Adams Eyes New Funding, Reuse Plan for Deteriorating Curtis Fine Paper Mill
ADAMS, Mass. — For more than two decades, the Curtis Fine Paper Mill has sat vacant, continuing to deteriorate, but the town is working to find solutions that would revitalize the property.
Adams Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo recently announced that the town missed out on a $4 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields and Land Revitalization grant.
According to a notice from the EPA, the agency received 558 applications and only had enough funds to award 193 grants from the "highest-ranking applications."
During a debriefing with the agency, the town was informed that its application was slightly weaker than the awarded applicants because it lacked a "definitive reuse plan for the building complex," said Donna Cesan, interim Community Development Director.
"These grant programs are very competitive…so, we're gonna be evaluating that," she said.
The town was "apparently close," falling just a couple of points short of the cutoff for applicants ultimately awarded funding, Cesan said.
While the town intends to strengthen its application over the next few months and apply again, changes to the grant program have reduced the maximum cleanup award to $500,000, requiring officials to take a much more incremental approach to addressing the building's deteriorating condition.
"We've talked to Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, and they're helping us strategize," Cesan said.
Additionally, the town is looking into other funding sources, including grant monies from the Department of Environmental Protection, Cesan said.
"We know of some of our neighboring communities that have, kind of, piggybacked DEP funds with EPA funds that they've received, so we're going to also be investigating that if we couldn't also pursue a strategy for Curtis," Cesan said.
In 2025, the town hired engineering and environmental consultant Weston & Sampson to do a visual structural assessment of the buildings and a Hazardous Building Materials Investigation.
The visual structural assessment found that all of the buildings on the property have been exposed to water and moisture, resulting in damage ranging from moderate deterioration to complete roof collapse in some areas.
The hazardous materials investigation also confirmed the presence of asbestos, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and various forms of benign waste throughout the property.
Based on these findings, buildings five and one are most structurally sound to preserve, while the remaining buildings, two, three, and four, will need to be demolished.
The three buildings that would need to be demolished have deteriorated to the point where the roof has collapsed, making traditional hazardous-material removal unsafe and renovation unfeasible, Cesan said.
The town is now working with the firm to develop a reuse strategy, which will likely include the town hosting a developers conference in the spring or summer, Cesan said.
Cesan said the property offers significant redevelopment potential, with its location along Route 8, access to an active rail line, and 12 acres of land making it one of the largest redevelopment sites in town.
Despite the setbacks, the town has made incremental progress towards the property, so far using approximately $100,000 in grant funding to address its condition, Cesan said.
The saga started in 2003 when Curtis Fine Paper Mill filed for bankruptcy, and the property was subsequently purchased by MJD Real Estate in 2009 for $15,000 for its trucking business. MJD also took on the bankrupt company's tax debts.
In 2016, MJD's unpaid taxes accounted for 40 to 45 percent of the total delinquent taxes owed to the town.
The property was tied up in Land Court during the pandemic; the town eventually took the property on back taxes.
The complex was valued at $1.85 million at the turn of the century and was most recently assessed at $446,600.
Since taking ownership, the town has assessed the contamination on the property and worked with the EPA to remove hazardous drums, demolish a failing smokestack, and clean up lead contaminated soil.
Tags: brownfields,
