What We've Been Building (Fall '25)

Hey — Jonah here.

Welcome back to Brick + Mortar, where I share stories on developing real estate at Village Ventures in rural Vermont.

It’s quarterly update time. A lot’s been cookin’ these past few months since the summer brief — let’s dig in.

1. The Denison

(22 residential and 4 retail units on Main Street, Fairlee)

• We got our zoning approval! We had to go back for a second board meeting to tighten façade drawings and revise parking after round one’s “needs more info” feedback.

• 30-40 people tuned in for the hearing (a record turnout for our small town). Of the ten people that spoke, eight supported and two objected.

• My favorite critique: someone warned a fire could take out the town’s entire power supply since the line runs along Main Street. Irony alert: ours will be the only sprinklered building on that side of the street.

• Because Main Street is technically a state road, VTrans jumped in. You’d think they’d just focus on traffic… nope. We’re now two rounds into 50+ questions, including stormwater details and landscaping plans nowhere near the travel lane.

• MEP design kicked off a few weeks ago; pushing to hit 50% construction docs by November.

• We created a simple website for the project to share the vision and updates as they happen.

2. Bridge + Main

(A 19-unit, scattered site affordable housing project in Fairlee)

• More funding secured. We’re now up to ~$4.5m of $7m, with two grants and low-interest debt still pending.

• The Environmental Review (a requirement for federal HOME and CBDG funding) has been a big culprit in our delay — 16 months and counting.

• This isn’t a Superfund site. Just two buried (non-leaking) oil tanks and some lead paint chips in the soil — basically “Tuesday” for most Vermont rentals.

• The ER process will add $200k+ to the project (not including staff time or opportunity cost) and our earliest exit will be next summer, optimistically.

• Focus for the next 6 months: get through ER and nail down remaining funding.

3. 446 Main

(Duplex on Main Street in Fairlee)

• We closed last month for $350k and immediately tackled exterior fixes: rot repair, full repaint, and a façade revival.

• Retail space is now listed for rent, and the upstairs apartment is already leased.

• Septic continues to be a choke point. Under-parking septic could unlock real retail potential, but Vermont DEC says no. For now, we’re stuck with “dry goods and office” — not exactly catalytic uses.

4. Lower Plain Concept

(22 workforce housing units in Bradford)

• We’re working on a new concept on 2 acres owned by a local landowner.

• Design language: Upper Valley agrarian, standardized and panelized to reduce hard costs.

• Flat site, town water and sewer = lower site costs and straightforward infrastructure.

• The land appraisal is in progress before formalizing any partnership structure with the owner.

5. Other projects we’re working on:

• The final grant was secured last month for our workforce quadplex in Bradford. But — we’re running into a familiar financing snag: LTV issues, with the appraised as-complete value below total development cost. Common theme in housing development lately.

• The acquisition for our eight-unit project in Thetford stalled after the seller and their attorney went dark a few weeks before closing. We engaged litigation council and instantly got a response. The seller is now working through a small title issue and we hope to close by end of the month.

• The under-parking septic concept we envisioned for a new quadplex in Fairlee was dead on arrival at Vermont DEC. They have zero willingness to explore creative options. This is worth its own post and I have not given up yet!

Until next time.

— Jonah 🧱

P.S. Want to connect? Find me on LinkedIn.