Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...
Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...
Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...
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the 1906-vintage edifice st<strong>and</strong>s out today<br />
like a polished antique. Once home<br />
to the Tuttle Printing <strong>and</strong> Engraving<br />
Company, the building now houses 13<br />
affordable apartments, along with the<br />
offices of RCCLT.<br />
The most noticeable tenant, with its<br />
showroom at street level, is Center Street<br />
Artisans, a new business whose shareholders<br />
are craft artists. Big picture windows<br />
showcase elegantly h<strong>and</strong>crafted<br />
home furnishings, <strong>and</strong> passersby often<br />
pause to window-shop.<br />
Since the wraps came off the Tuttle<br />
Building’s renovation this fall, local<br />
responses have been very warm.<br />
“The building really has jumpstarted<br />
enthusiasm in the community,”<br />
says Elisabeth Kulas, RCCLT’s executive<br />
director. “I get comments all the time<br />
about how beautiful it looks.”<br />
Good looks, in this case, go deeper<br />
than the façade. Led by RCCLT in a limited<br />
partnership with <strong>Housing</strong> <strong>Vermont</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> Key Bank, the Tuttle Building’s<br />
renovation proved that a downtown<br />
restoration project with a return on investment<br />
that would be insufficient for<br />
a private developer can, with patience<br />
<strong>and</strong> determination, be accomplished as<br />
a private-public-nonprofit collaboration<br />
— <strong>and</strong> the community as a whole<br />
can benefit.<br />
The completed Tuttle building, supported<br />
by a VHCB grant along with<br />
federal HOME Program funds awarded<br />
through VHCB, affordable housing<br />
tax credits, <strong>and</strong> HUD special purpose<br />
funding — has provided downtown affordable<br />
housing in a city whose commercial<br />
center had almost none.<br />
St<strong>and</strong>ing across from the earlierrestored<br />
Paramount Theater, the Tuttle<br />
Building <strong>and</strong> its artisans’ showroom<br />
has helped encourage local interest in<br />
the role of the arts <strong>and</strong> creativity in<br />
downtown revitalization. The <strong>Board</strong> of<br />
Aldermen has supported a broad-based<br />
local effort by community leaders,<br />
artists, business owners <strong>and</strong> cultural<br />
organizations to explore how a “creative<br />
economy” can continue sparking<br />
Rutl<strong>and</strong>’s renewal, much as similar efforts<br />
have in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Br<strong>and</strong>on.<br />
Then there are the city residents who<br />
have moved into the Tuttle apartments.<br />
They’re people like Mac Janney <strong>and</strong><br />
Martha Crilly.<br />
Janney, who was born with a form<br />
of macular degeneration <strong>and</strong> is legally<br />
blind, coordinates development at <strong>Vermont</strong><br />
Adaptive Ski <strong>and</strong> Sports, based at<br />
the nearby Pico resort. The nonprofit<br />
organization provides sports <strong>and</strong> recreation<br />
for people with disabilities. Janney<br />
was living in an apartment up a steep hill<br />
from the city center. When he toured the<br />
Tuttle Building last summer, he says, “I<br />
just fell in love with the place.”<br />
Living now in a first-floor apartment,<br />
Janney says, “I can walk anywhere I<br />
need to go. It’s easy for me to go grocery<br />
shopping. Just having all these neat little<br />
shops around is pretty cool.”<br />
Martha Crilly, who has been confined<br />
to a wheelchair by rheumatoid<br />
arthritis <strong>and</strong> fibromyalgia, was renting<br />
an apartment in a building that had been<br />
sold; she was close to homelessness,<br />
unable to find an accessible, affordable<br />
rental, when she learned of RCCLT <strong>and</strong><br />
this building. She moved into a spacious,<br />
accessible apartment in August.<br />
“God bless the person who designed<br />
this, because I love it,” Crilly says. “It’s<br />
so open, <strong>and</strong> so easy, <strong>and</strong> there’s a sense<br />
of security in this building. It’s just<br />
beautiful.”<br />
9<br />
Governor Douglas joined Mrs.<br />
Tuttle, representatives of funding,<br />
community development agencies,<br />
congressional delegation <strong>and</strong> Rutl<strong>and</strong><br />
County Community L<strong>and</strong> Trust staff<br />
<strong>and</strong> board members at the ribbon<br />
cutting last summer.