Nest — Fall 2018

home design real estate

FALL 2018

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xxHome Tour: Country-sleek in Jericho

Fall is for flowers!

DIY bouquet tips

One alpaca farm is a stonework of art

Lighting designer Clay Mohrman branches out

Winooski Rising: Meet City Lights’ developers

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6 Cooler weather is coming, but we’re not ready to head indoors quite yet. This issue of Nest highlights two Vermonters happily at home in the meadows. Ooh over the award-winning stonework (and aww over the alpacas) at Cas-Cad-Nac Farm.

And stop and smell the flowers while there’s still time — then follow our bouquetbuilding tutorial. As the days darken, consider adding some light to your life: We profile the young developers behind Winooski’s City Lights high-rise, as well as Burlington lighting designer Clay Mohrman.

Rural Retreat ............................ 6

Though not far from Burlington, this sleek home is country-quiet

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B Y PA ME L A P O L S TO N

Fall for Floral ............................10 Autumn is in the air. Go make a bouquet!

B Y CHA R L O T T E AL B E R S

Replacement | Remodel | New Construction

Set in Stone .............................14 At a farm in southern Vermont, landscaping rivals cute alpacas for attention B Y A M Y L IL LY

The Light of Clay .....................19

Lighting designer Clay Mohrman finds inspiration in tech and nature

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B Y R A CH E L E L IZ AB E TH J ONES

High-Rising Stars ................... 22

Jacqueline and Nathan Dagesse are up-and-coming Vermont developers B Y K E N P IC AR D

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19 ON THE COVER 6 xxHome Tour: Country-sleek in Jericho

10 Fall is for flowers!

DIY bouquet tips

14 One alpaca farm is a stonework of art

19 Lighting designer Clay Mohrman branches out

22 Winooski Rising: Meet City Lights’ developers

The Jericho home of Tina Christensen and Michael Sevy PHOTO BY LINDSAY SELIN

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Rural Retreat Though not far from Burlington, this sleek home is country-quiet

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PHOTOS: LINDSAY SELIN

Tina Christensen’s studio at home in Jericho

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HO ME T O UR

Tina Christensen and Michael Sevy belong to the growing tribe of Vermonters who work at home: She’s a graphic designer; he works as a database administrator for an out-of-state financial software company. Their 3,200-square-foot Jericho “modern farmhouse” was designed by TruexCullins Architecture + Interior Design partner Rolf Kielman. It handily accommodates their separate needs — with a detached studio space for Christensen and a second-floor office and music room for Sevy.

The south-facing, U-shaped cluster of buildings, spooning into woods at the back, also satisfies the couple’s shared aesthetic — “We were both in agreement about a clean, modern look,” says Christensen — and predilection for open spaces. The downstairs is basically one big room for kitchen, dining and living — Sevy says he likes being able to socialize with dinner guests while he’s cooking.

White-painted shelves along one wall hold books and neat arrangements of objets d’art.

The opposite wall is mostly glass, allowing plenty of light inside and an unobstructed view onto a minimalist courtyard designed by Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture of Burlington — a rectangle of mowed grass with a single honey locust, surrounded by concrete walkways. A chartreuse bistro table and chairs and two orange Adirondack chairs provide spots of color against the unadorned all-white house.

Hugging the courtyard on opposite sides are Christensen’s studio — about the size of a two-car garage — and the actual garage. Above the latter are two small bedrooms, a bathroom and a living area. Overnight guests, including Sevy’s grown children, can utilize these cozy,

private quarters, reached via a separate staircase from the home’s entryway.

This couple doesn’t like a lot of visible clutter. One solution: ginormous walk-in closets — one for clothes and linens next to the master bedroom upstairs, and a pantry behind the kitchen for storing everything from cleaning supplies to dry goods to wine. This is also the laundry room, which benefits from a second-floor chute.

On shelves opposite the spacious kitchen island, dishes and glassware are obscured behind utilitarian fiberboard doors. These are punctured with holes, giving them a playful polka-dot pattern that Christensen likes.

