Stockbridge — Eight years after its initial proposal, the 35-37 Interlaken Road Realty Trust is making another stab at redeveloping the land that is the namesake of the investment group. On November 22, the group filed a special permit application with the town of Stockbridge.
The filing, made by attorney Jonathan Silverstein on behalf of the Trust and Trustee Patrick J. Sheehan, cites the lack of community support for the Trust’s controversial 2016 proposal that prompted the project to be withdrawn. The proposal covers the former 314-acre site of the Stockbridge and the Desisto schools, property that has also been known as the Beckwith and Hanna estates, as well as the Bonnie Brier Farm. It came under the Trust’s ownership in 2009, filed documents provide.
The Trust’s original application included improving the tract with a hotel boasting 40 to 50 rooms and 139 residences, in addition to a restaurant and other amenities. It also added 34 single-family homes, a sore point for neighbors who voiced concern over the project’s density and its residential component which would have meant clearing the property’s undeveloped rear portion.
Fast forward through a pandemic and other projects consuming the Trust’s focus, and the proposed 328-page redesign may soon come before town officials.
That special permit application can be found here.
Comparing the new proposal with the 2016 plan, workforce housing addressed
Compared to the Trust’s prior plan, the filing removes any residential construction in the rear of the property, moving the project’s residential component to the front of the tract and decreasing the number of homes from 34 homes to 24 homes.
The new plan also decreases the number of hotel residences, from 139 units to 132 units, and hotel suites, from 43 suites down to nine suites. The 2024 proposal vastly decreases the amount of rear acreage needed to be cleared for the project, from about 41 acres for homes, roads, infrastructure, and farming to 17 acres planned “solely for purposes of agricultural use and gardening.”
Finally, the application adds four workforce-housing units to be sold at cost, with their initial sales or rentals to be “in favor of residents and employees of the Town.” Stockbridge officials, as with other town governments across Berkshire County and the Commonwealth, are wrestling with the emergent need for affordable housing. At their last Select Board meeting, members unanimously approved the town’s Housing Production Plan, aiming to add 25 affordable housing units in the next five years. The Trust’s 2016 proposal did not include workforce housing.
A comparison between the 2016 and 2024 Trust plans:
Silverstein states his client will restore and preserve the façade of the mansion sited on the property and that the building will serve as “the focal point of a luxury hotel resort development.” The manor falls under Stockbridge’s Cottage Era Estate bylaw requiring 80 acres of land in single ownership, a home dating back to the 19th century, and a rehabilitation plan for the same.
The 2024 proposal “represents a density reduction of approximately 24 percent and a reduction in land clearance of approximately 63 percent,” the document states.
Other uses, parking
The application includes a small area on the undeveloped western side of the tract that will act as a community garden or agriculture land, with produce to be used for homes and an on-site restaurant.
Outdoor amplified entertainment is banned in accordance with the town’s zoning bylaw, and the hotel is expected to host weddings and corporate functions, both indoors and outdoors.
The application specifies that off-street parking will be screened from property neighbors and adjoining streets, including Interlaken Road, and details that the Trust will be making additions to the main house but can’t build new detached structures within 200 feet of that facility.
Requests for comments were communicated to Silverstein and Town Administrator Michael J. Canales by The Berkshire Edge but were not returned by press time.
