Like the city it calls home, the three-story building at 297 North St, in Pittsfield has seen its ups and downs. It housed the Besse-Clark department store, an institution in this former General Electric company town, before the shop’s closure in the early 1990s. It became the site of a Goodwill thrift store, then lay vacant before its conversion into the upmarket and ill-fated Spice restaurant and, in the upper floors, a Link to Life dispatch center helping the injured elderly reach emergency services. Read more about Hotel North’s ambitions >>