Page 14 - BusinessWest June 10, 2024

Lenox at
a glance
Year Incorporated: 1767
Population: 5,095
Area: 21.7 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $9.07
Commercial Tax Rate: $12.85
Median Household Income: $85,581
Median Family Income: $111,413
Type of Government: Select Board, Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Canyon Ranch, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Kimball Farms
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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT >>
Lenox Continues to Be a Destination Community
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
Becky Piccolo says the Olde Heritage Tavern is the ‘Cheers’ of Lenox.
It’s a place where ... well, most everyone knows your
name. Indeed, while it’s a popular hangout for locals, those in town for a concert at Tanglewood, a play at Shakespeare & Company, or a massage at one of the spas might well stop in for a burger and a brew as well.
“It’s a gathering place for all the locals,” she said of the tavern, which has been called both a second home for area residents and a home away from home. “It’s really a big fam- ily and a big part of the community; it’s way more than just a bar.”
Piccolo and her sister, Rachel, have been managing the tavern for more than 20 years now, but through a series of transactions and changes in ownership, including a time when the U.S. government took possession (we’ll get into all that later), they can now call the establishment theirs.
And when asked what might change with this latest change in ownership, Piccolo was proud to say, “nothing, really — we’re just going to keep doing what we’ve always done.”
This is certainly good news for the town and its business community, and this change of ownership at the tavern is just one of many developing stories in this community of 5,000 people that is perhaps the tourist mecca in a region built largely on tourism.
Other stories include, on the municipal side, movement toward a new public-safety facility and new wastewater treat- ment plant, and, perhaps most importantly, steps forward
in the development of two new housing projects, which will, according to Select Board member Marybeth Mitts, make a meaningful dent in what has become a serious shortage of affordable housing.
“It’s a gathering place for all the locals. It’s really a big family and a big part of the community; it’s way more than just a bar.”
That’s a problem common to communities of all sizes and across Western Mass., said Mitts, adding that it is perhaps even more acute in Lenox because of its wealth of tourism and wellness facilities and an accompanying trend that has seen many properties in — or close to — the ‘affordable’ cat- egory converted to Airbnbs.
“The Airbnb phenomenon has certainly impacted us, as it has almost every community in the States and overseas as well,” she noted. “A lot of the modest homes have been pur- chased by owner/investors that have crowded out the young- er families and empty-nest households perhaps looking to downsize to more modest homes.”
This development, and the overall lack of affordable housing, has many side effects and has made it even more difficult for the town’s rich stock of restaurants and tourist
14 JUNE 10, 2024
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