Windrose Place in Lenox still up for grabs as a luxury condo and retail complex. Here’s the asking price

By Clarence Fanto, The Berkshire Eagle
Clarence Fanto

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Feb 4, 2023
Feb 4, 2023
2 min to read

Windrose Place street view (copy) — Windrose Place, a mixed-use condo and retail project in downtown Lenox, is still waiting for a developer to take its reigns.
ILLUSTRATION provided BY
WINSTANLEY ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS

LENOX — A mixed-use condo and commercial development that would transform the heart of the historic downtown village is still awaiting a developer who could invest an estimated $20 million into the project.

The “all-in” bottom line includes the 3.26-acre, three-parcel real estate site, construction and financing costs, according to Nate Winstanley, longtime owner with his wife Kathryn of the 114 Main St.

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Clarence Fanto can be reached at cfanto@yahoo.com.

Timeline

Key milestones in the efforts to renovate and develop the 114 Main St. site for the Windrose Place residential and retail project:

April 2007: By a 3-2 vote, the Zoning Board of Appeals turns down a commercial and residential expansion plan, adding 12 condos, retail and office space.

December 2017: Winstanley Associates, the marketing firm operating at the site since 1992, is downsized and then closed as efforts to sell the property intensify.

November 2019: Nathan and Kathryn Winstanley unveil their Windrose Place mixed-use development proposal, gaining a go-ahead from the Conservation Commission.

December 2019: After winning support from the Historic District Commission, the project is presented to the Zoning Board of Appeals for its first public hearing.

January 2020: After a site visit by members two weeks earlier, the ZBA approves the site plan and a special permit for the project, 5-0, and votes 4-1 to exempt it from a provision of the town's affordable housing bylaw.

Feb. 26, 2020: Local architect Jim Harwood files an appeal at Berkshire Superior Court, initiating a lawsuit against the Winstanleys and the ZBA, arguing that insufficient economic data was submitted and that the project was required to include several affordable units. Since he was not an abutter, he added two adjacent neighbors to the lawsuit several days later.

Aug. 4, 2020: Berkshire Superior Court Associate Judge Douglas Wilkins declines to dismiss the appeal, urging the two sides to reach an agreement to send the special permit back to the ZBA for further review and potential revision.

Aug. 17, 2020: With no agreement reached, Wilkins rejects the Winstanley legal team's request to dismiss the appeal, orders the ZBA to revisit the project and issue a new ruling, but takes the affordable housing issue off the table.

Oct. 14, 2020: Resuming remote public hearings on the proposal, the ZBA tells both sides to submit new written arguments for further discussion.

Dec. 9, 2020: The zoning board issues a unanimous ruling approving the project with eight special conditions to satisfy the concerns of the two abutters who temporarily had joined Harwood's appeal. The written decision is filed at Town Hall on Jan. 8, 2021, the litigation is dropped and no new appeal is received during the required 20-day window.

Mar. 21, 2022: The Winstanleys place the property, including all its permits, on the market for an asking price of $4 million. The estimated cost of the buildout ranges from $17 million to $20 million.

February 2023: Nate Winstanley, doubling down on his own efforts to find a suitable developer, stresses his desire to save and renovate the historic Northrup House, with an “all-in” bottom-line total price of $20 million, including land acquisition, construction and financing.

SOURCES: EAGLE ARCHIVES; COURT DOCUMENTS; ZBA DOCUMENTS.

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Windrose Place in Lenox still up for grabs as a luxury condo and retail complex. Here’s the asking price

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