Information Session, Tour Set for Monument Mountain School Project

12:53PM / Monday, March 24, 2025Print Story | Email Story

Monument Mountain opened in 1968.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The School Building Committee is holding an information session and tour of Monument Mountain Regional School on Tuesday, April 1.

The in-person tour of the high school starts at 5:30 p.m. and the information session at 6 p.m. The community session will also have a virtual component. The Zoom link is here and the meeting number is 897 4670 8537.

The committee will review the condition of the high school, the schematic design and the next steps in the project.

The project would be a three-story replacement of the 1968 building, which was recommended by the committee last fall. The total project cost is estimated at $154,452,000 with about $59,300,000 reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority and $1,585,000 of incentives from MassSave for a local district share of $93,567,000.

More facts about the project can be found here.

Voters rejected attempts to update the building a decade ago when the cost was estimated at $51 million with a $23 million reimbursement.

The Berkshire Hills Regional School District was invited back into the MSBA pipeline in 2022.

Tags: Monument Mountain, MSBA, school building committee,

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First Eagle Mill Units in Lee to Open in Springtime

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:02AM / Tuesday, February 03, 2026

Eagle Mills developer Jeffrey Cohen updates the Lee Chamber of Commerce as the project's phases, and the amount of heavy lifting to get it to this point.

LEE, Mass. — More than 50 affordable units are expected to come online at the Eagle Mill this spring.

This is the first of several planned development phases at the former paper mill that dates back to the early 1800s, totaling more than 200 units. The Lee Chamber of Commerce hosted an information session on the project during its Business Breakfast last Wednesday.

"We are here because we have a really big project that's happened for a very long time here in Lee, that, for myself, has provided a real sense of hope, and has has really defined this community as one of the few in the Berkshires that's really looking forward, as opposed to just being sort of stuck in the past," Chamber member Erik Williams said.

The estimated $60 million development broke ground in 2021 after nearly a decade of planning and permitting. Hundreds of workers once filed into the 8-acre complex, producing up to 165 tons of paper a week. The last mill on the property closed in 2008.

Hearthway is accepting applications for 56 affordable apartments called "The Lofts at Eagle Mill" with expected occupancy in May. The housing nonprofit was also approved for 45 additional units of new construction on the site.

Jeffrey Cohen of Eagle Mill Redevelopment LLC said the project dates back to 2012, when a purchase contract was signed for the West Center Street property. The developers didn't have to close on the property until renovation plans were approved in 2017, and the mill was sold for $700,000.

It seemed like a great deal for the structure and eight acres on the Housatonic River, Cohen explained, but he wasn't aware of the complex pre-development costs, state, and local approvals it would entail. Seven individually owned homes adjacent to the property were also acquired and demolished for parking and site access.

"If I knew today what I knew then, I'm not sure we'd be sitting here," he said, joining the breakfast remotely over Zoom.

Cohen praised the town's government, explaining that the redesigns and critiques "Could not have been done in a friendlier way, in a more helpful way," and the two Massachusetts governors serving during the project's tenure. The Eagle Mill redevelopment is supported by state and federal grants, as well as low-income housing tax credits.

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