An 8-acre parcel on Brushwood Farm on Pittsfield Road in Lenox would be transformed into a business park and home of Smegal Roofing under a proposal pending before the Planning Board.
LENOX — Another potential development — a business park — is in the works for Brushwood Farm on Pittsfield Road, site of the Courtyard by Marriott hotel and a proposed rental housing complex.
An 8.1-acre parcel on the 68-acre property is expected to be sold soon to Jason Smegal, owner of J Smegal Roofing. His company is headquartered in an office building at 449 Pittsfield Road (Route 7/20) in Lenox, with two additional facilities in Pittsfield on Mill Street and South Merriam Street.
The transaction is expected to be completed after the Planning Board signs off on the project on a standard “approval not required” form. The board met on Tuesday to hear a brief presentation from Heather Brown of Foresight Land Services in Pittsfield, the civil engineers handling Smegal’s project.
The board deferred action until its next meeting on Feb. 8, pending some clarification on technical issues involving required road frontage for the parcel, which is split between commercial and residential zones.
Smegal’s plan is to maintain the parcel “as is, and bring in new businesses,” said Brown. Additional development is in the works on a separate lot off the adjacent East Dugway Road, which intersects with Pittsfield Road.
Smegal detailed his vision for the property in an interview on Wednesday.
“We want to build a home base for my company, bringing everything under one roof, and also develop a professional business park with office suites for other companies,” he told The Eagle.
The value of the transaction will remain undisclosed, he added, until it becomes a public record at the Berkshire Middle Registry of Deeds. The entire 15-acre Brushwood Farm parcel is owned by the Hashim Family Trust.
Trustee James Hashim, who said the real estate closing which had been scheduled for Jan. 31 will be rescheduled, pending a Planning Board green light for the project.
Smegal said the existing commercial building with several tenants, including the Your Color Connection print shop, would remain, but two other vacant, dilapidated structures are likely to be demolished.
The proposed Brushwood Farm mixed-income rental apartment complex in Lenox has plenty of support, but also strong opposition from the adjacent hotel owner.
Adjacent to the Courtyard by Marriott, the mixed-income housing complex proposed by Pennrose LLC is scheduled for what may be a final review and potential vote by the Zoning Board of Appeals at meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday.
The developer is seeking a comprehensive permit under Chapter 40B, a provision of state law designed to help clear the way for affordable housing.
The estimated cost of the 65-unit townhouse project is upward of $30 million, not including the undisclosed purchase price of the site. Pennrose holds a purchase-and-sale option, pending ZBA approval.
The affordable and market-rate apartments would be rented to qualified, income-eligible individuals and families, not to resorts to house their employees, and there would be no subletting allowed under the one-year, renewable leases.
The project has found favor with town government leaders and resort managers, who have difficulty housing their staff locally.
But members of the Toole family, owners of the hotel, have raised concerns about what they called “the detrimental nature of this large-scale project.” Among other impacts, they have cited the impact of construction on the hotel’s occupancy and disruption of the current guest experiences.
Clarence Fanto can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @BE_cfanto or at 413-637-2551.
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