Thursday, December 16, 2021
Weinberger released a 10-point plan to open areas of the city to builders. The goal is to roughly double the rate of development to enable construction of 1,250 more housing units by 2027.
“Every neighborhood in the city has the potential to welcome many more households than they do today, while becoming even stronger and more appealing places to live than they are today,” Weinberger said at a press conference outside City Hall.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , City of Burlington , Champlain Housing Trust , Russ Scully , South End , Housing , Housing Development , Affordable Housing , Housing Shortage , Joe Magee , Sears Lane Encampment , Trinity Campus , UVM Student Housing , Web Only , Image
Thursday, December 2, 2021
The housing group purchased the TownePlace Suites on Tuesday for $13.4 million using federal COVID-19 stimulus money and state funds. The 72 studio and one-bedroom apartments are expected to open by next summer.
Affordable housing is a critical need in Chittenden County, where rentals are scarce and prices are high. The National Low Income Housing Coalition said Vermonters need to make more than $23 an hour to afford a typical two-bedroom rental. Renters in Vermont make, on average, about $14 per hour.
The apartments at the former TownePlace Suites — to be renamed Zephyr Place — will rent for $850 to $1,050 a month, including utilities. That’s about 20 percent off the fair market rent for the region, said Chris Donnelly, CHT's community relations director. He expects most to be rented by single people or couples. The complex is off Route 2A, not far from the intersection with Route 2.
Tags: affordable housing , Champlain Housing Trust , apartments , rentals , Williston , Web Only , Image
Friday, November 19, 2021
The project will allow pedestrians to bypass the busy Route 2 and I-89 interchange, where they must use crosswalks to navigate heavy traffic on highway ramps. It'll enable easier and safer walking and biking from the University of Vermont campus and medical center to South Burlington's busy business district along the Dorset Street and Williston Road corridors.
South Burlington officials once envisioned using gondolas as a potential solution for safety issues, but opted for the bridge plan instead.
Tags: I-89 , Sen. Patrick Leahy , gondolas , bridge , burlington , south burlington , Web Only , Image
Monday, November 8, 2021
The windfall represents the biggest infusion of federal funding in Vermont's history, according to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and is in addition to more than $2 billion headed the state’s way thanks to a pair of federal COVID-19 relief packages passed over the last 18 months.
The latest federal investment, Sanders said in a statement, "will not just repair our roads and bridges, but will help clean up Vermont’s drinking water supply, increase access to affordable, reliable internet service [and] help transition our public transit systems away from fossil fuels."
At a press conference on Monday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) hailed the bill as a historic investment in the nation’s future — one that will create thousands of new jobs in Vermont.
Tags: Vermont , Infrastructure bill , Bridges , Roads , Repairs , Federal funding , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Real estate advisers White + Burke presented 16 potential sites for a new Burlington High School to the school board Tuesday night, including the infamous downtown CityPlace pit, the South End farmers market location and what's known as the downtown Gateway Block.
The district is preparing to embark on a massive building project after the discovery of chemicals known as PCBs led officials to close the high school’s Institute Road campus last September. Students learned remotely until the school district signed a 3.5-year lease for the former Macy’s department store building on Cherry Street, for $1.2 million annually. Students started attending classes there in March.
White + Burke project manager Joe Weith described the first phase of the site evaluation as "a very broad search" whose results the board will whittle down in coming weeks.
“It’s a pretty long list that we considered,” Weith said. “We wanted to make sure that we cast a broad net and really took a good look at any sites out there that were large enough that we thought could potentially work.”
Tags: Burlington School District , Burlington School Board , Institute Road , Downtown Burlington High School , Superintendent Tom Flanagan , PCBs , Web Only , Image
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Redstone has dropped its lawsuit against the City of Burlington and has also agreed to drop its lawsuits against the beleaguered CityPlace Burlington project as part of a global settlement between the parties.
The city also agreed to provide Redstone with up to 200 parking spaces in city-owned garages, at the city’s prevailing rate, for at least five years. The settlement is the result of two mediation sessions between the city, CityPlace team and Redstone.
