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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 Town Meeting OKs Budget, Nixes Citizens' Petitions

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires.com

The annual town report was dedicated to retired Police Chief Richard Tarsa, above. 
ADAMS, Mass. — Town meeting members approved 23 of the 25 articles on the annual town meeting warrant. 
 
The gymnasium in the Memorial Building was filled with 104 town meeting members who voted to approve the authorization for a number of spending articles making up a budget of approximately $21 million during a meeting that lasted 50 minutes. 
 
Of that, members approved, Article 5, an operations budget of $10,650,057, of which $8,074,370 is made up of personnel and $2,642,107 for operating expenses. 
 
"This is a level of services budget from one year ago," Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo said. 
 
The amounts budgeted are reflective of what it takes for an organization, pay employees, provide health insurance, and all the ancillary costs, he said. 
 
The town has not yet finalized union contract negotiations with the police and clerical unions and still has open positions. So, there will be a special town meeting in late September or early October to adjust the budget based on the salaries and health insurance.
 
The positions have been conservatively budgeted at previous rates, maintaining each staff member's prior step or grade, as if the roles were filled full time. 
 
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