The office windows look out on North Street and the 'Sisterhood' mural.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Walking to the 1Berkshire office, you will now be greeted with a view of the "Sisterhood" mural and the Barrington Stage.
On Thursday, the economic development organization held an open house for its new space on the second floor of Crawford Square at 137 North St. The 4,300-square-foot office, located in Suite 200, has been refreshed with colorful accent walls and coordinating furniture.
This, along with the slow rollout of a new logo, aims to represent 1Berkshire's maturation over the last decade.
"Being in downtown Pittsfield was a very intentional decision for us. It is the center of the Berkshires, geographically. It's the largest city in the Berkshires. It is the lead area for industry in the Berkshires, and our organization and our predecessor organizations have always historically been headquartered in downtown Pittsfield," President and CEO Jonathan Butler said.
"So when we made the decision to move out of Central Station and sell our building and find new space, it was a priority of ours to be here in downtown Pittsfield."
Last year, 1Berkshire sold its property at 66 Allen St. to the Elizabeth Freeman Center. At the same time on Thursday, the Freeman Center held an open house for its new space.
The North Street office has common spaces, conference rooms that can be rented by members, and has the organization's new branding. It went four months without an office space and had a satellite office at KB Accounting across the street.
"This was a process. We made the decision in early 2024 to move on from Central Station. We had a great 10 years there. It was a beautiful facility," Butler said.
"We owned that building. There are pros and cons to that. As many of you know that are building owners, being in the business of being a landlord for multiple tenants, and also thinking about capital planning and long-term expenses while trying to run a nonprofit was not always the easiest thing, and fortunately, we had a moment with the real estate market where making a move made sense."
Board Chair Lori Gazzillo Kiely pointed out that this is meant to be a community space as well. Remarks were made in a large conference room, which has modular furniture that can be moved to fit different needs.
"We had the opportunity to move the organization to a new location right here in downtown Pittsfield, which is really central to the center of the city and the county," she said.
"And I have to say, every time they do anything with their space, I get all kinds of ideas on how to decorate, because they do a wonderful job with colors, and it's a vibrant space, so it's a great place for people to come work and innovate, and work together and collaborate, and I think that's really what the mission of the organization is all about."
About a year and a half ago, the organization underwent an internal corporate branding exercise, and one of the outcomes was a logo redesign. It is being soft rolled out and will be officially debuted at the annual meeting in December, at the time of 1Berkshire's tenth anniversary.
The logo is included in the office design, and the two were created around the same time so they are in line with one another.
"We worked on a new logo with some of our vendors, and came up with something that we thought was a maturation of the 1Berkshire logo. It's got a little bit more of a fresh, modern feel to it," Butler said.
"It took the actual traditional 1Berkshire color palette and kept some of the same core colors, and they kind of matured, so we looked at it as kind of a fresh start with a new logo and a way to just continue to present ourselves in a vibrant way to our community."
Mayor Peter Marchetti congratulated the organization, though he will miss seeing them from his corner office window.
"I want to congratulate you guys on the new space, but more importantly, I want to thank you guys," he said, explaining that over the past 21 months as mayor, "You guys have been there."
The mayor said 1Berkshire always answers his call, and is a great partner in bridging the gap between Berkshire communities.
"This mayor really believes in a regionalization approach," he explained.
"And how can the mayor of Pittsfield not know what the mayor of North Adams is doing, and then the other 30 towns in between? How can we be doing the work if we're not all working together? And that's the first thing that I noticed when I became mayor, is that, geez, I feel like I'm an island all by myself."
Butler explained that 1Berkshire has a "tremendous" creative team that made the office design come together organically.
"Helpful in that process was the new mayor of Pittsfield, Pete Marchetti, who just took office in 2024 and has been a strong partner to 1Berkshire. We appreciate the engagement that we've had with the city since the mayor has taken office, and just the welcoming environment with us making a decision to stay in Pittsfield, wanting to be here," he added.
"We work closely with the community development office in Pittsfield, a number of different offices, and the mayor is not shy about letting us know what we should be focused on, but he's also very welcoming and bringing us into the room to hear what we think the city might consider."
As a former public official, Butler pointed out that good things that happen when the public, private, and nonprofit sectors collaborate on economic development.
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