On Stonecutters Way in Montpelier, some developing signs of progress
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Heavy equipment is used to begin work on the old rail yard turntable Tuesday in front of the former salt shed on Stonecutter's Way in Montpelier. Stefan Hard/Times Argus |
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By Thatcher Moats
Times Argus Staff - Published: September 1, 2010
MONTPELIER – Significant steps forward were taken last week on the last two undeveloped parcels along Stone Cutters Way in Montpelier.
Work began on the long-awaited Turntable Park, which will be a small park along the Winooski River on the site of a historic turntable once used to rotate rail cars. At it's meeting a week ago, the city council awarded the redevelopment project to the low bidder, Lajeunesse Construction, and the company started work on the small overgrown lot soon after.
In a separate project next door to Turntable Park, a local real estate development company, Connor Contracting, Inc., closed a deal on the large metal building known as the “salt shed” that was owned by the dormant Pyralisk Arts Center organization.
The start of work at Turntable Park and the sale of the salt shed – which for a while housed a skating rink – are the latest events in the redevelopment of Stone Cutters Way, a former industrial area squeezed between the railroad tracks and the Winooski River in downtown Montpelier.
Stone Cutters Way has undergone an extreme makeover, with the bulk of the redevelopment completed in 1998. The city, using mostly federal and state money, spent about $1.6 million to move the train tracks, lay down a road and bike path, install water and sewer systems, bury power lines and erect street lights.
Since then, two office buildings have been developed there. The Hunger Mountain Cooperative food store occupied its location on Stone Cutters Way before the completion of the redevelopment project, according to Montpelier City Manager Bill Fraser, but within the last couple years the co-op completed a $2.8 million expansion to further boost the redevlopment.
Stone Cutters Way now stands in stark contrast to what it was before the project.
“It really was just a bumpy old dirt road,” said Fraser.
It's unclear what Connor Contracting will do with the salt shed.
Fred Connor, one of the owners of the real estate development, general contracting and property management business, said the company is still evaluating how to proceed. He said it's not clear whether they will tear down the old building.
But the company hopes to tailor whatever building does ends up on the site to the needs of a tenant. “We want to secure tenant interest and then design our plans around that,” Connor said.
The site, like many former industrial areas in the city and the state, faces environmental issues with contamination.
A site test done years ago revealed polychlorinated biphenyls and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, which come from asphalts, fuels, oils and greases.
Pyralisk Arts Center, a nonprofit organization, was planning to build an arts center at the site and had secured a $200,000 state grant to mitigate the chemicals. The site was envisioned as a community visual and performing arts space.
Connor said he doesn't believe he will have access to that grant because Connor Contracting is a private developer rather than a nonprofit or government organization.
But he said the company will clean up the site during construction using a plan that is in place and has been approved by the state.
“The site has a cleanup plan approved by the state, and that is something we'll be undertaking,” Connor said.
Connor Contracting bought the building from Pyralisk for $155,200.
The land under the building was owned by the Vermont Agency of Transportation, and Connor Contracting bought that land for $65,000.
Connor said the company has done similar projects before: buying property, redeveloping it and leasing it to businesses or other organizations.
For instance, Connor said, the company acquired and redeveloped the property in Montpelier now leased by Cabot Creamery.
Pyralisk was founded by artist Nicholas Hecht and existed from 1989 to 1996 at a site behind the fire station in Montpelier. After it left that space, Pyralisk's board of directors began trying to redevelop the salt shed as a replacement. But the group could never quite pull it together, and about two years ago a $400,000 federal earmark Pyralisk was awarded expired, sinking any hopes of building the art center, said board member Jon Anderson.
“At that point there was no other real alternative than to sell the property to Connor,” Anderson said.
Pyralisk has paid off the loans it had that were connected to the salt shed and was left with $27,500, said Anderson.
What the organization will do with the money is unclear, said Anderson.
Turntable Park has always been envisioned as part of the Stonecutters Way redevelopment, but the plans have been simplified due to the recession.
It's now a fairly basic design that calls for grass, park benches and lights, as well as a walkway around and over the turntable structure itself.
Fraser said most of the project should be done this fall.
Montpelier Mayor Mary Hooper was thrilled that Turntable Park was moving forward and the salt shed building had sold.
“The city intentionally created Stonecutters Way to provide more commercial opportunities in downtown,” she said. “We built that road so people would privately develop there and increase the Grand List, and it substantially increased our Grand List.”
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