The Mausert Block building owners want to know: What kind of business would you like to see in downtown Adams?

ADAMS — The Mausert Block building will soon have a downstairs, commercial tenant. What kind of tenant remains unknown, but developers have a community wish list, of sorts. 

Owner and developer REDPM is conducting a survey to ask what people would want to see in the downstairs space, and has put out a request for proposals that is open until Oct. 9.

“We are about halfway through the [request for proposals] promotion process and have received hundreds of responses,” Stephen Stenson of REDPM said of the social-media-driven survey.

From those responses they created a word cloud, which is a graphical representation of a survey that makes words appear larger the more frequently they are used. Stenson said this gave them a “rudimentary estimate of market demand.”

Then, the company created a second word cloud by removing the businesses that would duplicate existing retail in Adams. Finally, a third word cloud shows the businesses “actually willing to pursue their idea.”

“There is a huge contrast between the want list and the number of people willing to take the next step,” Stenson said.

Five ideas emerged: music class, community cafe, hair salon and spa, cafe and arcade and small business.

The 2,200-square-foot space is available for renters starting at $1,600 a month. REDPM is marketing it as a “flexible commercial space that can be used as retail, office or as a restaurant.”

“It features a 54-foot-wide, triple-entrance storefront, along the town’s main street [Park Street],” reads the Mausert Block’s website. “There is also access out the back, which faces the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.”

The updated Mausert Block, which also includes 10 apartments, was seen as a positive development for Adams, bringing a fresh set of downtown residents to patronize Park Street businesses and a much-needed expansion of the town’s tax base.

“Over the next few weeks we are working with the people who have expressed a specific interest to formulate their business ideas,” Stenson said. The RFP states that preferences will be given to tenants that increase foot traffic and create a destination for Adams.

Stephen and Holly Stenson bought the building at 19-25 Park St. in 2011 and have had to work through a number of challenges, including a court case in which they fought the building inspector’s ruling that any renovation of the Mausert Block must include a sprinkler system.

The building contains 28,000 square feet, and the project, which was the recipient of several government grants, was estimated to cost about $2.5 million, Stenson said last year.

Opening in 1901, the Mausert Block was built in around six months at a cost of about $40,000. It originally had a dance hall on the third floor for the Odd Fellows secret society. Other tenants at the time of opening included a jeweler, a milliner, a dry goods store and a grocery store. There were offices on the second floor. It was also the home of the county’s first Woolworth’s department store.

The 19 Park St. space is currently being used for a retrospective of the career of Susan Hakes, an Adams native, who taught dance in the Northern Berkshires for 44 years, beginning in 1962, as part of the building’s Maus-Art program.