Those inexpensive doors are one example of thriftiness in this building project. Christensen notes that the couple cut expenses by buying IKEA shelves and sourcing materials such as kitchen and bathroom tile, even plumbing supplies, themselves. “Michael and I picked all the interior stuff,” says Christensen. “The cost per square foot was unbelievably low.”

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Exterior view of the home

ground level. With that and sun pouring was also featured in Design New England magazine in 2013. through the windows, Christensen Perhaps only architects would pick notes that they rarely need to turn on up on proportional details, but visitors the Italian Fiamma gas fireplace in the — and this home’s inhabitants — enjoy living area, even in winter. its spaciousness, comfort and underIn addition, the house is insulated stated, light-filled beauty. and, Kielman says, “is oriented to Christensen, who ultimately house a solar previously lived in a panel array as well as 19th-century house a possible hot water in Burlington’s Old installation — those are North End, says, “I future considerations.” now can’t imagine He adds, “Tina’s studio T I N A C H R I S T EN S EN living anywhere else. and the garage apartThe minimalism is ment can be shut down good for creating — there’s not all the climatically when not in use to reduce distractions.” energy consumption.”

The location has proved convenient, There is economy, too, in building too. Even though they live on 10.5 on a four-foot grid — or, as Kielman describes it, “a set dimensional module.” acres “off a dirt road off a dirt road,” as Christensen puts it, “we’re 18 minutes Not a new idea in architecture, he says, from Burlington.” But nearby Richmond it’s utilized to “keep costs down, reduce has become their go-to town. waste and create a quiet elegance that By day, she and Sevy enjoy gazing out almost goes unnoticed.” He asserts that their windows at a meadow. “But after repetitive elements of similar size bring dark,” Christensen says, “I imagine the “a kind of calm/ease/beauty” to the deer are out there watching us inside building. the home.”

That subtle elegance might be one She adds, “I’m so grateful we were reason the Christensen-Sevy home won able to do this.” m an Excellence in Architecture merit award from the American Institute of Contact: pamela@sevendaysvt.com Architects Vermont chapter in 2011. It

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A flower arrangement

by Diana Doll of Stray Cat Flower Farm in Burlington

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Fall for Floral

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Autumn is in the air. Go make a bouquet!

B Y CH ARL OT T E A L BERS

Days are getting shorter and nights are getting cooler. But for many, fall is the sweetest time of year … for flowers.

Before the frost comes, gardeners like to snip some of the last blossoms and make autumnal arrangements indoors. Don’t have a garden? No problem. Local pick-your-own growers and purveyors of the farm-to-table-flowers movement can satisfy your interest in gathering greens.

“Fall is a great time for cut flowers,” says Diana Doll of Stray Cat Flower Farm in Burlington. Since she began farming at the Intervale 30 years ago, she’s experimented with a variety of flowering plants and grows shrubs, as well, on her twoacre plot. Along with a vase-delivery service, wedding service and selling bouquets to local markets, Doll offers self-guided pick-your-own hours.

“We see a lot of customers who haven’t visited a flower farm before,” she says.

“They’re picking directly from the field, and everything will last a lot longer than store-bought bouquets will.

“Getting into the garden and cutting for a bouquet is so wonderful,” Doll continues. “Formal training isn’t necessary.”

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Bring small clippers for soft-stemmed flowers and loppers if you plan to gather larger branches. Don’t forget something to hold your cuttings. Bring your own bucket to a pick-your-own farm, or prepare to pay for one on-site. Have a pair of gloves on hand and a notebook to write down the names of plants you’re not familiar with (and might want to grow yourself next year).

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Containers

Before going out to pick, whether in your backyard, on a flower farm or on the side of the road, give some thought to the containers you want to fill. These can be just about anything: traditional vases, mason jars, vintage jugs, crocks, soup tureens, Grandma’s teapot, even teacups. Just make sure your container is watertight.

Arranging

Regardless of your container’s size, general design rules apply: thrillers, fillers and spillers. Thrillers give height and overall structure and can be branches or tall stems; fillers give mass and bulk; and spillers add texture and soften edges.

