Page 34 - BusinessWest May 26, 2025

Great Barrington >>Continued from page 15
town on Friday and Saturday nights from early July to
Labor Day.
There have been some changes within this down-
town, and more are on the way, as some aging prop-
erties have changed hands, said Andrus, adding that
this list includes the so-called Mahaiwe Block, the
Marble Block, and other properties.
“All these buildings have changed hands to young-
er, probably more energetic people,” she said, adding
that these landmarks are being renovated and, in
some cases, reimagined, with mixes of retail, office,
and much-needed housing.
The chamber’s new home at 343 Main St., across
from Town Hall, is a good example. The property
there, acquired and redeveloped by the Alander
Group, will house the chamber’s offices as well as an
enlarged visitors’ center, as well as other retail, 15
apartments, and a wine bar, said Andrus, noting that,
prior to its move, the chamber was in two locations,
a small visitors’ booth in front of CVS and a business
office on Railroad Street, a situation that was less
than ideal.
“It was like working in a cave — it was hard to find;
it wasn’t easily accessible,” she said of the Railroad
Street location. “Now, we’ve combined the business
office and visitors center, and it’s a real improvement.”
The Alander Group also owns the Mahaiwe Block,
which houses the performing arts center, she said,
adding that it also features retail and housing units.
Meanwhile, at the Marble Block on Main Street,
the former Gorham & Norton grocery store, a fixture
for generations, is being remade into Robbie’s Com-
munity Market, said Andrus, adding that the property
will soon feature several apartments as well. As for
the market, it will be a collective, including a coffee
“With that influx of people, even going
to the grocery store can be chaotic.”
bar, pizza oven, sandwich shop, and more, combining
the past — this was a soda counter decades ago —
with the present.
Taking Center Stage
These investments, as well as the new or relocated
businesses and residents they bring to the area, will
create more vibrancy in the downtown, said Andrus,
adding that, overall, the downtown continues to thrive
and build on its status as a destination.
Martinson agreed. She took the reins as executive
director of the Mahaiwe in January 2020, just two
months before COVID arrived and essentially shut
down its scheduled season.
But the facility survived that challenge by getting
creative, she recalled, adding that one of first initia-
tives that year was to partner with Bard College at
Simon’s Rock to create a drive-in movie theater in one
of its parking lots.
“They had a parking lot outside their performing
arts center that happened to be tiered down a hill-
side, so we could have all the cars facing in one direc-
tion and put the screen at the bottom of the hill,” she
recalled, adding that the schedule included a few of
the Star Wars movies, American Graffiti, The Prin-
cess Bride, and other family stalwarts.
“That’s how we got through summer,” she went on,
adding that the Mahaiwe partnered with other per-
North >>Continued from page 9
understand the right questions to ask and how to use
it.”
Whatever the issue, Weber says he has found a
niche in a landscape where many mid-sized business-
es — he typically works with firms between $5 million
and $50 million in annual revenue, in a wide range of
sectors — don’t have this expertise in-house.
“It has to be companies that are interested in
growth because you’re not going to bring in some-
body as a fractional CTO if you’re just kind of plod-
ding along and doing OK. You’re interested in grow-
ing your company, and now you’re looking for those
efficiencies to make everything work better. That’s the
space I’m filling.”
Since opening North Star last September, Weber
has seen a steady influx of clients. He noted that the
field isn’t as competitive as one might think.
“There are a lot of fractional CFOs,” he said, refer-
ring to the financial side of a business. “Companies
will go, ‘accounting is important, and I don’t know
what I’m doing anymore, and I need a guy.’ So they
bring in a person to fill that role. So a fractional CFO
is a very common thing.
“A fractional CTO is very uncommon,” he went on.
“I don’t think I’ve met another one in this area. Again,
I think I’m unique by bringing the technology and
the business sense together, which creates a unique
situation.”
“You’re interested in growing your
company, and now you’re looking for
those efficiencies to make everything
work better. That’s the space I’m
filling.”
Change Agent
Weber also appreciates that he’s able to lessen
anxiety — for both business owners and employees —
around the changing face of IT, and especially AI.
“Obviously, people get scared whenever there’s
change, and that is understandable,” he said, while
noting that today’s students may be preparing for
high-tech jobs that don’t exist yet, while other careers
will fade away. “People need to be aware of both
those sides. I mean, if I was a young person today
and I was graduating high school or college, I would
want to know what’s not going to exist and what is
still going to exist in a period of years.
“I was doing an AI presentation the other day, and
a woman was talking, and she has a son who’s in high
school, and he wants to be a plumber. His job is safe
for now. That’s not going anywhere anytime soon,”
34 << CONTINUED >>
MAY 26, 2025
forming arts nonprofits in the area to record concerts
from its stage in efforts that were more about the arts
than revenues. “We managed to stay in touch with our
community throughout the pandemic, and that’s really
the point — to bring people together, and bring them
together around the performing arts.”
This creative spirit continues today, she said, add-
ing that the facility hosted more than 125 individual
events last year and will grow that number this year,
especially with the opening of the new space in the
renovated former fire station.
“We’ll be able to do much more intimate perfor-
mances there — things that are a little more niche
and involving emerging artists and more local art-
ists,” Martinson told BusinessWest. “And we’ll be
able to rent that space out to local performing arts
organizations.
“We’re really excited about that coming online,”
she went on, adding that there have been some ‘sneak
previews,’ with a planned opening for later in the year,
probably the fall.
The auxiliary theater is part of a broader five-year
strategic plan now in year two, said Martinson, adding
that, in simple terms, the plan calls for bringing more
performing arts than it already brings to its main
stage and “reaching further into our community.”
That community includes Great Barrington resi-
dents, but also visitors from a wide radius, she said,
adding that this town is a true destination, one that
has made its way all the way back from the dark days
of COVID.
And one that is looking to turn the loss of Bard
College at Simon’s Rock into new opportunities. BW
he noted. “For somebody like him, AI is just an asset
because it can help answer questions and provide
guidance, but the actual work of a plumber is still
going to be done by a human. It’s not being replaced
by AI anytime soon.”
For many other jobs and industries, the outlook is
less certain, but Weber is optimistic that he can steer
clients toward growth and opportunity as they grap-
ple with all the coming changes.
“I owned a small business for a long time, with
employees and multiple locations. And now I have the
opportunity to help businesses in different manner,”
he said. “I’m having a lot of fun, and my clients seem
to be really enjoying engaging with me and having
this conversation. So it’s working out really well.”
At the end of the day, Weber added, he loves help-
ing and teaching people, demystifying the role of IT,
and seeing the impact he can make on a growing
pool of clients.
“It’s like I was saying before — I’m kind of a uni-
corn in the sense that I can talk about technology
in a way that regular people understand. And that
is rare. You find a lot of really smart IT people that
you wouldn’t want to have a coffee with because you
couldn’t understand them. And you find a lot of amaz-
ing business people that don’t know anything about
their technology, but they need to. So I can bridge
that gap for them, and that’s what I’m doing.” BW
Business W est