Thursday, October 8, 2015
In a new refinement of the project, SD Ireland is offering to donate six acres to the Winooski Valley Park District. Located along the Winooski River, the land includes wetlands and steep slopes, making it ill-suited for development, but desirable for the Park District.
It's been nearly three years since the company unveiled plans to build a new neighborhood on the site where it currently operates its concrete production plant. The project consists of 19 apartment buildings, a maintenance building and a club house.
Burlington's Development Review Board signed off on the proposal last May, after a review that stretched more than a year. The project cleared its final hurdle in August, when the state granted SD Ireland an Act 250 permit. Previously known as the Grove Street Apartments, the project is called Bayberry Apartments in the permit.
The development was scaled back during the review process, in part as a result of concerns raised by neighbors, who worried about traffic and the size of the buildings. Now that the project has been cleared, the developer hired by SD Ireland, Patrick O'Brien, said he hopes to start construction "as soon as we can."
Tags: SD Ireland , Act 250 , Burlington , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 25, 2015
Normally hallmark indications of an earthquake, these tremors, it turns out, are manmade. They're coming from the construction of the Chittenden County Transportation Authority's new transit center on St. Paul Street.
More specifically, explained CCTA project manager Stephen Carlson, they're caused by a massive hammer that is driving steel piles nearly 30 feet into the ground. The tall strips of steel will prevent dirt from caving in when workers start excavating in preparation for laying the foundation.
The station is being built next to a church, several office buildings and the Burlington Town Center mall. Carlson said he's been regularly visiting people at the surrounding buildings to make sure the noise levels and vibrations aren't too intrusive. He's also placed a seismograph — an instrument generally used to measure the force and duration of earthquakes — in Vermont Health Commissioner Harry Chen's office, which overlooks the construction site, to make sure the vibrations aren't significant enough to impact the structural integrity of nearby buildings.
Tags: CCTA , Burlington Town Center , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 11, 2015
Artists in Burlington's South End scored a major victory Friday in their campaign to prevent housing gentrification that could price them out of studios along Pine Street.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger announced Friday that he will not support housing in the Pine Street Enterprise Zone where it is currently prohibited. In an opinion piece published in the Burlington Free Press, Weinberger acknowledged that opposition from artists played a role in his stance on housing in PlanBTV South End, a proposed city plan for the area, which has been under discussion for months.
The Enterprise Zone’s current restrictions against housing have "allowed industry, the arts, and entrepreneurial spirit to flourish over the past two decades and slowed gentrification that has the potential to displace much of what we love about the South End, and only limited introduction of housing has been contemplated," Weinberger wrote. "However, the focus and concern about housing is distracting the much-needed, much broader discussion of the future of the South End. Thus, after listening carefully to this debate, I will not support a final plan that recommends adding housing as an allowable use in the Enterprise Zone."
Tags: Burlington , arts , development , Miro Weinberger , PlanBTV South End , Image , Web Only
Monday, August 31, 2015
The Greater Burlington YMCA building is listed for sale for $3.75 million, and the nonprofit organization has purchased the former Ethan Allen Club property just a half a block away on College Street, and plans to move there.
The Y closed on the property August 20 and paid Champlain College $2.5 million for the former social club. The college had purchased the club at 298 College Street in 2008 for $2.6 million with the intention of building student housing there. Neighbors voiced opposition and the plan never materialized. The structure has been used as a temporary homeless shelter, an art gallery and, at one point, as space for YMCA preschool programming.
The Y hopes to relocate to the Ethan Allen Club property, Mary Burns, president and CEO of the YMCA, confirmed to Seven Days Monday. “I don’t have a huge announcement to make other than we’re working on putting together a project on that property.”
Details will be forthcoming this fall as the Y continues fundraising and planning. No proposal has been filed with the city yet. Burns declined to say whether the Y wants to renovate the building or tear it down and start with something entirely new.
Tags: YMCA , Champlain College , Yves Bradley , Image , Web Only
Monday, August 24, 2015
The Burlington Development Review Board voted unanimously Monday evening to approve Farrell's application, granting him permission to redevelop the 19th century building into 63 studio and one-bedroom apartments.
Burlington College bought the property in 2010 with plans to renovate the aging structure, but its financial problems got in the way. The college sold most of its lakefront campus to Farrell to reduce its debt, and officials also agreed last January to sell Farrell the former orphanage for $2 million.
The college will continue to occupy a newer addition to the building. Farrell has agreed to give students who want to rent his market-rate apartments first priority.
Tags: Burlington College , Development Review Board , Burlington , Image , Web Only
Friday, August 21, 2015
Designed to alleviate traffic by providing another route into the city, the project was green-lighted in an Act 250 permit from the state in 2012. That spawned four lawsuits from individuals and companies over traffic concerns and property disputes, three of which the city settled.
