Originally published October 22, 2003.
The grand scheme to reinvent Winooski’s business district is already five years in the planning and is at least that many years from completion. The 21-acre parcel extends from Main Street east to the edge of a 104-acre wild area. When finished, the first phase of the project, estimated at some $165 million, will substantially alter traffic patterns and add hundreds of units of mixed housing, a 945-space parking deck, a new building for Winooski’s largest employer — Vermont Student Assistance Corporation — and office and retail space. In addition, it will revitalize the moribund Champlain Mill and, for the first time in the city’s history, provide public access to the waterfront with a riverwalk along the beautiful Winooski.
But everyone agrees that losing Higher Ground is a bummer.
Almost since its inception five years ago, the nightclub’s owners have lived with the knowledge that an impending development would displace them.
Booking agent Alex Crothers confesses to mixed feelings about the redevelopment project, whenever it occurs. “Downtown Winooski is essentially a parking lot, and it has so much potential,” he says.
This article appears in May 25-30, 2016.
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