Design with your container in mind, and cut stems that complement the shape, FALL FOR FLORAL

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Diane Doll preparing an assortment of fresh-cut flowers at Stray Cat Flower Farm in Burlington

Fall for Floral « P.11 using your own sense of proportion. If possible, spread cut material out on a flat surface and organize by plant type. Work quickly, stripping bottom leaves off of stems as you go. A floral preservative will help prolong the blooms. (Look online for DIY recipes.)

“Use a wire mesh ball to support stems in small containers,” says Doll. She uses a coated chicken wire nest to hold flowers upright in a candy dish. Floral tape and regular tape can also be used to form a grid over the top of a vessel to hold stems.

Metal or glass frogs — little cages made with wire, sharp pointy spikes or discs with holes — are also made for vases to keep plant material in place.

The Blossoms

Zinnias, cosmos — these we know and love. But what are some other flowers to discover and grow?

Dahlias are one of the most popular late-season cut flowers, and for good reason. With shapes ranging from pompom to cactus spike and petals in nearly every color, they’re fun and fabulous. If you grow your own, cut the buds that are just opening to ensure a long bloom period.

Ageratum Blue Horizon is a great filler; try growing it in vegetable beds with purple heliotrope, black and blue salvia, and orange calendula.

Benary’s Giant Series zinnias are tried and true. By October these stalwarts are fully branched, with raspberry, red, carmine rose, bright pink, wine and purple double flowers on plants that grow as high as four feet. (These may require staking mid-season.)

If you’re looking for something totally different, try growing amaranth. Red Spike amaranth produces burgundy flower panicles that resemble feather dusters. Old favorite Love-Lies-Bleeding amaranth has unusually long, cascading strands and is best used in a tall display.

Hibiscus Mahogany Splendor is a favorite at Stray Cat Flower Farm. It’s a dramatic plant with cut leaves that resemble a Japanese maple. The dark foliage makes a good backdrop for sunflowers and tawny ornamental grasses.

By late September, most perennials

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have come and gone, but there are a few late bloomers, most notably Japanese anemone, New England asters, cold-hardy chrysanthemums and sedum.

Of these, sedum is a standout. Both Autumn Joy and Matrona cultivars have exceptional vase life and look good with Mexican sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, dahlias and thin sprays of Russian sage.

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Wild blue indigo plants produce showy seedpods, and many ornamental grasses are good to cut for their interesting seed heads. Purple fountain grass is one of the best for its soft, foxtail-like spikes.

Don’t forget about berries, leaves and stems. Doll often collects branches such as oak and maple to give structure to floral designs. “Sumac is interesting,” she suggests, especially for its deep coral seedpods.

When picking your own, look for shrubs with interesting foliage. Purple ninebark, a multistemmed native shrub, looks great paired with panicle hydrangea Little Lime in, say, a large bucket by the front door.

Both are common foundation plants and can take some pruning, especially on older canes.

Crabapples are lovely; strip leaves away if you prefer. Winterberry, the deciduous holly that’s native to the eastern U.S., produces red or orange fruits that color up once the cold weather hits.

It’s all good. Experiment as you go, and enjoy the harvest season. m

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PHOTOS: TOM MCNEILL

Set in Stone At a farm in southern Vermont, landscaping rivals cute alpacas for attention B Y A M Y L I L LY

The home of Jen and Ian Lutz, owners of Cas-Cad-Nac Farm in Weathersfield

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Jen and Ian Lutz, owners of Cas-Cad-Nac Farm in Weathersfield, lead an outdoorcentric life in an enviably beautiful spot.

From their house perched on a steep slope, they can look both uphill and down to the barns and fields where they board and manage some 280 alpacas.

Above those long-legged beauties, which wander out to graze at will, rises the southern face of Mount Ascutney. No development interrupts the view.

L AN DSC APIN G

But in 2007, the Lutzes decided to make the outdoor space around their house even more beautiful. Their current energy-efficient house was then under construction, and the homeowners wanted to integrate it with its surroundings to make those moments spent outdoors not working exceptionally pleasurable. Through a mutual friend, they connected with Scott Wunderle of Terrigenous Landscape Architecture in Chester.

