Burlington’s interactive parking map Credit: screenshot

The owners of the stalled CityPlace Burlington project are paying for downtown parking this holiday season.

Beginning Friday and lasting through Christmas, developer Don Sinex and business partner Brookfield Asset Management will spend $72,000 to cover free four-hour parking at the College Street and Lakeview garages; two-hour parking at street metered spaces; free weekend parking at the city’s Elmwood lot; and additional parking benefits for employees of downtown shops and restaurants.

“We’re really rolling out the red carpet to support the great local businesses downtown,” said Chapin Spencer, director of the Department of Public Works. The promotion is “much greater and much broader than last year’s effort,” he added.

The 2017 discount included two hours of free on-street parking during Black Friday and every Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That plan cost about $10,000 and was paid for by the Church Street Marketplace, according to Spencer.

The more expansive plans this year come amid delays at the CityPlace project, where Sinex holds a permit allowing him to block about 35 parking spaces around the site during construction. The redevelopment of the old downtown mall has stalled. Construction crews have done no significant work since August and not much is likely to happen until the spring. City officials, meanwhile, have begun to voice their concerns.

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So is Sinex buying himself some goodwill? He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but Spencer said that city officials approached the developer several weeks ago and asked for some funding to help with a holiday parking proposal.

“Given the construction and the redevelopment downtown, there’s been increased interest in a more robust parking program downtown,” Spencer said. “We put together a proposal that we thought was doable and could be implemented on short notice and that could provide a great boost to our local business downtown.”

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Katie Jickling is a Seven Days staff writer.

18 replies on “Don Sinex Will Pay for Some Holiday Parking in Burlington”

  1. START BUILDING IN THE BIG HOLE Y O U CREATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY. That would be the gift we all want- then fire everyone- or vote them out- for making such a stupid decision in the first place.

  2. How will that work with the new meters? Shouldn’t the parking just be free every day til the end of the year? Raising the price of parking and coercing people to get an app to do it (as long as they have a smart phone and are able to download apps) doesn’t make more people come downtown.

  3. Is he buying himself some good will? Is he buying himself some good will? I would say so, wouldn’t you? Either that or he’s buying back some bad will.

  4. As usual there is probably less here than meets the eye. Sinex is about two years behind schedule and must pay for the additional occupancy of 35 parking meters next to the “construction” site. Each meter generates over $1000 per year. So 35x2x$1000=$70000. I suspect that the city and Sinex are trying to make this a big deal when it is just the money for the extra use of the metered spaces.

    BTW, Sinex demolished a 576 space parking garage. Added to the 35 metered space he occupies, there will be at least 600 fewer parking space downtown this year, free or not!

  5. Why doesn’t he just allow parking in the construction site where the mall was? There’s nothing going on with it……

  7. “I’m boycotting the Church Street Marketplace until the parade of white supremacy mural is removed.”

    Bye.

  9. This is Dandy ( or should that be Destitute?) Don’s “Please don’t hate me too much because I’m sticking it to you” bribe maneuver . It would be a bigger holiday gift if Sinex just left town, taking his toadies and lackeys with him.

    Please Santa, please. I promise I’ll be good the whole year.

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