AMHERST — Amherst Media is abandoning plans to build a barn-like structure for its operations and will instead pursue constructing a new building that reflects the appearance of nearby homes on Main and Gray streets.
The nonprofit is scheduled to bring the revised concepts, prepared by Gillen Collaborative Architects, before the Local Historic District Commission Aug. 15 at 4:45 p.m.
Amherst Media Executive Director Jim Lescault said the architect’s renderings and plans will be submitted to the Planning Department next week.
According to a legal notice, the new building will be 1½ stories and feature “sloped roofs and covered porches, and clapboard siding.” It would be built on 0.56 acres near the corner of Main and Gray streets.
Amherst Media, which oversees the public access, educational and government television channels for Amherst and broadcasts numerous public meetings and local programs, is facing eviction from its longtime home on College Street, a building owned by Eversource, but has been able to remain at the site.
Lescault has estimated the cost of building the new headquarters at around $1.3 million, and a capital campaign is underway.
The earlier plans drew criticism from the commission, which has to issue a certificate of appropriateness to any project in the Emily Dickinson Local Historic District. The site is a short distance east of the Emily Dickinson Museum and in front of the historic Henry Hills House.
The Planning Board is expected to hold a site plan review hearing in September, Lescault said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.