Vermont Business Magazine Four years of planning and 16 months of construction culminated in the May 25 open house celebration at Red Clover Commons, a 55-unit apartment building which will provide replacement housing for residents of Melrose Terrace and others.
Melrose Terrace, constructed by the Brattleboro Housing Authority in 1965, is adjacent to the Whetstone Brook and much of the property is in the floodway and flood plain. The entire site was flooded by Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011 and 60 of the 80 apartments were damaged. Those units have been repaired and re-occupied, but it was clear to the Housing Authority that the senior and disabled residents needed to be relocated to a safer site.
Brattleboro Housing Partnerships (which is the current name of the Brattleboro Housing Authority) and Housing Vermont partnered to create Red Clover Commons on a vacant 2.8-acre site on Fairground Road. The 3-story building offers a total of 55 apartments—53 one-bedroom and 2 two-bedroom units—for seniors and those of any age with disabilities. Potential residents must have annual incomes less than 50% of the HUD area median; the current limits are $23,000 for a single person and $26,300 for a two-person household. All residents benefit from project-based rent subsidies through the Vermont State Housing Authority.
“While Tropical Storm Irene made a move necessary, we used the opportunity to construct a new building that was attractive, met the needs of our residents, and was efficient to operate,” explained Brattleboro Housing Partnerships Executive Director Chris Hart. “It’s wonderful to share the results today with the community and the funders who made Red Clover Commons possible.”
Red Clover Commons provides several amenities including resident support services through the SASH program and features an innovative geothermal heating and cooling system that takes advantage of the constant temperature of the groundwater to pre-heat and pre-cool the water that circulates throughout the building.
The piping system makes a giant loop down and around 24 geothermal “bore holes”— each 500 feet deep—then back into the building. A “near frictionless chiller” in the central mechanical room adds a little more heat or cooling to the water coming from the ground, and then sends that hot or cold water off to the apartments to provide heating or air conditioning.
“The projected heating and cooling cost is only $20 per unit per month, which is 75% less than the average costs of a standard apartment building,” said Housing Vermont President Nancy Owens.
Owens also explained that the performance of the system can be tracked remotely through a fully automated web-based data collection and reporting system. Not only does this allow for timely trouble shooting, but the collected data allow Housing Vermont to compare Red Clover Commons’ performance with other buildings and systems in its portfolio and apply what it learns to new projects.
Funding totaling $15.9 million from several private and public sources was raised to finance the total development cost. HUD’s CDBG-Disaster Relief program, sponsored by Senator Leahy with support from Senator Sanders and Congressman Welch, is providing a critical $5.5 million loan. The People’s United Bank is investing $7.5 million in equity through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program and is also the source of construction financing and a $1 million permanent loan. Other funding sources included the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, HOME program, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Efficiency Vermont, and the Brattleboro Housing Partnerships and Housing Vermont.
Gossens Bachman Architects was the project architect and Trumbull-Nelson Construction was the general contractor.
Information about renting a Red Clover Commons apartment is available athttp://www.brattleborohousing.org/properties.
Housing Vermontis a private, nonprofit development company founded in 1988 to produce permanently affordable rental housing for Vermonters through partnerships with communities and the private sector.
Since its inception, Housing Vermont has raised more than $333 million in private equity to finance 171affordable rental housing developments throughout the State. This equity has leveraged an additional $435 million in private financing and public investment. The 5,120 apartments created or renovated in these efforts serve low and moderate income Vermonters including seniors and those with special needs. Housing Vermont's New Markets Tax Credit program, Vermont Rural Ventures, has created favorable financing in excess of $117 million for 14 economic development projects in low income areas. Housing Vermont is an active member of the National Association of State and Local Equity Funds (NASLEF).
Brattleboro Housing Partnerships, formerly known as the Brattleboro Housing Authority, provides quality, affordable housing opportunities for lower income families through a range of programs and services including the administration of Public Housing, the Housing Choice Voucher program, Shelter Plus Care and a two-year transitional program, Transitions to Housing. BHP is also responsible for providing a Family Self Sufficiency program, Resident Service Coordination to our Public Housing residents and the services of a SASH Coordinator. A five-member board of commissioners provides oversight.