PITTSFIELD — Mill Town Capital is seeking $215,000 in tax incentives from the city over the next decade as part of its $19 million expansion and upgrade of the Bousquet Sport complex.
Mayor Linda Tyer submitted the proposal for a tax increment financing agreement during Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council, which referred the request to its Finance Committee.
The investment firm already has spent $11 million in the Bousquet Mountain Ski Resort, per its filing to the council. It now plans to shift its attention for the next two years to improving the Bousquet Sport complex directly across the street at 100 Dan Fox Drive.
A tax increment financing agreement is a deal between a municipality and an expanding private company that would give the petitioner, in this case Mill Town Capital, an exemption from paying a portion of real estate property taxes if significant investment is being made.
Over the terms of the agreement, the company would receive a 100 percent exemption of the property’s taxes next year. After that, the exemption will be reduced in equal increments each year, until it has only a 10 percent exemption in 2034. Over that time, the property will pay about $2.8 million in real estate taxes, saving an estimated $215,000 over the decade.
Mill Town estimates that real estate taxes on the property will average just under $100,000 over the next decade. The real estate taxes for Bousquet Sport totaled $72,076 for fiscal year 2024.
The expansion to Bousquet Sport will include a new 15,000-square-foot sports facility with six pickleball courts, two virtual golf simulators, a beverage center, a pro shop, an office space and a customer center.
The new work will also include a 45,000-square-foot renovation of the existing facility, which will get the building up to code and add locker rooms, cardio and fitness equipment and new lighting. A new roof and siding will also be put on the existing building.
The indoor courts at the facility will be closed from June 29 to Sept. 18 for the renovations, per a notice sent to members, directing those who go to Bousquet Sport to plan on playing tennis or pickleball at one of its newly added outdoor courts.
In addition, Bousquet Sport’s parking lot will be renovated and landscaping around an existing pond will be added. Those improvements will include shrubbery to reduce glare from headlights in the parking lot and placement of boulders to prevent people from “sneaking through” the lot’s perimeter. The filing noted that the renovations will include water management and conservation efforts on the property.
Bousquet Sport’s expanded operation is projected to add three full-time employees and approximately 15 part-time positions within the next five years. If the center fails to create those jobs, or make their stated investments, it could lose its financing agreement.