The result, evident in a recent tour of the grounds with Wunderle and Jen Lutz, is quietly magnificent. Completed in 2009, it garnered a 2018 Merit Award for Design from the Vermont chapter of the American Society of Landscape

It’s the stonework that catches the eye — as it did for the Oregon chapter of the ASLA, which juried the merit award. A series of walls steps up the slope, in a staggered layout to the house’s façade. Each helps create a loosely defined path to outdoor “rooms” or living spaces, including the outdoor fireplace and a greenery-screened stone patio off the master bedroom.

“We kept it a little sloppy, a little farmer. It’s not like a perfect kit. A lot of projects are the opposite — as constructed-looking as possible,” said Wunderle.

Not that there wasn’t a lot of construction. With stoneworkers Patrick Jarvis, Steve Beyon and Brian Post (the

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Architects — one of only two such prizes the chapter awarded this year.

(Landscape architects generally submit their projects for awards years after completion, allowing sites to mature and plantings to fill out.)

The alpaca farm and residence project was a massive job that Wunderle’s firm managed to design and complete within a year and a half. The site’s steep slope required grading throughout. The firm then constructed multiple stone terraces, an outdoor fireplace and chimney, a pool, a driveway with extensive drainage and geothermal wells underneath, and retaining walls of varying heights. Each wall was constructed of dry-laid fieldstone.

The site’s plantings, including tree lilacs, daylily beds and hydrangeas, require almost no maintenance — the couple already does enough farmwork — and provide visual privacy from the surrounding alpaca farm.

executive director of Stone Trust in Dummerston), Wunderle obtained 140 tons of fieldstones from two miles away, sorted them, and graded them one by one for size and shape. That level of organization enabled the crew to give each wall a unique pattern.

Some low-lying walls have courses of small, flat rocks that stand on end at an angle, alternating right- and leftleaning rows. Wunderle’s design evokes weaving patterns, tying the landscape to the farm. (The alpaca fiber from annual shearing goes to Vermont Fiber Mill & Studio in Brandon, where it’s woven into rugs and other products.)

The wall beside a three-door garage has a repeating diamond-shaped pattern, a bit like argyle. The pattern echoes the doors, which are made of vertical wood panels overlaid with two boards crossed in a large X. SET IN STONE

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TOM MCNEILL

Set in Stone « P.15 The largest walls support both ends of a long front deck. These monumentallooking 10-foot-high retaining walls have a batter — that is, an inward slant to the faces so that the corners resemble the beginnings of Egyptian pyramids. Their courses of stone decrease in size as they ascend, from hefty rocks at ground level to a top layer of small stones. One side contains a large rectangular recess for firewood storage. On the other, a stone has been drilled and fitted with a faucet to facilitate watering gardens.

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THE WALLS ARE BUILT WITHOUT MORTAR. It’s hard to believe that all of the walls are built without mortar. But Wunderle says dry-laid walls last longer in northern climates. “Without mortar, the walls can move a little in winter. Every 10 years, you might have to knock [a stone] in with a hammer,” he explained. Each wall is really two leaning in on each other, he added, and tied together with long rocks called “throughs.”

In a particularly beautiful retaining wall that stretches the length of the pool, the throughs were allowed to protrude beyond the wall farther than usual.

Candles or flowers can be placed on these intermittent “shelves” to accent what is already a work of art: a long, sinuous stone wave pattern that evokes water. That pattern continues without interruption in an entirely separate wall set a few feet back. When viewing the

A stone wall in front of the alpaca barn at Cas-Cad-Nac Farm in Weathersfield

two walls from a particular spot, their ends appear to meet in a continuous wave.

One early morning during construction, Wunderle took a picture of the pool wall in the rising mist. That photo was subsequently included in a 2010 juried show at the Vermont Photo Space Gallery in Essex Junction.

