Potential Berkshire Mall Developer Outlines Plans for Property
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board heard from Cypress Equities of Texas on its potential plans for the Berkshire Mall site.
Cypress's managing director Scott Harrington gave the audience information about the real estate development company, some of its other developments across the country, and what its hopes to do with the defunct mall.
"We thought now would be a very good time for us to make an introduction to the community. There's a lot that I can't say quite yet, but I can share kind of what we've done and where we are," Harrington said.
Cypress Equities was established in 1995 in Dallas and has been building shopping centers around the country.
Harrington said Cypress is under contract with mall owner JMJ Holdings to purchase the entire property, not including the independent Target. The goal is a closing by the first quarter of next year.
He said the plan is to develop the entire site, not to break it up in pieces to sell.
"We build and we lease and we do all kinds of shopping centers. And I brought a couple here to share with you guys, just to give you a little taste of what we've done," he said. "This isn't necessarily representative of what we're going to do here. We're still in the early learning phases of what might work."
Harrington showed properties like The Hill in Dallas, Legacy Square in New Jersey, Bayshore in Wisconsin, and comparable Massachusetts developments like University Station in Westwood and Berkshire Crossing in Pittsfield.
He said they try to get the best national brands and to utilize a lot of green spaces and outdoor events for the community.
"They may be franchise operators, but we want to get UPS and Tropical Smoothie and Five Below, and Footlocker, and all those guys. So you'll see in some of these subsequent slides, we like a lot of public space, green space, and outdoor seating," he said. "We're big in the restaurant business, and we think it's important to create these spaces that the community can be really proud of."
Harrington said they make sure there are no boring walls and like to hire local artists and muralists paint the exteriors, making sure to bring in a local touch.
"You'll see as well we're big in the arts. In this project and the one you'll see in Milwaukee, we hired roughly 25 to 30 artists and muralists that are all local in the market," he said. "We've got a design director who manages all that, and he interviews them all. They submit their little test sheets, and he selects the best versions of the locations. And you take a boring gray wall and turn it into something kind of cool. And these are all local artists that we use."
He said there are already two large tenants interested in the area.
"We've got two large format acre tenants that will be disclosed in the future, that are super traffic generators, and we will effectively have about five and a half to six acres of other land. We call them 'out parcels,' but it's other land for us to build on, and we'll be building retail shops, restaurants with outdoor spaces."
The plan is to stay within the existing improved and paved mall area and upgrade internal roads, ring roads, and infrastructure. They aim not to expand into new undeveloped areas to avoid triggering lengthy Massachusetts environmental and jurisdictional reviews.
"Trying to keep it simple, but yet at the same time, we'll have opportunities to create some spaces and some and some opportunities for the community to to call this their own," Harrington said.
The plan is to extend the sewer line from Partridge Road to the mall, adding a pump station to extend service throughout the site. The company will be looking to the state to help financially with that project.
"We will be back soon and frequently. We're getting to the end of the phase now where it's going to get really busy from our relationship with you guys," Harrington told the board. "We've been doing a lot of behind the scenes paperwork. It's not very sexy, but it had to be done, and we're almost through all that."
There were older plans about housing but Harrington said Cypress does not plan to turn the mall into a residential space.
He noted that multifamily financing is currently very difficult, even apart from local conditions. Retail is currently having a "shining moment" industry-wide, which is what enables them to pursue a project in a smaller market like Lanesborough.
The Select Board did not take public comment but said if anyone has any questions to email the town manager and administrative assistant.
Editor's note: this article incorrectly identified two shopping centers as Cypress developments; they were used as local comparisons to its developments.
Tags: Berkshire Mall,
