$6 million facility for Gable Place
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This site at Gable Place in Barre could become the home for a $6 million center for tThe Central Vermont Community Action Council . |
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By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: June 18, 2010
BARRE – The Central Vermont Community Action Council will consolidate its operations at a single, $6 million facility in the heart of downtown Barre with help from an $800,000 shot in the arm.
"I'm thrilled," CVCAC Executive Director Hal Cohen said Thursday, moments after he and Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon accepted an oversized check from Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie during a ceremony staged on the deck of a furniture store that CVCAC hopes to be calling home by early next year.
If all goes well, Cohen said Gable Place – currently home to P&S Furniture – will be undergoing an extreme makeover next year. Plans call for three buildings to be demolished, some new green space to be created, and a 15,000-square-foot addition to be built onto the 10,500-square-foot structure that now houses the P&S showroom.
"It's quite a project," Cohen said, noting that the $800,000 community development block grant – one of several announced by Dubie on Thursday – represents an important piece of a $6 million financing package that will make CVCAC's dream a reality.
According to Cohen, the social service organization is banking on favorable financing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Program. It is aggressively pursuing other grants and will soon mount a $1.9 million capital campaign to raise money for the project.
However, he said, the $800,000 awarded Thursday, coupled with proceeds from the eventual sale of CVCAC's current headquarters on the Barre-Montpelier Road, will cover the cost of acquiring the two-acre site and beginning interior renovations.
"We needed this piece," he said of the grant that was awarded at a time when the demand for the broad range of services CVCAC provides to low- to moderate-income central Vermonters is exploding.
Cohen said bringing those services, which range from administration, weatherization and transportation to Head Start, community and economic development and family and community support, under a single roof will create a "one-stop-shopping" experience that doesn't currently exist.
"Consolidating our programs in a single, more energy efficient space will make it easier to provide services to area residents, incorporate green energy efficiency technologies, and promote local economic development in the community," Cohen said, predicting the organization will employ roughly 100 people, all working a stone's throw from the city's central business district.
That figure projects an estimated 23 new jobs.
"It's going to be great for downtown Barre," he said, predicting those who work for CVCAC will eat lunch at local restaurants and frequent local businesses.
"It's a 'win-win-win' all around," he said. "For the city, the downtown and community action."
Founded in Barre 45 years ago, Cohen said CVCAC moved from a former furniture store on Ayers Street near one of the entrances to Spaulding High School to a former furniture store on the Barre-Montpelier Road.
"This will be the third furniture store that we're going to be buying," he said, noting the return to Barre will bring the regional organization closer to where a full 50 percent of those who use its services actually live.
Lauzon welcomed word that Barre had been awarded the grant on behalf of CVCAC. He joined Dubie in applauding a program that allows millions of dollars of federal funds to flow to Vermont from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"These funds are an investment," Lauzon said. "They are an investment that will pay dividends for decades."
Dubie echoed that assessment, noting the $2.9 million total awarded to organizations Thursday would help leverage an additional $34 million in public and private funds to pay for a broad range of projects.
"These grants are going to help Vermonters all over the state, creating much-needed jobs and affordable housing for our communities," Dubie said.
Only one of the grants awarded Thursday was larger than the $800,000 check that was cut to Barre. Brighton officials were told they will receive $1 million for the planned re-development of the now-vacant Ethan Allen plant in Island Pond into a wood pellet manufacturing facility.
According to Dubie, the money will be loaned to the Vermont Biomass Energy Co. at no interest for 10 years to help develop a factory that will have the capacity to produce 100,000 tons of wood pellets annually, and will create 25 jobs for area residents.
"This is an investment in green job creation in an area of the state that can really use it," he said.
david.delcore@timesargus.com
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