[B]ENNINGTON — The developers of the $53 million Putnam Block revitalization effort have announced a new timeline for the project, with financing of phase one to be completed by the spring, and groundbreaking as early as May.
Construction was to start in the fall of 2017, but the $25 million initial phase was delayed amid mounting concerns about effects of the federal tax code overhaul and fears of a government shutdown.
The postponement raised a furore in Bennington, with some blaming the town’s government for failing to promote economic development. A binding vote on changing Bennington’s system of government — replacing the current town manager/select board with an elected mayor — will be town meeting day, Mar. 6.
Bill Colvin, a spokesman for the Bennington Redevelopment Group, the consortium of local businesses backing the revitalization effort, said the project’s financing is complex, involving securing federal historic preservation and other tax credits and low-interest loan program assistance — the availability of which is dependent on the prevailing winds in Washington.
Early versions of the Trump administration’s tax reform package included cuts in potential funding sources, but the version eventually approved and signed into law extends the tax credit programs at least through phase one of the Putnam project.
Additional funding, via the federal New Market credits program, which provides funding for economic development in low-income communities, also is advancing, Colvin said this week.
At least three Community Development Entities, which act as intermediaries between banks and other loan providers and those seeking funding for projects, have expressed interest in supporting the Putnam Block revitalization effort, Colvin said. One of them, Vermont Rural Ventures, recently received $60 million in funding.
“It appears to be good news for Putnam,” Colvin said of the announcement. Vermont Rural Ventures, he said is “one of the entities from which we had a contingent allocation.”
Colvin said the developers will be finalizing funding commitments over the coming days and weeks.
The Putnam Block project involves six buildings on four acres near the Four Corners intersection in downtown Bennington. Members of the development group include Southwestern Vermont Health Care, Bennington College and Southern Vermont College, the Bank of Bennington, and other local business leaders and private investors.
“We are confident that the last remaining financing pieces can be put in place for us to break ground by early summer,” James Brown, president and CEO of the Bank of Bennington, said. “All the investors remain firmly behind this project and seeing it to completion.”
Colvin said that the developers will provide further details of investments in the project in the coming weeks.
Construction on the first phase of the project is expected to be completed in September 2019.”
