Vt. tax credits will continue downtown revivals

MORRISVILLE, Vt. (AP) -- For generations Arthurs Department Store was a fixture in Morrisville, Vt., bringing people downtown from surrounding communities. But over the decades the buildings that housed Arthurs lost the people living in the apartments upstairs and the store closed two years leaving a void in the downtown.

Now local officials are hoping to help fill that void with the help of a $233,500 state tax credit that will help complete the financing package for a $3.5 million rehabilitation project that will create 18 apartments and ground-floor retail space. Construction is scheduled to get under way next month.

The buildings were never known for the architecture, but they were the heart of the community.

"Generations of people in Morrisville and Lamoille County have been in here and bought a pair of socks, bought a shirt or whatever and it generated a lot of foot traffic for a lot of people over the years, and when they closed up the doors and the town didn't know what was going to happen, that was a big question mark," said Matt Moore, a developer with Housing Vermont who is among those working to rehabilitate the building. "The significance, really, is bringing life back to Main Street."

The Arthurs project was among 31 in 20 Vermont downtowns -- six in Morrisville -- that are getting a boost thanks to almost $2 million in state tax credits that were announced Tuesday in Morrisville by Gov. Peter Shumlin. The tax credits are expected to make possible $18 million in construction projects that will create jobs in the heart of Vermont communities, helping to keep them vibrant, said Shumlin, who announced the credits Tuesday.

The credits are a benefit of Vermont's Downtown and Village Center Designation. The credits can support hard-to-finance projects and support state-mandated code requirements, such as sprinkler systems or elevators.

"What distinguishes Vermont, what makes our quality of life so extraordinary in this state is the fact that neighbors take care of neighbors, neighbors take care of strangers. We want to help each other, and downtowns are the connections, the heart of that very essence of Vermont," Shumlin said.

Other projects that will be supported with the credits include the reconstruction of a block in downtown St. Johnsbury that was damaged by fire last December, work in the Catamount school in Bennington, access and safety improvements at the Old Labor Hall in Barre and improvements to the Bank Building in Richford.

The three buildings where Arthurs operated for 40 years were built between the mid-19th century through about 1950, Moore said.

The upstairs rooms were gradually abandoned over the years, many in the 1970s, with the last vacated about 20 years ago.

Most of the 18 rental units will be reserved as affordable housing, and there will be two commercial spaces with a total of about 3,500-square feet.

Work already has begun with the removal of dangerous substances, such as asbestos and lead. General construction will begin next month. Work should take about a year.

Jim Lovinsky of the Lamoille Housing Partnership, is working with Moore on rehabilitating Arthurs. He said that after his son graduated from college the two of them went to Arthurs to buy him a suit for his job searches.

"Arthurs is a real landmark," Lovinsky said.