We are ready to start construction! As you may have heard, last Monday, Burlington City Council approved by a vote of 11-1 our final Development Agreement. That is the last hurdle before we start construction. The Development Agreement outlines how we will interact with the City throughout the development period. It covers issues like paying liveable wages, providing health insurance benefits to workers, hiring qualified local employees, purchasing local materials, providing affordable housing and much more. We agreed to all of these things that the City requested because we believe that by developing CityPlace Burlington in this manner we will strengthen our community and the City, and we will provide meaningful benefits to all of Burlington. This project has the capability to transform downtown Burlington, and City Councillors understand that fact. That is why our Development Agreement was approved 11-1. This Project will provide jobs, growth, economic vitality and new downtown housing, and 20% of all homes being developed will be affordable homes! We’ll also be creating two new, beautifully landscaped city streets. Now that this Development Agreement has been approved, we are ready to start demolition of the old Burlington Town Center (BTC) to make ready for the new CityPlace Burlington (CPB). As we start to prepare the site for the structural demolition, we will be placing ‘Jersey Barriers” and construction fencing around our construction site, which is bounded by Bank and Cherry streets and eventually the new St. Paul and Pine street extensions.

The Jersey Barrier, which is also called New Jersey wall, was developed in the 1950s, at the Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, by the New Jersey State Highway Department and its purpose is to divide multiple lanes on a highway. Since then, these barriers have evolved in many ways – height, materials and uses. This project we will be using ‘Jersey Barriers’ to surround our redevelopment site. These ‘barriers’ will provide safety and security for vehicular traffic, pedestrians and our construction workers alike. The Jersey Barriers at CityPlace Burlington will be fitted with fencing to further increase security around the construction site and protect the public.

You will soon see these Jersey Barriers being placed along Bank and Cherry Streets but we are adding a bit of flair to our Jersey Barriers and we want you to now about it. We decided not to have these industrial looking barriers and fences marring our beautiful downtown, so we will be adding attractive signage atop the Jersey Barrier with public messaging, site and development information, and art work which will make the Barriers more pleasing to view and hopefully add to our City’s landscape. Nothing before has ever been done like this in Burlington.

Our commitment is to strive to minimize the impact of construction on our downtown workers, residents and visitors. We are going to great lengths and expense to adapt the construction fencing and signage to promote downtown shops and give you beautiful and informative visuals around our entire construction site. The 8 feet by 10 feet panels will be professionally designed with stunning images and will include project information, as well as promotions and information from our local downtown merchants. We are working closely with the Church Street Marketplace and the CEDO office of City Hall to ensure all visitors are aware that the shops on Church Street as well and the shops at the Burlington Town Center will remain open throughout the entire construction period. So shop here and enjoy the signage, we’re doing it for you.

Finally, we think you will enjoy seeing CityPlace Burlington under construction! So visit the site often and follow our progress. We will be installing viewing platforms so you will be able to peer into the site and watch our progress from time to time. The viewing platform will not happen until after the holidays, but watch out for them. We promise it will be very interesting to witness the development.