Vermont Business Magazine Brattleboro’s newly formed Parks and Plazas, Inc introduced the final stage of the Brooks House's $24 million redevelopment project to a community crowd of over 200 Wednesday. Bob Stevens (Stevens Associates and the Brooks House Development Project) told the crowd that Brattleboro is a great downtown, but it is fragile — it's suffered from fire and Irene flooding, from old tired buildings, and from on-line stores and big boxes. From the very beginning of the Brooks House Project, the Brooks House team believed the land outside the back entrance to the Brooks House and currently occupied by Frankie’s Pizza, could support downtown vitality.
LEFT, Gathering behind the Brooks House in Brattleboro. ABOVE, Frankie of Frankie’s Pizza, former owner, takes a whack at his old establishment. Photos courtesy Harmony Place.
“The vision for Harmony Place has always included becoming a social hub, a gateway to downtown businesses, and an event space,” says Stevens. “An ongoing calendar of arts and agriculture markets, festivals, and performances is in the works, greeted with enthusiasm by our community of artists, crafters, farmers, and musicians.”
“While it won’t directly create or retain jobs, the new pedestrian friendly gathering space featuring a stage and casual seating for over 150 people complete with bistro tables, trees and flowers and artistic lighting will bring the numerous area organizations into downtown and their activity will add to the success of the downtown,” he said.
The Parks & Plazas team spent the last year studying how to make the space vital by researching other places including Church Street in Burlington. They found that active and vital spaces have staff to manage events and activities. They visited over 25 community arts organizations to gauge interest and the result was to modify the original design to make it more event-friendly.
Noelle Mackay, state commissioner of housing and community development, praised the vision.
“It’s not just putting in a couple of park benches and all of a sudden it’s going to succeed,” she told the crowd. She indicated that the multi-use vision of the space is designed to bring people downtown to stay, to invest, to shop. This is a really exciting project. Gathering/meeting/community spaces are so key to what makes a downtown unique and cohesive.”
Stevens stressed that community support will be important to the success of the project. The fundraising goal is $500,000 of which they’ve already received a matching challenge donation of $100,000 from a group of private donors, but more is needed.
L-R Monroe Whitaker, Gail Nunziata, Craig Miskovich, Michelle Simpson-Siegel, Andrea Livermore, Noelle Mackay, Bob Stevens, Tom Jandernoa.
The first step in reclaiming Harmony Place will be the demolition of the former Frankie’s Pizza building that will take several days. Once the demolition is complete and the surface graded, Parks & Plazas will be organizing pop-up activities on the site before the transformation begins in earnest. The rest of the construction will take longer and most likely won’t start until next spring.
Harmony Place is the first creation of Parks and Plazas Inc., an organization that believes parks and plazas boost community engagement, enliven commerce, encourage open-air art and culture, and bring life and lift to downtowns. The Harmony Place Development team includes Bob Stevens, Stevens & Associates; Craig Miskovich of Downs Rachlin Martin; Michelle Simpson Siegel, executive director of Oak Meadow and executive director Downtown Brattleboro Alliance; Andrea Livermore, development director, Brattleboro Area Hospice; Monroe Whitaker, retired landscape architect. Gail Nunziata formerly executive director of the Latchis serves as project manager.
BRATTLEBORO, VT —June 1, 2016