Mixed use, mixed reviews for Chittenden County development

Vermont Business Magazine, Sep 01, 2004 by Kelley, Kevin

A healthy mix of commercial projects under way or planned in the Burlington area does not only offer evidence of current economic strength, but demonstrates investors' faith in the region's prospects for continued growth.

Burlington itself again leads the way in non-residential development in Chittenden County. Expansion of the city's retail and hospitality sectors shows no sign of slackening. Some industrial development is taking place as well, and even office construction, long dormant in Burlington, is making a comeback.

A variety of commercial projects are taking shape in the suburbs as well. Office buildings and warehouses are being built despite above-average vacancy rates in some towns.

But empty industrial spaces are starting to fill up, notes Doug Nedde, co-owner of the Redstone commercial real estate firm. He thus predicts that the rate of industrial development will rise in the Burlington area in the coming year.

But Greg Dirmaier of JL Davis Realty offers a more bearish assessment of conditions in the local warehousing market.

"Out-of-state demand for those spaces has slowed," Dirmaier says. "Things are pretty quiet right now."

In general, commercial development in Chittenden County is progressing at a faster pace this year than last, observes Ernie Pomerleau, president of Pomerleau Real Estate.

"Just try to get a contract on building material, and it's clear there's a lot going on," he says.

Academic institutions are among the busiest developers in Burlington.

Champlain College continues to transform part of the city's Hill Section into an urban campus, with work under way on a $4.2 million business school on Maple Street and a $10 million Student Life Complex on South Willard Street.

The University of Vermont is meanwhile building a $3 million parking garage near the Gutterson arena. UVM also has city approval to add more than 1,000 student beds at University Heights and on the Redstone campus. A $51 million plan for a new student center is currently under review.

Fletcher Allen's $350 million expansion is proceeding in comparatively quiet fashion after last year's uproar over mismanagement of the project.

Downtown, the Redstone group plans two office renovation projects. One involves the four-story Hines Building at 161 St Paul St. purchased from Banknorth, while the other, at 101 Main St, will transform the former Sh-Na-N-a music club. Badly damaged by fire last November, the century-old, 17,000-square-foot structure will soon undergo complete redevelopment.

Redstone had wanted to preserve the site as a music venue, but the owners of Higher Ground recently opted to relocate their rock club to Williston Road in South Burlington rather than to the former Sh-Na-Na's.

On the waterfront, Melinda Moulton's Main Street Landing project is moving toward an early 2005 completion date. The 116,000-square-foot mixed use project will include a greenhouse, public promenades and performing arts space as well as a 56-car parking garage.

Additional garage space is planned near the corner of Battery and Cherry streets as part of a hotel and condominium project that could get under way next year or in 2006. More than 400 new parking spaces would be built adjacent to a 127-room hotel and 45 residential units on the last undeveloped parcel left from the 1970s urban clearance initiative in the northwestern quadrant of Burlington's downtown.

To the south, Cornell Trading wants to construct a four-story, 34,000-square-foot office building on prime property overlooking Lake Champlain. A two-level parking structure would also be constructed on the Battery Street site occupied by Waterfront Video and other shops.

City planners had intended to build a transportation center at that spot, but the project collapsed amid objections to siting a bus station in such a prominent location.

In the industrial sector, the General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products plant recently opened a 10,000-squarefoot technology center that will house research and design operations.

Ryan Electric is adding 17,000 square feet of warehouse and office space at its Industrial Parkway site.

And construction is planned for the coming year in the industrial park adjacent to the city-owned Burlington International Airport, which is itself completing an expansion of baggage claim and waiting areas near gates at the northern end of the terminal.

In Winooski, construction has begun on the first phase of a $180 million redevelopment project that will transform the city's downtown. Crews are working to complete by next summer a 130,000-square-foot office building to be occupied by the Vermont Student Assistance Corp and a "wrapper building" that will include 300 units of housing for UVM students. The building has been given that unofficial name because it will wrap around a seven-story, 900-space parking garage.

Future phases of the project will include construction of more than 600 rental or owner-occupied housing units as well as neighborhood-oriented retail spaces.

South Burlington may also one day begin a downtown project as large as Winooski's.