Wunderle, who grew up in Saxtons

River and founded Terrigenous in 1998, fine-tuned his artistic eye while earning bachelor’s degrees in landscape architecture and fine arts at the Rhode Island School of Design. Though he once expected to do site-specific sculpture installations, he said, landscape architecture affords him “the joy of creating something of utility and beauty — not just a project in a museum.

“I try to ground people with what’s around them,” Wunderle continued, “and thereby, hopefully, ground us to ourselves.” m Contact: lilly@sevendaysvt.com

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The Light

of Clay Lighting designer Clay Mohrman finds inspiration in tech and nature

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When Clay Mohrman moved to Burlington in June 2017, the 27-year-old artist and lighting designer had a plan — or at least the foundation of one: He would work with nature and light, his way. By August, Mohrman had secured a studio at the South End’s S.P.A.C.E. Gallery. Without knowing exactly what he was getting into, he showed several of his sculptural driftwood lamps at the annual South End Art Hop in September. When he sold three of them that weekend, he felt like he was on the right track.

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802-482-4404 • www.planethardwood.com Rte. 2A in St. George Center, just 4.5 miles from Exit 12.

Pop open a cold one with your friends at Seven Days.

Hours: Mon.–Fri. 9–6; Sat. & Sun. 10–3

Come visit our farm market this fall!

6/7/17 5:41 PM

In-Store Bakery... Apple Cider Donuts daily!

Homegrown Fresh Produce • Garden Mums in many colors Fall Harvest Decorating • VT & Specialty Foods Gifts for Home and Garden

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FALL ACTIVITIES

Designed by local artist Steve Hadeka, this hand-cut, lacquered and wall-mounted bottle opener features a laser-etched design and hidden magnets to catch the falling caps. Size: 4”x7”x1”, includes mounting hardware. $25.

8-acre Corn Maze Open Daily thru Oct. 31st Giant Pumpkin Weigh-In Saturday, Sept. 22, 1-3pm Hayrides to the Pumpkin Patch Weekends beginning Saturday, Sept. 22 2018 Harvest Fun Weekends Different activities every weekend!

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277 Lavigne Rd., Colchester sammazzafarms.com • 802-655-3440

$ 20

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Adult admission to our 2018 Corn Maze

buy it now: sevendaysvt.com/store

One coupon per person.

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DES I G N

LUKE AWTRY

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN INFLUENCED BY ART AND NATURE COLLIDING. CL AY MOHRMAN

THe Light of Clay « P.19 “As an artist, I’ve always been influenced by art and nature colliding,” Mohrman said during a reporter’s visit to his current studio at Generator maker space. Using found wood as his primary material, Mohrman plays with the tension between organic spontaneity and geometric order.

He cites land-art sculptor Andy Goldsworthy as a key influence, along with fellow art giants Olafur Eliasson and Antony Gormley.

Though a newcomer to the state, Mohrman has developed his eponymous line, Clay Mohr Lighting, with strong local roots. He gathers driftwood from beaches and waterways and picks up branches while hiking.

“I’m constantly collecting wood,” Mohrman said, describing driftwood as “the perfect malleable material.”

For an extra Vermont touch, Mohrman has named each of his six designs for one of the Green Mountain State’s peaks: Philo, Tabor, Equinox, Lincoln, Skye and Haystack.

His smallest design, the diminutive Equinox (starting at $175 and available in diameters of 10, 12 and 14 inches) is a hollow, spherical orb made from layered stacks of driftwood and held together with hidden pins. Inside is a strip of tiny LEDs, housed within a plastic and aluminum extrusion that can either be hardwired or plugged into the wall.

Haystack (available in eight-, 12- and 16-inch diameters and starting at $300) is an approximated sphere made from crisscrossed driftwood; Skye (available in six, 12- and 18-inch lengths and starting at $275) is a geometric tunnel of layered sticks with distinct Goldsworthy vibes.

Mohrman has also been known to make one-offs, such as Woodward ($925), a floor lamp that makes use of a single, freestanding piece of driftwood. At the top of the gently curving piece, Mohrman has affixed spoke-like pieces of driftwood that encircle the LEDs emanating light from its center. The lamp’s overall shape is distinctly treelike.

