LANESBOROUGH — Once a retail hub and now a magnet for trespassers, the Berkshire Mall has been boarded up.

Fire Chief Jeff DeChaine issued an order in a Dec. 4 letter to the mall’s owner, JMJ RE Holdings, requiring the entrances to be boarded up and warning that failure to comply could result in legal action by the town.

This marks the second time since 2022 that the company has been ordered to secure the property.

Without heat and with drained pipes, the mall doesn’t have a working fire suppression system. The chief wanted to prevent fires in the sprawling structure that closed May 28, 2019.

The Berkshire Mall has been boarded up after the Lanesborough fire chief made an order to do so on Dec. 4.

In recent years, the mall has become a target for teens and young adults who have broken in and made videos of the deteriorating interior.

YouTube videos of the mall’s interior have garnered more than 600,000 views.

From Nov. 1, 2024, to Oct. 31, 2025, Lanesborough police responded 318 times to the mall and initiated 27 investigations into breaking and entering.

DeChaine’s Dec. 4 letter also ordered the owner to provide chain-link fencing and driven posts at all entrances or around the full perimeter of the property. Fencing and posts have also been installed near entrances.

The letter gave a 14-day deadline for the work.

A vandal has spray painted newly placed plywood boards at the Berkshire Mall.

It appears that at least one of the new plywood boards covering an entrance has been vandalized.

But the last reported break-in at the mall to the Lanesborough Police Department was on Dec. 8, according to Police Chief Robert Derksen. That was before the plywood boards had been applied to the entrances.

DeChaine said the mall is now secured to his satisfaction. Panes of glass near the entrances are not windows.

“They’re just fake panels,” DeChaine told The Eagle.

The Berkshire Mall has been boarded up to Lanesborough Fire Chief Jeff DeChaine's satisfaction. He said glass panes near entrances are "fake panels."

While his initial order also called for chain-link fence, he said he was satisfied with the work done.

DeChaine explained that two entrances aren’t fully boarded up to allow the owners access, both to the food court.

JMJ initially planned to use the empty property for an indoor grow facility for cannabis.

Now, the plan is to demolish most, if not all of the mall, and build a 420-unit senior housing community inside the ring road.

Target will remain on site.