[B]URLINGTON — When local developer Eric Farrell purchased the Lake Champlain property owned for more than a century by Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese, he reached back a half-billion years to name his new development “Cambrian Rise” after the geological time period that shaped this waterfront property on Lake Champlain.
But as Farrell begins work on a 700-unit “sustainable living community,” he’s also having to recast the recent history of a renovated orphanage on the property that was once the home of children who were abused by priests and nuns over many decades.
The historic brick orphanage, now known as Liberty House, boasts a fitness center, high-speed internet and free central laundry.
“The first comprehensive development of its kind in Vermont,” its website says of the cornerstone building and a surrounding plan for nearly 150 new affordable housing units and a 12-acre public park, “Cambrian Rise is where sustainable living, community engagement, and business innovation come together as a beacon of possibility for Burlington and beyond.”
Cambrian Rise is also the site of the former St. Joseph’s Orphanage where dozens of children suffered abuse and even death at the hands of Catholic nuns and priests, as described in a stunning article in Buzzfeed.com, which was published last month.
Last week, the Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan announced he would pursue an investigation of allegations of abuse at the orphanage and by Catholic Church officials in Vermont. Bishop Christopher Coyne has said the church would cooperate with the probe.
“It’s not a pleasant history,” Farrell says of the orphanage that operated from 1854 to 1974, “but it doesn’t have to do with what’s presently going on.”
That said, the developer isn’t shying away from the past. The 375 North Ave. property, located between the Old North End and the New North End of the Queen City, has made news for years — most recently since 2010, when Vermont’s Catholic Church, needing money to settle dozens of priest misconduct lawsuits, sold it to Burlington College, which in turn closed in 2016 because it couldn’t afford the purchase.
Farrell is developing 32 acres with help from the nonprofit Champlain Housing Trust and senior housing specialist Cathedral Square, which will construct new buildings adjacent to the 65-apartment Liberty House.
“We knew we weren’t going to call it Orphanage House,” he says of the latter structure.
But the new moniker has nothing to do with breaking free of old ties.
“We were talking about names and a person who works for me said one of the local Revolutionary War ships was called the Liberty,” Farrell recalls. “Seemed appropriate as anything.”
The overall project, planned for one of the largest undeveloped pieces of prime real estate in the city, has a few opponents, including the citizen groups Cambrian Watch and Save Open Space Burlington. But that didn’t stop Farrell from inviting one critic, Vermont Abenaki Dee Brightstar, to ceremonially “cleanse” the orphanage.
“It was important to some people to do it,” he says. “She went into every corner of every room.”
The building still holds some haunting history. Consider the lobby photo of orphans on the front steps in the 1950s.
“I did inquire of my residents about that,” Farrell says. “They said, ‘we’re good.’”
The same goes for a new outdoor bronze sculpture of a boy and a girl with fishing poles, “a memorial for the childhoods passed during the property’s previous life.”
After BuzzFeed News published a story last month, Farrell is publicizing his own response in a web post titled “Developer Addresses Concerns Over History of Liberty House.”
“The history of the building has been fraught,” it says. “As investigations into the former orphanage that was housed in the structure continue, stories of pain and distress of the adolescents it sheltered are being shared.”
“With such a known history, it presented a unique challenge,” continues the post, which notes the ceremonial cleansing as well as floor-to-ceiling renovations. “Property managers report that for those residing in the apartments at Liberty House currently, life seems very normal.”
The former orphanage, in fact, is fully occupied by renters paying from $925 to $1,900 a month. Construction crews, for their part, are working on the first of a dozen surrounding buildings.
“We’re going to be at it for another six to eight years,” Farrell says. “We’re moving forward.”
