Vacant North Adams Lot Being Transformed Into UNO Park

The empty lot next to UNO Center, at left, will have gardens, benches, basketball and bocce.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The "UNO Park" sign was installed months ago above the grassy lot that once held a tire service center at the corner of Houghton and River streets.

The UNO Center next door opened last year; now the "park" part is finally coming to fruition.

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art will help develop the vacant lot into a community park with five community gardens, a half-court basketball court, a badminton court and a bocce ball court.

"It's going to be amazing," said UNO founder Shirley Davis on Thursday. "I didn't want a fence so it's going to have shrubs around. It's going to have pear trees so we can make pies. It's going to be so nice to see."
 
Mass MoCA Deputy Director Larry Smallwood informed the Planning Board on Monday of the park plans. Berkshire Hills Development Co., which owns the Porches Inn, is transferring the property to the museum along with the capital to make the improvements.

It's the latest move by city philanthropist John "Jack" Wadsworth, a Berkshire Hills principal, who seems to have single-handedly improved the once problematic intersection next to his hotel and the museum.

Wadsworth made the UNO Center happen, and Davis said he has been involved with the planning for the new park.

Smallwood said any recreational equipment would be checked out through UNO and that Mass MoCA will take care of the maintenance.

"The hope is that the community will use the park in these ways and other ways that we don't know about yet, mostly through the UNO center that will be the liaison between the town and Mass MoCA, who will be the production back up," Smallwood said. "We want to do something that is great for the city and we want everybody to be involved."

He said there are plans to hold community movie nights on the field and he said it may be a great location for the farmers market.

Davis had expected work on the park to have started by now, but was confident it would start soon and be "amazing."  

"We're going to fix it up and it's going to be beautiful," she said. "The kids can play and people can just visit on the benches and chill. It should be real nice when it's done."

Staff writer Tammy Daniels contributed to this report.

North Adams, Partners Celebrate $17.3M in Federal Money Toward Bike Path

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
01:11PM / Friday, January 10, 2025

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, wearing an MCLA scarf, announces the funding for the project design and planning at City Hall on Friday morning. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It's been 26 years since the concept of a Connecticut to Vermont bike trail was first proposed — and 130 since a proposal was put forward for a path between North Adams and Williamstown. 

 

Those dreams took another step forward on Friday with the announcement of $17.3 million in federal funding for the "Adventure to Ashuwillticook Trail," a 9.3-section from the Mohican Path at Williamstown's Spruces to Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and to connect to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.

 

"This is a major success because it connects Williamstown and Adams and North Adams," said U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who was instrumental in obtaining the funding as chairman of Ways and Means Committee. "It's a big deal, and we're going to hear from experts, but I want to thank the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. Great work on this. I can be helpful to you, for sure, as Eddie and Elizabeth were [U.S. Sens. Markey and Warren], but I can't be helpful to you unless you have a good product, and you had a good product."

 

Marge Cohan, president of the Berkshire Bike Path Council, likened it to the golden spike that connected the transcontinental railroad. 

 

The grant award is the result of a collaborative effort involving Berkshire Funding Focus, a government funding initiative of the BRPC, along with Adams, North Adams and Williamstown, Mass MoCA and the Tourists resort through which the bike path will run. BRPC is the lead agent and will coordinate the partnership and manage the grant award over the course of the four-year process.

 

Neal was joined at City Hall by Mayor Jennifer Macksey, state Sen. Paul Mark, state Rep. John Barrett III, BRPC Executive Director Tom Matuszko, Mass MoCA Director Kristy Edmunds and Benjamin Svenson and Eric Kerns, of the Tourists resort. 

 

Macksey explained why spending $17 million on bike path planning was important, in the same way she had to her 93-year-old mother.