Around 150 people showed up for the event filling seats in the Barre Opera House, a hall more used to hosting the Vermont Philharmonic or theater musicals. Instead they listened to a city revival pep talk from Barre’s ebullient Mayor Thomas Lauzon and City Manager Steve MacKenzie, and a low-key PowerPoint presentation on the conceptual design from architect Jay Ancel of Black River Design in Montpelier.
Lauzon said the 100,000-square-foot building, called “City Place,” was “an incredible opportunity for the city of Barre,” noting its prominent downtown location next to the Paramount Theater, the new workers it could bring to circulate and spend money in the city, and the increase in property taxes the building would generate.
The mayor praised the proposed design, saying it “considers the needs of the community but respects the history of our downtown.”
Gov. Peter Shumlin gave City Place a considerable boost by proposing in his budget address last week that 170 education department employees, now in two separate locations in Montpelier and Berlin, be housed at the new building. City Manager Steve MacKenzie said those state office workers provide a “core” piece that boosts the viability of the project.
MacKenzie told the crowd that City Place was just one of many developments taking place in the Granite City that will bring about considerable improvements in the city’s fortunes and appearance the next few years. Barre’s bedrock, the granite industry, has been struggling and the blue collar town’s hard times are evident in big storefronts conspicuously empty just down the street from the proposed City Place.
“There’s a lot of change happening in Barre,” MacKenzie said, citing the two-year “big dig” total road reconstruction downtown, which was 20 years in the waiting, new signals and street lighting, and a renewed push for a bike path.
“I truly believe Barre is going to be a different place in four or five years,” he said.
The building unveiled on a screen showed a five-story red-brick masonry facade topped with a cornice similar to other adjacent buildings, with extensive panels of windows. The top two stories are “stepped back” so the building’s height appears to be only three stories from the street, in keeping with the buildings on either side.
Ancel explained the facade was set back from the sidewalk to allow room for a raised outdoor patio and front entrance that could serve a cafe. That scheme also serves as an architecturally elegant way to provide height above the flood plain, he said.
Ancel said the concept includes an 18,000-square-foot grocery store on the ground floor, which is about the size of the Shaw’s in Montpelier. Lauzon and other city officials have long lamented the loss of a downtown grocery and they said some interest has been expressed by grocery operators in a downtown location.
The upper stories would house offices and the second story a commercial operation, possibly a rehab gym, Ancel said.
A key aspect is that the building would be privately owned and contribute to the tax base, Lauzon said. He said three firms have expressed interest to the city in constructing the structure and qualified as potential builders.
Bob Nelson, owner of Nelson’s Ace Hardware whose own downtown historic building was restored by Black River Design, liked what he saw.
“I’d like to say nice job. This looks great, it’s very exciting,” he told city officials.
Tony and Debbie Ziter, who own Ziter Masonry in South Barre, came to hear the presentation from their home in Washington and echoed Nelson’s enthusiasm and had praise for Lauzon’s efforts to boost the city.
“We’re fully behind the mayor,” Debbie Ziter said.
MacKenzie told the gathering that the city has a “very ambitious” 18-month timetable to build the structure, which could be ready by fall of next year. The site was home to two decrepit buildings the city bought and razed a couple of years ago using “neighborhood stabilization” federal stimulus funds for downtown development, MacKenzie explained.
He stressed that the plans shown Thursday are “starting the journey” and not set in brick or stone and while the project is not a certainty at this point, the city is committed to it.
Other comments in response to questions addressed the fact that studies have showed the downtown has ample parking for the new building and that the city’s new traffic signals will help ease any traffic it generates. MacKenzie said the city is working on the need to relocate 14 tenants who live in 16 units behind the site that is part of the planned footprint.
In a moment at the end that drew laughter and applause, he suggested the city’s beloved local piano man and arts promoter, Dick Shadroui, who attended the gathering, just might know of someone who could play at a piano bar when City Place gets built.
