Burton – an international pioneer in skiing – is becoming a member of forces with other well-known Vermont companies in hopes of bringing something new to its community in Burlington’s South End. If the town approves, the Burton campus will be the brand new home of Higher Ground and other attractions.
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Burton owns two aspect-by-way of-side homes on Industrial Parkway, both former General Dynamics centers.
One building is filled with offices and a retail outlet, while the other houses a mishmash of entities, including the enterprise’s research and development area, archive storage, and workplaces for the nonprofit Chill Foundation. However, there are also more than 30,000 square feet of vacant business space.
Burton moved to Burlington from southern Vermont in 1992, just as skiing and the Burton emblem started. Now, Burton is partnering with other location corporations to create what they hope will be a vacation spot for locals and tourists alike.
The venture has approximately a half-dozen ability partners, including Burton and Higher Ground, neighborhood restaurants, Talent Skatepark, and the Chill Foundation.
Justin Worthley, senior vice president of human assets at Burton, said the company bought the construction around the corner when it outgrew its headquarters.
“At that time, in 2007, our plan became essentially to top off both buildings and construct a connector building in between due to the fact that the corporation had simply been in this loopy boom trajectory,” Worthley explained.
But the recession hit in 2008, along with some awful winters for snow sports activities. Burton pivoted its business model, and much of that 2D building became storage space.
Then, over a year ago, Worthley ran into Higher Ground partner Alan Newman at the airport. According to Newman, Higher Ground is in the market for a new space.
“We need a new, extra cutting-edge venue,” Newman said Wednesday. We’ve been looking for a while. We love our modern-day vicinity. We’ve looked at renovating it a pair of times to bring to it what we experience we need to do to serve the growing tune network here certainly, and we have not been capable of determining how to get it completed within the cutting-edge place.”
Worthley invited Newman and his accomplice Alex Crothers to test Burton’s area. But Newman said he became already acquainted from one of his preceding enterprise ventures: Magic Hat Brewing Company.
“When we first moved Magic Hat from Flynn Avenue to South Burlington, the gap that we’re talking about for Higher Ground became the space that I desired for the brewery — however, General Dynamics became right here, and they were now not equipped to move out,” Newman stated. “So, in some approaches, it almost looks like coming domestic to me if we can pull it off.