Locate Your Business
In Pittsfield

Join industry leaders like Wayfair, General Dynamics, VidMob, and Japan’s TOPPAN (Interprint) by opening a major facility in Pittsfield. These top companies know that Pittsfield is a great place to do business. Here are some of the reasons:

  • Great Berkshire Lifestyle

    World-class cultural attractions, year-round outdoor activities and some of the finest dining in the country make the Berkshires a great place for you and your employees.

  • Low Cost of Living

    Payroll dollars go further in Pittsfield. The cost of living is 23% less than the Massachusetts average, 32% less than Boston and 40% less than New York.

  • Easy Access To Major Markets

    26.5 million people live within 125 miles of Pittsfield. You can wake up in the beautiful Berkshires, have lunch in New York or Boston, and be home in time for a relaxed dinner.

  • Strong Incentives

    Pittsfield’s unique economic development fund can offer incentives that are not available anywhere else in Massachusetts.

Let us show how much Pittsfield wants your business.

“I can’t think of another city that I’ve ever worked with – and we’ve worked with a hundred plus cities on construction projects – that would have ever dreamed of mobilizing city officials for a private company in such a short period of time.”

– Chris Kapiloff

LTI Smart Glass

Read Chris′ Case Study

Red Carpet Team

Get the red carpet treatment by contacting Michael Coakley, the City’s Business Development Manager, at [email protected] or call 413-499-9368 to get the Red Carpet treatment. He leads the City’s Red Carpet Team which streamlines the process of expanding or locating businesses in Pittsfield.

Chris Kapiloff, a principal of LTI Smart Glass, needed to rapidly expand his limited Pittsfield manufacturing capabilities, he was afraid that the permitting process alone would take six to nine months.  Using the Red Carpet Team, he said that entire process took just 60 days. (See the LTI Case Study.)

The Red Carpet team brings together representatives from various city departments, economic development organizations, MassHire, MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Office of Business Development to meet with a prospective company. They can smooth out any concerns and propose incentives to win your business.

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“Pittsfield followed through on everything that they said they’d do. They backed every EMA application and provided funds directly to EMA.”

– Justin McKennon

Electro Magnetic Applications

Read Justin′s Case Study

Financial Incentives

Our financial incentives make Pittsfield an especially inviting place to start or relocate your business. Some of our grants and loans are not available anywhere else in the state. These unique incentives include funds from the Pittsfield Economic Development Fund (formerly known as the GE Economic Development Fund), as well as from the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corporation. Additional incentives are available for those who locate in the William Stanley Business Park.

Michael Coakley, Pittsfield’s business development manager, may be able to combine funds from multiple local, state and federal programs to obtain the incentives you need.  Each program has its own requirements and Mr. Coakley will help you.  Contact Michael Coakley at 413-499-9368 or send an email to [email protected].

Here are some of the programs that may be available to you:

  • Exclusive Pittsfield Incentives

    Pittsfield can offer up to $1 million in economic incentives that are not available anywhere else in Massachusetts.  The Pittsfield Economic Development Fund (formerly known as the GE Economic Development Fund) offers incentives for significant business projects in the City.  These incentives may include grants, loans with or without forgiveness provisions, and tax relief.  Decisions are made on a project-by-project basis. The mayor makes the proposal for funding to the City Council for approval.

  • Property Tax Relief

    This program provides a process for negotiating various local and state tax incentives with qualifying businesses in exchange for job growth and private capital investment. Under this program, businesses have the opportunity to seek exemptions from either or both the Commonwealth and the City.

    For selected investments, the City of Pittsfield will negotiate an incremental phasing-in of local property taxes associated with development over five to 20 years.  The amount of the tax exemption is typically based on a percentage of the value added through new construction or significant improvement.

  • MassDevelopment Financing

    MassDevelopment offers bond financing programs as a cost-effective way for companies to finance capital projects, new equipment purchases, and facility expansions. They also provide loans and guarantees to help grow your operations, and development assistance for early-stage projects.

  • Job Creation Grants

    The City of Pittsfield makes grants under the federally-funded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for economic development, particularly job creation and other projects that benefit low- to moderate-income households.  CDBG grants are also available to improve housing and for handicapped access to workplaces.

  • Investment Tax Credits

    A 5% tax credit provided by the state for all types of businesses. The ITC applies to the cost of renovations of the real estate and to capital acquisitions having a depreciable life of four or more years.

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“We deal with a lot of folks in a lot of communities. I wish we had a City Hall with staff as knowlegable and welcoming as the people in Pittsfield at all of the other towns we operate in as well.”

– Cory Jacobson

Phoenix Theatres

Read Cory′s Case Study

Site Incentives

Michael Coakley, Pittsfield’s business development manager, can organize customized tours of facilities to meet your exacting needs. He can organize meetings with building owners and developers to show you projects intended for your specific needs. Please contact him at [email protected] or call 413-499-9368.

There are special site incentives available that encourage development in certain areas of Pittsfield. Here are some locations that you may want to consider:

  • Site Selection

    The usual first step is to identify a site for your growing business. Many business owners work with a real estate agent. 1Berkshire’s Site Selector showcases a number of the prime commercial real estate opportunities.

  • William Stanley Business Park

    Special financial incentives of up to $1 million are available from a unique economic development fund for those building in or relocating to the William Stanley Business Park on Pittsfield’s east side. The 52-acre park, where General Electric once built electrical transformers, has commercial and mixed-use, construction-ready lots available with approved zoning and environmental permits. Several have onsite structures with ready-to-build foundations and rail access.

