The City of Burlington has approved changes to the Burlington Town Center redevelopment project that will add 16 additional apartment units and eliminate 40,000 square feet of planned retail space. The changes for developer Don Sinex’s project were approved administratively, with no public input.
Sinex described the alterations to CityPlace Burlington plans as an inevitable part of the development process. “We didn’t change any aspect of the design. We didn’t change the square footage,” he said.
“We would expect a project of this size to make changes,” said Mary O’Neil, a city planner.
The 16 new units will be constructed on the second, third and fourth stories of the planned building, under the original footprint. The 14-story development will now include 288 units, up from 272 in the original design.
Project opponents aren’t taking the changes lightly.
Attorney John Franco had sued to stop the redevelopment on behalf of the grassroots Coalition for a Livable City. He argued that the changes violate a settlement agreement that Sinex signed last July.
Franco said that the project originally called for 761 parking spots, but that the settlement added 200, for a total of 961. But the current plan calls for 22 fewer parking spaces, and Franco alleged that Sinex had surreptitiously decreased the amount.
“It’s an increase in units, and a decrease in available parking,” Franco said. “That’s a problem.”
Both Sinex and O’Neil contended that the changes have not eliminated parking. Both said the plan adheres to the legal settlement. Sinex said the original plan called for a parking capacity for 761 vehicles — not spaces, and that tight valet parking can accommodate more vehicles.
Franco, who first heard of the changes from Seven Days, said he would ask Sinex not to pursue them. Franco said he could take the developer back to court. “A settlement agreement with these guys isn’t worth the powder to blow it to hell,” said Franco.
Demolition of the existing mall is underway.
Sinex attributed the new plans to the “prohibitive” cost of excavating for underground parking; now, he will dig a half — rather than one full — story below ground. It will save nearly $5 million in construction costs, though it will also force him to eliminate 40,000 square feet in underground retail space.
“In the field, you find conditions that are not economically or practically conducive to the original thought,” Sinex said. “You have to be flexible.”
Sinex said he increased the number of housing units after the state lifted a cap of 275 that once triggered additional environmental review.
The project has had a setback. Construction fell behind schedule after a contractor in late January found asbestos in the glue used for a rubber roofing membrane, according to Sinex. He said he worked with the state Department of Health to develop an abatement plan to dispose of the material, contained in an adhesive layer about a millimeter thick.
It should be removed in April, but the discovery has put the project nearly two months behind schedule. Foundation work is now expected to begin in early June, Sinex said, with construction scheduled for next September.
A few more tweaks to the plan are possible.
Sinex recently applied for permits for leisure space for tenants, including a pool, dining room, workout room, sauna and spa on the seventh and 12th stories. That proposal is subject to the approval of the Development Review Board.
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None of this changes the overall scope of the design. The housing provides a greater benefit than the retail or parking that you “progressives” seem to be so in love with right now. Also, if we are focusing on facts, none of the units in this project are going to be sold. They are all rentals.
Be honest, most of the people on here have been against this project since day 1 and there is nothing that the mayor/CEDO/developer could’ve done that would change your opinion. I’m just glad the voters of Burlington disagree with all of you. Can’t wait to see this get built and I hope to see similar projects that will add to our downtown and actually do something to address the lack of walkable housing.
Hmm…Macys’ closes…gets added next day to the mix…now this …textbook definition of lack of input and transparency…can a new City council help stem this Trumpian tide?
Anyone who thinks these extra 16 apartments are going to solve the city’s affordability crisis (yeah, apartments in a luxury high-rise with a pool, workout room, dining area and other “leisure” space are going to be “affordable”) isn’t real good with math. Or reality.
And then there’s this, the signature of Miro’s administrative philosophy: “The changes for developer Don Sinex’s project were approved administratively, with no public input.”
Burlington voters really blew it on 3/6. But that’s okay, Miro thinks that a less-than-majority “win” of a mere 30% of eligible voters means voters have sent a clear message of support. So, get ready for more of the same.
When were the changes approved? Did the mayor do this in secret prior to the most recent election?
City Democrats have held prior administrations to a high standard for exactly these reasons. Will they ask the same hard questions now?
The parking matter is important since it determines whether the city subsidizes this project with its own on-street parking – currently already happening around the city. The additional housing units are important because of the affordable housing problem – and the related Inclusionary Zoning rules that help to solve it (something market rate rents do not).
Surely developers need flexibility, but so do residents.
Am I supposed to be angry that the developer reduced the amount of retail space(that isn’t really needed downtown) and replaced it with more housing(which is desperately needed)? There is still about 80,000 sq. ft. of retail in this project.
The problem here is that the CLC/Franco sued after they didn’t get the result they wanted in the public vote and now this project has to build another 200 parking spots for gas guzzling cars. Digging holes in the ground to build parking spots makes housing more expensive, while encouraging people drive rather than walking, biking and using public transport. The whole point of building housing downtown is that people don’t need cars.
More people living downtown will shop there….keeping the downtown viable, supporting City Market…get real people…..
Macys is closing and that area will be redeveloped….
All this Sturm and Drang over 16 apartments in apartment starved Burlington (which may hold down rents and keep rents steady elsewhere, and more affordable) and the loss of 22 parking spaces??
Bait and switch… every single step of the way… a good partner for the city?!?!… sure thing mr mayor
Bait and switch!!… every step of the way… going back on agreed to deals?… yep… a good partner for the city… sure thing mr mayor…
So he eliminated jobs by emptying and destroying the mall while promising there would be more jobs in the new Sinex towers. Now he instead fills that with 16, 2500 sq foot apartments he will sell for millions a piece as investment properties for rich out of staters much like the travesty that has blighted London among other cities. So Burlington gets: destroyed zoning, destroyed livability, fewer jobs, more crowding, more pollution, more congestion, less parking, an absurd humungous valet parking situation, less businesses, hideous high-rises destroying our tourism economy…Weinberger, Sinex, Shannon, Roof, Knodell, Wright, Black, and the rest you have really screwed us.
Miro and Sinex at their duplicitous best . . . stand by for more lies from the Mayor’s office and absolute silence from the sheep on City Council.