. "This is all part of the Site 9 redevelopment project which would be to kind of crush and crack the concrete and put a four-foot fill on top of that and also put in some infrastructure."
The site is undergoing a redevelopment study with the help of more than $1 million in MassDevelopment funds.
Late last year, Coakley reported that an additional $6.3 million MassWorks grant was applied for but not awarded. He was encouraged by the grantees to try again and PEDA voted to approve future applications for grant agreements and awards.
The expression of interest is due on March 18 and other sources of funding are still being sought after.
"Working on getting the funding and hopefully we'll have some good news on that over the next few months," Coakley told PEDA.
In the fall, it was confirmed that a 15-by-15 foot wide, 48-foot long box culvert underneath Woodlawn Avenue that connects Sites 7, 8, and the large Site 9 would be feasible. This is still an option to provide efficient travel between the three sites.
Coakley said the business park is still in "early talks" with a prospective tenant for the site and hopes to have an eminent developer once the property is ready. In the fall, he reported that a large light manufacturing and product distribution company was interested in Sites 7, 8, and 9.
An executive session on Site 9 was scheduled for this meeting but was postponed due to pending information.
Four local companies are interested in constructing a building on Site 3 North next to the Berkshire Innovation Center and are seeking state funding. Coakley said this is an ongoing project and the companies wish not to be named at the moment.
The proposal is still in the very early stages but has been worked on for several months now.
"Things are looking good on that," he said. "And will be a great project, great building a city and for the four local companies."
In 2019, cannabis cultivator Berkshire Kind was approved to purchase land in the business park and erect a 20,000-square foot grow facility.
The proposed Tier 2 facility will stand on Site 4, which is across the street from the future Berkshire Innovation Center and the Silverman brothers plan to spend between $2.8 million and $2.9 million on the facility.
Tags: business park, PEDA,
