Rick and Mark Bove plan to tear down a 24-unit complex in Winooski that houses many low-income and refugee families to construct a single apartment building with more than 70 units, nearly all of which will be market-rate, according to Mark Bove.
Three of the units in the new development at 300 Main St. will have three bedrooms, Bove said, and these will be priced to be eligible for federal rental subsidies. But all other units will be priced at market rates, he said, blaming high construction costs and interest rates. Existing tenants who wish to return will be given priority for these three units, he said.
The announcement marks another reversal for the Bove brothers, who pledged last year to rehab the complex one unit at a time so as to not displace existing tenants. That promise had come after widespread backlash — including from city officials — to plans for a top-to-bottom renovation and mass eviction.
Bove wrote in an email that a piecemeal renovation is “no longer an option due to high increase of construction prices.” He also claimed the brothers will secure alternative housing placements for existing tenants prior to starting construction, a start date for which is yet to be determined.
“We are committed to making sure that everyone has housing,” he wrote. Bove also added that he would pay for relocation expenses.
In a county where the rental vacancy rate hovers around 1%, finding a place for people to go could prove difficult.
Tenants said a property manager at 300 Main has been urging them to fill out applications for Summit Properties, a developer that has just completed work on a 94-unit mixed-income development off of Kennedy Drive in South Burlington. Zeke Davisson, chief operating officer for Summit, confirmed that an agent for the Boves had reached out to the company about relocating the Boves’ tenants to the new development.
But Davisson also said Summit had been clear it couldn’t set aside spots.
“My message was, you know: We take all applications. We review them under Fair Housing procedures, but we can’t give any preference,” he said. “We review them in the order they’re received.”
Basically all of the new Summit units are already spoken for. Half of the development is nearly occupied, Davisson said. The waitlist for the other half, where tenants have not yet begun moving in, is full.
“There’s just obviously such a need that the waitlists go quick,” he said.
One of two tenants who spoke to VTDigger on the condition of anonymity for fear of imperiling their living situations said he’s eager to leave the Winooski complex. He faulted the Boves — who have repeatedly come under fire from the media, activists and officials for the conditions of their properties — for not taking care of the apartments.
The tenant said he has been looking for somewhere else to go in Chittenden County for years now but has been unable to find anything that will accommodate his family.
“You want me to move out? Either you find me an apartment, two or three bedrooms, clean condition, safe, everything is complete — then I will move out. Or you have to wait for me until I find (one) because there is no apartment available,” he said. “I search all over.”
Another tenant said he does not want to leave. He actually moved to Winooski from South Burlington to be closer to his family.
“When they have an issue, we can help each other,” he said, adding that his mother is sick and that he doesn’t want his children to have to move to another school district.
The Boves have not filed any plans or permits with the city yet, according to Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott. But they have spoken informally with officials about their plans, she said.
Lott said she’s told the Boves that the city’s priorities are building more housing — particularly units with three or more bedrooms. Refugee families resettled in Winooski are often larger and live intergenerationally, she said, but basically no one is building apartments with more than two bedrooms. And Lott said she also doesn’t want to see any existing tenants “displaced and put out on the street,” which the Boves have told her they won’t do.
Winooski Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner said it was “amazing” that the Boves would look for housing for tenants at the complex and pay for relocation costs. He also emphasized that housing offered to tenants should actually “work for the people that are going to be impacted” and noted that many tenants do not want to leave.
Housing experts agree that the state needs to build more affordable and market-rate housing to address Vermont’s housing crisis, Renner said. But in Winooski, he said what’s most urgently needed is affordable housing — and units with two, three or even four bedrooms.
“That’s what our community is really calling for. And we’re seeing the need for. So it’s great that … they will be including some three-bedroom units and that those will be affordable and eligible for Section 8. But we really need more of those. Three is a start,” he said. “I hope that they reconsider and add some more.”
