What's Going Up: 100 new permanently affordable homes and apartments in Shelburne

A new neighborhood is coming to Shelburne, with nearly 100 affordable homes and apartments.

The Champlain Housing Trust and Evernorth are joining forces to build Bay Ridge on the former site of the Harbor Place Motel, which CHT purchased in 2013 and used to provide rooms to people experiencing homelessness. The motel also served as a COVID-19 quarantine and isolation site for the State of Vermont, beginning in March 2020.

"This new chapter in the life of this property is one to celebrate even as we recognize that this one development won't solve all of our housing challenges," Michael Monte, CEO of the Champlain Housing Trust, said in a statement. "Beginning construction on so many permanently affordable homes at once, though, is a rare occurrence in Vermont and we thank all of our partners and funders that have made today's milestone possible."

Development will include both condominiums and apartments, reserving some apartments for homeless

Bay Ridge will include 26 shared equity condominiums and 68 rentals, 20 of which will be dedicated for people who are homeless. The neighborhood will include a new road, two solar arrays and storm water systems to protect Lake Champlain's water quality. The new road will be named Margaret's Way, for Margaret Bozik, a CHT employee who led the organization's homelessness initiatives until her death in 2021.

Under Champlain Housing Trust's shared equity program, homebuyers don't have to make a down payment and benefit from a reduced mortgage, if they fall into a certain income range. They do have to cover closing costs of $10,000 to $12,000. When they sell, they have to do it through CHT and are able to recoup their equity, including any down payment they did make, plus the cost of any authorized improvements. If the value of the home increased during their ownership, they get 25% of the appreciation.

The $55 million project received funding or financing from more than 20 different sources, including U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Project funding, secured by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt.

"Community-driven initiatives like the Bay Ridge neighborhood are key to addressing Vermont's affordable housing crisis," Welch said in a statement. "This new neighborhood is exactly the kind of large-scale, permanently affordable housing infrastructure that we need at this moment for Vermont."

The rents are well below what you'd expect on the open market and the condos sell for less than half the price of a single-family home

Rents for a three-bedroom apartment at Bay Ridge will be as low as $1,725 per month, compared to the Fair Market Rent of $2,380 per month. Fair Market Rent is determined each fiscal year by HUD, and amounts to the 40th percentile of typical rentals in a given region. Sale prices for the new condos will be around $180,000. That compares to a median-priced home in Chittenden County at $460,000.

The first residents should be moving into their condominiums in Bay Ridge by next May. The apartments are expected to become available by the summer and fall of 2025.

The Project

Project cost: $55 million

Developers: Champlain Housing Trust and Evernorth, Burlington

Contractors: DEW Construction in Williston for the apartment buildings; Snyder Homes in Shelburne for the condominiums; Naylor and Breen Builders in Brandon for existing buildings on site that will be rehabilitated.

Architects: Duncan Wisniewski Architecture in Burlington designed the apartment buildings; Scott + Partners Architecture in Essex Junction designed the rehab work to be done on existing buildings.

Address: 3229 Shelburne Road, Shelburne

Progress:

Site work has begun.

Features:

26 shared equity condominiums and 68 rentals, 20 of which will be reserved for homeless people. A new road, two solar arrays and storm water systems designed to protect Lake Champlain. Half of the condos will be three-bedroom, and half will be two-bedroom. The 26 condos will be in seven buildings, all with attached garages and private outdoor spaces. There will be five four-bedroom apartments; 16 three-bedroom apartments; 12 two-bedroom apartments; 27 one-bedroom apartments; and eight studios. An offsite solar array will offset the apartments' energy usage.

What's in the neighborhood:

An array of businesses on Shelburne Road, ranging from Hannaford supermarket to car dealerships, including Tesla, as well as Shelburne Museum and various restaurants.

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.