Berkshire Mall Owners Press for Road District Dissolution
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Berkshire Mall owner JMJ RE Holdings says without a dissolution of the Baker Hill Road District, the potential sale and redevelopment with the mall would fall through.
The Select Board last week authorized two of its members to work on a compromise between the JMJ and the road district. The two entities have been at loggerheads over assessments to the district — and the district's purpose.
Tim Grogan, development consultant for JMJ RE Holdings, recently responded to iBerkshires' coverage of the meeting, during which the board discussed mediation but took no comments from the public or the mall owners.
Grogan said JMJ has been under purchase contract with real estate developer Cypress Equities since May and has an intention to close in the fall.
"We are contractually obligated to deliver the property with the BHRD dissolved. If that does not happen, the mall will not get redeveloped. If the BHRD is not dissolved, the transaction with Cypress cannot close," said Grogan over email. "That is not a position JMJ adopted as leverage. It is the express term of a fully executed purchase and sale agreement. Should the town proceed in a manner that departs from the existing settlement framework, JMJ will evaluate all available claims to protect its contractual rights."
The town had initially agreed to seek the dissolution of the district through the Legislature based on JMJ paying $1.1 million to resolve all tax disputes. But that article was pulled from the annual town meeting when town officials said the mall's owners failed to make payment by the deadline.
The road district was established 40 years ago to maintain the Connector Road between Routes 7 and 8 and assess the mall for fire and police protection. The mall closed in 2019 and its various owners since then have sought to redevelop the property.
"This is an incredibly sophisticated developer who understands the complexities of the Baker Hill Road District, which is part of the reason our negotiations took approximately seven months," Grogan wrote. "Through our agreement, JMJ is contractually obligated to deliver the property without the Baker Hill Road District in place. If this does not occur, the property will not sell.
"There exists no scenario where the BHRD remains in place and this property is sold to Cypress Equities, because of our shared concerns about having the property subject to an unregulated taxing authority that has historically been a bad actor."
Some of those concerns relate to the composition of the district's Prudential Committee, such as John Goerlach's serving on both the committee, receiving a stipend, while also serving on the Select Board, which Grogan categorized as a conflict of interest. Goerlach was recently replaced by Lyndon Moors, of the Finance Committee.
JMJ also has contested William Prendergast's appointment representing the property owners and has asked for his resignation in writing in 2023.
"JMJ owns 84.2 percent of the property within the district. When JMJ acquired the property in 2022, Mr. Prendergast continued to occupy that seat without any communication with or authorization from JMJ," wrote Grogan. "JMJ's counsel renewed the demand in May 2025 and formally appointed JMJ's own representative to the seat.
District counsel responded in June 2025, asserting that Mr. Prendergast had been reappointed by a majority of property owners, he said. "That assertion is legally impossible: a majority of property owners within the district cannot exist without JMJ's vote."
Prendergast has been casting votes, he said, and occupying a seat without JMJ's consent on a body it's seeking to dissolve.
Grogan said he believes they've already compromised by covering the town's costs during the development period. Renegotiating means JMJ will "absorb additional risk at the precise moment its contractual position is most exposed, in exchange for a restructured district that cannot satisfy the Cypress condition precedent and therefore cannot produce a closing."
Select Board member Julie Baker said at last week's meeting that there are two uncertainties: if the special town meeting vote for the dissolution of the district fails, the negotiations for the mall fall through; if it passes, the Legislature would decide.
But Grogan said they are not worried.
"We have faith that the town will make the right choice regarding its dissolution and find it irrational to forego giving the town the chance to vote on this item out of pre-emptive concerns that it will not pass," he said.
There's also a concern that the state will not take over the Connector Road, but Grogan said the $148,305 a year to maintain the road will no longer fall to the town.
"All of this is to say that the town would receive substantially more revenue from a completed development than from keeping the BHRD in place in any form," he said, adding, "we look forward to finalizing our agreement with Lanesborough, dissolving the BHRD, and allowing Cypress to revitalize this crucial regional site."
Tags: Berkshire Mall, road district,
