Development firm Redstone has applied for a zoning permit to build a 120-room, five-story hotel on East Allen Street in downtown Winooski.
To make way for the project, the developers have proposed demolishing two residential structures, including one at 41 East Allen that is listed on the Vermont State Register of Historic Places as a locally significant structure. The home was built in 1872 and is known for the two lions that sit on either side of its front steps.
Tear-downs are an increasingly familiar scenario in the city, where an uptick in development on major streets has come with multiple demolitions.
The hotel would be developed by Winooski Block LLC, according to the zoning application. The LLC is headed by Redstone CEO Larry Williams; managing partner Erik Hoekstra is listed as the LLC’s registered agent, state records show. Neither responded to messages from Seven Days.
The Winooski Development Review Board will consider the proposal at its regular meeting Thursday night.
Redstone’s hotel project could compete with another proposal a few blocks away at a city-owned lot along Abenaki Way. Last month, the Winooski City Council voted to enter into negotiations with Nedde Real Estate and partners for a development on that lot, which would include a 100-room boutique hotel, a 300-car parking garage and 36,000 square feet of office space.
Redstone’s project would incorporate an existing surface parking lot, along with the land under the two houses that would be demolished. Those homes are currently rentals that contain approximately 10 units total.
The hotel would include 65 parking spots at the existing parking lot. The developer is asking the city for permission to meet requirements for another 43 spaces in the nearby city-owned parking garage on Cascade Way.
Winooski officials have sought to attract a hotel in the downtown core for more than a decade, with various projects that have surfaced and then stalled. With two projects now proposed, is there a market for both?
Heather Carrington, Winooski’s community and economic development officer, said the city is willing to work with any developer who brings a project forward.
It’s up to the developer to determine “what the market will bear,” Carrington said Tuesday.
The proposed hotel on East Allen requires local approval. It could also be large enough to require approval under the state development review law, Act 250, said Eric Vorwald, the city planning and zoning manager.
It’s unclear if the proposed demolition of a state-listed historic structure will slow the project. The house at 41 East Allen is sheathed in rusting aluminum siding, but with its tall white columns and curving porch, it still has fans who believe it has potential for reuse and renovation.
Winooski Historical Society member Sarah van Ryckevorsel expressed concern that it could be on its way out.
“The house with its two lions is an iconic welcome as you enter the downtown of Winooski,” van Ryckevorsel wrote in an email to Seven Days. “Of course I would love to see the house stay standing with a creative architectural solution to incorporate the old building into the new one, similar to what is being done with the old YMCA building in Burlington.”
She was referring to plans to turn the former Greater Burlington YMCA building into a hotel that would retain the building’s historic front.
Meanwhile, opponents of a proposed apartment building that would raze one of the oldest houses in Winooski, known as the Mansion House, have appealed that project on multiple grounds.
The appeal is currently at Vermont Superior Court.
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@ Freedomtothink
It bothers me when people erroneously associate combined sewage discharges (due to lack of stormwater infrastructure) with phosphorous loading and cyanobacteria outbreaks. Whether these citizens are entirely uninformed on lake ecology or whether they want to use our (lack of) stormwater infrastructure as a convenient scapegoat to avoid discussing less politically-palatable regulations on the dairy industry I don’t know. But the continued coupling by citizens and policy makers alike of these two different problems bothers me.
Sewage discharges do create public health issues and are a vector for pathogens like e. coli to enter the lake, but they are NOT a significant source of phosphorous that lead to cyanobacteria outbreaks–at least not any more so than “treated” sewage which really only means it has been broken down into smaller particles and disinfected (sewage treatment plants are not designed to remove phosphorous).
The vast majority of phosphorous pollution comes from the ag sector. But oh no! We can’t have regulations that put our state’s “idyllic landscape” at risk! Grow a pair people. Vermont’s dairy industry is not economically viable nor sustainable.
Whether this project will have any effect (positive or negative) on Winooski’s partially-treated sewage discharges is a different question. But PLEASE don’t associate this new hotel with cyanobacteria outbreaks. Development like this has no effect on phosphorous levels and associated algae outbreaks.
knowyourassumptions – If the person or company that DOES own it thinks that a hotel will be profitable there, that’s their decision.
Actually, no, it’s not their decision. This goes well beyond a private citizen using private property for their own purposes. This is a corporate entity, “Development firm Redstone” looking to tear into the historic fabric of a town & shoehorn in a large commercial operation, that will burden the entire surrounding area in numerous ways, subject to commercial regulation by the People of Winooski and the People of Vermont. And if the paid representatives of the People of Winooski act in any way other than the best interests of the People, they are subject to their own liability. The people of the town have a 100% valid interest in how this is going to affect them and every right to weigh in on it and prevent it if that is the consensus.
Winooski already has massive problems with storm water runoff & sewage disposal/contamination and now these developers want to amplify those problems while dangling dollar bills in front of starry eyed municipal servants.
Hey Assumptions,
You don’t own the property either, but that doesn’t matter. The question is whether the infrastructure can support the hotel (or both hotels!) and whether there is a need. I agree with the comment on the limitations of tourist attraction to Winooski. Perhaps people who enjoy the sound of the F-35s? But in that case they all better hurry, as the accumulation of more jets at the airport will exacerbate the noise complaints (which are all valid). I believe the jets will not be able to stay here long.
[I can’t wait to see which line you excerpt for your snarky tongue-lashing.]
“What makes them think a hotel will do any better?”
See, here’s the thing: you don’t own this property. If the person or company that DOES own it thinks that a hotel will be profitable there, that’s their decision.
The Winooski and Burlington area need more real affordable housing. I know the city is just thinking about how much money they can get from a hotel from taxes and more tourists. But what does Winooski have to offer them except for bars? They haven’t had any stores there in centuries worth shopping at. The last one they had was Forest Hills Factory Outlet. Then there were the small shops in the Woolen Mill. What makes them think a hotel will do any better?
It’s up to the developer to determine “what the market will bear,”
What about, what the sewer mains and sewage treatment plant will bear? Is the developer paying to update those for the new burden they will place on it? You know, the ones that already can’t handle what they have now without flooding untreated sewage into our waterways, creating cyanobacterial nightmares all summer long.
How about water supply? Electrical supply? Storm water? Increased garbage disposal?
More service wage jobs brought to you by Neo-liberal economics and the cancer spreads.
Sigh. Another ‘historic’ structure that has been chopped into apartments, sheathed in vinyl and let fall into disrepair for decades. As a Winooski resident, I welcome the jobs, tax growth and downtown revitalization that a new hotel would bring.
“More housing, not more hotels!.”
See, here’s the thing: you don’t own this property.
More housing, not more hotels!