Great Barrington — Plans for the adaptive reuse of the former Searles School building, which will be turned into an upscale hotel, were filed with the town Wednesday after developers Vijay and Chrystal Mahida announced Tuesday that early community “peace” was as important as building and running a profitable hotel.
The announcement brought critics into the Mahida fold after months of town-wide bickering over the project.
The original plans involved demolishing the historic-designated main building and replacing it with a $24 million 95-room hotel. After public outcry and division over the size, design and other issues like traffic, the Mahidas’ dropped the room number to 88, which they had to do to reuse the building. The old gymnasium and annex on the complex will be replaced; those plans have not changed.
The Mahidas’ are able to skirt the town’s 45-room limit bylaw with a loophole that exists for historic-designated structures. That loophole applies to several town-owned surplus buildings that are still vacant, in the hopes developers will consider buying them and get them fixed and back on the tax rolls.
After meeting with vocal opponents of the Mahidas’ original plans, the Mahidas’ said while reusing the building will cost around several million more, it was worth community support to be challenged by these new numbers.
According to a prepared statement by Vijay Mahida, the new plans may be slightly tweaked, but were released a week before the Selectboard’s special permit hearing to “show the citizens what a saved main building would conceptually look like.” There may be “some possible refinement upon review” by sellers Jane Iredale and Robert Montgomery, who adaptively reused the adjacent former Bryant School for Iredale Mineral Cosmetics’ world headquarters. Iredale “retains certain exterior approval rights under the purchase agreement,” Mahida said.
Mahida further said that any final refinements to the exterior will not compromise his company’s adherence to the bylaw. “Townspeople can now rest easy,” he said. “Assuming Selectboard approval, the main building absolutely will be saved and reused.” He also said any “final exterior refinements were not expected to change the footprint, massing, or scale of the buildings reflected in the plans being submitted.”
Historic details would now be part of the design, Mahida said. “Brought back are tall wood sash windows on the two ends of the buildings facing Bridge Street, that replace the town-installed aluminum windows that so many traditionalists found degraded the classic look of the main building,” he said. “Also to be reworked are the two hyphens, the part of the building between the center block and the ends. Once again, the town modifications to this part of the building had long ago permanently eliminated the beautiful hyphens of Edward Searles’ original design.”
“The design of the replacement hyphens is still being refined,” said Dave Carpenter, Mahida Family Hospitality Interest’s Director of Administration.
“Saving the main building will lengthen our design and construction process and increase our costs,” said Chrystal Mahida, “but satisfying the community was very important to Vijay and me. This is our hometown, and the negativity was tough on the family. We have been most grateful for the outpouring of support about the change to saving Searles.”
Carpenter estimated saving Searles will increase development costs by 10 to 20 percent, and likely add 12 to 18 months to the development cycle. He said the Mahidas considered doing a “full-blown certified historic preservation, but had concluded that doing so would skyrocket development time and costs.” He said the Mahidas “hope that the adaptive reuse approach taken with the Bryant School building will be accepted by the Selectboard.”
Since the plans were submitted to town hall late Wednesday, people haven’t thoroughly vetted them yet. But so far, it appears support for the project is forthcoming. Historical Commission Chair Paul Ivory said while hasn’t seen the detailed plans yet, “he liked the progress” made by the Mahidas. “I want to take a close look before I say anything on behalf of the Historical Commission,” he said. The Commission last June designated the building an “historic structure.” Searles, however, is not protected from demolition, as it would be if it were in the town’s Historic District.The Commission is presently working on a Demolition Delay Bylaw to be voted on at the next Annual Town Meeting.
Vijay Mahida cautioned that “computer generated renditions definitely do not bring out the best (look) in a building. They do allow architects, planners, and town officials to scrutinize the details of a proposed project.” Mahida said “a local artist was working on some more lifelike renditions,” which he hoped will be ready to display at the continued Selectboard public hearing scheduled for January 20 at Monument Mountain Regional High School.
The architectural drawings also include a detailed floor plan. “With the reuse of the existing main building,” according to the statement, “the existing multi-level floors will have to be restructured to provide four levels of flat floors that are fully ADA compliant.” It was this restructuring that reduced the room count to 88.
Local interior designer William Caligari was hired to pull together the “historical significance of the building with an upscale lodging experience.” Caligari was the designer for Canyon Ranch in Lenox.
The revised site plans, along with landscape architect Craig Okerstrom-Lang’s plans, including lighting, were also submitted to the town and “show relatively modest changes” from those reviewed by the Planning Board and Conservation Commission. “The replacements for the gym building and for the annex are remaining largely as previously submitted,” Carpenter said. “Saving the building has not materially changed the configuration of our site plan.”
Save Searles founder and a former vocal opponent of the original plans, Bobby Houston came around after the Mahidas’ decided to save the school. He said he was “delighted,” while also saying there still “needs to be a solid process of engagement with the plans going forward. There’s always room for improvement.”
Vijay Mahida said he hoped that with bylaw concerns aside, the project would now be considered on its merits.
“On the 20th of January,” Mahida said, “I am hoping we can focus less on legalities, and more on the ways that this hotel will benefit the community. Chrystal and I are determined to earn the support of all citizens, and ultimately the support of all five Selectboard members.”
