Barre is in makeover mode. Mayor Thom Lauzon, through dint of irrepressible boosterism and determination, has brought together public and private investors to develop abandoned lots and old buildings in the city. The investment has paid off.
For the first time in decades, there is now only one empty storefront downtown — the old JJ Newberry’s five and dime. A half dozen new businesses have opened in Barre in the past year or so. The city also recently leveraged federal dollars to restore the downtown streetscape with new sidewalks, granite curbs and lighting.
On Tuesday, Barre and state officials celebrated the latest, and perhaps most important, addition to the streetscape — the opening of a new building on Main Street and the presence of roughly 200 state employees downtown. City officials hope that the influx of office workers who will likely frequent local lunch spots and buy shoes and hardware from downtown shops will help to lift Barre, which has been hit hard by the decline of the granite monument industry, out of a decades-long economic doldrum.
The Agency of Education and about 45 employees from the Agency of Human Services will occupy most of the $16 million, three story brick edifice known as City Place. The Agency of Education had been located in Montpelier and in a shopping plaza on the Barre-Montpelier Road. For the first time in years, all of the employees of the agency, about 165, will be in the same location.
Gov. Peter Shumlin came to Barre for a ribbon cutting at City Place on Tuesday, and he made a point of praising Lauzon who has been trying to address the city’s infrastructure needs, even as the mayor and others struggle to change an underlying culture of poverty in Barre.
Shumlin described City Place as a small step toward creating a successful downtown.
“We are making something happen most people didn’t think possible,” Shumlin said. “This is a vibrant community now where people live, work and shop and experience cultural opportunities.
“It’s because of your leadership, Thom Lauzon, keep it up,” he said.
A subsidiary of DEW Construction owns the building and is leasing about 50,000 square feet to the state at a cost of between $18 to $21 per square foot. Central Vermont Medical Center, the Rehab Gym and several other tenants will occupy about a third of the space.
Michael Obuchowski, commissioner of the Department of Buildings and General Services, says the state’s presence in Barre will have a positive impact on the local economy. The Shumlin administration, he said, is committed to downtowns and is making investments in St. Albans, Rutland and White River Junction.
“When the state invests, other investments follow,” Obuchowski said. “It makes a hell of a difference in the psyche of a community. When the state can play a role in believing in that community, miracles happen. It’s especially important in communities that have challenges.”
Barre’s Grand List, the overall value of property in the city, is low, Lauzon said, and yet property taxes are relatively high. The mayor said he realized that a focus on cutting budgets as the sole way of reducing the tax burden would be counterproductive and has instead sought to increase the value of the property tax base through development and restoration projects.
The “bricks and mortar stuff,” he said, has already resulted in a slight uptick in the Grand List.
The City Place development, Lauzon said, “demonstrates we can do projects like this here.”
Lauzon and his wife, Karen, came up with the idea of City Place, and bought an option on the lot in 2011. They hired Black River Design, a Montpelier architecture firm, to mock up a conceptual plan for the office and retail space. The city explored the plan further, and the Lauzons eventually handed off their option.
Shortly after Tropical Storm Irene devastated the state office complex in Waterbury, Lauzon pitched the concept to Shumlin, and the governor agreed to move the Agency of Education to the new office space.
The goal was to bring more jobs to Barre. And in that, the city has apparently succeeded.
“I believe in downtowns,” Lauzon said. “The days of developing off the exit ramp are over. It’s not happening that way anymore.”
