Pittsfield Licensing Board Wants Movement on Chili's
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Licensing Board wants to see movement at the former Chili's. If not, it could be forced to revoke the liquor license.
On Monday, the board continued an update from Chili's Grill and Bar on the status of its alcohol license after a year of closure. The company says there are interested buyers, and the board wants to hear more details at its October meeting.
The current lease agreement goes out to 2029, and the company, Pepper Dining Inc., is looking for another business to carry it out.
"We do have this mandate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that says, if a licensee doesn't operate its business, or, in the alternative, doesn't sell it in a reasonable period of time, what we're supposed to do is cancel the license so that it'll go away and go away forever," Chair Thomas Campoli explained.
"You guys don't want that to happen, obviously. The City of Pittsfield doesn't want that to happen either."
Chili's closed abruptly in August 2024 after six years in business.
In January, the company reported that there were multiple interested parties, but nothing solid. On Monday, representative Jacob August reported that they are "adamant" about selling the Berkshire Crossing location.
"They did brief me and the team that handles real estate transactions; they were vague in the description, but they were adamant that they are in the process of finding a buyer and talking with them. To the details I can't speak," he said, explaining that the goal is to sell the restaurant and Annual All Alcohol 7-Day license as a package.
Board member Kathy Amuso said she wanted more information about a time frame.
"I know you're saying you don't know, but we've been told interested parties for quite a long time," she said.
The board also discussed allowing wine and malt beverage license holders to trade in for an all-alcohol license, which new state legislation now allows.
On June 30, Gov. Maura Healey signed an act that allows local boards to allow M.G.L. c. 138, § 12 in premise wines and malt beverages license holders to trade in their license for a non-transferable all alcoholic beverages license.
"The law says that we can have this process if the local licensing board allows that to happen. We don't have to do this, but we can do this if we want to do it," Campoli explained.
Because there were some unanswered questions about the number of wine and malt licenses in Pittsfield and the costs to obtain them, the conversation was continued to the next meeting.
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