In Progress…and Recently Completed

Upper Story Housing/Brattleboro Food Co-op Redevelopment Project | The Abbott Neighborhood Housing Project

Upper Story Housing/Brattleboro Food Co-op Redevelopment Project
Upper Story Housing is a creative community-driven project to construct affordable rental apartments on the top two floors above the Brattleboro Food Co-op’s (BFC) new retail store in downtown Brattleboro. Originally the design was a simple one story grocery store and commercial redevelopment. To take advantage of the rare opportunity to add a significant number of new apartments to the market in the heart of downtown, and to advance the social and environmental mission of the Co-op, BFC invited Windham Housing Trust to join them.

The invitation to partner with a well established business like the Co-op to redevelop a 1960s style strip mall into a model downtown block represents a tremendous opportunity. The project will create 24 new apartments close to all services, and provide housing for a wide range of persons, including young people, the disabled, and seniors. The community will greatly benefit from the additional, accessible, energy efficient, centrally located new housing. Upper Story Housing will promote downtown revitalization and support its economic vitality by increasing the number of people living downtown, restoring the historic streetscape pattern, incorporating sustainable and green building design into the building, and opening the site to the Whetstone Brook.

Town:  Downtown Brattleboro
Units:  24 units (18 one-bedrooms, two 2-bedrooms, and 4 efficiencies)
Which building is it?  A new one! Located at the front of the current plaza parking lot, on the site where several historic downtown blocks once sat.
Timeline:  Construction will begin May 2010 with an estimated completion date of September 2011.
Unique Features:  Its design will incorporate both green, energy saving construction techniques and innovative “regenerative” building systems. Heat from the Co-op refrigeration units will be recycled to provide hot water for the building. The design will incorporate a green roof and other state-of-the-art bio-retention features, and will be LEED designed. 
General Contractor:  TBD
Architect:  Gossens Bachman Architects, Montpelier, VT
Engineer:  Stevens and Associates Engineering
Energy Consultant:  Andy Shapiro, Energy Balance Inc.
Owners:  Brattleboro Food Co-op (first two floors); WHT & Housing Vermont Inc. (top two floors)

 

The Abbott Neighborhood Housing Project, Brattleboro

Number of Units:  28 apartments in 5 buildings
Estimated Completion Date:  February 2010
General Contractor:  To be decided
Architect:  NBF Architecture
Engineer:  Stevens & Associates
Development Consultant: J.D. Kantor, Inc.

The Abbott Neighborhood Housing Project is a scattered site development consisting of the rehabilitation/reconstruction of five buildings in three separate locations in or close to downtown Brattleboro. 

The project includes the Abbott Block and 18 Canal Street (photo above), as well as 12 Horton Place, 16 Horton Place, and 172 Elliot Street (photos below). The main goals of this project are: to continue the neighborhood revitalization along Canal Street; to eliminate blight and disruption on Elliot Street; and to incorporate energy efficiency enhancements throughout the project.

The Abbott Block, 10 Canal Street, Brattleboro

Number of Units:  15 apartments plus commercial space on the ground level

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Abbott Block is a Colonial Revival style, three-story, U-shaped brick building. It was constructed in 1911 and imparts an urban quality to this end of downtown Brattleboro (brick building in above photo). Construction work will begin in early March of 2009.

18 Canal Street, Brattleboro

Number of Units:  2 apartments

Vernacular Gothic Revival-style dwelling built circa 1870, converted to two apartments; it has a great wrap-around Queen Anne-style porch (small blue building in above photo). Construction work will begin in early March of 2009.

12 & 16 Horton Place, Brattleboro

Number of Units:  7 apartments in two buildings
These historic structures, built circa 1910-1915, have been an important part of Brattleboro’s manufacturing tradition for over 100 years. They will be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Canal-Horton-Homestead Historic District.

Construction work will begin in early March of 2009.

 

 

172 Elliot Street, Brattleboro

Number of Units:  4 apartments
Built circa 1850 as a duplex. Due to its deteriorated condition, this dilapidated building—an eyesore and at the center of drug-related controversy for many years—will be demolished and a new structure will be built on the existing footprint. Significant energy efficiency components will be included.

Construction work will begin in early March of 2009.

 

 

 

Top of page