ADAMS, Mass. — The town is continuing design work of the Greylock Glen Resort’s outdoor center and hopes to have schematics in hand by late winter or early spring.
Director of Community Development Donna Cesan said a project steering committee currently is working with Maclay Architects, who were hired earlier last year, on the proposed net-zero energy outdoor center.
"With schematic design and a solid construction cost estimate in place this spring, the town will focus on securing the funding needed to build the Outdoor Center facility," she said.
A $5 million line item was included in the state's 2014 Environmental Bond for the Glen Outdoor Center. Currently, the state has released $250,000 for preliminary design and another $500,000 has been approved for release to complete design of the building.
Once the schematic design is complete and there is a solid cost estimate, Cesan said the town will be working with state representatives on releasing the funds necessary to complete construction of the building.
The town has been reimagining the Glen project for decades now but not until recent years have officials settled on the current plan that includes a lodge, conference center, amphitheater and a redeveloped trail network. The trail network was done through the state department of Conservation and Recreation.
Cesan said the town did put out the request for proposals for the campground last year and a request for quotation for the lodge and conference center this year and although there was interest in the two projects, there was also at the time concern over the difficulty to attract private financing.
"With this feedback and witnessing the popularity of the new trail loop DCR completed in June, we are focused on the public elements of the resort project," she said. "The outdoor center and further development of the trails system."
Cesan said the amount of funds released from a bond each year depends on tax revenue and other state receipts taken in and any project identified within the bond is also in competition with other line items in the bond.
"So, in a real sense, the Outdoor Center project is in competition with other state agency projects identified in the bond," she said. "The town has been encouraged to work closely with DCR on this matter and they, along with our delegation, will be assisting the Town to obtain the needed funding."
Cesan said the outdoor center is intended to be a multi-use public building containing a welcome area, exhibit space, classrooms and a café.
"The center will serve as a visitors’ base camp for excursions within the Glen and to the Mount Greylock State Reservation," Cesan said. "The facility will have a general public focus but is expected to be the location of future environmental education programming provided by other organizations and institutions."
Cesan said the building will also have room for a private recreational outfitter.
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A Rare Bird: Koperniak Stands Out in Triple-A
By Frank MurtaughThe Memphis (Tenn.) Flyer
With Major League Baseball’s September roster expansion just around the corner, Berkshire County baseball fans will be watching to see whether 2016 Hoosac Valley High School graduate Matt Koperniak gets the call from the St. Louis Cardinals. Heading into Tuesday night’s action, Koperniak had 125 hits this summer for the Cards’ Triple A affiliate, the Memphis (Tenn.) Redbirds. He is hitting .309 this season with 17 home runs. In his minor league career, he has a .297 batting average with 56 homers after being signed as a free agent by St. Louis out of Trinity College in 2020. This week, sportswriter Frank Murtaugh of the Memphis Flyer profiled Koperniak for that publication. Murtaugh’s story appears here with the Flyer’s permission.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- I’ve interviewed professional baseball players for more than two decades. There are talented players who, honestly, aren’t that interesting away from the diamond. They’re good ballplayers, and baseball is what they know. There are also very interesting baseball players who aren’t all that talented. Now and then, though, you find yourself in the home team’s dugout at AutoZone Park with a very good baseball player who has a very interesting story to share. Like the Memphis Redbirds’ top hitter this season, outfielder Matt Koperniak.
That story? It began on Feb. 8, 1998, when Koperniak was born in London. (Koperniak played for Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.) “My dad was in the military,” explains Koperniak. “He was in Italy for a bit, then England. But I have no memories of that time.” Matt and his family moved back to the States — to Adams, Mass. — before his third birthday.
Koperniak played collegiately at Division III Trinity College in Connecticut, part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference. He hit .394 as a junior in 2019, but beating up on the likes of Tufts and Wesleyan doesn’t typically catch the eye of major-league scouts. When the coronavirus pandemic wiped out his senior season, Koperniak received an extra year of eligibility but, having graduated with a degree in biology, he chose to sign as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I’ve always loved baseball,” says Koperniak, “and it’s helped me get places, including a good school. My advisor — agent now — was able to get me into pro ball, so here we are.” He played in a few showcases as well as for the North Adams SteepleCats in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, enough to convince a Cardinal scout he was worth that free agent offer.
The Redbirds hosted Memphis Red Sox Night on Aug. 10, the home team taking the field in commemorative uniforms honoring the Bluff City’s Negro Leagues team of the 1930s and ’40s. Luken Baker (the franchise’s all-time home run leader) and Jordan Walker (the team’s top-ranked prospect) each slammed home runs in a Memphis win over Gwinnett, but by the final out it had become Matt Koperniak Night at AutoZone Park. He drilled a home run, a triple, and a single, falling merely a double shy of hitting for the cycle. It was perfectly Koperniak: Outstanding baseball blended into others’ eye-catching heroics.
“It’s trying to do the little things right,” he emphasizes, “and being a competitor. The Cardinals do a great job of getting us to play well-rounded baseball. Everybody has the same mindset: How can I help win the next game? You gotta stay in attack mode to be productive.”
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