GREENFIELD – Local residents filled the John Zon Community Center Thursday night to meet with city officials, architects and designers to learn more about the redevelopment of the former Wilson’s Department Store.

“It was a sad moment when Wilson’s closed,” said Greenfield resident Tanya Every. “I knew this idea was afoot and … I’m excited for the town. This (redevelopment) will go a long way for the town.”

As attendees began to view each of the four design plans on display at the community center Thursday evening, Wilson Roberts, a Greenfield resident and former Town Council president, said he had yet to form an opinion on the project.

“I was curious to see what this meeting was about,” he said.

Wilson’s Department Store, which was one of the last independent, family-owned department stores in the country, closed in January 2020. This was shortly after Kevin O’Neil, former president of the 137-year-old retail store, announced his plans to retire. O’Neil started at Wilson’s in 1981, working his way up to the top position when his father-in-law, Robert S. Reid Jr., retired.

Mark Abramson, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Commercial Upton-Massamont Realtors, previously said the property, which includes the parking lot behind the building and two lots on Chapman Street, was priced at $3.95 million when it officially went on the market.

Mayor Roxann Wedegartner announced in November 2022 that the city worked in partnership with The Community Builders, MassDevelopment and the Franklin Community Co-op in the acquisition of the property. The redevelopment plan for the Main Street property involves relocating and expanding Green Fields Market — which is operated by the Franklin Community Co-op — into the building’s first floor and turning the upper floors into mixed-income rental apartments.

“It’s going to remain an anchor in … downtown Greenfield that I don’t think you’ll recognize in five years,” Wedegartner said.

Though the city did not purchase the Wilson’s building, it will invest $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding and $300,000 from the partial sale of a lease governing the Mill House Apartments on Wells Street, as that money is required to be used for affordable housing.

The multimillion-dollar redevelopment project will include 65 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with a blend of workforce and income-adjusted apartments, according to Wedegartner. The redevelopment of the historic property will be financed in part by a combination of federal and state low-income housing tax credits, new market tax credits and historic tax credits, pending approval from state agencies.

The Community Builders Project Manager Julia Skannell told residents at Thursday’s forum that The Community Builders — a nonprofit real estate organization that develops, owns, and manages mixed-income housing — welcomes feedback. She said the nonprofit has had a relationship with Greenfield since acquiring the Leyden Woods Apartments in the 1980s.

“We’ve watched Greenfield grow and change,” Skannell said. “One thing that that hasn’t changed is the spirit in Greenfield and in its residents. The loss of Wilson’s left both an emotional and physical vacancy in the downtown framework. We were excited when this opportunity was brought to us by Mayor Wedegartner and (Community and Economic Director MJ Adams) … We feel this is going to be an exciting and transformative project.”

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