Champlain Housing Trust will break ground on August 7, 2025 and begin construction on one of two new buildings as part of a plan to add 70 new permanently affordable homes in the Cambrian Rise neighborhood in Burlington. The first building, named 100 Cambrian Way, will have 40 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, including eight for households exiting homelessness, and the second building, named Shale Beach Condos, will be built soon after with 30 for sale condominiums.
Nestled among several existing buildings, these new apartments and condos offer a range of affordable options and are part of a neighborhood that will have nearly 1,000 homes in total when fully built. Being close to public transportation, within walking distance of downtown, next to a 12-acre public park, and near beaches and recreational trails along Lake Champlain also make this an ideal location to live. The overall mix of affordable and market-rate condos and apartments at Cambrian Rise has created one of the most income diverse neighborhoods in the state.
This is CHT’s second affordable apartment building in the neighborhood. The first, Laurentide Apartments, completed in 2019, offers 76 apartments for a range of incomes including several who had been homeless.
These 40 new apartments add desperately needed affordable housing inventory – the current average time on CHT’s waiting list for an apartment is 14 months.
The apartment building will be separate from, but adjacent to, the condo building. These two projects will share some costs and coordinated construction will also create savings to help keep rents and home prices within reach for low- to moderate-income households.
The condominiums will be made affordable through CHT’s shared equity homeownership program which provides a significantly reduced mortgage for qualified buyers. In exchange, the home buyer agrees to share a portion of the appreciation of their home when they sell, keeping the home permanently affordable.
Shale Beach Condos, named for Iberville Shale, a dark gray, flaky sedimentary rock found in the Champlain Thrust at Lone Rock Point and beaches nearby, will be a mix of two- and three-bedroom homes and will help fill the affordable housing gap in Chittenden County where the median cost of a newly built home was $700,000 in 2023 and the median price of all homes last year was more than $500,000.
CHT’s shared equity condos will be sold for $160,000 to $200,000 and will remain affordable forever. In comparison, some of the newly constructed market rate homes for sale in this neighborhood are listed at $1.6 million for a three-bedroom condominium.
Stay tuned and visit Developments in Progress for updates about these new homes!