BENNINGTON — Key officials involved in a planned $42.7 million luxury resort on the former Southern Vermont College campus met at the Everett Mansion Monday to provide an update on the project’s status.
“We would like to catch up on what we’ve been doing since that [initial] press conference three years ago,” said Alan Weissman, CEO of the development firm, Alfred Weissman Real Estate (AWRE).
“We’ve been working hard to kind off tee everything up for Act 250 and site plan approvals,” Weissman said.
He added that requirements involving historic preservation and environmental easements on the 27-room Everett Mansion and part of the 371-acre former campus “were difficult to work through” and took some time to resolve.
“But we have been able to work through those things, so that we are able to do what we need to do now for development,” he said. “We have also gone through some initial work for Act 250 to kind of preview it to the board that’s going to be reviewing it and preview it to the town, but most importantly in working with the neighbors.”
He added, “We have had multiple meetings [with the neighbors], and our promise to them from the very beginning was that before we file anything we are going to come to you first and get your take on things.”
Weissman and Michel Cohen, who oversees Hospitality and Acquisitions for the developer, said permitting paperwork has now been filed for both the Act 250 review process and the town.
They said the town Development Review Board is expected to discuss the resort during a June meeting.
The developers are also working with a well-known international hotel brand, which will manage the resort, while AWRE will be the owner and asset manager. Weissman said the name of the brand firm probably won’t be released until after the project permitting is secured.
“Our plan is to, hopefully, within the next six, eight, nine months, get our approvals, close [on the property] and start construction almost immediately,” he said.
A groundbreaking is expected during the first quarter of 2027 and construction will take about 24 months.
The site will be purchased from Southwestern Vermont Health Care, which purchased the former college property in 2020 during an auction in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The hospital said it acted in part to preserve the property for high-quality redevelopment.
The campus lands also are located near the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center campus.
180 employees
Cohen said that about six months prior to the opening, the resort will begin hiring. “We anticipate up to 180 full-time employees,” he said, adding that a study the firm undertook projected that direct jobs, construction jobs and ancillary jobs would total between 700 and 1,000 over the life of the resort.
More than 100 rooms, spa facilities and a large activities building with dining and entertainment spaces are planned, as well as a number of free-standing villas.
The SVC gymnasium building and site will be expanded to include indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a spa facility.
Some rooms will be created in the historic Everett Mansion, which was constructed in 1911 as a summer estate for industrialist Edward Everett. The estate was called The Orchards, and the resort will use that name as well.
Tax assessment agreement
The Select Board last week also approved a 10-year tax stabilization agreement with the developers that will fix the assessed value of the property to estimated amounts through the 2036-37 fiscal year.
The estimated values listed in the agreement for each year were set at $2,626,200 for 2027-28 and will rise as the resort is built out to $42,712,000. That figure will be the assessment figure for the final six years of the 10-year stabilization agreement.
The former Southern Vermont College, which closed in 2019, was located on the 371-acre former Everett estate from the mid-1970s until the closure amid declining student enrollment and mounting debt.
