Montpelier finally has a development partner for the city-owned former golf course off Country Club Road. DEW Properties is proposing an initial 108 homes, a mix of townhomes and smaller buildings, on about 20 buildable acres along the site's lower ridge (via VTDigger).
The City Council unanimously approved a non-binding letter of intent with DEW on Oct. 14. That's not a contract. A formal development agreement still has to be worked out, and VTDigger reported that either side can walk away if they can't agree on financial terms first.
The city bought the roughly 138-acre former Elks Club course with a bond of up to $2 million that voters approved on Town Meeting Day 2022, according to the city's project page. VTDigger noted the bond passed narrowly, 1,205 to 1,021.
Four developers submitted proposals: Chinburg, DEW Properties, Execusuite and Pennrose, according to the city's project page. A council subcommittee narrowed the field to DEW and Chinburg Properties by July, asked both for second proposals, and recommended DEW.
DEW Properties is part of the DEW Construction family, which has offices in Williston, Vt., Keene and Manchester, N.H., and Portland, Maine. In Montpelier it built the housing above the Transit Center, and it worked on Barre City Place.
DEW's original proposal to the city, filed earlier this year, was bigger and spread over three phases: 249 units in 39 buildings, including three 35-unit buildings to be owned by Downstreet Housing & Community Development with rents aimed at households earning 80% of area median income or less, a dozen 10-unit buildings for rent or sale at 80% to 120% of median, and 24 single-family or tiny homes for sale. The 108-unit figure in VTDigger's story appears to reflect the later round, and the story didn't break down prices or affordability for it.
That proposal also laid out who would do what. The city would build the access roads and sidewalks, extend water, sewer and electric service, and put in a traffic signal on Route 2. DEW would connect utilities to each building and handle driveways, parking, grading, landscaping and foundations within each cluster. Internal roads and utilities were left open for negotiation.
On the public side, the city expects about $8 million in water, sewer and road work, according to Planning Director Mike Miller, including a $3 million grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission. The commission's fall 2025 award list shows $2,994,597 to the city to replace aging water and sewer infrastructure and build a new pump station, utility upgrades and roads for the site, with a total project cost listed at about $11.1 million.
A draft compatibility letter from the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission, written in February for the city's disaster-recovery grant application, describes that early work in more detail: new water and sewer lines from the Route 2 and 302 roundabout up Country Club Road, raising Route 2 about 2 feet at the intersection, and regrading the steep road to a steady 12% slope with an uphill bike lane and a sidewalk.
There's a lot left before anyone breaks ground. A market study is due by the end of 2026, and VTDigger reported that a weak result could change the project's cost, materials or timing, or end it. The site also needs cleanup of old golf course pesticide contamination, local zoning review and an Act 250 permit. Robert Wells, DEW's development coordinator, put that work at four to 12 months.
"Nothing's ever impossible," Wells told VTDigger. Construction could start around 2028, with the first homes opening in 2029 or 2030.
Why it matters for Contractors
The first real construction money here is likely to be public, not private. Water and sewer extensions, a pump station and a rebuilt Country Club Road come ahead of any houses, and that work will go through the city. Site, utility and paving contractors in central Vermont should keep an eye on Montpelier's bid postings over the next year or two.
For smaller shops, the vertical work is further off and depends on a market study and a development agreement that don't exist yet. DEW Construction is set to run construction on its side, so subs who want in on townhome framing, finishes or mechanicals would be dealing with DEW, not the city. A 108-unit first phase is sizable for central Vermont, and the full plan DEW floated earlier is more than twice that.