Mohrman first developed his taste for lighting design after graduating from London art and design school Central Saint Martins in 2013. The Boston native returned to his hometown to take a job at LED tech company Fusion Optix. There, over three years, Mohrman realized that his own aesthetics were perhaps more organic than techy.

When he left Fusion Optix and relocated to Vermont, Mohrman took his experience and inclinations and, as he put it, “ran with the emotional side.”

His creative and entrepreneurial efforts got a major boost when he was selected, along with three other local makers, to participate in Generator’s Jump/Start initiative this past January through April. As a student in the small business intensive, Mohrman was given 24-hour studio access, a $1,000 stipend and free tool training. He also could take advantage of lectures from guest speakers and mentoring on topics such as brand development, market analysis, revenue generation and intellectual property protection.

“I think they were blown away by the quality of the design,” noted Generator executive director Chris Thompson of the Jump/Start selection jury, which included Lee Bouyea of FreshTracks Capital, Matt Flego

of M//E Design and John Antonucci of LaunchVT. “A combination of an organic, natural form with super-hightech LED lighting was one of the things that really stood out.”

In conjunction with the Jump/Start program, Mohrman also exhibited works in a solo show at Burlington’s Karma Bird House in March.

Though his fledgling business is firmly grounded in an understanding of product design and business, Mohrman considers his work to surpass mere practical considerations. Lighting provides “a visual service,” he said, adding that he hopes his pieces cultivate “an emotional attachment to [the] object, because it is providing an experience. Lighting is something that we engage with every day.”

Recently, Mohrman has been taking his work one step further into the experiential realm: He’s making upwards of 50 lamps for a September 29 performance at Burlington’s Hive gallery. “Casting Coalescence: a harmony of light and sound” is a collaboration of Mohrman and Burlington musician ivamae, and it’s billed online as “an emotional intersection of two artists working within different elements, but towards the same objective.”

“This is not about an individual piece,” Mohrman said of his business and practice. “It’s about a whole experience.” m Contact: rachel@sevendaysvt.com

INFO

Learn more at claymohrlighting.com.

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21

Jacqueline and Nathan Dagesse

High-Rising

Stars PHOTOS: OLIVER PARINI

Jacqueline and Nathan Dagesse are up-and-coming Vermont developers B Y K E N PI CA RD

Never heard of Jacqueline and Nathan Dagesse? If you’ve been in Vermont for a while, especially Winooski, it’s likely you’ve seen their work — or will soon.

Noticed the recent improvements to the Burlington bike path? The Dagesses’ engineering firm, EIV Technical Services of Williston, handled quality assurance and materials testing on that project. The award-winning widening project of the Checkered House Bridge on Route 2 in Richmond several years ago? Jacquie Dagesse was the environmental compliance officer. The new field house at Middlebury College? EIV provided the structural lifting, erecting and bracing drawings for the massive steel structure that supports this state-of-theart sports facility. The new Interstate 91 overpass bridge in Hartford? Yep, that was their project, too.

In addition to providing civil engineering and environmental services for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, 22

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the Dagesses are also general contractors. Last summer, they completed City Lights, a six-story mixed-use apartment building in Winooski’s downtown.

They’re following it up with three similar projects just up the street.

Given these accomplishments, it might come as a surprise to learn that Jacquie and Nate Dagesse (pronounced “de-JESS”) are only in their mid-thirties.

Their Facebook page includes photos of the couple sporting hard hats on a construction site, and Jacquie is noticeably pregnant with their first child. They now have two preschoolers. How do they manage the demands of family and a burgeoning business?

“A lot of perseverance and self-sacrifice,” Jacquie said. And plenty of 14-hour workdays, Nate added.

The pair met with Nest recently in the Dagesse Company’s headquarters on the fifth floor of the City Lights building, which offers impressive views of downtown Winooski, the Adirondacks and Winooski River. Although the company and its subsidiaries employ about 30 people, nearly all were out on job sites that day.

Jacquie, a New Jersey native, met Nate, who’s from Derby, on their first day of civil engineering class at the University of Vermont. Both earned bachelor’s degrees in engineering; Jacquie went on for her master’s in business administration.

