NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The corner of Union and Eagle streets will be bare for a while longer as construction hits pause on a retail development that is to include Starbucks.  

 

"We are told, verbally, that the Starbucks project has been put on hold because they have new leadership, and the leadership is looking at all their existing stores before they continue with any new builds," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey at Tuesday's City Council meeting. "We hope to meet with Colvest in the next couple of weeks, I would say, the next three weeks, to discuss what their plans are."

 

Colvest Group of Springfield was approved last year to construct three buildings with four to six retail spaces, two drive-throughs and parking for 57 vehicles on the former St. Francis' Church site. It bought the property in 2018. 

 

The commercial real estate group has undertaken more than $1 million in work to level the corner, build a massive retaining wall below Colegrove Park Elementary School, install sidewalks and curb cuts and sewer and water infrastructure. 

 

Macksy said she's asked them to "button up the site," which has been done.

 

"The big world of what's going on on the site, that's what we've been told by the project engineer on that job," she said. "And we hope to have more details to follow in the upcoming weeks so I just wanted to publicly say that that's all we know."

 

Starbucks hired a new CEO, Brian Niccol, last year, who's been working on a turnaround for the company that seen declining sales and stock prices. Among those efforts is a redesign of the coffeeshops that was launched in May. 

 

The company had announced a slowdown in new construction and renovations to accommodate a new redesign after Niccol took over last year. Starbucks has more than 40,000 outlets globally. 

 

"We have seen our costs go way up on our new builds as well as our renovations," Niccol told investors during the fiscal 2025 second quarter conference call in April, adding as "we get the new design and build nailed down, we will ramp our way back up. ...

 

"We still believe there's tremendous opportunity to double the store count from where we are today. I just want to double it with the right build at the right cost so that we can provide the right customer experience and the right partner experience."

 

Niccol had been head of Chipotle, which has been rumored as one of the other food retailers planned for the site. 

 

Macksey said she didn't have much more information to provide but noted that at this point it was a delay, not a cancellation. 

 

"They did not use the words 'not coming,'" she said. "They used the word 'pause.'"