After more than a decade of delays and turmoil, the redevelopment of Burlington’s downtown mall — a site that became known derisively as “the pit” — is nearing completion.
The first phase of the Burlington Square project is now open, and includes a 161-room hotel, 53 apartments, a restaurant and a cafe. A second building, which will have about 320 more apartments and another hotel, is slated to be finished in the fall of 2027.
On Wednesday, the developers celebrated the milestone with a ribbon cutting in front of AC Hotel Burlington. Dozens of people attended the event, including former city officials like Mayor Miro Weinberger and city councilors Kurt Wright and Joan Shannon — all of whom spent years pushing for the project.
“I'm calling it a monumental milestone,” said Dave Farrington, one of the developers.“We're not done, but it's a big hurdle that we jumped over.”
Giri Hotels, a Massachusetts-based hospitality company, is running the new hotel. The company owns and manages 56 hotels across five states.
“Just for a retrospect, right, a few years ago, there was a big hole here,” said Ash Sangani, with Giri Hotels, at the ribbon cutting. “Just take a second to just understand where things moved.”
Sangani told the crowd on Wednesday that he expected that in October the hotel would bring in $90,000 from the state occupancy tax and $40,000 to Burlington’s coffers.
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak did not attend the ribbon cutting, but released a statement Wednesday, calling the opening a “joyful milestone.”
More from Vermont Public: CityPlace Burlington construction resumes after years of delay
The first tenant is moving into the apartment building this Friday and four of 53 units have been leased so far, said Patrick O’Brien, vice president of development at S.D. Ireland, one of the partners in the project.
Rents for the new apartments range from $1,650 for a 464 square-foot studio to $6,800 for a two-bed, two-bathroom apartment on the top floor, according to S.D. Ireland’s property website.
Burlington’s inclusionary zoning ordinance requires developers to have affordable units in projects with five or more apartments.
The developers struck a deal with the city allowing them to wait for the second phase of the project to include the affordable units. Twenty percent of the units in the new building will be affordable, said O’Brien.
Those affordable apartments are supposed to be available by June 2026, according to the development agreement.
O’Brien confirmed that the developers are seeking an extension of that deadline, but abruptly ended the interview after demanding Vermont Public not include that detail in this story.
The city received the extension request and is willing to discuss it, but negotiations haven't started, said Joe Magee, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, in an email on Wednesday.
Another unfinished piece of the project is the reconnection of two city streets that were blocked by the old mall. The city is funding that work with $12 million of tax increment financing — a borrowing method that uses an anticipated increase in property tax revenue to pay for public infrastructure.
While the developers are responsible for reconnecting the streets, the city is planning to use $37 million in federal grants to do additional road work around Burlington Square, according to the Department of Public Works.
More from Vermont Public: From proposal to present: A timeline of Burlington's CityPlace project
The project, formerly known as CityPlace, has changed a great deal since 2014 when Don Sinex unveiled a sweeping vision to redevelop the old mall in the heart of the Queen City.
Initially, the redevelopment aimed to expand the mall’s retail and office space and included less housing. The original plan also contained a 14-story tower, which immediately sparked controversy.
Local activists filed lawsuits against the project, but the redevelopment inched forward. In December 2017, Sinex started demolition of the old mall, but as he struggled to line up financing, work on the redevelopment stopped, leaving a gaping hole in the heart of downtown.
City officials who had long touted the project as a prime example of public-private partnerships became increasingly frustrated with the delays and lack of communication from Sinex. Downtown businesses near the vacant lot saw foot traffic decline.
Despite the pleas from public officials, construction remained stalled for four years. In that time, an international developer took the lead on the project, scaled it back — and abandoned it. The city sued the developers, and Sinex was bought out of the project.
The trio of local developers — Farrington Construction, S.D. Ireland and Omega Electrical Construction Company — that ultimately took over the project finally got construction started again in 2022. Last year, the developers scaled back the amount of housing in the project to bring on Giri Hotels, a move they said was needed to shore up financing for the project.
Sinex is still the majority owner of two properties on the site of the old mall: the former L.L. Bean and Macy’s stores.
The Macy’s is being used as the city’s high school while a new school is constructed. Sinex is planning a new project for the L.L. Bean building. He said in an email this week that the project is in “schematic design and pre-con planning.”
