Cherry Street entrance to Burlington High School’s newly-renovated facility in the former Macy’s building at CityPlace Burlington.
Photo courtesy of Burlington High School’s Facebook page.
PHOTO GALLERY
Construction progress photos courtesy of Dave Farrington
First Day of classes at Burlington High School’s new home
With the green light from officials at Burlington High School, in December 2020 the CityPlace Burlington Development Team began re-purposing the former Macy’s building for the students’ new in-person learning environment. They needed a new space after their North Avenue building was found to have prohibitively high levels of PCBs in September of 2020. Dave Farrington took the lead on this project and embarked on a remarkable, fast-tracked journey to provide a safe and secure space for students, teachers, administrators and staff.
This journey was a challenge on many fronts—permits needed to be secured for a vacant retail space with potential environmental issues of its own; rigorous testing was conducted to ensure safety and meet demolition and construction noise requirements; a construction team needed to be coordinated on a tight timeframe—the logistics, materials, and time requirements all needed to be expertly scheduled to meet our deadline, with the number one priority being our mandate to create a healthy and safe environment for our young adults eager to return to their classrooms.
Repurposing a retail space for an educational institution presented several issues and unique opportunities for efficient use of materials and space. About 90% of existing flooring and ceilings were salvaged & reused. The old escalators were refurbished and inspected, and are running perfectly, bringing kids up and down between floors. More than 1200 cubic yards of demolition materials were recycled, ripping out old store fixtures. More than 150,000 square feet of new fit-up was created within 2 floors of the old Macy’s space. More than 7000 linear feet of wall built; 3500 sheets of prefinished sheetrock used; 15,000 linear feet of trim; more than 100 doors installed. All within a $3.5 million dollar budget.
The result is a brand new, comprehensive, well-planned, fully functional environment in which students can return to in-person learning knowing they are safe, secure, and cared for.
- All new men’s/women’s restrooms plus 4 private restrooms
- Nurses area with two holding spaces and one isolation room (for possible COVID issues)
- New ventilation system to keep space ‘‘negative” (exhausted) to rest of school
- Full security system with lock-down option, featuring over 2 dozen security cameras, videophone at entry, cardswipe control at entrances
- Independent exhaust system for science rooms to control odor (chemicals) and keep air clean
- All new state-of-the-art fire alarm system with voice announcement alarms, class bell system & PA system, designed and installed by CityPlace Development Partner Al Senecal, Owner of Omega Electric
- 60+ classrooms
- 7 science labs
- Cafeteria with prep kitchen
- Multipurpose room (P.E. type)
- Two music rooms
- Lots of teachers ‘touchdown’ space
- Large library & lounge
Normally this job would have taken more than 6 months, but working together we got it done in 10 weeks, working 12 hour days, 7 days a week. Most of this time we had more than 50 construction workers in the building. The CityPlace Burlington Development Team would like to thank everyone who made this happen, especially the Vermont tradespeople—almost every trade participated in this project—carpenters, flooring, ceiling, painters, tilers, plumbers, tin knockers, framers, sheetrockers, sprinkler, elevator/escalator techs, HVAC controls, electricians, computer wiring, phone installers, and security.
And we’d like to give a special thanks to: Marty Spaulding, Facilities Director for Burlington School District —he and his crew did an amazing job moving desks, chairs, computers, etc. for 1000+ students and staff; Randy, Steve and Brenda at Colin Lindberg Architects, who made things go smoothly, and were always available for questions and working out details ‘on the fly’; and our Project Super, Eric Gulfield, who was there every day from December 1st until done, only taking off Christmas and New Years Day!
It was an honor and a privilege to be involved in this project. What started out as a creative solution to a difficult problem has turned out to be an amazing experience for everyone involved. We not only built a space, everyone worked together and created a whole new standard for downtown education and community involvement. We feel very grateful to be able to be involved in this, and to create a space that will serve Burlington families for years.
Media tour of the new Burlington High School home, the former Macy’s building
at CityPlace Burlington, December 29, 2020. Photo: Calvin Gooley
“Since day one we have worked with the City, our fellow residents and local business owners to design and build CityPlace Burlington in a way that responds to our Community’s need for responsible growth. We originally purchased the Macy’s building in 2018 as part of our long-term development strategy, and are overjoyed to be able to step in, utilize this space and help out in this way. This new home for our students has been a great opportunity for us to demonstrate this commitment—to help out with an immediate and consequential need. Congratulations to Dave for an amazing job, done on time, within budget, and most importantly, meeting the needs of our Community”
— Don Sinex, Managing Member, City Place Burlington Development Team
“Happy to get to the end of this exciting & fast moving project—once we got the word to “go” it was an all-out race to the end. We got it done and I’m happy for the kids—they have their new home now. Feels good—real good ! ”
—Dave Farrington, CityPlace Burlington Development Partner, Owner of Farrington Construction
Check out more about Burlington High School’s new home, in the media:
Seven Days slideshow of the new facility
Seven Days full article
mynbc5.com 9:30am March 3, 2021
mynbc5.com 7:56pm March 4, 2021
wcax.com 8:22am March 4, 2021
wcax.com 5:53pm Mar. 4, 2021
