Photo: Mayor Weinberger, at podium, with CityPlace partners Dave Farrington, far right; Scott Ireland, second from right; and Al Senecal, far left, at Feb. 8 press conference. Courtesy photo.
VermontBiz by Timothy McQuiston
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and CityPlace Partners expressed confidence last month that the CityPlace mixed-use housing development in downtown Burlington is on pace to be completed by its target date of summer 2026.
The estimated $200 million project, which will occupy what was the center section of the former Burlington Square Mall, will comprise a minimum 350 residential apartments, including 70 permanently affordable units; two hotels, providing a maximum total of 350 guest rooms; 40,000 square feet of retail space; and 172,000 square feet of parking.
Previous plans for CityPlace had called for 420 units of housing and, at different times, either one or no hotel. The change was made after a new minority equity partner, Giri Hotel Management — a well-capitalized developer headquartered in Massachusetts — became an investor in the project. Giri will manage the hotels.
“About a decade ago, we set out as a community to do something hard: to take control of our future,“ Weinberger said at a Feb. 8 press conference at the site. “We decided to correct old mistakes and fix a long-broken part of our downtown, to turn a community planning vision into reality, and to make it possible for hundreds of new people to live and work in this great but small city.
“Today, after years of hard work, adversity and perseverance, we can finally say with confidence that this daring and worthy effort will succeed. The South Tower at CityPlace is the largest building ever constructed in this state, and one year from now hundreds of Burlingtonians, workers, and visitors will be passing through the front doors.”
On Feb. 12, the Burlington City Council gave unanimous approval to the amended development agreement between the city and CityPlace Partners. That action was preceded by the Department of Permitting and Inspection granting the project an amended permit.
Once the site of a failing suburban mall, the CityPlace project is now a bustling construction site spanning an entire city block. CPP partner Dave Farrington, president of Farrington Construction Co. in Shleburne, said workers have completed much of the foundation for both the North and South towers as well as the steel frame and concrete slab floors for all of the South Tower. The focus in now on completing the exterior wall constructions and sheathing by the end of March, he said
The center portion of the old mall that will soon house CityPlace was demolished in August 2018. It sat as an empty lot until November 2022, when the new ownership group of Farrington, Al Senecal and Scott Ireland broke ground on the redesigned CityPlace.
There are currently no plans to develop the areas at either end of former mall. The former L.L. Bean store, on the east side, sits vacant, while the former Macy's, on the west side, provides a temporary home for Burlington High School.
Following are changes enabled by the new amendments to the CityPlace Development Agreement:
In December, the Mayor announced, and the council approved, $1.9 million in ARPA funds for two new Champlain Housing Trust affordable housing projects in Burlington, including new homeownership opportunities at Cambrian Rise. CHT has withdrawn from the CityPlace project, and the CPP intend to build the integrated affordable on-site without local or federal subsidy.
The new building program continues to provide a substantial number of residential housing units (at least 350 including at least 70 permanently affordable units). This remains a far stronger residential program than the approximately 272 units envisioned with the original CityPlace development agreement (October 2017).
Hotel rooms are smaller than residential units, so more hotel rooms can be provided with only a fractional reduction in housing. Further, changes to how the developers will deliver renewably powered in-unit heating and cooling technologies has expanded the developable square footage within the project, allowing for the expanded number of hotel rooms without a significant reduction in housing units.
Allowing these changes enables the Giri Group’s participation as a minority partner, strengthening the finances of the over $200 million private development and increasing the likelihood it will continue to completion without delay.
The amendments will also reflect a clarification that the planned community space may be provided in multiple meeting room spaces shared with and likely managed by the hotels, with the permanent public rights to the use of the space stewarded by the Burlington Community and Economic Redevelopment Office to allow greater flexibility for public users.
CityPlace Partners expects to complete the South Tower in the first quarter of 2025, and they expect to complete the North Tower no later than the end of the second quarter of 2026. The amendments would extend the outside date with respect to the North Tower from Nov. 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, which is within the current ARDA 2.0 timeline anticipated for final completion of the entire project.
The affordable housing component still exists, but last December the mayor announced that Champlain Housing Trust will not be part of it, as the developers are bringing it in-house. Instead, the trust will concentrate efforts in the New North End at the sprawling Cambrian Rise development at the site of the former North Avenue orphanage.
“The success of the City Place Partners and their work at this site is critical to the success of Burlington’s downtown. We are disappointed that this partnership is ending, but are committed to helping to make sure that CPP succeeds in bringing much-needed housing, especially permanently affordable housing to Burlington’s downtown,” said Champlain Housing Trust CEO Michael Monte. “We are about to sign an agreement to develop 30 new permanently affordable condominiums through CHT’s shared equity program, as well as 40 permanently affordable rentals at Cambrian Rise, in partnership with Evernorth including apartments available to serve our community’s most vulnerable.”
Cambrian rise developer Eric Farrell, owner of Farrell Properties, inked a deal Feb. 15 to expand that total project to 1,050 housing units, an increase of 100 units.
