STOCKBRIDGE -- Round One goes to the developers of the proposed $50 million, 112-room Elm Court Resort on the residentially zoned Old Stockbridge Road.

By a resounding 3-0 vote, the Select Board endorsed the controversial project, much to the dismay of opponents from both Stockbridge and Lenox who attended the final, nearly three-hour public hearing that ended late on Monday night. Supporters congratulated members of the Travaasa Experiential Resorts team that would operate the hotel owned by Amstar Co. subsidiary Front Yard LLC.

At least 110 members of the public filled the gymnasium at the Town Offices -- formerly the Stockbridge Plain School -- to hear both sides present their final arguments before the Select Board on the special-permit application aimed at preserving the 1886 Elm Court mansion by building a connected 96-room addition, opening a 60-seat public restaurant and constructing a 15,500-square-foot spa.

Noting that she was "surprised by the public concern" that erupted suddenly at the board's initial June 23 public hearing following extensive previous discussions by several town committees, Selectwoman Deborah McMenamy credited the opponents for presenting their views in "an organized, consistent manner."

McMenamy, the longest-serving member of the board, also cited the supporters' efforts, which yielded 300 signatures on a petition favoring the resort.

"This was a truly democratic process and I think Norman Rockwell would be proud of us for that," she said.

While acknowledging that neighborhood concerns over traffic and safety impact "are real," she stated that, based on traffic studies commissioned by the applicants and validated through an independent peer review by the Tighe & Bond engineering and consulting firm in Westfield, "the causes for concern are minimal.

McMenamy cited another major project that had generated "all kinds of pulverization from people in the community" -- the 1993 relocation of the Norman Rockwell Museum from downtown to the Linwood Estate in the Glendale residential section. Concerns at that time about traffic impact "have proven to be unfounded," she said.

She also said that more recent, similar concerns over an 80-room addition to the Kripalu spa and resort were also "proven to be unfounded." McMenamy described both projects as "true assets to the town."

McMenamy characterized the Elm Court resort as a "large, but well-planned" project because the 96-room addition is "sited far from the road, nestled into the woods" with minimal visual impact from Stockbridge Bowl, which the 90-acre property overlooks. She also praised the developers' application for maintaining nearly all of the open space at the site.

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Stockbridge Select Board endorses Elm Court Resort project

A movie about the making of one of the all time worst movies, The Room, is currently in development, and we now have word about who will be writing the film.

According to Slashfilm, The Disaster Artist will be written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. The news was first reported by Metro.

Neustadter and Weber are also known for writing (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now, in addition to this year's hit film, The Fault in Our Stars.

As we previously reported, The Disaster Artist will star James Franco, and will be about the making of The Room, one of the most famously terrible movies ever made. Franco will be playing Tommy Wiseau, director of The Room.

The film is based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made, written by star of The Room, Greg Sestero. It tells the real story of how he got involved in The Room, the increasingly strange decisions Wiseau made on set that caused the film to turn out so strange, and the cult hit that followed as the film started attracting fans because of how absurdly terrible it was.

Sestero will be played by Dave Franco in the film, as we've previously reported.

The Disaster Artist will be produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg who were also behind This is the End and Neighbors.

Image courtesy of INFphoto.com

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'The Fault in Our Stars' screenwriters to write James Franco's 'The Disaster Artist'

A new condo project proposed by Bosa Properties would include a public living room to the waterfront, possibly even with a fireplace, if the development at 1000 Quayside Dr. gets the green light.

A report to council on Monday recommends Bosas application to rezone the site go to a public hearing on Sept. 29.

The companys development plans include two condo towers, one 23 storeys, the other 28 storeys, atop a four-storey podium that includes parking for residents, visitors and shoppers with a shopping mews along the south side, across from the Inn at the Quay and the Westminster Savings buildings.

The retail would also wrap around the east end, facing the River Market.

Townhouses would be built along 10th Street, across from the existing co-op.

The new development also includes a pedestrian walkway through the podium to the waterfront, and a staircase and glass elevator linking it to the McInnes overpass.

The condo towers would be comprised of 305 one-bedroom units, 188 two bedrooms and 26 three-bedroom residences, each with flex-space features that allow things like a kitchen island to be converted to an eight-person dining table, or bedrooms that can be converted to a living room.

In addition to 516 parking spaces for residents on six levels, two of which will be underground, there would also be 80 parking spots available to visitors to the River Market as well as the developments commercial tenants.

A parking study by Bunt & Associates transportation planners said even though those parking spots are less than the 794 spots required by existing parking bylaws, the projects proximity to SkyTrain, its high walkability score, and a plan to provide 89 subsidized transit passes to residents as well as four stalls for car share programs means there will still be plenty of parking.

The proposal has been altered considerably since it was first presented to council in February. That plan called for two 26-storey towers atop a seven-storey parkade, six of which would be above ground. But city staff and a public review that consisted of two open houses, as well as an information kiosk at the Quayside Festival, raised a number of concerns with the projects size, as well as the nature of some of its public spaces.

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Condo project would create living room to waterfront

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Polk and Definitive Technology, sister companies under the Sound United umbrella, a have both announced multi-room audio systems that use DTS DTSs Play-Fi technology. Similar in function to Apple Apples AirPlay, Play-Fi and these speakers will let you stream music throughout your house with minimal setup.

Products in the two families include wireless speakers, soundbars, connected amps, and more.

DTS

Play-Fi, announced last year, works over your current WiFi network. It allows you to stream music from your PC and the web (via Pandora Pandora, Spotify, etc), to multiple speakers.

Sonos works similarly, but is a closed ecosystem (you can only use Sonos products. Apples AirPlay also does the same thing, but not everyone loves Apple. Also, you have to spend a fair amount to get a decent sounding AirPlay speaker.

Polk

Polks new line is called the Omni Wireless Music System. At launch there are five products.

Omni S2 ($179): A small wireless speaker designed for bedside or a small space like a bathroom. It has two 2-inch drivers and two passive radiators. A USB connection will charge your phone.

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Polk and Definitive Technology Launch DTS Play-Fi Multi Room Audio Gear

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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) Apple Inc. is the elephant in the room when it comes to the mobile payments market, where it could potentially become a major player and a serious threat to PayPal and eBay, an analyst said Wednesday.

Apple AAPL, -0.83% is expected to also unveil a mobile payments platform on Sept. 9, in addition to a new version of the iPhone and its own smartwatch device.

For years, Apple was seen as the elephant in the room with respect to mobile and online payments, and the source of speculation around the presumed launch of a consumer payments iWallet, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note.

While there is no shortage of competition in payments, we view Apple as perhaps the most legitimate potential threat to PayPals strong position, he added.

Mobile payments is a growing market that has drawn major competitors led by eBay, which owns PayPal, Google and Amazon.com. The mobile payments market is expected to reach $1 trillion globally by 2017, Sebastian noted, citing data from IDC.

With more than 800 million iTunes accounts, Apple is well-positioned to expand its presence in that space, Sebastian said.

The company has a strong base of existing customers that it could leverage for mobile payments, he added.

We believe Apples closed-platform, software expertise, and brand power position it well, he added. Additionally, integration with its anticipated wearable device could be a key feature. We believe mobile payments could be a significant opportunity.

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Apple is the mobile-payments elephant in the room