By
Liz Nickerson
 |
| View
of the general store and housing in the AHP-funded Groton
Village Revitalization Project. |
Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom is known for its striking natural
setting, picturesque villages, and resilient residents. It is Vermont’s
most rural region — a place defined by its landscape.
The small communities within the region’s three counties
feature village centers with strong architectural integrity. A
tourist destination year-round, the Northeast Kingdom is also characterized
by underemployment, substandard housing, declining infrastructure,
and limited development.
Formerly a farming and mill community, Groton, Vermont, is located
along the Wells River in a valley of the western foothills
of the Green Mountains. The village center of this Northeast Kingdom
community exhibits typical 18th century Vermont vernacular design.
In 2006, Groton’s village center was transformed by an ambitious
housing renovation and community-development initiative undertaken
by the town, Housing Vermont, and the Gilman Housing Trust in collaboration
with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, member Merchants Bank,
and numerous additional financial partners.
Serving as the catalyst to rebuild a small rural town in need of
significant investment, the Groton Village Revitalization project
rehabilitated four historic buildings in the center of town and
demolished and reconstructed another. The $7 million project created
19 affordable apartments; space for a new town library, general
store, and small businesses; and streetscape and
park improvements.
Rebuilding Groton began in 2001, when residents realized that a
comprehensive effort was needed to provide affordable housing and
save the community’s significant historic buildings. Library
trustees, the historical society, and local government joined with
the Gilman Housing Trust and Housing Vermont to plan and carry
out
the renovation project.
 |
| Pre-construction view of the Groton Center general store.
|
The collaborators assembled a complex array of fundingsources
to carry out the planned work, including a $300,000 Affordable
Housing Program grant through
member Merchants Bank, equity from the syndication of state and
federal tax credits (including Low Income Housing Tax Credits,
Historic Tax Credits, and downtown credits), and grants and loans
from the USDA Rural Development Section 515 program, Vermont Housing
and Conservation Board, Preservation Trust of Vermont, NeighborWorks
of America, and the
Vermont Agency of Transportation.
Ed Stretch, director of the Gilman Housing Trust, notes that prior
to the project’s completion there were few year-round apartment
rentals available in Groton, and most of them were poorly maintained
and presented serious health and safety hazards.
“The need for quality affordable housing provided the initial attraction
for Gilman Housing Trust and Housing Vermont to undertake the Groton Village
Revitalization project,” says Mr. Stretch. “However, we quickly
appreciated the need to use affordable housing as the foundation for
a larger project, which addressed wider community-development needs.”
In addition to new residential and commercial space, the development
also created new green space and additional parking for the store
and apartments. In conjunction with the development, Housing Vermont
is working with a group of area residents and the Vermont Small
Business Development Center to create a cooperative market for
the community.
According to the project’s developers, the combination of
commercial, residential, and public space in the renovated buildings
has proven to be one of the project’s most successful elements.
The development is well integrated with the established community
and provides critical commercial space to help sustain the local
economy.
“The physical changes are important, but it’s the attitude and
pride of people in town that are most important,” says Patrick Shattuck,
Groton resident and project organizer. “Home owners are ordering new
windows and having their homes painted. The recreation department ceased to
exist 10 years ago, but it revived after this project began to take shape two
years ago.”T
Liz Nickerson is senior community investment manager for New Hampshire,
Vermont, and Western Massachusetts at the Federal Home Loan Bank
of Boston.
|
