Page 11 - BusinessWest January 22, 2024

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Lee
be considered affordable in town.
A recently retired school teacher,
DeVarennes said the lack of afford- able housing can be seen in decreasing enrollment in the community’s schools.
“We have these city people coming in and paying cash for homes that used to be the homes of working-class fami- lies that sent children to our schools,” she said. “Prices have skyrocketed, and that makes it more difficult for young families to find affordable housing to purchase.”
The Eagle Mill project will create
Continued from page 9
As a result, they’ve been able to write more history for a property that was barely saved from the wrecking ball and then successfully moved one block — a feat many didn’t believe was possible — and is now an important part of Lee’s iconic downtown.
They call it the Chambery Inn, named after the town in France from which five nuns were sent to staff the school, and it has become a fixture, with 10 rooms, many featuring original blackboards from its days as a school.
Healey, like Davis, said downtown is thriving at present, making an almost full recovery from the traumat- ic COVID years.
“We have an absolutely amazing Main Street,” he said. “It’s a town of 6,000 people, and we have more than 60 eateries. As the Gateway to the Berkshires, the location is really key,
“We have these city people coming in and paying cash for homes that used to be the homes of working-class families that sent children to our schools. Prices have skyrocketed, and that makes it more difficult for young families to find affordable housing to purchase.”
and it’s kind of an iconic American Main Street.
The comeback, and continued evolution, of Main Street is one of the major developing stories in Lee, with the other being the housing market, which might have cooled off a little, but still remains quite hot.
“COVID had a lot to do with it,” said Brittain, who had served the town in several different capacities over the years, including stints as moderator and town clerk, before becoming interim town administrator in 2021 and then losing the interim tag. “That’s when we started to see people wanting to move to move rural areas. During COVID and right after it, I knew of people who would put their house up for sale, and by the end of the day, they had five offers over what they were asking, and peo- ple hadn’t even come to look at the house; they just wanted to get out of the city.”
The surge, which is still ongoing, has been good for sellers, but there is certainly a downside to Lee’s housing boom, said both Brittain and DeVa- rennes, noting that it’s now much harder to find something that would
Lee
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Lee’s iconic downtown, which boasts an eclectic mix of stores and restaurants, continues its comeback from COVID.
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