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled on the only remaining case — an appeal brought by Charles Bayer, owner of the Innovation Center on Lakeside Avenue. Bayer, who could not be reached for comment, is concerned that the Parkway, which would pass by the Innovation Center, will generate excessive traffic near his property. He appealed to the state's highest court after the Environmental Court upheld the permit decision in a July 2014 ruling, while adding conditions that require the city to monitor traffic and work with Bayer to address potential problems.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court justices agreed with the lower court. The decision emphasized that the Environmental Court "did not find that the project 'will' but rather 'may' cause unreasonable traffic congestion or
unsafe conditions" and noted that the traffic forecasts were based on "inflated numbers."
Tags: Champlain Parkway , Miro Weinberger , Burlington , Image , Web Only
Thursday, August 13, 2015
The report, released Wednesday, documents for the first time the breadth of investigations into development projects funded through the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program. The program grants permanent residency to foreigners who create at least 10 jobs by investing $500,000 in qualified businesses.
As of May 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal law enforcement agencies had 59 open investigations relating to EB-5 projects, 35 of which "primarily involved securities fraud issues," according to the report. The SEC received more than 100 "tips, complaints and referrals related to possible securities fraud violations" between January 2013 and January 2015.
The report does not identify the targets of those investigations. But as Seven Days reported last week, the SEC has been reviewing Vermont's $750 million Northeast Kingdom Economic Development Initiative, which is supported by EB-5 investment, for at least 15 months. The federal agency has subpoenaed records from the project's developers and the state of Vermont, according to multiple sources. Developer Bill Stenger, the president of Jay Peak, told the paper he and two partners were interviewed by SEC officials in Miami in May 2014.
Stenger said Thursday that he welcomed the GAO's report — and the news that the SEC's reviews were widespread.
"I do appreciate the fact that they're looking into a broad range of projects around the country," he said. "That just tells you the federal authorities are doing what they're supposed to — and that's revealing stuff."
Tags: EB-5 , Government Accountability Office , Jay Peak Resort , Northeast Kingdom Economic Development Initiative , Bill Stenger , Patrick Leahy , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Their vision: Preserve 12 of the acres closest to the lake as a public park and erect 570 units of housing on the rest. Farrell also plans to develop 200 additional units on property currently owned by the college, including the former orphanage building, which he's signed an agreement to purchase from the college.
When Burlington College, under financial duress, sold the property to Farrell, people worried that one of the city's largest swaths of open space would become a housing development. A group called Save Open Space-Burlington formed. In response to the public outcry, Farrell agreed to collaborate with the city, the land trust and CHT and hold a public process to hash out the property's future.
At an earlier meeting, preservation advocates clashed with the organizers. The Tuesday event got off to a more genial start — in the basement of the St. Joseph's School in the Old North End, artists and activists mingled while eating pizza. Roughly 40 people showed up to see the conceptual plans.
Farrell is proposing to build a mix of rental units, condos and townhouses in buildings that range from three to five stories. Champlain Housing Trust, an affordable housing developer, would build 160 of the units, 80 of which would be for seniors. Reiterating the high demand for affordable housing, chief financial officer Michael Monte said the proposed project is "probably from an income basis one of the most integrated neighborhoods you would find anywhere in Burlington."
Tags: Burlington , Champlain Housing Trust , Vermont Land Trust , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
The work will be limited to relocating and upgrading utilities. Electrical, sewer, water and storm water drainage lines serving the medical center and the University of Vermont are in the footprint of the new wing. The lines must be moved and upgraded for the hospital project and for the science, technology, engineering and math facility UVM is building.
Completion of the utility work this fall is critical for UVM to keep to its construction schedule. Tom Sullivan, UVM's president, said a delay would add $3 million to the cost of that project. His letter accompanied the medical center's July 24 appeal to the board.
The board agreed to let the medical center do the work it requested.
Eileen Whalen, president and chief operating officer of the medical center, welcomed the quick decision. She said, “It will take us about two weeks to coordinate planning with the university and the Burlington Electric Department and then work will begin.”
Monday, August 3, 2015
In a letter to the District 3 Environmental Commission, the Conservation Law Foundation and the Vermont Natural Resources Council say that Connecticut developer Jesse "Sam" Sammis has repeatedly failed to show that his proposed Green Mountain Center complies with Act 250 protections for farmland and open space.
Sammis wants to transform 178 acres of forest and farmland into a development with 274 homes, a 180-room hotel and conference center, more than 500,000 square feet of office and light industrial space, a 10,000-square-foot fitness center and an interstate rest stop with an attached retail outlet.
“This sprawling project is a enormous waste of agricultural soils,” said Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, in a prepared statement. “If this project gets approved, in this location, no farmland in Vermont is safe.”
"The applicant utterly failed to show that the proposed project meets the clear Act 250 standards for protecting valuable farmland," said Sandra Levine, senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, in the same statement. "The appropriate action is to dismiss the applicant's request."
Tags: Randolph , development , Sammis , real estate , Image , Web Only