Dunkin' Donuts Withdraws Pittsfield Church Demolition Plan

Cafua Management is withdrawing plans to demolish St. Mary's in Pittsfield for a Dunkin' Donuts drive-through.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Bowing to community pressure, Cafua Management says it will withdraw plans to demolish St. Mary the Morning Star Church.

In a communication released midday Monday, the northeast's largest Dunkin' Donuts franchisee said it was preparing a revised plan for its proposed drive-through on Tyler Street and that it was willing to donate the church building to the city.

Cafua's proposal to buy the St. Mary's campus from the Springfield Diocese earlier this month and raze the church caused a significant backlash within the community, prompting petitions, "A Save St. Mary's" Facebook page and calls to boycott Cafua's four other Dunkin' Donut establishments.

The Historical Commission, which technically does not have authority to invoke a demolition delay because the building is three years short of the 75-year criteria, was also planning to weigh in on the significance of the structure at its October meeting.

Greg Nolan, chief development officer for Cafua Management, wrote that the company values the opinion of the community and its "aim is to ultimately do right by the community." The communication is below:

With four Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in Pittsfield, Cafua Management has been part of the local community for more than a dozen years. We value the opinions and needs of the community, and we are committed to listening to and collaborating with residents and city officials at all times. As such, we will withdraw our current development application for the site of St. Mary The Morning Star Church, and we are preparing a revised plan that maintains the church building. As part of our new proposal, we intend to donate the church to the city of Pittsfield, for use as the city deems appropriate.

This new plan requires support of the Special Permit Granting Authority and residents. Our next step is to meet with the City Planner, present the plan to the public and pursue city approvals. The process will take time, but our aim is to ultimately do right by the community. We look forward to many more years serving the people who live and work in Pittsfield.
 

Harris Draws Crowds to Downtown Pittsfield

By Brittany Polito & Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:32PM / Saturday, July 27, 2024

The closest iBerkshires got was a thumbs up from James Taylor. Most local media was kept outside and iBerkshires has no access to pool photos. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Vice President Kamala Harris fired up a capacity crowd at the Colonial Theatre on Saturday afternoon. 

 

The presumed presidential nominee for the Democratic Party was met in Westfield by Gov. Maura Healey before traveling to Pittsfield to give a 15-minute stump speech — more than an hour later than planned. 

 

"It was incredibly inspiring and comforting," said Lee Prinz of Pittsfield. "I felt heard, I felt like, oh, there are people, they are doing something, and we have like-minded individuals and people are taking action. 

 

"It was inspiring because it's also a lot of the responsibility is on us to make this change."

 

Prinz said the veep stuck to the stump speech she's been honing over the last week since President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the campaign. 

 

He said she touched on the administration's successes like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and topics such as bodily autonomy and "hope versus hate." 

 

Harris also talked about Project 2025, a controversial Heritage Foundation document laying out a very conservative path should Donald Trump win the election. Prinz said he was glad to see discussion of the plans break into the mainstream because of how "scary" it is.