Bellows Falls apartments get energy makeover

October 17, 2011

Some of Vermont's oldest citizens will enjoy a warm winter, thanks to extensive renovations to the 41 senior housing units in the Rockingham Canal House in Bellows Falls, the Rutland Herald reports.

The building was formerly known as the Hotel Rockingham, but long years of use had left the apartments inside outdated and drafty.

To create more comfortable lodgings, the owners launched a $2.5 million project to upgrade building facilities from the sprinkler system and fire alarm to the elevator and the lobby atrium. They also seized the opportunity to cut energy costs by installing efficient heating equipment in the basement, putting solar panels on the roof and tapping a geothermal water source to cool the building during the summer.

"We've spent about three-quarters of a million dollars on the boiler replacements, geothermal and heating units," building owner Paul Stewart, the president of Stewart Property Management, told the Brattleboro Reformer. "We're not creating new units, we're renovating existing units and the building itself."

Most of the work should be completed by the end of the year, promising more comfortable living conditions for the home's residents, who are low-income or disabled Vermonters aged 62 years and older, the newspaper stated. The Vermont Housing Finance Agency pays about 70 percent of the monthly rent for each apartment.