The transformation of a regional asset
by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Less than a year after the College of St Joseph ceased operations in spring 2019, the city of Rutland purchased approximately 20 acres of the 117-acre campus — including the school’s gymnasium, walking trails, parking lot and ballfields — to use for a recreation center.
Heartland Communities of America, a developer of faith-based senior care communities headquartered in Florida, eyed the remaining 90-plus acres for its first project in the state of Vermont. But that plan eventually fell through.
Now, the Housing Trust of Rutland County has stepped in to propose redeveloping the property, which is situated in West Rutland. The trust was scheduled to release a request for proposals May 16 for master-plan submissions for the area.
If the trust’s executive director, Mary Cohen, had her way, plans for the project would include 75 to 100 units of mixed-use housing.
“That would be with lots of partners,” she notes. “Housing is just one component of that campus.”
Just exactly what the rest would look like is anyone’s guess.
“The community is saying, OK, what can this be?” Cohen said. “Lots of people are talking about different ideas and how can we get all the voices together and figure out the best use.”
St Joe’s is one of several Vermont colleges to close since 2019, the victim of a competitive higher-education market, economic hardships and a dwindling endowment. Others that have shuttered include Green Mountain College in Poultney, Southern Vermont College in Bennington and Marlboro College in Marlboro.
These campuses remain community assets, said Lyle Jepson, executive director of the Chamber & Economic Development of the Rutland Region, who serves on the committee developing the master planning RFP with the Housing Trust of Rutland County.
“I think that they continue to be an asset for the entire region,” he said.
The campuses often contain crucial infrastructure, such as water, wastewater and roads, he added.
The repurposing of college campuses is but one example of today’s “flexible economy,” Jepson said, when the changing needs of a region bring about new uses of its assets. Where once these campuses educated students, they may soon house people, businesses or child care centers. In the case of CSJ, the campus is also on the local bus route and near the city’s new recreation center.
“If I had a crystal ball, I would immediately put in 150 units of a mix of market-rate, workforce and low-income housing in that location,” Jepson said.
Jepson said that the campus had previously been considered for an entrepreneurial program that eventually became the HUB CoWorks, but it wasn’t the right fit. Instead, the HUB is moving into downtown Rutland, and the housing trust is now considering the St Joseph property.
“It continues to be an asset, one we don't want to have age before we get back in there because the buildings certainly will decline,” Jepson said. “We want to make sure that the asset isn't lost.”
He anticipates the trust’s study will move quickly.
“I think people need to know that, quite frankly, St Joe's has been studied and restudied,” Jepson said. “This feasibility study is not going to take a long time because we basically have the information we need. We just want to make sure that everyone's voice is heard and that the best proposal gets started.”
Jepson, like Cohen, believes that creating new housing sits atop the list. He said the city of Rutland is actively supporting the trust’s study and has provided $30,000 of its allotted American Rescue Plan Act funds to hire the consultant.
If all goes to plan, Cohen anticipates the chosen consultant will present the study to the public in the fall. The final plan would be due by the end of the year.
“I just want to get housing in there,” she said.
Olga Peters is a freelance writer from southern Vermont.
