Archive for the 'Harsch Associates News' Category

Turning industrial buildings into Home Sweet Adaptive Home

Adaptive Reuse is a process that adapts buildings for new uses while retaining their historic features.  The simplest example of architectural adaptive reuse is the antique barn resurrected as a unique and stunning new residential home.   Initially architects and structural engineers evaluate foundations, beams, columns and flooring to determine the stability of the building.  Once it is determined that the fundamental structure is sound the process of renovation begins.

The trend of adaptive reuse has caught on with a passion in larger metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York, Chicago and Atlanta. An outstanding example is   Chicago Soldier Field,   the Chicago Bears’ historic stadium.  The ability to reuse this site and adapt it to the requirements of a modern professional football stadium is impressive.    The Power House  is a fine example of adaptive reuse of a turn of the century steam plant located in Long Island City, New York.   Massachusetts boasts many adaptive reuse projects including Old City Hall,  The Apartments at Coolidge School in Watertown, MA, and The Atlas Lofts. 

The last two adaptive reuse projects are part of the Mitchell Properties LLC portfolio of adaptive reuse projects.  Their newest project  coming online in 2010 is located in Williamstown MA.  Cable Mills Condominiums will be a community located in the Berkshires with stunning views of river, mountains and Williamstown.  A short two minute walk to the Taconic Golf Club, the Village center and Williams College are a few of the amenities that will make this development truly unique.  Berkshire Living Urban Style describes Cable Mills Condominiums.  The condominium residences comprise the style of the Boston Loft with the visual and sensual beauty of the Berkshires. 

Harsch Associates Real Estate a well know Berkshire Real Estate Brokerage firm is now taking reservations for Cable Mills Condominiums.  Whether a second home, a primary home, or an investment in the Berkshires you will appreciate the easy lifestyle that Cable Mills Condominiums offers.  New wine, old bottle and vintage perfection.

Harsch Associates has been drawing visitors by the hundreds and thousands to its latest feature, live video tours of homes in the Berkshires, Williamstown, North Adams, Vermont towns, Hancock, Lanesboro, and soon in New York. The videos show homes as well as Berkshire land offerings. Ironwood features a home with indoor riding ring and magnificent stables, Sweet Farm features 12 lots in an 18 lot subdivision and Candlewood Dr. is a typical Williamstown neighborhood Cape style home at an affordable price. There is the Victorian Lady in North Adams, home of MassMoca and soon Harsch will feature a live video in the production phase, of Cable Mills Condominiums, with 30 units now being offered in preconstruction marketing.

The Harsch Associates website has been earning accolades and outstanding visitor traffic since it first was created 11 ½ years ago. It is now in its third generation and growing being one of the first and among the few and only sites to be able to offer every single listing in the Berkshires as well as neighboring Vermont MLS. The agency also serves neighboring NY state.

The Harsch Associates web site attracts thousands of visitors a month. A recently completed indendent research firm had this to say about the Harsch site:

A website grade of 89/100 for harschrealestate.com means that of the hundreds of thousands of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 89% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data, website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.

The website harschrealestate.com ranks 132,785 of the 1,165,767 websites that have been ranked so far.

 The Harsch website ranked 89 while its closest competitors’ sites ranked 42 and 32 respectively. “We are totally dedicated to a constant upgrade and enhancement of all of our marketing strategies from print media to the internet in order to give our clients the very latest and greatest advantages in reaching the buying and selling market today. Catching the attention of more buyers and sellers of real estate is the edge we offer. From day one of my career some 35 years ago this September, I have sought to do a number of things better than anyone else in my market and among those has been pursuing my education and skills in real estate and another has been to be the top marketer which today means being on top of the net and the tools available to us there. It is very gratifying to see the facts prove this out. Having a site that is twice as effective as our next closest competitor makes me feel very reassured we are on top of our game and yet we are constantly striving to improve our site, day in and day out.

There are plenty of other ways in which we are considered leaders in our field. One of those is by offering our clients a real set of choices in the forms of representation, from buyer and seller agency to the newest option in MA for which I myself helped create the legislation that was adopted just a few years ago, Facilitation also called Transaction Brokerage.

I pledge to always strive to stay at the forefront of the changes and advancements and enhancements in the real estate profession. That is my nature and that is what our most discerning clients expect and the rest benefit from.

Paul Harsch

UTUBE Comment posted on July 24th!
Comment on your video: CANDLEWOOD 0001

Beautiful video!!!

From iBerkshires.com (May 14th, 2009)
See http://www.iberkshires.com/story.php?story_id=30912

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Cable Mills development on Water Street is ready to start selling the condominium units planned in the former factory complex.

More than 350 people have already registered their interest in the 61 high-end condos through the project Web site. Occupancy of the first phase of units is planned for the fall 2010.

Project developer Mitchell Properties LLC has selected Harsch Associates of Williamstown to be the exclusive representative for marketing of condominium units at Cable Mills. (The project will also include a dozen affordable units.)

“We’re pleased that Mitchell Properties has chosen our team,” said Paul Harsch, president of the real estate agency, adding that “it is now up to us to move this to the next level and we can hardly wait. This is the most exciting opportunity of my entire career thus far.” (more…)