Middlebury South Village receives "smart growth" award, September 17, 2007. (click title to view article in PDF format)

Middlebury Hums With Construction, July 2007. Article courtesy of the Champlain Business Journal. (click title to view article in PDF format)

Site work begins at Middlebury South Village; new Martin’s Hardware store to open around Christmas. For Dec. 1, 2005.

By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — Construction workers this week were busy demolishing the remnants of the former Maple Manor Motel on Court Street, one of the first steps in getting the site ready for a major development that will include new homes, offices and shopping opportunities.
     Spearheaded by developers Jeff Glassberg and Steve Reid, Middlebury South Village (MSV) will ultimately include 56 single-family homes, 30 townhouse apartments and 45,000 square feet of office and retail space, including a bank and sit-down restaurant.
     In anticipation of the upcoming construction, developers have been removing the Maple Manor Motel and the approximately 10 out-buildings that were a part of the long-dormant operation.
     Glassberg said great pains have been taken to minimize waste. Several people have stepped forward to claim some of the Maple Manor cabins. One of them will be used as a concession stand by the Friends of Middlebury Football.
The old motel furnishings were made available to takers on a first come, first served basis.
     “Anything that could be reused, we tried to reuse,” Glassberg said.
Once demolition work is completed this fall, workers will seed and mulch the property “to clean up the front of the site,” according to Glassberg.
He said the front portion of the site will essentially resemble a large lawn until work begins on the retail/commercial aspects of MSV next summer and fall.
Along with removing the old Maple Manor buildings this week, workers have been doing some site work related to a new sewer pump station that will serve the project.

     Glassberg said work will begin in earnest next spring with the construction of the new Lacrosse Drive, which will serve the development while connecting Middle Road with Creek Road. At the same time, work will begin on some of the homes, along with landscaping and establishing connections to the municipal water and sewer systems. “We’re on track,” Glassberg said.
     Also on track, around a mile south of MSV on Route 7, is a new Martin’s Hardware and Building Supply store. As the Addison Independent went to press, workers were completing some of the final lighting and duct work on the 12,000-square-foot building, in anticipation of a grand opening before Christmas.
“We’re putting merchandise in right now,” said store owner Martin Clark, who operates the original, well-established Martin’s Hardware business in Bristol.
Along with a full range of household hardware items, building supplies and lumber, the Middlebury Martin’s store will include a selection of electronics equipment under the Radio Shack banner.

Chittenden Bank Middlebury South Village.
editor’s folder May 8, 2006.

By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — Chittenden Bank officials late last week confirmed plans to build a new branch in the Middlebury South Village (MSV) residential/commercial development that’s now under construction off Court Street.
     Chittenden Bank currently operates 51 branches throughout Vermont, including one on Court Square in Middlebury. The bank has been in Middlebury since 1962, when it purchased the Addison County Trust Co.
In recent years, the bank has outgrown its Court Square location. As a result, some of the Chittenden’s 20 Middlebury-based employees must work out of an office on Court Street.
     Company officials have been casting about for larger quarters in Middlebury. They believe they’ve found a workable solution in the 31-acre MSV development, where they hope to build a two-story, 8,000-square-foot bank that would feature four drive-through lanes, with one dedicated to ATM service.
Darcy Tarte, market manager for the Chittenden Bank, said the new building would allow the company to accommodate all its workers in one location, though the Court Square spot would continue to provide basic services to customers.
“We are looking forward to having all of our employees together in one building,” Tarte said. She doesn’t foresee the bank hiring additional workers as a result of the new project.
     Architects are currently designing the new bank, which Chittenden officials hope to have under construction by next spring. Jeffery Glassberg, developer of MSV, said he’s pleased to welcome Chittenden Bank into the fold. “They will make a great addition to MSV,” Glassberg said.
     In additional to the bank, the MSV project has already received approval for:
• Five one-and-a-half and two-story commercial buildings totaling 45,575 square feet. Along with the bank, those structures will include a sit-down restaurant, retail shops and business offices.
• A complex of 30 residential townhouse apartments that will each contain one or two bedrooms.
Housing Vermont recently won a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant to ensure that 25 of the 30 units will be made available to households with incomes below 60 percent of the median income in the county. The town of Middlebury has agreed to administer the grant.
“I would like to thank the town of Middlebury for being a supportive partner in creating this development,” said Nancy Owens, Housing Vermont’s vice president for development.
• A cottage neighborhood of 27 single-family homes, ranging in size from 1,000 to 1,200 square feet.
Housing Vermont is raising funds to help make some of the cottages more affordable to people of limited means, according to Owens.
• A “village residential neighborhood” that will feature 24 single-family homes that will be 1,400 square feet or larger. The neighborhood will accessible from Middle Road.
• Five additional single-family homes accessed from Creek Road.
     Glassberg is pleased with the way MSV is coming together.
Work crews have been busy laying in infrastructure that will eventually include water, sewer and three new roads within the development — Lacrosse Drive, Fields Road and Cottage Lane.
     Glassberg said construction on residential elements of the project is set to begin later this month. Design work is done on the main office-retail building in MSV, with summer construction a real possibility. “There are a lot of moving pieces, but we are moving ahead,” Glassberg said.