Cassandra Hemenway
MONTPELIER — New construction on Elm Street has the distinction of being the only newly built multi-family housing project in Montpelier this year. While not yet finished, the four-unit market-rate residence on Elm Street is already for salet; two units have sold, and the place is expected to be move-in ready by November according to local builders Zachary Hunter and James Moore of the firm HONE.
Although a couple of years in the planning, the building went up quickly this summer because “it’s a modular build,” Hunter said, noting that the units were built by Apex Homes of central Pennsylvania and came in four boxes on tractor trailers.
“Everybody arrived here at about 7 a.m. on Aug. 31 and by mid- to late afternoon there was a house with a roof on it,” he said.
Two of the units are three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath condos, and two are smaller one-to-two-bedroom accessible walk-outs.
The interest has been immediate, with two units sold and two more showings scheduled this week, Moore said.
Who’s buying? “I’d say the two broad segments have been a local older demographic that is maybe looking to get into a smaller space and then a couple of younger to middle-aged folks that are maybe looking to get into their first home,” Hunter told The Bridge.
Hunter has been a builder in central Vermont for 20 years, Moore said. Moore is a co-founder of SunCommon, a certified B Corp solar company based in Waterbury, Vermont. The Elm Street house is the first project the pair is working on, but they are also slated to build four houses on Heaton Street next year in partnership with Downstreet Housing and Community Development, Moore said, with two more projects in the pipeline.
Asked why he and Hunter have partnered to build housing, Moore said “We both have an interest in seeing more housing being built in our community, where we live, to support our schools, to support our economic vibrancy. We fully support and believe in in-fill development using the municipal services that we have here.”
