This story by Corey McDonald was first published by The Other Paper on May 18.
More than 200 more residential units could soon be built in South Burlington’s City Center under plans proposed by Snyder-Braverman, a Shelburne-based residential development company with a large presence in the city, who has proposed building three mixed-use buildings off Garden Street.
If approved, the development of the property would include the connection of Garden and Market streets via a new city street cutting through the property. Currently, drivers who take Garden Street to stop at Trader Joes or Healthy Living do not have access to the road.
The application still has a way to go with the city’s development review board, and only submitted its sketch plan application to the board on May 2. But it represents a continued development in South Burlington’s City Center — the city’s downtown hub where shovels have already broken ground on several other residential developments.
“As I sit here at City Hall, I can hear construction happening next door on Market Street — fascinating earth movers and excavators and many, many of our hardworking neighbors are laboring each day to realize the community’s vision for our new downtown,” Jessie Baker, South Burlington’s city manager, wrote in her monthly newsletter.
University of Vermont Health Network employees and their families earlier this month began moving into a new building specifically for Network employees.
The building, at 303 Market St., was built in partnership with the university and Snyder Braverman to lease out apartments to employees with the hospital — which has struggled for years to retain its workforce because of Chittenden County’s housing shortage.
Chittenden County has for the past year held a rental vacancy rate of around 1 percent and has some of the highest costs for homeownership in the state.
Another development in this partnership would be built next to the first and is queued up to open in early 2024.
In March, city officials joined officials from the University of Vermont to break ground on Catamount Run, another partnership with Snyder Braverman, to build 295 apartments specifically for university graduate students, as well as staff and faculty.
“Additional housing capacity is a critical need for our local communities and for our growing economy,” Helen Riehle, chair of the South Burlington City Council said when announcing the groundbreaking ceremony. “We’re so pleased to welcome new residents from UVM to City Center. This is a very good development for South Burlington, and we’re thrilled to see the project getting underway today.”
Projects are also underway at 224 Market St., 286 Market St, and 339 Garden St. — located in between City Hall and Garden Street, which will include 161 new apartments and condominiums along with some commercial space.
And yet another development, underway at 112 Garden St., would see 121 new homes built as well as a cafe and day care center.
Housing and commercial development is beginning to come to fruition after years of zoning work to turn the city center into a downtown hub.
The city in July 2021 finished construction for a new building to house city offices, the South Burlington Public Library, and the Kevin L. Dorn Senior Center. A pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Interstate 89, meanwhile, would facilitate connection between the city center and Burlington.
Snyder Braverman’s newest proposal would subdivide the existing 6-acre lot to the east of Healthy Living into three separate lots. In total, the three buildings would bring 213 residential units and 27,000 square feet of non-residential space.
No timeline for construction has been set. Snyder Braverman did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.