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Bass Water Grill is changing hands this week. The restaurant's been in business for 15 years.

New Owner of Bass Water Grill to Move Realty Company to Cheshire

By Brian RhodesiBerkshires Staff
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CHESHIRE, Mass. — Lakeside restaurant Bass Water Grill will close its doors on Saturday after 15 years in business. 

The restaurant at 287 South State Road started operation in 2007, replacing the building's former restaurant, the Lakeside. Craig Kahn, owner of All Seasons Realty Group in Pittsfield, is buying the property and plans to move the group's office there and potentially open a cafe.

"I think there's a lot of cool things that we could do with it, too, that will be great for the community," he said this week. "It will be good all around. I think it'll be a really, really nice situation."

Restaurant owner Edward Bassi posted about the change in hands on the restaurant's Facebook last week. 

"After being a part of the welcoming community for the last fifteen years, the one thing we will miss most is our family," the post read. "We thank our staff and community for standing beside us for this crazy ride."

While he said plans are not final, Kahn intends to utilize the kitchen space and wants to make sure he does it right.

"I would like to have some sort of cafe in the front, possibly utilize the back part of the bigger kitchen for some catering or events or things of that nature," he said. "I don't have anything 100 percent set in stone or concrete. Right now, I'm really focused on just getting the office up and running and going."

Kahn said he and his firm have known that the building was for sale for several years. He highlighted the location and the floorplan as significant reasons for the purchase.



"We started thinking about it, and seeing the growth potential, having an open concept office and then working with the town trying to do a cafe possibly in there," he said. "And working with the lake and the trail, it just seemed like an overall good scenario," he said.

iBerkshires unsuccessfully reached out to Bassi several times for comment.

There's been a restaurant at the location for years. Jason Boucher had operated the Lakeside Restaurant for about decade before it changed hands and had overseen a renovation of the kitchen after a fire and added the reception hall in 2002. Bass Water is the last operating sit-down restaurant in Cheshire — Bea's Daily Buzzz closed in 2005, Christina's in 2007, and the Country Charm had closed its doors in 2004 after 33 years.

Tags: business closing,   restaurants,   

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Adams Sets Special Town Meeting

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — Prior to the annual town meeting in June, there were several unknowns when the budget was being developed. Now that those uncertainties have been resolved, the town will hold a special town meeting to update the budget.
 
The special town meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, in the Memorial Building gymnasium.
 
The Select Board will sign the warrant on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 5 p.m., the required 14 days before the special town meeting. 
 
In the last year, Adams has had a high turnover in employees because of retirements and staff leaving to pursue other opportunities. This resulted in several vacancies during budget season. 
 
Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo conservatively budgeted those positions at previous rates, maintaining each staff member's prior step or grade, as if the roles were filled full time, essentially building a "level-funded service budget."
 
The special town meeting will take place before the tax rate is set, allowing the town sufficient time to prepare the tax bills for mailing in early November, with payments due in late November, he told the Select Board last Wednesday. 
 
"During the FY27 budget discussions, we started that process with a number of vacancies and a number of questions with some of our appropriations, particularly around salaries and health insurance. We've since nearly filled all those vacancies," Caccamo said. 
 
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