Managers of a mill redevelopment effort in North Adams expect to see more activity starting this summer at what’s billed as a multi-use project. The Greylock Mill spans 240,000 square feet and runs 700 feet along State Road, or Route 2, between the cores of North Adams and Williamstown. Built in 1870, it’s housed a number of industries including cotton. Some 400 employees once worked at 325 looms in the mill. Developer Karla Rothstein says an estimated $15 million revitalization effort is aimed at a diverse array of offerings.
“Events, festivals, community celebrations including the kitchen and food production that’s connected to local agriculture,” Rothstein explained. “We’re looking for an array of producers that create a synergy across the different food production and that also support the event space and a restaurant and bar lounge.”
Rothstein and partner Sal Perry are based in New York City and discovered the property about two years ago while visiting the Berkshires. Over the past year parts of the mill have been stabilized and cleaned up. It hosted a sit-down dinner for 100 people on New Year’s Eve followed by a dance party that drew some 550 patrons. Current plans include housing 10 food production businesses like cheese-making, 50 hotel rooms and 25 condos. The developers expect 100 jobs to be created. With mountain views and the close proximity of Mt. Greylock, the Hoosic River and the Appalachian Trail, Perry says they plan to make outdoor recreation a key piece.
“There is a flume which runs under this building and it used to hydropower the entire facility,” Perry said. “We intend to now repurpose that space as a pedestrian link that ties our new park along the waterfront to the existing ballfields behind our property so it becomes a new piece of public infrastructure and becomes the gateway of our projects. It’s a barrel-vaulted granite tunnel that runs under State Road and we intend to re-access it from the north in a way that’s never been done before.”
The project includes brownfield cleanup. Working with the state attorney general’s office, the developers have received liability relief for the redevelopment. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently toured the site.
“There is amazing infrastructure and bones here to work with and celebrate,” Healey said. “And important for people in this region to understand where they came from and what their fathers and grandfathers participated in. It’s also in that way a celebration and acknowledgement of our history.”
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is setting up shop in the mill in July for its community theater production. With event requests already coming in, Rothstein says the focus is on getting tenants into the building. North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright says the mill redevelopment has spurred or highlighted other projects along State Road including the revitalization of the Redwood Motel, a new art museum near the city’s airport and a new terminal. He calls it a cultural corridor between downtown North Adams and Williamstown.
“I’ve been saying ‘two or three years from now we’re going to be’ — today we’re a place to be,” Alcombright said. “We’re a place to be in the Berkshires, in western Mass. and in this region.”