GREENFIELD — After five years of spearheading significant redevelopment projects in the city, MJ Adams plans to retire next month as director of the Community and Economic Development Department.
“It just felt like there were a lot of good things happening in Greenfield,” said Adams, whose retirement is effective May 6. “I would not even have toyed with this idea if I didn’t feel like most of the big stuff I’d been working on hadn’t been far enough down the runway.”
The city will launch a search in the coming weeks for a new community and economic development director. Adams has agreed to remain available to ensure a smooth transition process.
Adams, who intends to relocate to Colorado for the next few years to spend more time with her daughters, started working with Greenfield in December 2015 as a community development administrator. In September 2018, she was promoted to director of the Community and Economic Development Department.
Prior to that, Adams worked for the Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. She was also executive director of Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity.
“It’s been a pleasure and an honor to serve,” she said.
Adams played a key role in advancing Greenfield’s downtown revitalization efforts by coordinating stakeholder and state assistance with a goal of expanding the Interstate 91 Industrial Park, helping local businesses navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, and brokering the agreement to redevelop the former Wilson’s Department Store building.
Adams said she is particularly proud of her involvement in the Wilson’s redevelopment project. The 137-year-old business, which was one of the last independent, family-owned department stores in the country, closed in January 2020. The expansion of Green Fields Market into the lower levels and a housing development project on the upper levels will be “critical to the downtown’s future,” she said.
“It was one thing to have it sitting empty during COVID, but I knew it was not something the downtown could survive without,” she said. “It was really top of mind to find a solution — a solution that would serve us well.”
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner said there aren’t enough words to describe “the energy, savvy, creativity and dedication that MJ has provided … when it comes to tackling all of the community and economic development projects of recent years.”
“I am truly grateful for her expertise, experience and ability to build coalitions,” Wedegartner said. “I wish her nothing but success and joy in her next chapter.”
Although Adams’ immediate plans include moving Colorado, she said she expects to later return to New England.
“I’ve never lived anywhere except Massachusetts, except one year in Germany when I was in college, so I’m going to spend a little time exploring the Rocky Mountain area,” she said.
Adams said residents will still see her around as the city reaches various milestones in its revitalization efforts.
“I’m not going to be a stranger,” she said.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.