Forest Park hosts renewal ceremony; $4.3M in grants statewide
|
|
Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie appears at a ceremony to hand out grants for development projects Wednesday. The Forest Park redevelopment in Rutland is receiving a total of $750,000. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
Toolbox
By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: October 29, 2009
The redevelopment of Forest Park is one step closer to becoming a reality.
On Wednesday, the Rutland Housing Authority was awarded a $750,000 Vermont Community Development Program grant, one of 10 totaling $4.3 million that Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie announced in a ceremony held in a packed room in Forest Park's Community Center.
Barre Town and Barre City, Springfield, Rockingham and Randolph were also among the recipients. However, Forest Park was on center stage during the afternoon presentation, which is typically held in Montpelier but was moved to the deteriorating, low-income housing development to highlight both the existing need for the project and the work of the RHA to bring it to fruition.
The grant represents the final piece of funding the RHA needs for phase one of the two-phase project, according to Executive Director Kevin Loso.
"I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to have you here," Loso said at the start of the award presentation. He then instructed the group to look out the window to their right.
"Get a good look because that puppy's going down," he said of the red brick and yellow siding of one of the nearby apartment buildings.
The $8 million first phase of the project calls for the demolition of eight of 16 buildings, the siting and the construction of seven new buildings and site work including water and sewer work and the beginning of the relocation of Forest Park Way
Loso said last week he'd have a better idea of the time frame for construction as the project moves through permitting. The balance of the project is expected to be about $12 million.
During his presentation to the City of Rutland, which was the official applicant for the grant because only municipalities can be awarded these funds, Dubie described the project as the type that will help Vermont "emerge from the current national economic challenge with a stronger and more resilient economy."
"We're not just talking about housing, but about communities that are vibrant and growing," Dubie said. "The Forest Park project is going to help strengthen that fabric."
Representing the city at the ceremony were Mayor Christopher Louras, Board of Aldermen President David Allaire and Aldermen Tom DePoy, Christopher Robinson and Joanne Slattery. Several legislators from around the state, including Rutland County Sens. William Carris and Hull Maynard, were also on hand.
Barre Town's SB Electronics received the largest grant of the 10 awards given, with $1 million to assist it in purchasing equipment for a new, 52,800-square-foot, state-of-the-art factory to be built in Wilson Industrial Park. The facility will produce "power rings," which are capacitors for vehicles, such as hybrids, that use electric motors. It is expected to create 160 jobs in the next two years, according to town officials at the presentation.
Other grants included: $750,000 for Shelburne's Housing Foundation Inc.; $600,000 for South Burlington's Cathedral Square Corp. to help expand its Grand Way Commons Senior Housing Development; $400,000 for Rockingham's Windham Housing Trust; $750,000 for Springfield to refurbish the Fellows Gear Shaper building; a $50,000 access modification grant for Randolph's Chandler Center for the Arts; a $30,000 planning grant for Central Vermont Community Action Council in Barre City; a $30,000 planning grant for Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission in Hartland and an $18,500 planning grant for St. Albans' Samaritan House.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
40