A company headed by Williams College graduate Geoff Chapin is turning a giant bloom of Sargassum seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean into valuable materials. Page J11
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Berkshire Business Journal JUNE 2023 I VOL. 2, NO. 6
From nebulous to fabulous David Moresi’s concept for the Norad Mill has paid off
GILLIAN JONES
Tina Whitmore of Freia Fibers stands in her showroom at the Norad Mill in North Adams. David Moresi has transformed the vacant mill space that he bought in 2017. By Jim Therrien NORTH ADAMS — When he bought the historic Norad Mill, developer and real estate businessman David Moresi thought that renovating the massive space for smaller business tenants might prove to be a successful plan — but a success as measured over the course of many years. In 2017, Moresi paid $47,000 for what was, at that time, a vacant mill. Originally a textile factory constructed by Sanford Blackinton in 1863, it has 115,000-square-feet of floor space on four levels and a basement area. Moresi restored the original name, Norad Mill, which is what Blackinton had named it, after his company called Norad Manufacturing Co. Moresi says he had only a nebulous plan in mind (mainly to house his own companies) before setting out to transform the mill on 60 Roberts Drive, just off Route 2/State Road and about 1 1/2
miles from the city’s Main Street and 2 miles from the Williamstown line. North Adams is full of old, brick mills, and Norad would soon join others across the city — like the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art from the old Sprague Electric complex to its east to Greylock Works, the former Greylock Mill that processed cotton turned event venue, further west on State Road — in giving them a new lease on life. A nebulous plan, perhaps, but tenants showed up right away to occupy the renovated spaces: Norad has more than 40 business tenants now, said Hannah Klammer, who heads commercial leasing and special projects for Moresi’s development and real estate firms. In 2019, Moresi told The Berkshire Eagle that he had invested approximately $3 million into the mill after he purchased it two years earlier. He acquired the mill for $47, 500 in 2017, and by 2019 had spend about $1.5 million cleaning it
out and subdividing the space into leaseable units. The investment paid off. “From the attic to the basement, it is leased,” Moresi said. That’s right. There’s no space left to rent, he said. NEW MAIN STREET? Norad Mill’s previous occupant, a specialty printing and engraving company, had vacated the space about two years earlier, and Moresi, who owns real estate management and redevelopment businesses, sent in his crew. The team renovated and subdivided spaces for tenants, added an elevator and new restrooms. The structure was made ADA compliant. When space was ready, tenants began moving in almost immediately. “This took off right from the beginning,” he said. Moresi believes Norad has, in some
ways, assumed the role of the city’s Main Street as a commercial center. “I’ve always said this is the new Main Street, whether people like that or not,” he said. “There’s just so much diversity in the businesses here. ... It’s what makes the mill what it is.” What Norad is, Klammer said, is “offices, retail shops, services ... ” “... self-help, therapists,” Moresi said, picking up the thread. “There’s exercise. And, you know, self-improvement, retail, yoga. There’s everything.” There’s even a record store. Moresi said he thinks there are a number of reasons for the commercial vacancies along Main Street “Right now, there is just so much vacant square footage downtown. You know, it’s unfortunate, because if we really could take this building and put it on Main Street, you would have a totally NORAD, Page 12