FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Contact: Kerrie Lohr, kerrie@lamoillehousing.org, (802) 888-5714
Lisa Patlis, lpatlis@evernorthus.org, (802) 861-3814
MORRISVILLE VT. At 8:00 AM on Sunday July 3, a passerby in downtown Morrisville noticed a fire at the Village Center Apartments affordable housing development and contacted emergency responders. Area fire departments responded quickly. Firefighters successfully contained and put out the fire, and remained on site for several hours to ensure that the fire did not reignite.
Village Center Apartments is currently under construction and does not have residents residing in it presently. Work crews were not at the job site the day of the fire. No injuries to people or property damages in the vicinity related to the fire are known at this time.
Local and state police and fire professionals have begun an investigation into the cause of the fire, and a building assessment is underway by insurance professionals. At this time, these efforts are currently inconclusive.
The most extreme damage was isolated to a small room and adjacent hallway on the ground floor of the apartment complex. Smoke and water damage occurred throughout the building, necessitating significant mitigation and clean-up efforts. Although the building’s exterior work can continue, interior work will not resume until smoke and water damage mitigation and clean-up is complete. Contractors will resume interior work after this. At that time, we will give an update on the new completion date and apartment lease up schedule.
Co-owners and co-developers, Lamoille Housing Partnership and Evernorth, are endlessly grateful to the person who first detected and called in the fire, and to the first responders’ professionalism and courage in containing and putting out the fire. We owe them a debt of gratitude.
“We are deeply committed to this community, and will work as hard as we can to get this vitally important community development project back on schedule. We’re eager to open the door to home for the first 24 households that will reside there,” said Jim Lovinsky, Executive Director, Lamoille Housing Partnership.
Located on Hutchins Street in Morrisville, Village Center Apartments transforms an unused, infill lot into 24 income eligible, affordable rental apartments designated for lower and moderate income earning households including those experiencing homelessness. The all-electric building consists of a mixture of studios, one, and two bedroom rental apartments with monthly rental rates that range from $650 to $1,000 including heat and utilities.
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Evernorth is a nonprofit organization serving the low and moderate income people of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont with affordable housing and community investments. Evernorth has raised and deployed over $1B in equity capital for affordable housing and built more than 13,000 affordable homes and apartments for low and moderate income people across northern New England. Learn more at www.evernorthUS.org.
Lamoille Housing Partnerships develops, rehabilitates, and maintains safe, decent, energy efficient affordable housing through rental, home ownership, and other means to low and moderate income persons and families living within Lamoille County and the Town of Hardwick. The Lamoille Housing Partnership provides such assistance without discrimination or prejudice, using a combination of private and public funding partnerships.
Learn more at www.lamoillehousing.org.
