Owner of former Burlington YMCA to announce renovation plans

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - New plans are emerging for the old YMCA building in Burlington, even as police were called again to sweep the building for squatters.

A line of officers with weapons entered the building Thursday morning, announcing their entrance to the privately owned building.

Homeless people and drug users have repeatedly broken into the boarded-up building in recent months. Ben Frye the property’s manager, asked police to sweep the building again after finding signs of another break-in, but police did not find any trespassers inside. The sweep also served as training, according to police.

Frye says the owners are taking their plans for redeveloping the building to the next meeting of the Neighborhood Planning Assembly, the first step in winning city approval. “Basically, he is going to gauge the feedback and see what the thoughts from the community are on what will be proposed hopefully,” he said.

It’s still unclear what the building will be, but we are told that they are trying to keep some of the character of the building while also knocking down some sections.

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