Phil Dodd
The city recently got two pieces of good news related to its attempt to build housing on Country Club Road, which it bought in 2022. First, a state board recommended on Nov. 20 that $14.4 million of the state’s $67.9 in flood grant funds be reserved for a second round of housing funding this winter, meaning Montpelier could apply if the state accepts the recommendation.
The Department of Housing and Community Development received almost twice as much in grant applications as it had available and had said it was uncertain whether there would be a second round. Staff for the City of Montpelier had planned to apply for an $8 million grant to bring water and sewer pipes to the Country Club Road property, rebuild the access road, replace a pump station and raise the level of Route 2 at its intersection with the access road, but was advised to hold off until it found a developer.
The Vermont Community Development Board also recommended a schedule for the second round of funding. Pre-application deadlines would be due Jan.12, full applications would be due Feb. 27, and the board would meet April 2 to make recommendations on how to spend the remaining money.
Second, the city received nine submissions by its Nov. 21 deadline for the request for qualifications (RFQ) it had released for the project. “This is great news to get this many,” said Stephanie Clarke, vice president of the city’s consultant, White + Burke.
In a press release, the city said the public could provide feedback on the nine submissions to the city council’s Country Club Road subcommittee (made up of councilors Sal Alfano, Ben Doyle and Adrienne Gil), and could also comment during the public portion of the subcommittee’s morning meetings on Dec. 3 and Dec. 10. Zoom links will be provided on the city website’s agenda page.
The subcommittee will select up to five development partners and recommend to the full council that that shortlist be sent a request for proposals (RFP). The council will make a decision at its meeting on Dec. 17 and the RFPs will be sent out Dec. 19. Clarke said the tentative plan is for the RFPs to be due Feb. 4 and a developer be selected by March 25.
The nine submissions were sent in by a variety of developers, some from Vermont and some from as far away as Chicago and Washington, D.C. Six of them proposed to develop all of the buildable land at the site, while one wants to focus just on the high-density portion of the land as identified by the city council.
One submission proposes to build only apartments, many of them subsidized, while another proposes to build only single-family homes and duplexes for home ownership. The other proposals include a mix of rentals and owned homes.
Two developers raised serious questions about the project. One said it could not make the finances work, but would be happy to advise the city on the project. Another identified several unanswered questions and offered to perform a feasibility and business plan that it said the city needs before proceeding with development.
The nine submissions are available online at montpelier-vt.org/1296/Country-Club-Road-Site-Property-Developm
Below is a summary of each submission.
Chinburg Properties,. Newmarket, New Hampshire
This privately held corporation has 150 employees and owns apartments and commercial space across northern New England. Chinburg also builds and sells approximately 85 single-family homes per year.
Chinburg proposes to develop a mix of three- and four-story multi-family rental housing and small-scale ownership homes totaling 300 housing units, of which 240 would be apartments and 60 would be townhomes and single-family homes built to sell, with retail space a possibility.
Approximately 48 apartment units would be affordable to households at 80% of area median income, with all the other apartment units affordable to households earning 150% area median income or less. It also proposes that six homes be affordable to households with up to 150% of the area median income.
Dew Properties, Williston, Vermont
This 122-employee firm has been in business for 28 years and completed over 1,000 projects. The firm is currently working on apartment projects in Barre, Waterbury, Rockingham and Newport.
DEW proposes to build three types of buildings. High-density clusters with large 30- to 40-unit apartment buildings would be built first, and owned and managed by Downstreet. Medium density clusters composed of duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes, plus low-density clusters with individual homes and duplexes, would be sold to the public by DEW.
Elliot, LLC, Morrisville, Vermont
This small firm is owned by Jacob Walker, a maple sugarmaker and real estate agent. The firm has just been recommended to receive a $4 million flood grant from the state to build up to 28 affordable apartments on Northfield Street in Montpelier.
Elliot is only interested in developing the portion of the property designated for high-density development, where it would build three- to five-story buildings with 24 to 55 units, depending on whether the property receives an Act 250 exemption or not. Elliot said it would designate a significant portion of the units as affordable and would pursue both federal and state funding to subsidize development costs.
