Officials gathered on September 22nd to celebrate the grand opening of the Safford Commons housing complex. The Woodstock Community Trust, Twin Pines Housing Trust and Housing Vermont partnered to develop the new affordable housing located just outside of downtown Woodstock, Vt. The project, located on an 8-acre site, included the construction of 10 buildings with 24 apartments and the redevelopment of a former Grange Hall/church building into four apartments. Twenty-three of the apartments are available for low-income households. Safford Commons consists of 10 one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom and 2 three-bedroom units. The apartments feature front porches and energy efficient design and materials. Duncan Wisniewski Architecture was the architect on the project, and DEW Construction Corp. served as the general contractor.
Bright Street Housing Co-op Underway
Burlington, VT– Two local nonprofit housing developers were joined by Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, Vermont’s Speaker of the House Shap Smith and DEW Construction Corp to mark the beginning of construction of a new housing co-op in Burlington. “The Bright Street Housing Cooperative will create greatly-needed new affordable housing opportunities in Burlington, and will continue the recent progress of a substantial new investment in the Old North End,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “We know that community centers and downtowns are what many young families seek out as they search for places to work and grow a home. The Bright Street Housing Cooperative provides housing opportunity in this neighborhood in a way that reflects local needs and values. It was created with community involvement. When complete, it will offer housing that people need and can afford,” added Vermont Speaker of the House Shap Smith. Two nonprofits- Champlain Housing Trust and Housing Vermont- are collaborating to build the development that will create 40 new homes on the one and a quarter acre brownfield site. Construction is underway, and occupancy is expected in September 2016. Four old, blighted buildings are to be removed to make way for the new housing in three buildings. Land is set aside for the possibility of installing a community garden at a later date. “While this project will bring long lasting housing and community development benefits to residents, […]
MacMillin Breaks Ground on Scott-Farrar Project
The Board of Trustees of Scott-Farrar is pleased to announce that they have obtained financing for their new retirement community, Scott-Farrar at Peterborough, and plans to begin construction immediately. A ground breaking ceremony was held on Friday, June 26th. The original design for the new senior living community remains intact: the sixty-three apartments of multi-level independent living, licensed assisted living, and licensed memory care will be built as originally conceived. “We are very pleased that the construction will follow the original design under the new finance plan”, Peter LaRoche, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Scott-Farrar, is quoted as saying. The twenty-five independent living apartments are spaciously designed with fireplaces, sunrooms, and full kitchens. Residents will enjoy dinner in the main dining room with a view of the beautifully landscaped property leading down to the river. They will also have access to the art studio, exercise and fitness area, library, café and auditorium. The twenty assisted living and eighteen specialty memory care apartments will offer the care and services for those residents who need assistance in those areas. The assisted living and memory care areas will have their own kitchen, dining, and comfortable seating areas for visiting and socialization. The memory care residents will have a courtyard style garden, and the assisted living residents will have access to a garden designed especially for them. Gardening, woodworking, art, music, performances, […]
UVM Miller Research Complex Breaks Ground
Today marked the official start of construction for two new barns at the University of Vermont Miller Research complex. One barn will be used for research, the other for instructional use by the CREAM program (Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management). This is the first phase of a three-phase $10 million upgrade of the farm. Tom Vogelmann, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences says a lot has changed since the old facility was built back in the 1960s, including the size of the cows. They have been bred to be 30 percent larger than they were 40 years ago. And more space will allow the program to grow. With agriculture becoming increasingly important, the university would like to see the farm complex become the “farm for the future.” One of the challenges for modern farms will be to become as energy-efficient as possible, Vogelmann said. The new barn will be built with a goal to become energy neutral down the line. The new barns will be structurally equipped for solar panels, to be added at a later time, and they’re looking at methane digesters to create bio-gas. DEW Construction Corp. was hired as general contractor for the project and S2 Architecture is providing architectural services. The project is slated for completion in September of this year.
Vermont Public Places Award
DEW Construction Corp., Studio Place Arts, Chris Miller, Swenson Granite Company/Rock of Ages, and the Vermont Community Foundation received a 2014 Merit Award on Thursday, March 19 for the Granite Zipper Pocket Park, in Barre, VT. The Vermont Public Places Awards program was organized to honor Vermont’s public places. The Vermont Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Vermont Planning Associations, the Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vermont Section and the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Council initiated the Vermont Public Places Awards to recognize special public spaces, the corridors that connect them, or networks of public spaces which have been defined or enriched by planning or design, as well as regulations that promote positive, public uses and benefits. The five person Jury, consisting of one member from each of the sponsoring organizations, was very impressed with all of the entries. Jim Donovan, ASLA, representing the Jury and the organizations said, “Once again we are very pleased with both the diversity and the high quality of the submittals to this program this year. They show that Vermont continues to value the importance of public places, the corridors that connect them, or networks of public spaces, from small public parks to the private natural and created places opened to the public. We hope that our next Public Places Award Program in 2016 highlights an […]
