Leahy To Celebrate Grand Opening
Of Commercial And Residential Space In St. Johnsbury
Destroyed By Fire In 2000
…Opening Of
Passumpsic View Building Helps Revive Community
ST. JOHNSBURY (Thurs., Dec. 11)
-- Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.) St. Johnsbury officials, and housing
advocates Thursday officially marked the grand opening of an
affordable housing complex and retail space in downtown St.
Johnsbury just three years after four devastating fires wreaked
havoc on the families and economy of the town. Leahy, a senior
member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its subcommittee
that oversees the budget for the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, was instrumental in securing $2.9 million to help
revitalize downtown St. Johnsbury after the fires.
The 2000 blaze that destroyed the
century-old Daniels Block left three dead and 20 homeless. Leahy,
town, state and federal officials, and the Gilman Housing Trust
worked together to make sure the new Passumpsic View
Building restored an adequate number of residential apartments to
replace those lost in the fire. The new complex includes
25 affordable senior apartments with retail space on the ground
floor.
“This is a celebration of a
community’s spirit,” said Leahy. “Three lives were lost in those
fires, and for three years the Daniels Block has been the most
glaring reminder of those tragic days. Other towns might have given
up, but St. Johnsbury came together with remarkable energy and
vision to rebuild. This project has never been about buildings, but
about people, and Passumpsic View Apartments will offer much-needed
affordable homes to seniors, while helping to complete the
revitalization of downtown.”
Chair of the Gilman Housing Trust
Board Bill McMaster said: “It is gratifying for the organization to
be able to respond to the community needs, turning crisis into
something positive, a loss into safe, decent, affordable housing and
economic opportunity.”
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