GREENFIELD — The Property Management Company Community Builders, LLC received more than $12.37 million in state and federal tax credits and subsidies for its conversion of the former Wilson’s Department Store on Main Street into a 61-unit affordable housing complex, Gov. Maura Healey’s administration recently announced.

Healey and Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus joined local officials and housing developers from across Massachusetts last week to announce the 2024 Affordable Housing Development Grant Award recipients. Twenty-seven different affordable housing projects received a total of $227 million in state and federal tax credits and subsidies, with the Wilson’s project being the only one in Franklin County.

MassDevelopment acquired Wilson’s in 2022, with plans to expand and relocate Green Fields Market into the building’s first floor while turning the upper floors into 61 mixed-income rental apartments, dubbed “The Putnam.”

“These resources represent an important part of the capital stack for this project, which is revitalizing a vacant department store in the heart of downtown Greenfield into a mixed-use development with housing and a full-service grocery store. Congratulations to The Community Builders, our partners in this project together with the Franklin Community Co-op, for securing this funding,” MassDevelopment spokesperson Kelsey Schiller wrote in an email to the Greenfield Recorder on Thursday.

Among other pools of funding that are supporting the project, a $1.56 million Affordable Housing Deep Energy Retrofit Grant was awarded in November 2023, allowing The Community Builders to replace all of the Main Street building’s aging oil and gas-powered systems.

Although Caitlin Von Schmidt, outreach and communications manager with the Franklin Community Co-op that operates Green Fields Market, said the co-op is still actively seeking funding for the project, its redevelopment timeline remains up in the air as conflict persists between one of the building’s ground-floor retailers and MassDevelopment.

In November 2022, the site’s three ground-floor tenants — Cleary Jewelers, the Hens & Chicks consignment shop and the Lucky Bird thrift store — were told they would have to vacate the building by spring. However, Cleary Jewelers, which has been located on the first floor of the former department store building since it first opened in 1928, now intends to stay put until her lease expires in 2029, owner Kerry Semaski previously explained.

Semaski’s attorney John Connor previously stated Semaski had a clause in her lease allowing for a five-year renewal. Emails between Semaski, Connor and MassDevelopment indicate the business owner sent written notice to MassDevelopment in November 2023 seeking to extend her lease. Connor previously said the lease’s option-to-renew clause, which states the renewal is valid if it is expressed in writing to the landlord at least 180 days before the lease’s expiration date, is legally binding. He added that MassDevelopment and his client have since reached an agreement over the lease extension’s terms and conditions, which he said does not deviate far from Semaski’s current lease, except for a change in rent price.

“They have a long-standing business,” Connor said of Cleary Jewelers in April. “For them to just up and move would not make sense economically.”

Cleary Jewelers is the last remaining business on the ground floor of the former Wilson’s building. Hens & Chicks relocated to 208 Main St. following negotiations with MassDevelopment, and Lucky Bird closed at the end of 2023.

Although Semaski confirmed that she plans to keep her business in its current location until 2029, she declined to provide additional comment when reached on Thursday.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@record er.com or 413-930-4429.