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.
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 The offices had been empty of employees for months before and no one answers calls to the numbers listed on its outdated website.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).
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North Adams School, Finance Committee Endorse $22M School Budget
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Finance Committee on Wednesday recommended a fiscal 2027 spending plan of $22 million that had been approved by the School Committee on Tuesday.
The spending plan of $22,393,775 is an increase of $757,554 over this year, or 3.5 percent. It will be funded through the Chapter 70 state education grant estimated at $16,796,682 (based on the governor's budget); school-choice funds of $1,446,419, up $506,411; and local funding of $4,150,673 (also based on the governor's budget), up $161,942 or 4.06 percent.
Based on new numbers from the House and Senate, the city's portion could drop to $4,049, 353.
"A lot of our advocacy this year is around Chapter 70 and the various funding formulas," said Superintendent Timothy Callahan during the public hearing preceding the committee meeting. "We as a School Committee, but certainly I as an individual and other members of the administrative team, have participated in various sessions to advocate for more funding from Chapter 70, a massive part of our district budget."
Chapter 70 is critical to the school budget, with nearly 80 percent of its funding coming through the state.
Director of School Finance and Operations Nancy Rauscher explained to the Finance Committee that the schools have "hugely benefited from that over the last few years, with significant increases" based on the district's needs and community profile.
"This is the first year that we've been considered a minimum aid district," she said. "What that means is you're held harmless. You're still getting what you were given ... but the addition is just a minimum eight addition. This year, it's $75, per student. So it literally is 75 times the number of students, and at that time it was 1,192 students, when they did this."
Waste treatment plan supervisor Brad Furlon warned the Finance Committee last week to expect a future 500 percent increase in sludge disposal.
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The fund had grown immensely over the past 25 years, raising some $1.75 million during that period. But the 1960s would see the fund grow even more in both fundraising and the agencies it supported. click for more
As a long line of officials grabbed their shovels for the ceremonial dirt toss, the old school was being taken apart behind them and forms for the footings for the new school were being installed across the way.
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