BURLINGTON — The former coal-fired power plant on the Burlington waterfront was officially unveiled as the Moran Frame on Tuesday, with city officials cutting a ribbon on the revamped outdoor space they hope will become a new multi-use space.
Mayor Miro Weinberger held the press conference to announce completion of what he called “phase one” of the Moran project.
Weinberger also announced the formation of a nonprofit group called Friends of the Frame, dedicated to making improvements and holding events at the new space.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, officials invited members of the public to wander the grounds around the frame, which is billed as the centerpiece of a section of waterfront now being called “Waterworks Park.”
The renovation removed all of the power plant building except for its steel frame, now painted dark red, and the distinct “City of Burlington” sign. The plant’s basement was filled in and new paths at ground level lead visitors through industrial cement structures. Two swings facing Lake Champlain are attached to the frame. Tuesday’s event featured “aerial healing arts hammock stations,” which involved performers demonstrating yoga-like poses around the space to highlight the potential for events.
Zach Campbell, who founded Friends of the Frame, said the group is working on a crowdfunding campaign, hoping to raise $20,000 in the next month in order to receive a matching grant from Vermont’s Better Places Program. Campbell said that, with the money, the group hopes to bring wheelchair-accessible swings to the frame.
Campbell said he founded Friends of the Frame because he believed that “a former power plant could be a source of empowerment for the community to which it belongs. The striking red steel superstructure becomes a literal framework for creative expression to unfold within.”
Weinberger compared the new nonprofit to efforts such as Friends of the Highline in New York City, “where an independent nonprofit can inject all sorts of energy and resources into the programming and evolution of public spaces.”
“The Moran frame will stand as a proud symbol of the innovative spirit of this community for generations to come,” Weinberger said.
When asked about phase two of the project, Weinberger said he couldn’t comment other than to say that planning is “underway.” He said with the completion of phase one, the city intends to “observe how the public interacts with the building during this pilot period and really be informed as we move forward.”
The plan for a partial demolition of the former plant dates to 2019, when the City Council signed off on the proposal to leave the steel frame in place while converting the area into a multi-use space.
The former coal plant on the Burlington waterfront was completed in 1955 and stopped operating in 1986. Since then, a number of redevelopment concepts have been pitched.
In 2014, Burlington voters approved $9.6 million in tax increment financing for waterfront development, including $6.3 million for the Moran Plant. From that emerged a nonprofit group called New Moran Inc., which entered an agreement with the city to redevelop the property in what was originally a $30 million project.
City officials pulled out from the agreement in 2016 citing concerns with the project’s feasibility. New Moran returned with a scaled-back version of its plans, cutting the price to $15 million. The plan included an event space and a marketplace for artisans and food producers.
In 2017, Burlington ended plans for the New Moran development after failing to reach agreement on a long-term lease on the property and how tax increment financing would support the project. The city then considered demolition until 2018, when the Community and Economic Development Office pitched the plan for a partial teardown with a new event space.
The total cost of the first phase of the frame project came to $6.5 million, higher than initially planned after contaminants, including polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were found at the site during demolition.