Nate has family history in the industry. His grandfather was a successful real estate developer in the Northeast Kingdom, and his father has built subdivisions for years. Nate grew up speaking the language of contractors.

The Dagesses, who’ve been married for nine years, began their development careers by making modest real estate

investments in Chittenden County. In 2009, they bought a condo and renovated some rental properties in Winooski. At the time, Jacquie said, she was working for a software development company while Nate worked for a construction inspection firm. Jacquie’s work included mergers, acquisitions and meetings with angel investors, while Nate’s involved technical aspects of building. All of this experience, she said, “bolstered our confidence to do this ourselves.”

The Dagesses’ first big break came while they were doing some maintenance work on a triplex they own in Winooski, just across the road from their current offices.

“We saw the owner hammering in the ‘For sale by owner’ sign, and we ran across the street and said that we were interested in [buying] the house,” Jacquie recalled. The Dagesses had long dreamed of putting together an infill development project in downtown Winooski and viewed the site as a prime location.

REAL ESTAT E

“We were like, ‘We’re going to make the numbers work,’” Nate recalled. “It didn’t matter how.”

So, using some creative financing and a little help from family members, the couple bought the house, then rented it out until they were ready to build. In the meantime, they got involved in the community: Jacquie volunteered with Downtown Winooski, a business-district revitalization effort; and Nate joined the Winooski Planning Commission. In 2011, they purchased EIV from longtime owner Mary O’Leary.

By 2015, other Winooski rental properties, such as Redstone’s Riverrun Luxury Apartments, were thriving. The Dagesses decided the time was right to build. But because their project was large, complex, and involved relocating a city bus stop and an 1840s-era historic home, they did rigorous due diligence and outreach with neighbors, including the Community College of Vermont.

“I think that really pays dividends,” Jacquie said. “Not every developer does that.”

“We really want happy neighbors,” Nate added. “Obviously, you can’t always make everyone happy, but our goal is to deliver projects that, in general, everyone is really excited about.”

The Dagesses broke ground in August 2016 and, in July 2017, opened City Lights. The sleek 29-unit

apartment building was fully leased even before it was finished. Billed

by Burlington Telecom as Vermont’s first “gigabit building,” it’s fully wired with a fiber-optic network providing high-speed internet service to every apartment — a cost included in the lease.

Rents on the one- and two-bedroom apartments start at $1,450 per month and go as high as $2,700 per month.

Five units have 18-foot cathedral ceilings.

The building, which received Efficiency Vermont’s second-highest efficiency rating, also features soundproofing, air conditioning, a secure parking garage, a fitness center, a rooftop terrace and retail space on the street level. Built nearly flush with the property line on all sides, Nate said, it’s considered one of the densest residential developments in Chittenden County.

Because retail space of the kind they created at street level can be hard to fill, Jacquie said, the Dagesse Company put out a request for proposals offering a lessee free rent for one year. They ultimately awarded it to Dobrá Tea. “Cash flow [for new retail businesses] is hard,” Jacquie explained. “We were able to lessen that the first year so they were able to open right away when the building opened.”

The Dagesses now have three more projects in the works — two that are fully permitted and one in the design phase.

Three blocks from City Lights, they’ve got a 100-plus-unit mixed-use development, which includes a 39-unit building at 268 East Allen Street called Casavant Overlook. According to Jacquie, their company is “very focused” on creating mixed-use, mixed-income developments, not just high-end apartments and condos.

Erik Heikel, formerly a Winooski city councilor and Development Review Board member, worked with the Dagesses on City Lights and said he’s been “blown away” by their thoroughness and professionalism.

“These guys are running their job site better than … any of the big-name general contractors in town,” Heikel said. “They’re doing everything. They’re designing it; they’re financing it; they’re doing all of the general contracting. And they have kids! I don’t know how they do it.”

“We work really, really hard,” Nate explained, “and we also are really passionate about what we do.” m

Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO

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Learn more at dagesseco.com and eivtech.com.

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