At the Berkshire Innovation Center, Baker said the funding will support over 330 economic development projects in 169 communities around the commonwealth.
“Among this year’s MassWorks projects, we've got about 39 that are reactivating underutilized sites, one of which is particularly important to Pittsfield. 31 are supporting transit-oriented development projects, and about 30 have a mixed-use piece attached to them," said the governor. "There are another 17 communities that are receiving their first ever MassWorks award.”
One of the five projects Pittsfield received funding for was the rehabilitation of a vast tract of empty space not far from the BIC on the site of the former General Electric campus.
“I do want to present you with a letter, mayor, for your $3 million MassWorks award to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority to convert 16 and a half acres which you can walk to from here of a former GE transformer property into green space, roadways, utility corridors, and stormwater management,” Baker said to Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer.
“When we pulled in, Governor Baker said, is that the parcel over there? It's a mess! I said, I know. But not anymore. Not for long. Site 9 has been a wound in our community for a very, very long time. It is a scar that's been left behind from a massive 40-acre site that General Electric once occupied," said Tyer. “With this vision and this support, we are going to be a good neighbor to the Morningside neighborhood. And it's also about a future economy. Yes, it was a parcel occupied by a major corporation. But we believe that small parceling like this is the future economy for the city of Pittsfield. And it would not have been possible without this support. So we're ready to build a new economy.”
The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has identified Morningside as one of Pittsfield’s poorest neighborhoods.
Residents there are more likely to be of color than those in the rest of the city. And they earn far below the city’s median income and have a life expectancy at least a decade shorter than more affluent sectors of Pittsfield. Democratic State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier said the state funding to transform the former industrial site directly adjacent to Morningside is a step in the right direction.
“We are building back the neighborhood of Morningside- where I was born, by the way," said Farley-Bouvier. "Where I was baptized, by the way. Like, this is our place. And we're so proud to build it back up again, because we are investing in the people of Pittsfield, because the people of Pittsfield have been investing in us.”
Private investment group Mill Town Capital, which owns properties and businesses across Pittsfield, will develop the rehabilitated space.
State Representative Paul Mark – the frontrunner in the race to replace former State Senator and fellow Democrat Adam Hinds for the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden seat – took a broader look at the day’s announcement.
“I see friends here from Charlemont," said Mark. "I see friends here from Colrain. I see friends here from Hawley and all these other small towns, and coming from one of the smaller towns in the state, those dollars are extremely necessary and go extremely far in a community of 5,000 or fewer people. And so, to have that attention from the state government, and to have these funds flowing in a timely manner, is extremely important.”
With Baker stepping down after two terms, it was likely one of the Republican’s last official trips to Berkshire County.
You can find the full list of grant recipients from the announcement here.
