Yina Moore and her partner investors in the inn, Kate Chen and Dimitrios Kolaxis, see the business as a vital part of the development of downtown Adams.
It’s nice for a change of pace to see a series of headlines that indicate some good news. Based on a couple Eagle articles from the past week, the good news in Adams is that there appears to be some serious momentum in local business interest.
While the new Adams Tavern and Inn opened its doors Wednesday in the former footprint of the Haflinger Haus, the owner of the Adams Theater bought the Topia Inn recently with hopes to increase lodging capacity as the rejuvenated theater plans an opening season for the early summer.
Those are just two headlines, but they appear to be part of something greater. That’s what Adams Theater owner and executive director Yina Moore told an Eagle reporter while discussing her decision to purchase the Topia Inn. Ms. Moore rattled off several reasons for optimism on the town’s future: the Adams Tavern on Commercial Street; the Firehouse Cafe, a newly popular Park Street eatery revitalized last year by new owners and a new menu; plans for a retail store from Lea King, owner of Wigwam Western Summit. We would also add for consideration the eager new owners of the slightly renamed Red’s Viking Pub, which changed hands last month, as well as a once-in-a-generation investment in green tourism at the Greylock Glen.
All this adds up to a lot of new potential in Adams — not just potential that these businesses offer but potential that they see more of in this small post-industrial town hungry for growth and tax-base expansion. We hope that potential is realized, and there’s some good reason for that hope. Healthy, sustainable development always accounts for the needs and wants of the surrounding community, and it’s good to see that theme seemingly driving many of these big bets on Adams.
Ms. Moore’s plans for raising the curtain once again in the Adams Theater fit neatly within the context of the region’s vibrant cultural sector — and her purchase of the Topia Inn is driven by the real barriers she sees to finding available and affordable lodging for traveling performers.
The new owners of Red’s Viking Pub are a Lanesborough couple who sought a space for adults who wanted to gather at a neighborhood bar and shoot pool — and instead of looking elsewhere for that space, they bought it and created it.
Years-long development efforts by tireless local and regional officials have attracted massive public and private investment toward the Glen — a project that should elegantly preserve its natural beauty through a purposefully sustainable development plan.
We love to see people and businesses bet on our Berkshire communities, and that’s what we’re seeing right now in Adams. We wish all of these endeavors the best of luck. Their investments of time, sweat and money offer dividends of hope that the whole town, and perhaps the greater region, could reap.