Video: Springfield ready to rebuild downtown, image

State and local officials gathered in front of Springfield's boarded-up Ellis Block to symbolically break ground on reconstruction. For those on hand, the event represents a new beginning for the town's historic past.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=13099548                                  # # # # Springfield ready to rebuild downtown, image  •  Featured Videos * Springfield ready to rebuild downtown, image  •  Springfield, Vermont - September 3, 2010  •  State and local officials gathered in front of Springfield's boarded-up Ellis Block to symbolically break ground on reconstruction. For those on hand, the event represents a new beginning for the town's historic past.  •  "The movie theatre has been here since the midcentury and it is essential that there is this kind of community activity, economic activity happening downtown," said Nancy Owens of Housing Vermont.  •  Fire gutted the apartment complex and famous ground-floor theatre in June 2008. At that time, the future of this section of Main Street was uncertain.  •  "I remember talking to the people here right after the fire and the constant refrain I heard was we will rebuild, we have to rebuild, we can rebuild and they are proving that," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.  •  Leahy helped secure $125,000 to help make Friday's groundbreaking a reality. The building is co-owned by Housing Vermont and final negotiations are taking place to secure an operator for the theatre, which will include digital 3-D movies. Officials say the block will once again become the focal point on Main Street, a big piece of the overall revitalization taking place in the community, an effort recently branded "Springfield Reinvented."  •  "We've just completed a branding program," explained Stephen Blunkard of Springfield on the Move. "We are in the process of doing a marketing plan for the downtown. And we have plans for the riverfront, for façade improvements and a lot of other projects that are coming up. It's a real exciting time to be in Springfield."  •  The entire project is schedule to be completed by the spring of next year and officials hope it's just the beginning of more to come in this community's attempt to reinvent itself.  •  The entire cost of the project is a little less than $3.5 million. Over a million of that comes from a federal Neighborhood Stabilization grant which Sen. Leahy also helped secure.  •  Adam Sullivan - WCAX News  •