Vermont Food Ventures Building - What To Do - What To Do

[Henry]

The old Vermont Food Ventures Building - In this day and age, not really anything that can be done with it do to a lack of parking - I'll have to stop in and see Skip Taylor one of these days and get his thoughts.  Maybe the State of Vermont could buy it and improvements could be made with the road in the center of town. 

I don't even know who owns it, so hopefully it isn't left there in the center of town to rot and decay.

[CLach]

The building is pretty big correct?  Could it be torn down and rebuilt with parking being added?  Not sure what sort of business could be put in the corner there but a smaller bldg with added parking would be a thought?  Engineers/Architects chime in? 

[GamingWeasel]

If there were a smaller building there, it would be a lot safer coming out from Maple St to Main St.  Oncoming traffic in the right lane cant see emerging cars around the corner of the building, and vice-versa.  When we moved to Maple St, I decided very quickly that I would avoid making that turn whenever possible.  Instead I go through the covered bridge and loop back around to Main.

[rod anode]

that would be a nice place for the ambulance to be

[mirjo]

Parking is a huge problem for that place. About all that can comfortably fit are a few small cars. I don't know how the trucks slipped in and out w/o incident all these years.

Perhaps apartments? I don't know the historical significance of the building--whether it can or even should be torn down; however it seems I remember a porch on it many years ago if I'm not mistaken (??) and in its present state it's fairly unattractive. Restoring it would be costly, no doubt as would renovating it...

Does anyone know who owns it? I had heard  or thought that the town owned it and that's who VFV bought it from. I don't know if that info is correct or not.

[Dick Brown]

Does my memory serve me correctly in that the VFV building was once a hardware store and then later,the location of Parsons Store in the 60's & 70's ??  and..... Didn't the Parsons Store before that move, back in the 50's , occupy the space where the Post Office was , prior to it's ( the PO ) moving up to it's present location ?  and.... didn't the VFV lease the building from a private unit and........ aren't property taxes still paid on it ( the VFV building )

[Luap]

     The VFV building in '50's was Alderman's store on the left and Post office on th e right and Masonic temple upstairs.  Later Thibeault family ran the store then it was Simon's store, then the Parsons took it over. Parsons store was where the Bakery is now. Parsons store and the post office swapped places in town in I believe '70's.  This is what I remember.

[Luap]

     No hardware store in that building.  The hardware store was in the Trombly block (the building to the right of the bakery)

[Suzy]

I remember when it was Parson's store., and there were big glass windows on the front.  I remember the wooden floor creaked, and when you walked in, the cash register was in front of you, in the middle of the room.  The comic books were on a rack near the front door, and candy only cost five cents.  Man, I must be getting old!  Suzy

[Henry]

This is the Vermont Ventures Building before Steve Alderman had his store there:

[mirjo]

What was it in this photo? Looks like a city block in St. Albans or Burlinton. It's fascinating how some of Vermont's small towns were once bustling areas of commerce & travel--virtual "hot spots" in the 19th century with grand hotels river boats etc. Swanton is well known for this sort of thing. Now they are quiet small towns.

Did air travel cause this switch? Things being centralized in much larger urban areas to the north and south? (Montreal, Boston, New York--even Burlington?)

Real history is endlessly interesting. If we could only step back in time for just a moment to see what it was like to be standing in the same spot...

[cedarman]

I thought I'd heard a rumor that the taxes haven't been paid on the building.  Can anyone here "in the know" comment?
Even if the town aquired it through delinquent taxes, cost for rehab, or removal would still be HIGH.