image description
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
Print Story | Email Story
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 The offices had been empty of employees for months before and no one answers calls to the numbers listed on its outdated website.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,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

North Adams School Committee Applauds Award Winner, Hears Budget

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Superintendent Timothy Callahan presents his first Superintendent's Award to Brayden Canales. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The School Committee on Tuesday voted to send a recommending fiscal 2027 budget to a public hearing and congratulated the newest recipient of the Superintendent's Award. 
 
Drury High School senior Brayden Canales is graduating at the top of his class with 33 college credits and a grade-point average of 4.3.
 
"In addition to his impressive list of college courses, he has rounded out his transcript with several Advanced Placement and project based learning courses," said Superintendent Timothy Callahan, adding, "I had the honor to be Brayden's principal when he began a Drury."
 
Canales is a member of both the Nu Sigma and Pro Merito honor societies and received the Principal's Award for having the top five average in his class all four years and the Rensselaer (N.Y.) Institute of Technology award for science and math as a junior outside of the classroom.
 
He's also been a member of the soccer, hockey and baseball teams and this year was presented the Berkshire County Ice Hockey Officials Association's Sportsmanship Award for his leadership. Canales has also been a peer mediator, student ambassador, among other activities.  
 
He plans to pursue a major in architecture but has not yet selected a college. 
 
The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Certificate of Academic Excellence is awarded to students who have achieved not only academically but in leadership and community service. 
 
View Full Story

More North Adams Stories