“I initiated and led this mediation because it was clear that Redstone and the developers of CityPlace were on a path of serious and deepening disagreement that threatened to delay or terminate the long-anticipated, transformative downtown project,” Mayor Miro Weinberger said in a statement Friday. “I am grateful that the two sides set aside their differences and worked hard to get to this agreement that will do so much good for the community.”
The agreement still must be approved by both the Burlington City Council and, because TIF funds are involved, the Vermont Economic Progress Council.
Once final, the agreement will resolve Redstone's four legal challenges against the project, the first of which was filed last summer. That civil suit claimed that the 2018 teardown of the former mall damaged 100 Bank Street, and that Redstone had to "accept less in rent than it otherwise would" because of the gaping pit left behind.
In May, Redstone appealed CityPlace's zoning permit to the Vermont Superior Court's Environmental Division, claiming that the developers failed to analyze the project's impact on traffic and stormwater. Redstone also argued that the city should have reviewed the project under former zoning regulations that would have required additional parking spaces.
In June, Redstone ramped up its opposition with two additional lawsuits, including one in U.S. District Court, that named the CityPlace team, city planning staff and members of the volunteer Development Review Board. Redstone argued that the project permit violated its property rights by allowing Pine Street to be rebuilt underneath its Bank Street building.
Tags: CityPlace Burlington , Don Sinex , Dave Farrington , Al Senecal , Scott Ireland , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Burlington , development , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 9, 2021
The business and its 90 employees will stay in Londonderry, said Domenic Mangano, who founded the Cottage Shop in 1995. The purchaser is Bill Silverstein, owner of WHS Homes, which produces homes under an array of brands.
Mangano declined to say how much he sold the company for. But he said the employees probably won’t see much difference in the work they are doing. They were told of the impending sale two weeks ago, said one employee who asked that his name not be used in the story.
Tags: Jamaica Cottage Shop , Domenic Mangano , WHS Homes , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
On July 15, Vermont courts will allow pending eviction actions to go forward, meaning tenants can be ordered out for nonpayment of rent or for other reasons.
Some tenants, in cases where a court had already ruled in favor of the landlord, could be told to leave 14 days after Vermont's state of emergency ends, said Grace Pazdan, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid. With COVID-19 infection rates low, and with 80 percent of Vermont's eligible population at least partly vaccinated, the state of emergency is due to expire Tuesday at midnight.
A national eviction moratorium, established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is due to end June 30.
Tags: housing , Vermont , eviction moratorium , Web Only , Image
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Redstone ramped up its opposition to the CityPlace Burlington project this week with two new lawsuits that challenge the project's legal standing.
The Burlington development firm filed cases in Vermont Superior Court’s civil division and in U.S. District Court. The filings name not only Redstone's rival developers as defendants but also city planning staff and members of the volunteer Development Review Board.
The federal suit claims that the city violated Redstone’s property rights because the project permit allows a new road to be built underneath its building at 100 Bank Street, which is adjacent to the CityPlace site.
The filing also claims that the Development Review Board could not objectively assess CityPlace’s development plan because the city would financially benefit from its approval.
“The City of Burlington cannot be a judge in its own case,” Matthew Byrne, the attorney representing Redstone partners Erik Hoekstra and Larry Williams, wrote in the filing.
Tags: CityPlace , Burlington , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Redstone , development , 100 Bank Street , lawsuit , Erik Hoekstra , Larry Williams , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
The brick depot has been in jeopardy since Amtrak deemed it to be a safety risk— it sits less than 12 feet from the track — and determined that it must be removed ahead of the long-awaited resumption of passenger rail service between Burlington and Rutland. That route is expected to restart by early next year and will send passenger trains past the station at speeds of up to 59 miles per hour.
The state learned of Amtrak's position on the matter several years ago but only informed New Haven of the predicament this January, setting off a mad dash to determine whether the historic building could be saved.
Tags: Train Station , New Haven , Depot , Saved , Amtrak , Web Only , Image