BENNINGTON — Seth Barrows didn’t understand the scope of the Putnam Block project when he opened a brewery across the street from it last month.
Since then, Barrows, owner of Farm Road Brewing, has learned about the brick-and-mortar restaurants and shops that will soon open at Putnam Block, likely before summer. Instead of fearing the competition, he said those businesses are more likely to strengthen his own. He’s already met some of the tenants who recently moved into the 31 new residential units.
Barrows said he recently realized that he had accidentally joined a movement to revitalize downtown Bennington.
“I didn’t realize we were part of it,” he said.
Talks of redeveloping the Putnam Block, which comprises three buildings at the “four corners” intersection in the heart of downtown Bennington, have gone on for years. Now, it’s becoming real. Tenants have started to move in and businesses are signing contracts, significant milestones for a project that local residents have been longing to happen.
The project is divided into three phases. The first outlined a process for readying the three buildings for residential and business tenants, and is almost complete. The second phase, which includes developing some of the land surrounding the three buildings, was suspended temporarily because of the pandemic.
The third phase will include redevelopment of other nearby buildings for both affordable and market-rate housing.
Bill Colvin, community development program coordinator for the Bennington County Regional Commission, said he’s been pushing to redevelop the block since 1999, when he worked for the town government.
“The three historic, iconic buildings at the four corners have really been at the forefront of redevelopment hopes of Bennington, really for decades,” he said. “The last active use of the upper floors, prior to this project, was in the late 1970s.”
He compared the project to the Brooks House, a historic hotel that later became a mixed-use residential building in downtown Brattleboro. After an electrical fire in 2011, the building became uninhabitable, but was recently restored.
“Everybody could kind of rally around that in the community,” he said. ”Forty years of underuse and gradual decline is a lot harder to get folks to rally around.”
Despite that, a number of investors decided to fund the project knowing, as Colvin said, that decades could pass before they saw a return on their investment. Among the largest investors are Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, which will use some of the space for offices and community-facing programs; the Bank of Bennington; and Bennington College, whose development office will be housed in the Winslow building. Global Z, an IT firm, will move into what used to be a courthouse.
“It took 21 separate funding sources stacked on top of each other to make things work,” Colvin said.
The buildings were used by a variety of LLCs, all owned by the same family. Colvin said the children of the family were looking to do something with the property after the matriarch and patriarch died.
“If you want to move the needle in Bennington, here’s a real opportunity — 4 acres in the heart of the community,” he said.
The Putnam Block Redevelopment group bought the property in June 2016. Since then, it has created plans to develop the former courthouse into retail and office space, and both the former Putnam Hotel and the Winslow Building will have retail, residential and office spaces.
Shannon Barsotti, community development director for the town, has been watching the Putnam Block construction work for the past several years from the town offices, located next door. She’s been managing the revolving load programs and block grant funding that’s moved the project forward, and said she has high hopes for the project’s economic impact on the town.
“When you see activity, it makes people pay attention,” she said. “I think that attracts other investments.”
New families downtown
The new Putnam Block residents range from young professionals to retirees, all of whom seem to be excited about the minimal distance between their new homes and the existing and future business activity in the four corners area.
“We had a wave of people move in in December and January,” said Andy Paluch, an agent with TPW Real Estate, who’s been in charge of leasing the spaces. “We started taking applications in September and October.”
Early this month, Paluch looked out the window of one of the former hotel’s residential units, which has a view of downtown and mountains in the distance.
“Standing on this corner in Bennington, you look all around — there’s cool stuff happening,” he said.
Andrew Bevacqua, a deputy state’s attorney for Bennington County, moved into his studio apartment last month. He was excited; finding other living arrangements in town was a challenge, he said.
“I saw a lot of houses and vacation properties, but I didn’t see any clean, safe, renovated, or new apartment buildings,” he said. “I was very pleased when I found this.”
Bevacqua was also happy to see Farm Road Brewery open across the street. Even though the rent felt a little steep — around $1,000 a month for a studio — he said it’s worth it because of the location.
Bevacqua has one of 12 income-adjusted units in block.
“Part of our funding structure was predicated around making workforce housing available,” Colvin said. “So most of those workforce housing units are income-qualified. Those traditionally are folks that are going to fall between 80% and 120% of median family income for the area.”
Marsh Hudson-Knapp secured the last available residential unit for his stepmother, who decided just six weeks ago that she wanted to move back to Bennington from Delaware. When Hudson-Knapp was young, his dad had an office across the street from the Putnam Hotel.
“I’d go up there after school and wait for him to get done with work to go home,” he said, “and I’d be looking out the window at this apartment.”
His stepmother is in her 80s, and Hudson-Knapp thinks about how she’ll be able to walk from her apartment to the nearby new businesses.
“That particular apartment, you can look down and see the lights on the four corners,” he said.
Businesses soon to move in
First-floor businesses in the block will include a pet supply and grooming space, a large restaurant with outdoor seating, and a bakery and restaurant with an adjacent bookstore. Developers are crossing their fingers that they’ll be able to secure a few others, such as a local grocery with fresh produce, and a clothing store.
Paluch hopes the businesses will be able to launch through the spring and summer. Some have hoped for a kickoff that’s open to the community, but that will largely depend on the prevalence of Covid-19.
In the storefront closest to the four corners intersection, Sarah Krinski and Bri Magnifico hope to open a combined boutique and cafe called the W Collective. They visited the space in early March, which already had hardwood floors and big windows that face the street.
“We’re really trying to focus on highlighting women vendors — and artisans and makers and creators, and use the same space,” said Krinski, who has her own business selling vintage clothing. “We all know that it’s really hard to have your own space and run it by yourself.”
The two are relatively sure they’ll sign a contract and open the shop in late spring, but said they still have financial kinks to work out.
“We’re hoping it’s not just a place to browse, but it’s a place to get your coffee, it’s a place to learn how to make a floral arrangement, it’s a place to have a lecture about your new book coming out,” Magnifico said.
She recently moved back to Bennington, her hometown, from Brooklyn, where she was working for a jewelry designer. She helps out at her father’s restaurant, which is less than a block away, and manages a small lifestyle women’s wear brand.
The two met when Krinski bought one of Magnifico’s shirts, and they hit it off.
“We want the same kind of things,” Magnifico said. “We want to uplift women, we want to engage with the community. And we just see a lot of potential and hope here.”
