Cornerstone Housing Partners is celebrating the completion of a new $13 million, three-story apartment building in West Rutland that aims to expand affordable housing options in the community.
Three vacant and blighted properties were cleaned up and redeveloped to create the Marble Village Apartments. Located at 430 Main St., the new housing is within walking distance to restaurants, a pharmacy, the town's school, post office and library, as well as a grocery store. It’s also on a bus line.
The mix of one- and two-bedroom units, along with studios, will enable the housing nonprofit to accommodate a variety of low-to-moderate income tenants, some of whom are expected to move in before Thanksgiving, said Cornerstone CEO Mary Cohen.
“We're hoping to get five families in there, a bunch of seniors, but also some single people or couples... various ages. So it is truly a mixed community,” she said.
Three of the units are ADA-accessible, but Cohen said all the units can be adapted as needed.
Being able to offer brand new energy-efficient apartments in a convenient location should help seniors downsize and create more affordable options in West Rutland for families and individuals, said Cohen.
“And what is so critically important about permanent affordability is that it lasts for generations,” she said. “You know, we have covenants on these properties that say that they will remain perpetually affordable. So a private developer can't come in and change things. That piece of it is so vital to having thriving communities.”
"What is so critically important about permanent affordability is that it lasts for generations."Mary Cohen, CEO, Cornerstone Housing Partners
Cornerstone Housing Partners co-owns Marble Village Apartments with Evernorth, another housing nonprofit that operates in Vermont as well as New Hampshire and Maine. Funding and financing came from a mix of public and private sources, said Cohen.
According to its website, Cornerstone has built or renovated more than 160 buildings and has four mobile home parks. The nonprofit provides affordable housing to more than 1,000 people in 900 units throughout Rutland and Bennington counties.
