Former GE Site Garners Over $6M for Redevelopment

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The William Stanley Business Park is closer to fulfilling the $10 million needed to redevelop its biggest parcel, Site 9. 

"It took a while to get up to $10.8 million but I think we are very close," Business Development Manager Michael Coakley told the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority on Thursday.

"We have currently solidified $6.3 million." 

This includes $3 million from the MassWorks infrastructure program, $880,000 in Site Readiness Program funding from the state's Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, $264,000 from the state Brownfields Program and, most recently, a $500,000 earmark from a state economic development bill that was passed in November. 

The 16-acre parcel previously housed a General Electric factory and is the largest and most prominent section of the business park. Mayor Linda Tyer has said it resembles the "surface of the moon" because of deterioration over the past 20 years. 

During the meeting, PEDA authorized using the balance of its GE landscaping fund — about $1.3 million — for the landscaping portion of the redevelopment plan and expending $400,000 from its foundation fund for the site. 

This leaves a balance of about $4.5 million in grants. 

As a part of the recent economic development bill, the Berkshire Innovation Center located within the business park received $150,000 for the Tech Impact Collaborative's digital economy initiatives. 

Coakley pointed out that Site 9 is the largest project within the business park and it took a lot of work to get the funding, though the efforts are not over. 

He reported that a warehouse/distribution firm has been asking for several documents on the large site. 

The company could bring 100 jobs to the area and is looking for possibly a 70,000-square-foot building. 

It was said a commitment to the parcel could be helpful to move along with its redevelopment. 

Coakley has been in contact with a possible tenant for Site 5 for a couple of years. The company is looking into the feasibility of building a 30,000-square-foot building with another 20,000 square feet on another level to lease. 

A pre-fab building components manager based out of Europe, an industrial digital manufacturer, energy storage companies, and a production company have also shown interest in the park. 

"There’s a number of kind of irons in the fire," Coakley said. "Some are hotter than others." 

Precision Brows Opens on North Street in Pittsfield

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:26PM / Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Deidre Rosado offers mcroblading and threading of brows and hopes to soon include lip blush and more services. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Deidre Rosado is ready to give your brows the perfect sculpted look. 

 

The permanent-makeup artist opened Precision Brows at 644 North St. with a grand opening on Wednesday 

 

The studio offers threading and microblading, which is described as a semi-permanent solution to define eyebrows.

 

"Microblading is basically a form of tattooing that is done differently than actual tattooing. We use a pen with a flex blade and a pigment versus ink that will eventually change color overtime," said Rosado.

 

She explained that she picks the color based off someone's natural hair color and shapes the eyebrows based on bone structure.

 

"I've always been into stuff like this and microblading was really interesting to me, so I just kind of did it. It's been a lot of hard work," Rosado said.

 

Threading is the use of twisted cotton thread to pluck out hair from the root and can be used alone or with other brow treatments like microblading.