Pittsfield receives $880,000 grant to develop Site 9 within William Stanley Business Park masslive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from masslive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
PITTSFIELD â The city of Pittsfield has received $1.1 million in state money to begin developing the largest of the William Stanley Business Parkâs nine building sites.
The money from two separate state programs will pay for preparing building Site 9 for construction. The 16.5-acre tract borders on Tyler Street and Woodlawn Avenue at the northern end of the 52-acre business park.
The park, home to General Electricâs former power transformer facility, is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are probable carcinogens. It often is referred to as the teens parcel in a reference to the numbering of the GE buildings there.
The asking price for the property will cover over 65% of cost of the new fire training facility to replace the one housed at the site, according to the task force.
The property, built in 1837, once served as a home for indigent residents, expected in return to help with farm work.
The poor farm closed in 1959 has served as town office space.
In 2008, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A long-term project
Ellen Harde, of the 35 Town Farm Road Task Force, detailed the work her organization has done to prepare the property for reuse.
Select Board Member Scott Hazelton said, “I think we are all familiar with CHOICE,” noting the organization s creation of veterans housing near the Carisle, Acton and Westford town lines. They’ve proven they can deliver these projects with the quality that we expect… In my opinion we’ve got a solid plan with a solid partner.”