North Sq. at The Mill District - North Amherst, Mass.

North Amherst, MA W.D. Cowls, Inc., one of the largest private landowners in Massachusetts and the country’s 15^th oldest family-owned business, has completed a preliminary agreement with Beacon Communities, a Boston-based real estate development and management firm, to develop a mixed-use project, North Sq. at The Mill District. This project is part of the site’s 9th (re)Generation by the Cowls family over the past 275 years.

The new 150,000 s/f development is being designed to feature 130 units of mixed-income rental housing and 22,000 s/f of first-floor commercial/retail space for lease. Beacon Communities, which operates more than 60 housing communities in 7 states, will own and manage the apartments.

The ground-floor commercial space is now being marketed for dynamic retail, service, and restaurant use. Occupancy is anticipated in early 2018.

“This is highly desirable retail space” said Mollye Lockwood, Cowls’ vice president of real estate and community development. “It’s a half mile north of UMass’ flagship campus, and in the heart of where most area people live or commute through. We have demonstrated demand for destination entertainment venues, eateries, and energizing services.”

This is the third phase of development at The Mill District: A Place for Eats, Arts & Entertainment. The first two phases include Atkins Farms - Your Local Market, a branch of the popular market known for the best cider doughnuts in the country (as chosen by Saveur magazine), and the Trolley Barn, which houses Bread & Butter cafe, The Lift hair salon, and upscale apartments.

North Sq. at The Mill District - North Amherst, Mass.

Additional sites in and nearby The Mill District are available for development, including two 150-acre parcels of land ideal for residential subdivisions in this high-end community.

“The Mill District is a fast-growing regional destination for unique experiences you can’t find on the Internet,” said Cinda Jones, 9^th generation family owner and president of W.D. Cowls, Inc.

“So many people today don’t belong to sporting clubs, fraternal organizations, or churches like they used to. Shopping malls and huge grocery emporiums on highways have taken away community interactions that were once naturally organic. The Mill District seeks to bring back community by creating a sense of place through a mixed-use destination, where people live, dine, recreate, buy things better bought at a store rather than on the Internet, and enjoy services such as salons and health clubs,” said Lockwood.

Beacon Communities is an award-winning industry leader whose mission of “Living Well By Design” insures that all of its developments are carefully and individually crafted with the care necessary to meet the needs of the community. Beacon is a privately owned real estate firm that develops, acquires, invests in, and manages a wide range of multi-family housing. Beacon’s portfolio includes affordable housing, market rate housing and mixed income-housing, with developments that range from new construction, to historic adaptive reuse, to the renovation of existing housing. Beacon is known for taking on challenging developments and making them succeed by never losing site of its driving passion to create well-designed, healthy homes that improve the quality of life of its residents and enhance the neighborhoods in which they are located.

Founded in 1741, W.D. Cowls is Massachusetts’ largest private landowner and leading conservationist. 2016 marks 275 years of Cowls’ timberland management and the 9^th (re)generation of today’s Mill District. In 1741 Jonathan Cowls bought land in North Amherst where the company’s c.1768 corporate headquarters sits at 134 Montague Rd. Over the years, the principals of today’s Mill District family ran significant tobacco, onion, and dairy enterprises; built and housed the Amherst/Sunderland branch of the Holyoke Street Railway System; and operated what was probably the first electric sawmill in the United States. Today family principals manage the 8^th generation family enterprises Riverside Park Stores and Apartments (once a weekend trolley destination) and Cowls Building Supply. Phase One (the Trolley Barn at 68 Cowls Rd.) and Two (the Cow Barn at 113 Cowls Rd.) of the 9th (re)generation of The Mill District feature The Lift Salon; Bread & Butter Café; and Atkins Farms – Your Local Market. With respect for the past and generational progress, the 9^th (re)generation of Cowls’ Home Farm will again satisfy the needs of the day’s community and respect the needs of tomorrow.