It appears the renovated $130 million State Office Complex in downtown Waterbury doesn’t have quite enough space for the state employees moving back to town.
The former Keurig Green Mountain call center at 152 S. Main St. is being converted to additional state offices that will house roughly 75 workers from the state Department of Human Services, said Wayne Lamberton, the project’s developer.
The workers will move to Waterbury from their Williston office at the beginning of March.
Keurig Green Mountain terminated its lease on the building about six weeks ago, Lamberton said, and the state expressed interest in leasing it.
The state Department of Buildings and General Services did not respond to the Record’s request for comment.
Lamberton is making only minor cosmetic changes to the building, all on the interior. On Monday, workers were replacing sheetrock and updating the wiring in the building.
Lamberton expects that work to be finished by the end of next week.
Bigger office building
Just south of 152 S. Main, Lamberton has another project in the works: He wants to build a 12,000-square-foot office building that he would lease to local businesses.
Two buildings would need to be torn down — a vacant house, and a house that’s been converted for office use. Lamberton already owns the properties, and said he is planning for the new buildings.
It will take a while to complete the planning and obtain permits; he hopes to be “shovel-ready” by September of 2017.
Until then, he and business partner Jason Gibbs are keeping a close eye on proposals to update Waterbury’s anti-flooding regulations. The select board and village trustees have warned a hearing on March 7.
Among the new flood rules would be a requirement that the first floor of any new building be at least 3 feet above the 100-year flood level.
That concerns Lamberton.
“If it goes to 100-year plus 3, we don’t know what that would mean for the project,” he said,
Lamberton, standing in the field where the building would go, showed his estimation of where the bottom floor would be. He held his hand roughly up to his chest.
He worries that having the bottom floor so high would make it difficult to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
With a foundation that tall, a ramp leading to the front door would have to be roughly 15 feet long.
The 100-year flood level plus 2 feet would be more manageable, he said.
