Apartment boomlet comes to Morristown

On Feb. 12, the board approved a 24-apartment building on Hutchins Street proposed by Lamoille Housing Partnership. It was the third time in as many months the project had come before the board, which typically doesn’t meet frequently.

Also on Feb. 12, the review board approved a pair of projects proposed by Graham Mink, a Stowe resident who has emerged in recent years as one of Morrisville’s most prolific developers. Those two apartment buildings will be near the intersection of Bridge Street and the Route 100 truck route. One will house 10 apartments, the other 18.

Hutchins Street

The main hurdle that Lamoille Housing Partnership faced in getting the 24-unit Village Center Apartments approved was the lack of parking at the small parcel on a short, steep side street. The previous building there burned down.

Town officials, however, appear to have come up with a solution to that parking shortage. Zoning administrator Todd Thomas said he’d already had a plan to reconfigure the municipal parking lot that borders Hutchins, Pleasant and Portland streets to create more parking. That would take care of Village Center’s parking requirements.

After three development review board meetings, the latest of which dealt largely with design elements like cornices and corbels, as well as landscape requirements, the board greenlighted the project.

Bridge Street

The review board also approved the two apartment buildings at 243 Bridge St., a project that received much less public notice than the Hutchins Street project, which has been discussed at about a half dozen public meetings.

The project, at the corner of Bridge Street and the bypass, involves two separate apartment buildings, next to two other new Mink-owned apartment complexes.

One building will house 10 apartments — four studios and six one-bedroom units.

The other will be about twice the size, an 18-unit building with 14 one-bedroom apartments, two two-bedroom apartments and two studios. The larger building will sit atop a partially-underground parking deck.

The larger building also looks to Morrisville’s history, incorporating design elements from the old Randall Hotel, which used to be right in the middle of the village at Portland and Main streets. Built in 1892, the hotel was four stories tall and featured a six-story tower.

The Bridge Street building will be more modest, but will include an architectural nod to that tower.