Great Barrington — At their meeting on Thursday, January 26, the Planning Board unanimously approved a special permit for Boston-based company The Goldman Group. The approval will allow the company to convert a former nursing home building, located at 148 Maple Avenue, into 30 units of condominiums.
For years the building was previously home to Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation facility. Back in mid-2020, previous building owners Bear Mountain Properties 148 LLC of Skokie, Ill. turned the building into a COVID recovery center.
The total property valuation, as of 2021, is $1,399,600, with the building valued at $1,130,900, land at $246,000, and extra features valued at $22,700.
The Planning Board approved the special permit application under sections 8.10 and 10.4 of the town’s zoning bylaws. Section 8.10 of the bylaws covers property conversion and requires a special permit for former nursing home properties for multifamily use. Section 10.4 of the bylaws covers special permit criteria and conditions.
According to a press release issued by The Goldman Group, the development will comprise 12 one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom, and two three-bedroom condominiums. In an interview after the January 26 meeting, Charles Goldman, Managing Partner of The Goldman Group, said he could not discuss the potential prices for the condominiums. “I don’t feel so comfortable talking about pricing,” Goldman said. “These will all be units that will be up for sale. There will be no affordable housing units in the building.”
Goldman said that the company looks for existing buildings that can be repurposed and that it has been involved extensively in a project located in western Massachusetts. On its website, the company lists projects in Medford, Fall River, Charlestown, and Canton. “We have gotten involved in a project in North Adams, but it’s a smaller project and not to the same extent as we’re getting involved in with this project,” Goldman said.
Goldman was referring to a project at 22-36 Taft Street in North Adams, which is a previous factory complex that was redeveloped into luxury townhouses. “The Maple Avenue building was in very good condition when we purchased it,” Goldman said. “When we saw this building up for sale, we thought it presented itself very well, It has only been unused for up to two years. It has very strong bones, and we intend to develop the inside of the building. We are not looking to change the building’s footprint, just change the layout of the inside of the building so that it is more conducive for condominium units.”
Goldman said that the good condition of the building will allow the project to be completed this summer and those units will be listed for pre-sale in February 2024. “We already started on the demolition phase of construction, and we’re hoping to move right along with this project,” Goldman said, adding that he did not want to talk about estimates of what the total price of redeveloping the building would be.
Goldman said that the company currently does not have any further projects planned in western Massachusetts. “Great Barrington is a small community, but it attracts a lot of traffic and a lot of people,” he said. “There’s a shortage of housing in the community and a wealthier clientele, which is kind of unique for such a rural area. For those reasons we thought that this building would be a good investment.”
Goldman added that the company has not decided on a name for the development.
