The Burlington City Council has taken a first step toward a public-private partnership with developers to redevelop the “Gateway block” around the shuttered Memorial Auditorium.
The council unanimously approved a resolution Monday night giving the city the go-ahead to explore the potential redevelopment. A letter of intent between the city and two developers, Eric Farrell and Joe Larkin, outlines an early course for a possible deal.
The letter lists a set of visions and goals for a reimagining of the full city block, which also includes the Central Fire Station, Fletcher Free Library, Congregational Church, and the parking lot at the corner of Main Street and Winooski Avenue.
Among the ideas contemplated in the letter are a 100-room hotel, 200 units of housing with affordable units, an underground garage and a pedestrian “streetscape” connecting the block.
A central focus of the block is Memorial Auditorium, the 1927 city-owned building erected as a memorial to World War I veterans. The letter states that a new public assembly space would replace the ailing building but that it could include a portion of the historic structure. The letter does leave the door open to a total demolition of the auditorium, as long as a veterans memorial is included with future plans.
Brian Pine, director of the city’s Community and Economic Development Office, told the council that his department is still in the early stages of the proposal and that Monday night’s vote did not necessarily mean that anything in the block would be knocked down or built.
“There is no foregone conclusion,” Pine said. “I just want to be clear this is essentially an agreement to explore the redevelopment opportunities and to gauge public sentiment around those redevelopment opportunities and to see that we can find a way to advance the multiple goals that the community has in a way that is cost-effective.”
The city has been trying for years to find new uses for Memorial Auditorium. Last year the city issued a request for proposals from private companies to redevelop the building and received pitches for housing and an immersive art space. The art space was chosen as a proposal, but the company, Babaroosa, backed out of the deal due to concerns over the feasibility of renovating the auditorium, according to Samantha Dunn, assistant director for city works at the city’s development office.
In 2021, Burlington voters voted down a proposed bond that included a Memorial Auditorium redevelopment. The University of Vermont considered a new arena at the site in 2016 but eventually dropped the idea. Also in 2016, the Greater Burlington YMCA was exploring a move to the auditorium with a pitch to build student housing on other parts of the block, but that proposal was unsuccessful due to resistance from property owners of an adjacent plot.
Now, Dunn said, those property owners are on board with the prospect of development, removing one of the previous barriers to a larger project on the block. Another barrier was a ravine sewer that runs underneath the area. That ravine is expected to be relocated during the forthcoming Main Street project, Dunn said.
Another aging building within the block is the Central Fire Station. The city previously studied a possible relocation of that firehouse, and Dunn said part of a future development proposal could include studying that idea again.
Following the council’s approval on Monday night, the economic development office is expected to begin negotiations with the developers to reach an agreement. Opportunities for public engagement and input on the development will be scheduled for next year, Dunn said.
The unanimous vote on Monday reflected the council’s broad embrace of a way forward for a portion of the city that has come to be dominated by the empty, boarded and graffiti-covered Memorial Auditorium.
Councilor Sarah Carpenter, D-Ward 4, described her professional experience with the building during her time serving as executive director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency.
“I cannot tell you how many times, how many people, how many developers this building has been discussed with,” Carpenter said. “It’s a behemoth. It is not — people view it as an opportunity but it is not. And so I’m really excited about this, particularly with the amount of potential housing that could be in there.”
Other councilors, while overall supportive of a possible project, chimed in with other priorities such as preserving public ownership and keeping in mind previous public calls for event spaces.
Mayor Miro Weinberger jumped into the discussion to stress that the project was still in its early days.
“This is the very beginning,” he said. “We have a long way to go with this.”
