Essex Experience owner looks to add workforce housing to revitalized mall

Peter Edelmann, owner of the mall in Essex, Vt., chats with Kayla Silver on July 31, 2024 at the new business there. Silver owns the Salt & Bubbles wine bar and a new cafe and market called Leo and Company in the plaza. (VtDigger - Auditi Guha)

Peter Edelmann, owner of the mall in Essex, Vt., chats with Kayla Silver on July 31, 2024 at the new business there. Silver owns the Salt & Bubbles wine bar and a new cafe and market called Leo and Company in the plaza. (VtDigger - Auditi Guha) VTDigger — Auditi Guha

By AUDITI GUHA

VTDigger

Published: 08-10-2024 8:01 PM

ESSEX, Vt. — With the Essex Experience shopping complex at capacity, its owner has his sights set on a new project in the plaza: four green buildings that would bring a total of 170 rental units of workforce housing. 

In an interview last week, Peter Edelmann called his plan, first reported by the Essex Reporter, an “opportunity to continue the evolution of what was becoming a failed retail center into a vibrant hub for creativity, community, tourism and a walkable living environment that could be a model for other locations to consider.”

The approach is similar to one taken by the University of Vermont Health Network to create workforce housing in the region. Edelmann said he hopes to partner with local employers to build rental housing that they can lease on a long-term basis to employees at 25% below the market rate.

Such partnerships would help lower risk and interest rates, he said. The Colchester, Vt., entrepreneur also hopes to capitalize on state and federal grants and tax credits to build in an area that already has infrastructure and wouldn’t encroach on existing green space, he said.

The project is still in its infancy — Edelmann hopes to break ground next spring but still needs to secure permits and funding — but it’s already creating excitement among local officials. 

“We’re hoping that this will be a model for the state,” said Jean O’Sullivan, the economic development coordinator in Essex town. She credited Edelmann with turning the flailing shopping plaza he bought in 1994 into “a locally owned, pedestrian-friendly, fabulous place to visit” today.

In his conversations with locals, three things repeatedly come up, Edelmann said: concern about the lack of housing that young people can afford; businesses struggling to attract new talent because of the housing crunch; and a desire for community, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Initial sketches submitted to the town in May outline four new 4-story residential buildings on a 24-acre parcel zoned for mixed-use development. 

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The buildings would not be dependent on fossil fuels and would feature green space, green roofs and solar power. Edelmann pointed to the advantages of locating housing in an area in which residents can walk to eat, grocery shop and enjoy entertainment.

The development would include both underground and surface parking, although overall parking in the area would be reduced from 1,084 to 1,004 spaces, according to an April 4 letter from O’Leary-Burke Civil Associates to the town zoning office, on behalf of Edelmann’s company, Eurowest Retail Partners.

A May 9 planning commission document outlines some initial design concerns about the project, which include queries about the proposed density and building height, roadway design, lack of shared-use bike paths, and capacity for shared trash, parking and deliveries at the mall.

Rep. Leonora Dodge, D-Essex, said she has heard local concerns about the size of the proposed buildings, the implications for tenant rights if housing is through an employer and its environmental impact. She said she looks forward to continued discussions with the developers on these issues.

Still, the proposal is cause for hope at a time in which developers are strapped by market forces, according to O’Sullivan, a former state representative. 

“Affordable housing is a social good that we as a community invest in. This is a market solution to work for and a partnership between businesses and developers with, hopefully, some support from the state,” she said. “So this is a commercial project with the goal that it will be commercially sustainable so it can be replicable at scale everywhere else.”

Dodge called it “one of many innovative solutions to the state’s housing crisis.”

“It seems to fit the category of smart growth housing in a location that enjoys existing sewer and utility access, in the heart of public transit, a bike path, and shopping, which encourages walkability/rollability,” she wrote in an email.

Edelmann said he could not disclose what the project would cost until he secures the funding. For now, the next meeting to discuss the design plans with Essex town is set for Sept. 12.

He also hopes to partner with the Champlain Housing Trust to manage the buildings. Michael Monte, chief executive officer of the trust, said they had a good initial conversation and he is open to exploring such a partnership.

“I’m pretty impressed with what he’s done out there. It’s quite different from what it used to be as a factory outlet and he does have a vision on what to do,” Monte said. “We don’t have any commitment yet either way but I would say that what he wants to do makes a lot of sense.”