Pittsfield – Working in a 20th century newsroom located in a 19th century building is no longer functional for The Berkshire Eagle in 2022.
So with the lease on Clock Tower Business Center expiring in March, The Eagle’s management decided to give the area where most of the newspaper’s employees reside a completely modern facelift.
The result is an updated newsroom fit for the 21st century located in the same space as the old room, which The Eagle has occupied since moving into the Clock Tower building in 1990.
“The goal was to give it a fresh, light, and airy feel,” said designer Zach Susan of Bramble Home, a design firm in Great Barrington.
People walking around the offices of The Berkshire Eagle
Executive Editor Kevin Moran answers questions from visitors during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Visitors watching a movie
Visitors watch “Good Morning Magnum,” a short film about the newspaper’s press, during an open house in The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
People talking to visitors in their booths
Journalists speak with visitors during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Kofi talks to visitors outside his office
Editorial Page Editor Dave Coffey speaks with visitors during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Mr. Ruthberg talking to Sally Jan
President and Publisher Frederick D. Ruthberg speaks with Sally Jean Heat, of Great Barrington, during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Baker indicates a visitor
Meggie Baker, director of digital products for News, guides visitors in the right direction during an open house at the newly renovated Berkshire Eagle offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Visitors tour the newspaper’s offices
Visitors walk past real plants during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
A journalist talks to visitors in the press room
Journalist Neil Wesley talks with visitors around the press during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
A journalist talks to visitors in the press room
Journalist Neil Wesley talks with visitors around the press during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
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</p><div class="caption-text"><p>From left, Content Engagement Managing Editor, Lindsey Hollenbaugh; digital content creator, layout designer and copy editor Jessica Gamari; The director of digital products at News Meggie Baker speaks with visitors during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle's newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.</p></div>
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</p><div class="caption-text"><p>Visitors tour the newsroom during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle's newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.</p></div>
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</div><p>On Thursday, more than 200 people came to The Eagle for an open house designed to give the public their first look at the new venue.
“I think it’s great,” Jodi Storey, of Pittsfield, said of the renovations. Storie was familiar with the old editing room, having worked in the copy office at The Eagle for 39 years before retiring in 2008.
“Everything is very open,” she said.
President and Publisher Frederick D. Ruthberg speaks with Sally Jean Heat, of Great Barrington, during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Jillian Jones – Berkshire Eagle
The project, which took about a year from concept to completion, is the first complete renovation of The Eagle’s newsroom since the newspaper moved into the clock tower building from the old Eagle Building on Eagle Street, and was the first major change since the late 1990s when the newsroom was redesigned to bring out Advertising department on the second floor of the building.
Gone are the vertical rows of metal cubicles that served as desks; Large high-density filing cabinets that hold all kinds of paper files and different types of bric-a-brac; and the worn-out carpets that have covered the ground since the eagle moved 32 years ago.
On their premises are spacious workspaces for reporters, editors, and advertising representatives, a new conference room, “The Shed”—so named because of custom-designed barn doors—a small break room, new office space, custom woodwork, plants and polished concrete floors.
Old stained carpets were hard to remove in some places. Contractor Eric Taylor of Restorations Inc. In Hinsdale: “We had to use commercial abstraction tools.” Concrete was laid under the carpet and polished by the construction crew.
Berkshire Eagle president and publisher Frederick D. “It was a funky route. Someone suggested polished concrete floors. It was suggested as a design feature, and everyone said it would look great.”
The idea to renovate the newsroom coincided with the expiration of The Eagle’s lease with Clock Tower Partners LLC of North Adams, which owns the Clock Tower Business Center.
From left, Content Engagement Managing Editor, Lindsey Hollenbaugh; digital content creator, layout designer and copy editor Jessica Gamari; The director of digital products at News Meggie Baker speaks with visitors during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Jillian Jones – Berkshire Eagle
“Given everything that’s happened in the world with offices, we don’t need the storage space we had before,” Rutberg said. “We don’t have miles and miles of files, all those things that are now stored electronically are actually stored.”
“We realized we could return the office space, and then take that money and put it back in for a facelift that hadn’t been done in years,” said Rothberg, who declined to reveal the cost of the project.
“We believe, and I think accurately, that if we want to be a newspaper of the 21st century, we have to look like a newspaper,” said Rothberg, “to make the current newsroom something more functionally relevant to the way people work today.”
“That was really the driving force,” he said. “We put in some social spaces to allow people to move around a bit more.”
Rothberg said 16 local companies worked on the project, and their work contributed to some unique features of the editorial room. The work includes custom woodwork by New England Creations of Great Barrington, and custom metal arches by Whitco at Adams.
“We couldn’t have done it without a number of the local contractors we used, and some unique items that we added,” said Gary Laverrier, chief revenue officer at The Eagle.
“We are really proud that we were able to do this for our employees, and that we can provide them with a more modern and modern space.”
Sawsan, her younger brother, Ben, is the executive director of the Berkshire Center for Innovation and a graduate of the New York School of Interior Design. Sawsan worked in New York City from 2005 to 2018 before returning to his hometown of Great Barrington and opening his own business with his wife, Alison. The Eagle’s editorial room renovation is his first major commercial project.
“The Vulture has been in a rough state for a long time, so we basically wanted to remove it and then make it an open, well-ventilated environment,” he said. “We wanted to work with the items we had. One of the most important things was getting rid of the old carpet and seeing what we could do with the concrete floor. The bulk of that was polishing the concrete.”
Changing workstations from portrait to landscape works best with the space there.
“One of the biggest hurdles in this place is that the columns are over all over,” Sawsan said. “The booths are kind of out of the picture now. We’ve done a lot of studying how other companies are going about their schemes. We’ve also been able to do it within our budget.”
All of these new features were shown during the open house Thursday, and they all won acclaim from attendees.
“It’s very modern and modern,” said Lisa Turner, from Pittsfield. “I thought it was impressive.
Journalist Neil Wesley talks with visitors around the press during an open house at The Berkshire Eagle’s newly renovated offices in Pittsfield on Thursday.
Jillian Jones – Berkshire Eagle
When I walked in, I said, ‘Stop! ‘” said Ron Kojawski, a columnist at Eagle Park, who was viewing the updated space for the first time.
Jack O’Brien, of Pittsfield, who worked in the Eagle press room for 40 years before retiring in 1995, said he was “lost” as he wandered into the new space. He loved the new The Eagle press, which was installed last winter.
“I’m a fan of the press, no pun intended,” he said.
He also loved the new editing room.
“It’s fantastic,” said O’Brien, who will complete 86 this month. “Everyone seems to have their own little niche.”
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