St. Johnsbury, Vermont

New Avenue

Problem

Lack of affordable, quality housing keeps workers away and forces young families to leave—even when jobs exist.

Solution

New Avenue Apartments, 10 Eastern Avenue, St. Johnsbury, is the 1897-98 New Avenue House hotel (later Depot Square Apartments) that Housing Vermont/Evernorth bought in July 2018 with a $1 million state grant routed through VHCB and gut-rehabbed with RuralEdge, Bread Loaf Corporation as construction manager and Duncan Wisniewski Architects. Residents began moving into 40 apartments (6 studios, 31 one-bedroom, 3 two-bedroom per the state housing directory; 8/29/3 per RuralEdge testimony) in early December 2021, all with rental assistance capping rent at 30% of income and 10 units for households exiting homelessness; the ground floor's roughly 8,100 square feet of commercial space is a separate condominium owned by a local investor group (New Depot Square Commercial Properties LLC). Residential redevelopment funding exceeded $14.9 million; the Preservation Trust of Vermont gave it a 2022 Preservation Award.

Patterns used: Affordable Rural Housing Nodes

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