Chrystal Mahida and her husband, Vijay, who own several hotels in Berkshire County, did not offer a specific timeline for when construction to convert the school would begin, but she wanted to assure the public that plans are proceeding.
Research indicates there are about 4,265 hotel rooms in Berkshire County and that over the course of the entire year, the occupancy rate averages about 50 percent.
-- Laurie Klefos, executive vice president of 1Berkshire
"We are beyond saturation at this point, but we had planned this awhile ago and will have to work to get the business."
-- Joe Toole, hotel entrepreneur, commenting during the opening of his 89-room Marriott Courtyard in Lenox.
“It essentially will be the same building with a few modifications — these will go back in time,” and make the renovated Searles “much more historically accurate.”
-- Architect Rolph Biggers
“Saving the main building will lengthen our design and construction process and increase our costs but satisfying the community was very important to Vijay and me.”
-- Chrystal Mahida, on why she and her husband Vijay revised plans for their Berkshire Hotel
"I’d rather see Great Barrington be in the same camp with Santa Fe and Palm Beach than some other place promoting low-end, bus-tour tourism. Most people in this town think that only money speaks."
--- Hotel opponent Ann Fredericks
