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‘More Projects Like This’: Ribbon Cutting Held for Apartment Complex

By Layla Kalinen
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
BELLOWS FALLS, VT –On April 24, area officials and residents gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the iconic Bellows Falls Garage with a ribbon cutting at 115 Rockingham St. The building has been refurbished into an apartment complex.

The new $10.75 million dollar Art Deco complex is built into the wall on Canal Street with a stunning view that overlooks the Connecticut River and Fall Mountain.

Marion Major, author, spoke at the opening event.

“We’re going to hear a lot of stories today, many of them about the importance of new homes in this community, about the continued revitalization of this beautiful village, and about the former garage itself and its many unique uses since it was built a century ago,” Major said. “But, all of this is recent history when you consider that the Abenaki people stewarded the resources in this area for more than 10,000 years and still consider this a sacred place.”

Major elaborated. “We are standing at what the Abenaki people call “Kchi Pôntegok” (pronounced kit-SEE POHN teh guck) or “The Great Falls,” the land we redeveloped, and the land we hold in trust across the region, is Abenaki land.”

Executive Director of the Windham and Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT), Brattleboro, VT., Elizabeth Bridgewater, spoke at the gathering. She addressed the careful steps taken during the renovation.

The new apartment complex is several yards away from the historic Abenaki Petroglyphs, and because of that factor, she said that WWHT collaborated with Chair of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and the Atowi Project, Rich Holschuh, before they took on the project.

“The challenging part of our due diligence was maintaining all equities,” Bridgewater said. “We had worked with Rich to ensure that there weren’t any artifact burial sites, so we’re just reaching out to start a conversation and see how we might do that, and we don’t have any preconceived notions of what it would look like right, which I think he really appreciated.”

Bridgewater said Holschuh was consulted throughout the project to ensure that nothing historically indigenous was disrupted. Another idea was generated due to their relationship.

“In the basement, where commercial space is, we want to hang historically relevant Abenaki art and local art too,” she said.

Rockingham Selectboard Chair Peter Golec spoke about the project. “I want to see more projects like this happening,” Golec encouraged.

Applications are available through Stewart Property management. You may learn more about the firm at https://stewartproperty.net/property-item/windsor-village-windsor-vt/.

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