Development
The old Adams Community Center
20 East Street, Adams. A 1920 building the town had given up on, bought in 2022, taken to the frame and rebuilt as thirteen apartments — documented here from the day we got the keys to the day the first tenant moved in.
The building
What we bought
Failed clapboard, rotted trim, open window holes and a roof at the end of its life. When a building gets to that state, the market prices it as a teardown.
Underneath, the frame was sound — and that is the whole question. Buildings this old were framed in lumber you cannot buy any more, and when the bones are good they are worth saving. When they are not, we walk away.
Because our own crews were going to do the work, we priced the entire job before we bought it, not after. That is the difference between a developer that owns a construction company and one that hires one.
Before
The day we got the keys
During
Strip, reframe, wrap, side
Four stages across one Berkshire winter. Building through January costs more than people expect; we know what it costs because we have done it.
After
Thirteen finished apartments
Studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, one of them fully accessible on the ground floor. New kitchens, baths, heating, wiring and windows in every one.
In the news
Covered locally
iBerkshires reported on the completed building in December 2025, under the headline Former Adams Community Center Transformed Into Modern Apartments.
Reporting by Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires, December 21, 2025.
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