Burlington will not move forward with any of the proposals for the redevelopment of Memorial Auditorium, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced in a press release on Friday.
The city will start over, soliciting another round of proposals on how to repurpose the nearly century-old building in the city’s downtown.
The city requested proposals for the auditorium last October and received three in December. Two of the proposals — for an immersive art experience from a Vermont-based team called Babaroosa and for housing development from Hawthorne Development Corp., of Illinois — were considered responsive to the criteria.
According to Friday’s press release, Babaroosa was selected by a committee reviewing the proposals. The housing proposal from Hawthorne was not considered due to “feasibility concerns,” officials wrote in the release. Before an agreement could be finalized with Babaroosa, the firm withdrew its proposal.
Representatives from Babaroosa could not immediately be reached on Friday afternoon.
The press release from Samantha Sheehan, a spokesperson for Weinberger, said the new request will have “narrower goals and objectives to encourage more responsive proposals.”
“I continue to think that there is (a) path forward through a partnership with a redeveloper that has the skill, experience and capital to deliver,” Weinberger said in the release. “Our hope is that by opening the (request for proposals) process for a second round with broader parameters and greater flexibility, we will find the right partner to realize a great vision for this key block of our downtown.”
The area up for development in the new request process will also include the parking lot to the west of Memorial Auditorium at the intersection of Main Street and Winooski Avenue. Weinberger said the city needs to “find a way to generate more public value on this critical city block” but the city doesn’t have enough money to accomplish it on its own, due to the Burlington High School construction project.
With the city’s budget constrained, officials are seeking a public-private partnership — and funding — for the building’s redevelopment.
The auditorium has been vacant since 2017 following the discovery of structural concerns in the building. Crews recently worked to stabilize the roof. Further work will be done on the masonry this year.
Hawthorne’s housing proposal raised eyebrows in December when the documents the firm submitted to the city included a list of past projects, including one page taking credit for the CityPlace development.
CityPlace Partners, the ownership group now in charge of CityPlace, said Hawthorne had no role in the project. Hawthorne officials said the company used an old version of its brochure that was written at a time when Hawthorne’s owner was in talks with former CityPlace owner Don Sinex about a stake in the project. The CityPlace portion of Hawthorne’s brochure was left in by mistake when sent to Burlington, the company said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly paraphrased a comment from City Council President Karen Paul.
