BURLINGTON — Don’t expect any significant construction work on the stalled CityPlace Burlington project for the rest of this year.
While Brookfield Asset Management has refused to lay out a concrete timeline for the start of construction on the large downtown development, city officials and others closely following the project do not expect construction to start in 2019 while the developer reviews its plans for the site.
Brookfield announced in July that the project would be redesigned, which has lead to additional delays. On Monday, Brookfield representatives appeared before the City Council and did not provide any new information on the timeline, except for a vague statement that there would be “some action” in the “next year.”
Consultant Jeff Glassberg, who is working for the city on the project, said during Monday’s meeting that the processes needed for major construction activity to start — community engagement, design and regulatory — would be happening “early next year.”
“That’s where we should be early next year, those are the sort of activities that should be underway to proceed commencement of construction,” Glassberg said.
The site of the development has sat idle since the demolition of the mall was completed in August 2018. Construction start dates have come and gone without action, and Brookfield has taken over the day-to-day operations from the original developer Don Sinex.
Brookfield had told the city it had been working on starting construction on the initial 14-story, $220 million project throughout the winter and spring before the July announcement of the redesign.
At Monday’s council meeting, Council President Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4, asked Brookfield’s Aanen Olsen for a general timeline of when construction would start.
“It’s certainly not going to be 10 years, or even four,” Olsen said. “With phasing of the project you can anticipate seeing some action in the near term, in the next year. We’re here to push this project forward, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Chelsea Ziegelbaum, a project manager for Brookfield, said in July Brookfield would be evaluating the totality of the property, from Church Street to the former Macy’s building.
“We still have the remaining mall today, we own the Macy’s site,” Zigelbaum said Monday. “We were always considering doing different opportunities to different sectors of the project, so this just adds additional opportunity.”
It’s possible work on some of the existing properties could begin before Brookfield moves forward with developing the site where the mall was demolished.
While Brookfield has not released any information about the details of the redesign, Mayor Miro Weinberger said at the time of the announcement the redesign would likely address some size and scope concerns citizens have raised.
The lack of details from Brookfield has left city councilors without answers as they face constituents who are growing increasingly frustrated about the lack of progress on the site and seeking answers about when construction will start.
“Your guess is as good as mine, I wished I knew,” Wright said. “I got a little tiny bit out of them, but not much, I tried to push for an answer on that.”
Councilor Jack Hanson, P-East District, said the lack of information from Brookfield has left councilors guessing.
“We kind of have to wade through their non-answers and try to interpret what they are doing,” Hanson said. “My interpretation based on their vagueness, and when they did answer that question of timeline, is that they are not going to be starting anytime soon.”
Hanson said that Brookfield’s focus on work being done during the delay — reopening the public right of way and adding public art to the barriers around the project — made him think that it would be a while before construction restarts.
“Basically their whole update was, as nothing happens, we’re at least going to give you your streets back and get some art up,” he said. “It’s going to be a while before anything happens, so we’re at least going to do something for you, that’s how I interpreted that.”
Councilor Joan Shannon, D-South District, said she was most concerned about Brookfield getting out of the public’s right of way during the delays.
“If they want to take some time and make the project smaller, I think a lot of us would support taking that time and making the project smaller,” Shannon said. “I think if construction was going to start this year, we would have heard it, and we didn’t hear that.”
Kelly Devine, the executive director of the Burlington Business Association, said Brookfield was taking the time to reevaluate the project plan.
“I would say the primary reason there’s not going to be construction this year is because Brookfield’s due diligence. The numbers they are looking at today are probably different from the numbers Don Sinex was looking at three or four years ago,” Devine said.
Devine said she did not fault Brookfield for taking the time to ensure the project would work.
“Overall, we may find we get a project that is fine-tuned to better meet where we’re going to be in two to three years,” she said. “It’s probably better to do that before you put shovels in the ground and make sure.”
The details of the redesign will play a role in determining when construction can start. While Brookfield was working toward getting started on the initial design, the company said it was evaluating sub-contract bids this spring.
Devine said whether or not Brookfield would have to rebid contracts would be up to the company. Since changes in the scope of projects is fairly common, it’s possible some of the subcontracts could still be valid under the new design.
The scope of the changes to the project would determine which regulatory processes are needed for the new design, Devine said.
Attorney John Franco, who has represented project opponents, said he thinks it will be two or three years before construction starts.
“If they were going to start construction next summer, they would have to be charging hard to the rim right now with permit amendment processes,” he said. “They’d be going with plans, they’d be going to Neighborhood Planning Assemblies, they’d be renegotiating the development agreement with the city. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Franco also pushed back against Brookfield’s claims that the pending lawsuit didn’t allow them to discuss their plans. The only two lingering issues are whether the developers are required to notify project opponents about changes and if they need to follow through on a commitment for a charitable contribution, Franco said.
“This baloney that they couldn’t say anything because of the lawsuit — there isn’t much of the lawsuit left,” Franco said.
Wright said he was “taken aback” by the brevity of Monday’s update and believes the city needs to clearly communicate its expectations to Brookfield.
“I think the city needs to work, consulting with them to a certain degree, needs to come up with some benchmarks and deadlines and say, here’s what we need,” Wright said. “If these can’t be met at some point, we’re going to have to begin to explore all of our options, whatever they may be.”
