Language in the biennial capital bill, the legislation that authorizes bond-funded spending on infrastructure projects, would allow the state to sell the Redstone building that formerly housed the secretary of state’s office.
The House Corrections and Institutions Committee completed work on the bill last week.
The package totals $147.3 million to be spent on projects over the next two fiscal years.
The bill would direct $600,000 of the proceeds from the Redstone sale to fund the rebranding of Lyndon and Johnson state colleges as they combine to become Northern Vermont University next year.
Any remaining money from the sale would be reserved for future construction projects.
The move covers some of the costs for the college merger in the next fiscal year. An additional $280,000 is appropriated in the state budget bill, which will come up for a vote on the House floor Thursday.
The grand building, tucked down a side street from the Statehouse, is a former residence that has been part of the state’s capitol complex since the 1940s.
The administration asked the Legislature to authorize the sale, according to Buildings and General Services Commissioner Chris Cole. The recommendation to sell was included in a 2015 report on buildings in the capitol complex.
“We don’t really have an immediate use for it, and we don’t have a use for it that I’m aware of in the foreseeable future,” Cole said.
Several factors make the building difficult to use, according to Cole. Because of the isolated location, it is not a good placement for employees of departments that work frequently with other departments.
Substantial investment also would be needed to bring the building into shape so it would be usable again, he said.
The building needs work on the front porch, new windows, insulation in the roof, a full sprinkler system and other upgrades, which collectively could cost between $1.3 million and $2 million, according to Cole.
Redstone is “a building that is a beautiful building but probably could have a better and higher use within the community than a state office space,” Cole said.
He said he did not know how much the property could fetch, noting that the price would be determined by demand and the real estate market.
Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, chair of the House Corrections and Institutions Committee, told fellow lawmakers during a presentation on the capital bill Wednesday that they anticipate the building may sell for about $1 million.
Rep. Butch Shaw, R-Pittsford, said the idea to use some of the money from the sale for Northern Vermont University came from a combination of the House Appropriations Committee, the House Corrections and Institutions Committee and others.
The move to use sale proceeds to help fund the college merger is unusual, Shaw said, but he supports the proposal.
Redstone was built in the late 1800s as the summer home for Columbia University professor John Burgess and his wife, Ruth Payne Burgess, a Montpelier native, according to State Curator David Schutz.
The couple were inspired by architecture they saw while traveling in Europe, he said.
In the 1940s, the building came into state ownership and became the home of the Vermont State Police. More recently, in the 1980s and 1990s, the secretary of state’s offices were there, according to Schutz.
Since the secretary of state’s operation moved to office space on State Street, there have been discussions about selling the building or converting part of it to a residence for the governor. The building temporarily housed workers from the Department of Mental Health after Tropical Storm Irene damaged state offices in Waterbury.
Capital bill
The proposal for the capital bill uses $132.5 million from bonds over the next two years. There is also $14.8 million available left over from previous uses.
Almost a third of the money in the bill over the next two years will go to clean water projects. Emmons said the clean water investments are “above and beyond” the proposals outlined in the governor’s recommended capital budget.
The capital bill includes:
• $11 million over two years for ecosystem restoration and protection.
• $11.1 million over two years for implementation of projects related to the Clean Water Act.
• $7.5 million for land and construction work for the Williston state police barracks 911 call center.
• $3 million for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, which is $1.8 million less than the amount in Scott’s capital proposal.
