Stan Brinkerhoff
As the snow recedes from the 133-acre Country Club Road (CCR) property that the city of Montpelier purchased in 2022 to support housing and recreation, a clearer picture of its future — and the future of housing on the site — is beginning to emerge.
Over the past two weeks, the Country Club Road Subcommittee, chaired by City Councilor Sal Alfano and including councilors Adrienne Gill and Ben Doyle, conducted hour-long interviews with the four development teams vying to transform the former golf course into a vibrant and flood-resistant neighborhood.
Chinberg Properties, DEW Properties, Execusuite, and Pennrose each reviewed their proposals and received feedback from the community, city committees, and the subcommittee. If there was a single theme echoed by each developer, it was that their proposals are “early drafts,” and they see the site plans as iterative and open to community feedback, noting the site’s challenging topography, recreational needs, and evolving requirements for possible brownfield remediation.
All four developers said building 300 homes in today’s market is nearly impossible without significant public-private partnerships. Tools such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), the Community Housing Investment Program (CHIP), and grants from the state’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) will be required to develop housing that remains affordable for the community and “make the math work.”
Chinburg and DEW joined Execusuite’s previous commitment in saying they would be willing to be responsible for the CHIP debt needed to pay for building infrastructure on the site, rather than requiring the city to issue a bond.
Chinberg Properties
New Hampshire-based Chinberg Properties brought a vision for 310 units, including 250 multi-family rentals and 60 for-sale townhomes. Chief Executive Officer Eric Chinberg, whose daughter lives in Waterbury, emphasized the firm’s vertical integration — owning its own construction firm — as a key to controlling costs and delivery speed.
The conversation began with Councilor Ben Doyle and Chair Sal Alfano asked if shifting units to preserve the soccer field was possible. Chinberg’s team said they had not understood that retaining the recreation space was critical, and their plans were open to meeting the community’s needs.
Chinberg’s proposal includes adding parking under larger buildings as a way to decrease the need for parking and keep greenspace. Community feedback around the large size of their buildings came up as a discussion item with a willingness from Chinberg to balance affordability with aesthetics. Additionally, Chinberg expressed willingness to take ownership of the CHIP infrastructure loans, while highlighting that a successful build-out requires a shared financial risk between the developer and the city.
DEW Properties
DEW Properties highlighted its local identity, with offices in Vermont and a history of successful public-private projects such as Montpelier’s 1 Taylor Street transit center. Its proposal for 249 units, mostly apartments, is notable for its partnership with Downstreet Housing and a site plan that “threads the needle” through the property’s wetlands and steep slopes.
The committee highlighted community concerns such as lack of homeownership opportunities, large buildings some find out of character with Montpelier, and difficulty for community members to understand the site plans as presented. DEW said its designs were open to community feedback and housing needs assessments to build the right products. DEW highlighted that its proposal was an early model “in its infancy” and that they envision working with the community to define trails, recreation areas, and housing within the “low density” portion of their proposal.
Execusuite
Lebanon, New Hampshire-based Execusuite proposed the most diverse housing mix and the highest percentage of owned homes. Its proposal leans heavily on East Montpelier’s Huntington Homes, which turns out modular units in as few as four weeks and can complete the entire build-out by 2030.
Jason Webster, the owner of Huntington Homes, shared a personal motivation: several of his own employees were left unhoused by the July 2023 floods, spurring him to pivot his business toward neighborhood-scale “starter homes.”
Beyond construction speed, Execusuite’s proposal includes geothermal heating and cooling, a transit hub that integrates bike shares and a “subscription-based shuttle service” provided by local non-profit Community Rides Vermont (Gopher) — potentially reducing car dependency — and a community farm.
Pennrose
National firm Pennrose focused its plan on 286 rental units, including a 44-unit “gateway” building. Pennrose is unique among the developers because of its high reliance on Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) funding to drive affordability. Pennrose’s model is that of a long-term owner-operator with “no exit plan,” promising to manage what they build for 30 to 50 years. Beyond that, Pennrose would look at reinvestment or possible sale.
Pennrose’s interview comes after critical community reviews of the rental-only approach, lack of local builders, and large building proposal. Pennrose shared a possibility of developing some homeownership component, but expressed concerns around the viability of being able to build units that are affordable, its limited experience with the model, local development partners, and the possibility of pre-fabricated development.
Doyle and consultant Brian Pine expressed concern about whether Vermont’s limited annual tax credit pool — roughly $25 million statewide — could realistically support the proposal and ensure that it could cover any TIF/CHIP funding. In response, Pennrose emphasized strong support from the state and reiterated that building market-rate housing is expensive.
Next Steps
The Country Club Road Subcommittee is scheduled to develop a recommendation and scoring matrix for the council by April 22, although the subcommittee has indicated it may need to extend that date. The subcommittee will need to balance community feedback, market needs, and developer capabilities to determine which partner is best suited to design for the eventual build-out at the site.
Videos of the interviews have been posted online at montpelier-vt.org/1296/Country-Club-Road-Site-Property-Developm
