[B]URLINGTON — Town Center Mall owner Don Sinex says he’s been working “feverishly” to build a development team and complete his permit application in the weeks since voters approved measures allowing his massive redevelopment proposal to move forward.
Sinex said he has lined up the money for what he now calls a “downsized” $200 million project, although he wouldn’t say where the financing is coming from.
When it comes to his development team, Sinex said he will “buy local.”
South Burlington-based PC Construction will be the general contractor, and the Burlington architecture firm Freeman French Freeman will assist New York-based PKSB Architects in designing the project. Local engineering firms VHB, Engineering Ventures, Hallam-ICS and SE Group will be involved as well, according to a news release.
Mayor Miro Weinberger said Sinex’s hiring of local firms is already showing the economic benefits of the project. Weinberger said the city will continue to be a partner, but he noted that after the approval of zoning changes Nov. 8, much of the onus has shifted to Sinex and his team.
“The last thing I want to say to all of you is good luck,” the mayor said at a news conference Wednesday with Sinex.
The project’s cost has variously been reported as $250 million, $220 million and more recently $200 million, which Sinex confirmed Wednesday is the actual anticipated cost.
The latest design has 150,000 fewer square feet of commercial space in the building facing Church Street than previously planned and will maintain the current height and massing on the facade facing the pedestrian marketplace.
The price figure includes revamping several of the existing blocks along Cherry and Bank streets, as well as extending Pine and St. Paul streets through the area between Cherry and Bank.
Once those new sections of street are completed to city specifications, Burlington will purchase and pay for them by issuing $22 million in tax increment financing bonds. Voters also approved that borrowing Nov. 8.
A group of residents who oppose the project are challenging the language of the tax increment financing ballot question, but Sinex said that suit is not slowing his work.
Weinberger said the city disagrees with the assertions in that lawsuit and called it an attempt to “obstruct the will of the voters.” The city will file a response in court before the end of the year, he added.
As general contractor, PC Construction will oversee the work on public streets, but per an agreement with the city the construction itself must be publicly and competitively bid, Weinberger said.
Sinex said he’s raised the money he will need to finance the project but provided no detail on where it’s coming from, saying only that he hopes to make another announcement in the coming weeks.
He also said he plans to submit his permit application to the city “on or about” Dec. 15. That will trigger a formal review process with the Design Advisory Board, the Conservation Board and the Development Review Board — the latter being a quasi-judicial body with authority over permits for projects in Burlington.
Sinex said he hopes to begin construction in the first half of 2017. The project will proceed in two phases, with the portion of the mall from Pine to St. Paul streets being knocked down first.
Current mall tenants face uncertain future
That block will be rebuilt as a mixed-use building.
That’s left store owners and managers in the portion of the mall slated for the first demolition wondering what’s next for them.
The part of the mall from St. Paul to Church Street, which will continue to operate while the first phase of the project is completed, has some vacant space.
Sonya Enright, senior executive administrative assistant for the Town Center Mall, said it’s too early to answer many of the questions about what will happen to existing tenants. But she said the mall’s managers have made clear to current tenants that they will be given priority for leases in the new buildings.
Enright said the mall is reaching out to the national chain stores’ real estate managers about the options for leasing space in the Church Street half of the mall and have already discussed those options with independent store owners.
Storefronts that are vacant on the Church Street end of the mall or soon to become vacant may be subdivided, creating additional space where tenants in the other half could move, according to Enright.
“We’re just working that out now,” she said.
As for the cost, she said many factors determine current lease rates, making it difficult to draw comparisons between retail spaces inside the mall. Those factors include proximity to the street, window space and access to loading docks.
“I’m not saying the rents will go up, but I’m not saying they won’t,” Enright said.