    Some of the ideal businesses for the William Stanley Business Park include assembly and other light manufacturing, packaging, product distribution, wholesale, warehousing, data processing and software development. Already approved for the site are the Mountain One Financial Center, the Berkshire Innovation Center, an Eversource solar array and a cannabis cultivation facility.

  • Opportunity Zone

    Pittsfield’s federally-established economic opportunity zone incorporates in the downtown area around North Street and along Tyler Street. Investors in these areas may receive tax incentives if they re-invest their unrealized capital gains in the zones.

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“The City of Pittsfield was a big part of our success from the beginning. The city always supported us, including with incentives.”

“They are great people to work with. Open arms, wanting to do everything in their power to help us.”

– Bill Hines and Manoj Vengalil

Interprint

Read Interprint′s Case Study

Workforce Development

Pittsfield will help you find and train the people you need in your new location.

  • Berkshire Innovation Center

    The Berkshire Innovation Center, a $13.8 million facility on Pittsfield’s east side, builds upon the region’s deep experience in life sciences, custom materials (e.g., plastics, paper, textiles) manufacturing and defense industries. The BIC’s collaborative environment brings together design thinkers, entrepreneurs and engineers so that they can have their next “eureka moment.”

    Shared cutting-edge rapid prototyping equipment lets members test ideas before committing to manufacturing. The state-of-the-art facility includes large scale 3D printers for digital anatomy and high-performance materials, SolidWorks CAD software with workstations, a wet lab and a planned cleanroom. Companies in the area can elevate their level of precision and analytical power for prototyping.

    Classrooms, lecture halls, five conference rooms, and meeting areas foster formal and informal interactions that stimulate creativity and lead to the next big idea.  The BIC plans seminars and programs with leading experts, including those from nearby academic institutions, such as UMass, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY Colleges of Nanoscale Science & Engineering. Incubator and accelerator space are available for those that want to work in the rich, collaborative environment.

    The BIC is located in the William Stanley Business Park.

  • MassHire Career Center and Workforce Development

    MassHire’s Pittsfield office wants to help you hire qualified candidates, train new and existing employees for your expansion or location. The services, which are provided at no cost, include job advertising, recruitment, interviewing, and pretesting of candidates. Workforce readiness programs and training are available for potential hires.

    Training grants of $2000 to $250,000 from MassHire can help to upgrade the skills of employees so that your business is more competitive in the marketplace. Training grants have been given for machine setup and operation, sales, continuous improvement, software skills, customer service, leadership and more. You may use a training provider of your choice.

    MassHire also offers an on-the-job training program that pays half of the wage of new hires while they learn new skills for a period of six months. MassHire assists in creating a training plan with the employer with specific measurements in place. The on-the-job training program is targeted at helping companies that have identified potential employees with some of the skill sets, but not all of the skill sets, that they need.  Optionally, the MassHire staff will pre-interview applicants and thoroughly assess skill levels to carefully match applicants to your job requirements. You are not obligated to hire these candidates.

  • 1Berkshire’s The Job Thing

    Recruit candidates using 1Berkshire’s The Job Thing, a job portal that hosts only postings for full-time, permanent jobs located in the Berkshires that pay at least $40,000 annually. It’s a major recruitment tool with over 2,000,000 digital impressions in the first year.

  • Berkshire Community College

    Berkshire Community College, located in Pittsfield, offers both credit and non-credit educational programs.  Employees may look to improve their skills in accounting or marketing through credit or non-credit coursework or arrange for on-site education and training.  BCC offers general business classes as well as courses that will improve skills in reading, writing and analytical thinking. Employees can take single courses or enroll in a degree or certificate program.

    The college offers programs in advanced manufacturing, health care and hospitality. For example, the technical degree programs for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) and Phlebotomy were created in conjunction with Berkshire Health Systems. The college will also develop programs for employers with at least 12 employees in attendance. Previous programs have included basic communications skills, workshops in communications and food handling.

    The credit courses parallel those that one might find during the freshman and sophomore years of business studies at a four-year college.  BCC students transfer to public and private universities to complete their Bachelor’s degrees in any number of disciplines.

    Because BCC is small and community-based, it is optimally positioned to work with business owners to customize programs for themselves or their employees.

  • Pittsfield Taconic High School and McCann Technical School

    Pittsfield Taconic High School and nearby McCann Technical School offer opportunities for internships and co-operative work programs with majors in advanced manufacturing, automotive technology, computer-aided design, health technology, information technology and metal fabrication.  Innovation includes the first-in-the-nation program between Toyota and Pittsfield’s Taconic High School leading to high school students graduating as Certified Toyota Technicians.

  • Downtown Pittsfield, Inc.

    For businesses locating in the downtown Pittsfield area, Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. provides networking opportunities and advocacy.  It is a way for businesses and non-profits to work together for common goals and to promote downtown as a great place to live, work, and play. It works in partnership with the various city departments that has led to major streetscape projects, parking improvements, and marketing initiatives.

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Call Us Now.

We’ll Help You Get Started.

Michael Coakley

Michael Coakley
Business Development Manager
[email protected]
1-413-499-9368

Laura Mick

Brandon Gill
Community Development Specialist
[email protected]
1-413-499-9378

Amber Spring

Amber Spring
Permitting Coordinator
[email protected]
1-413-448-9673

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