Evergreen Real Estate Group, Chicago, Illinois
Evergreen is active in more than a dozen states, including Vermont. The company’s director of development lives in Burlington. Evergreen concluded that the Country Club Road project has a significant funding gap of “approximately $12- to $18 million per 100-unit phase built at the site, based on a largely affordable approach.”
“We do not believe that rents in Montpelier are high enough to allow a true market-based solution with significant affordability that can also achieve reasonable investor returns,” it said. Evergreen said it was happy to share its expertise on an advisory basis, but “we cannot knowingly undertake a project where we have such uncertainty about availability of potential sources to overcome the financing gap.”
Execusuite, LLC, Lebanon, New Hampshire
Execusuite is a self-styled “redeveloper” with projects in Vermont, New Hampshire and Mexico, including the former Goddard College campus. The company has been heavily involved in commercial and residential development in White River Junction. Among the businesses it says it will work with on the Country Club Road project are local firms Downstreet, Huntington Homes, and Montpelier-based architect Sandra Vitzthum.
Execusuite proposes that 50% to 75% of the units it builds be owned homes, including some owner-occupied duplexes and accessory dwelling units, with a median priced home below $250,000. The target median rental prices would be between $1,200 (1 BR) and $1,700 (2 BR). Execusuite would own and manage some of the rentals and also partner with Downstreet and other developers/managers. Execusuite said it sees a critical need in Montpelier for starter homes and senior down-sizers.
SM Graves, Rutland, Vermont
This 18-year old Rutland company says its projects offer residents a meaningful menu of live/work amenities in rural communities redefining their economies. For Country Club Road, it envisions 200-500 middle-market housing units paired with “a central village supportive of activities that generate high-paying and meaningful jobs through entrepreneurship at the heart of the commercial center of the neighborhood.”
The company said it would include a “housing escalator” program by offering renters the opportunity to accrue equity points based on successful annual financial performance in order to create an opportunity for more renters to achieve homeownership.
O’Brien Brothers, South Burlington, Vermont
This experienced residential developer focuses on constructing and operating “complex, mixed-income neighborhoods with diverse housing types, thoughtful site design, and strong community acceptance,” it stated. For Country Club Road, the company’s approach emphasizes a mix of housing types from single-family homes to duplexes and townhomes. Rentals would not be planned, “though some may be constructed should the market support such,” it said.
Homes would target workforce buyers at 120% and 150% of the area median income, which could mean prices between $422,500 and $528,000.
“This approach maintains market-driven pricing while creating opportunities for Montpelier’s workforce to achieve homeownership in a residence where appreciation and full ownership benefits can be realized,” O’Brien Brothers said.
Pennrose, Boston, Massachusetts
The company is currently involved in three projects in Connecticut. It proposed building 250 or more rental units of mixed income housing in phases of 60 units each. The building types would be multi-family buildings of approximately four to five stories, and townhomes of two to three stories designed to serve a range of household types and income levels.
Apartments would be offered for three groups: income-restricted affordable units targeting households at 30% to 60% of the area median income; workforce housing units targeted at 80% of the area median income; and unrestricted market-rate rental units. “Pennrose does not develop homeownership units, so we would not offer any at the Country Club Road site,” the firm said. “If the City would like to include homeownership opportunities at the site, they would need to be facilitated separately.”
Rift Valley Capital, Washington, D.C.
Rift is a diverse and minority owned development firm that specializes in public–private partnerships, workforce housing, and complex, brownfield-like sites, it said. After reviewing the city’s plans, Rift concluded that before anyone commits to a full build-out, the city needs an “honest, investment-grade feasibility and capital plan.”
Such a report would address “several points of tension,” it said, including: 1) because of rising construction costs, “there is a material gap between realistic, income-supported rents and the all-in cost of delivering 200–300+ new units on this site.” 2) A 200–300-unit program is large relative to Montpelier’s size. Phasing must be calibrated to local construction capacity and real absorption. 3) The City’s willingness to convey land for $1 and participate in up to ~$11 million of infrastructure front-loads public risk. “What development scale, mix, and sequence generate enough stabilized value and tax increment to justify this investment?” 4) Funding tools vary. A realistic plan must map when each source can be secured, how much it can reasonably contribute, and what affordability and compliance commitments that implies, Rift said.
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