If 2008 was a year of misfortune for the Ellis Block in Springfield, then 2009 is shaping up to be the year in which the historic building will stage its comeback.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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Housing Vermont, the Burlington-area organization that assumed ownership of the building this fall, received an early Christmas gift on Dec. 23 when the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development awarded the group $165,000 worth of federal Community Development Block Grant money for the project. The building, built in the 1870s, was severely damaged by a five-alarm fire on July 8.
ReplyDeleteAndy Broderick, executive director of Housing vermont, said that the grant targets buildings like the Ellis Block, built in the 1870s.
"We were pleased that it was available," he said. "It seemed like a fairly important building for the center of downtown Springfield, and the program that we applied for was designed for this type of problem."
David Mace, a spokesman for the VACCD, said that the grant will go toward stabilizing the building for the winter before significant restoration work takes place.
"We anticipate that they may be coming back for additional funding in the later grant round," he said. Mace added that the Ellis Block may qualify for some of the $19 million that the state is slated to receive in Federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds, used for blighted or foreclosed properties.
The project is designed to have street-level commercial space and a restored movie theater to replace the Springfield Theater that was destroyed in the July fire, as well as eight residential spaces on the upper floors. Broderick said that Housing Vermont hopes to break ground on the project early in the summer of 2009, though it will have to secure various sources of funding before then.
"We are still a long way from getting the financing together," he said. "We're hoping that between now and June that we get a design and financing package that will allow us to carry out our plan."
Housing Vermont is working in tandem with Bill Morlock, director of the Springfield Housing Authority to help the project come to fruition. Morlock said that the group hopes to select an architect for the renovation work after the first of the year.
"My board and myself, we both felt this was a key piece of downtown. That's why we got involved," he said. "I think this is what Springfield needs in order to attract people downtown, especially in the evening."
By Katie Beth Ryan, Staff Writer
Eagle-Times