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The former Kmart shopping center has a new owner and a new name — Parkade Plaza.

North Adams' Downtown Shopping Plaza Sold Again

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The former Kmart shopping plaza has changed hands again and the new owners are seeking tenants as "Parkade Plaza."
 
The 127,626 square-foot retail center was sold on June 4 for $2.6 million to Guru Realty LLC of Mendon, with listed managers Nitant Raval of Mendon and Chirag Patel of Dalton. 
 
KeyPoint Partners of Burlington is handling property management and leasing, according to a press release received on Monday. 
 
"There are number of opportunities in various sizes for a variety of uses: retail, entertainment, medical and health, personal service, and others," states Rob Grady, vice president of retail brokerage at KPP. "We're hoping to create a mix of local, regional, and national tenants that will reinvigorate the center and enhance the North Adams downtown area. We're open to all inquiries."
 
The more than seven-acre site on Main Street includes the L-shaped mall along Main and American Legion Drive and the former 93,000-square-foot Kmart building, which currently houses a Rent a Center and a Planet Fitness. 
 
Two anchors — the North Adams Cinemas and Gordman/Peebles — were shuttered in the last four years and the spaces left empty. A third, V&V Liquors, closed when the plaza was sold in February but is set to reopen under new ownership once a license is in hand. 
 
Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum, or EMRCA, which had been based in the corner of the L-shaped mall (where Sleepy's Mattress had been), moved out earlier this year. The offices had been empty of employees for months before and no one answers calls to the numbers listed on its outdated website.
 
First Hartford Realty, under then CEO Neil Ellis, purchased the property in 2005 after Kmart closed and gave it the rarely used name Steeple City Plaza. Over the years, it's also had a Staples, a Sears Hometown and an Olympia Sports. Ellis took over operation of the cinemas when previous owners ran into financial difficulties and pledged to keep them going; First Hartford also owned liquor store it opened in 2014. The L-shaped mall also has a Papa Gino's, a Label Shopper, Dollar Store, H&R Block and T-Mobile and there's a separate Burger King on the property.
 
Ellis has since retired and the plaza was sold to a realty company last year, then to DDM Property Group of West Springfield in February for $1.75 million. 
 
Keypoint manages a number of shopping plazas throughout New England, including the Center at Lenox on Route 7 that has a Kohls, Marshalls and Market 32.
 
An informational flier for prospective tenants lists more than 70,000 square feet of space available: the former Kmart garden center, the cinemas, Peebles, the Sears Hometown space and the corner space of the L-shaped mall and two smaller adjacent spaces (one had been a nail salon). 

Tags: plaza,   shopping center,   

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Vermont National Guard Members Depart From North Adams

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff

About 50 people waved flags to the see the Guardsmen off on their bus. The members were staying in North Adams because of a lack of hotel rooms in Bennington, Vt.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Residents came together Friday to see some Vermont National Guard members off.
 
The American Legion Riders organized a send off for a group of 75 or so Guard members who were staying at Hotel Downstreet.
 
"We are going to escort them to the Bennington Armory," Riders President Mike Lewis said. "They are going to gear up there, and then I am not sure where they are going. I don’t even know if they are all going to the same place."
 
Fifty or so people met in the Hotel Downstreet parking lot to show their appreciation. They waved flags and held signs. A bagpiper was also present.
 
The Riders contacted the Fire Department who helped organize the send off. North Adams Police cruisers and Northern Berkshire EMS were also on site to help see the bus off.
 
Lewis said there was not enough rooms in Bennington for the National Guard members. He added because of the trend to use vacant hotel rooms as low-income housing, the group had to look toward North Adams.
 
It's not clear where these Guard were off to, but about 500 members of 3-172 Infantry Battalion were expected to go to the Middle East with U.S. Central Command. According to Vermont Digger, this deployment was scheduled prior to the strikes on Iran. 
 
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