Work crews break ground on State Office Complex revival

The sparkling, sunny weather at Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony at the sprawling State Office Complex in downtown Waterbury said it all.

The $125 million building project that kicked off Tuesday will be a centerpiece to the town’s bright future, which was darkened less than three years ago by some of the worst flooding in the state’s history, officials at the ceremony said.

“This area was under water three years ago,” Waterbury Select Board chairman Chris Nordle said at the groundbreaking site amid the historic red-brick state complex at the heart of the village. “And we were all asking ourselves, ‘How are we going to get back to normal?’ We’re not coming back to normal; this is something way bigger and better than that. This is something more incredible than anyone could have imagined three years ago.”

The mood was bright, optimistic, even ecstatic, as Gov. Peter Shumlin, members of the Waterbury Select Board, local legislators, dozens of top administration officials, project architects and contractors gathered to celebrate, and to thank and congratulate those who were instrumental in managing, organizing and launching the project.

Shumlin accepted the honor of pouring the first concrete, and he looked pretty comfortable handling the big hose from the concrete pump truck.

“What this means is jobs. It means stability for Waterbury’s downtown. It means that next time we get a 500-year flood, we won’t get flooded,” Shumlin said before donning rubber boots and a hard hat and getting to work.

“It means that we are going to deliver on our promise of rebuilding after Irene stronger and better than the way she found us.”

The construction project, the largest capital investment in state history, emerged quickly from the flooded, toxic mess at the state hospital and office complex. On Aug. 28, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene inundated the state. Rivers and streams ripped through communities, destroying homes, roads, bridges, farms and more. In Waterbury, the Winooski River swept into the village, filling houses with mud and flooding the state’s largest office facility.

More than 1,000 workers from two agencies were relocated. Another 51 psychiatric patients at the state hospital were also relocated.

The flooding and subsequent closure of the state facilities dealt a bruising blow to the economy and vitality of Waterbury, then a vibrant community on the rise. Emotionally, Irene was devastating.

In the wake of the flood, Shumlin vowed to rebuild and return. Local leaders pressed him, and went to work, searching and pushing for funding, arguing the merits of using the Waterbury campus for state offices, working the halls of the Legislature. But, at one point, a full return to Waterbury seemed unlikely.

Tuesday’s groundbreaking marks something of a victorious comeback, and an emotional turning point.

“Today is an incredibly great day for us and all of Waterbury,” said Waterbury Rep. Rebecca Ellis. “I want to thank the governor for his commitment to Waterbury, to our downtown.”

Architect Jesse Beck, from the Freeman French Freeman firm in Burlington, said the project has been an emotional and exciting journey for him, which began a few days after Irene struck when he and his family helped with the cleanup in Waterbury.

He described the finished complex as something Vermont will welcome with pride: made of local materials, highly energy efficient, and resilient to flooding.

The centerpiece will be a new 87,000-square-foot office building, built of Bethel marble and Vermont wood. A solar array on the structure’s roof will provide energy for the building. The new structure will be elevated — higher than the predicted flooding from a 500-year storm event.

The new space will connect to the existing 115,000 square feet of space in a network of historic brick buildings that have been gutted and will be renovated.

The complex will be heated and cooled by energy generated at a 20,000-square-foot biomass plant elsewhere on the campus.

The $125 million project cost is being split three ways: Federal disaster funds are expected to cover some $32 million, insurance is expected to cover $18 million, and the state is expected to foot the remaining $75 million.

The new buildings and renovated campus are expected to begin to be occupied in December 2015.

Already, the economic impacts of the 100 or so people involved in the construction are being felt in Waterbury, local merchants said this week. Business at the nearby Park Row Café was brisk this week, with long lines forming at lunchtime.

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lol .. thats funny. I agree, where is the safety guy on this job. No Safety Glasses.. Tisk Tisk.