LANESBOROUGH, Mass. - The current owners of the Berkshire Mall plan to turn a large portion of the former retail center into an indoor cannabis farm. Although there's a lot more work to be done, Lanesborough Town Administrator Gina Dario said the empty retail space has enormous potential. 

“It's great to get to this point where we've got the hosting community agreement in place," Dario said. "The mall has transitioned through a number of owners over the past years, and I think the community just wants something successful to thrive there, so that's what our hope is going forward.”

The building owned by Boston-based JMJ Holdings Corp. is currently being worked on to bring it up to code. Dario said under the signed host community agreement, the town is working with JMJ on things like the water and the fire-suppression systems.

Part of the agreement addresses resident concerns over odor control for when the facility does start growing marijuana.

“I won't go into the technical side," Dario said. "But as I understand it, there are going to be independent engineering reports that are going to be able to come and assess the degree of concentration in the air and do those types of things so that we can make sure that the mall owners are really listening to what the community's having to say in terms of potential observations, in terms of the odor, and then what they can do to kind of try to make sure that that's not impacting the community itself.”

Once the building is accessible, the owners will file for licenses with the Cannabis Control Commission. Dario said the town hasn’t been given a timetable for when the facility may open, but the host community agreement offers hope for the currently vacant mall.

“The town is really committed to making sure that the Berkshire Mall site is something that benefits the community," Dario said. "And something that has the potential for long term growth.”