Champlain Housing Trust’s Shale Beach Condominiums will create homeownership opportunity for Vermonters priced out of the market
Elected officials from all levels of government gathered Friday, October 9, 2026 to celebrate the beginning of construction of Champlain Housing Trust’s Shale Beach Condominiums, a 30-home new development located in the Cambrian Rise neighborhood on North Avenue in Burlington. All the homes will be permanently affordable through CHT’s shared equity homeownership program, a program that has successfully provided homeownership opportunity to almost 1,500 Vermonters over the past 40 years.
“Vermont’s housing affordability crisis has wreaked havoc across our state, and skyrocketing housing prices are right at the center of it. Home prices have more than doubled in the last ten years, making it tougher than ever for families to achieve the American dream of homeownership,” said United States Senator Peter Welch. “The Champlain Housing Trust’s newest project is a great example of how we can leverage federal investments to increase access to affordable housing. I’ll continue to fight for policies that help bring down housing costs and make homeownership a reality for more working families in Vermont.”
Shale Beach is located right next to 100 Cambrian Way, a newly-constructed building with 40 apartments, developed by CHT and Evernorth. Those apartments are opening in November, 2026. Both buildings used Wright and Morrissey as their construction manager, and design by Duncan Wisnewski Architecture.
“Shale Beach shows what’s possible when we invest in making homeownership accessible to more people. The City’s $900,000 investment through the Housing Trust Fund is helping make these 30 permanently affordable homes possible, creating a mixed-income, mixed-generational neighborhood where families can put down roots for generations,” said Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak. “This project is a great example of what we can accomplish when the City, private developers, and affordable housing partners come together with a shared vision. I’m grateful to Champlain Housing Trust for their partnership and decades of work making homeownership a reality.”
Shale Beach Condos consists of five floors with 30 parking spaces underneath. Each floor includes four 2-bedroom homes and two 3-bedroom homes for a total of twenty 2-bedrooms and ten 3-bedrooms. The 2-bedroom homes are about 1,000 square feet. and the 3-bedrooms are just over 1,400 square feet. Each home has two bathrooms and washer/dryer hook-ups. Amenities include storage closets for each home, bike storage on the ground level, and a fifth-floor community room and deck. The building will be highly energy-efficient with electric air-source heat pumps for heating and cooling. Cambrian Rise is on the GMT bus line, the Burlington bike path and is within walking distance of many jobs, stores, services and recreational opportunities.
“This development brings jobs to the community and builds Burlington’s tax base. So not only are these condos affordable to the people who will buy them next year, they are making Burlington more affordable overall,” said Michael Monte, Champlain Housing Trust’s CEO. “And the lasting impact of retaining affordability through our shared equity homeownership program will have a ripple effect for future generations of City residents.”
Champlain Housing Trust worked with Smith NMTC Associates, LLC to access New Markets Tax Credits, an innovative use of this federal tax credit that’s only been used once before for building homes for sale in Vermont. The credits, committed by Mascoma Community Development and Community Housing Capital, were purchased by US Bank’s Impact Finance, providing roughly 20% of the cost of the development.
CHT assembled the rest of the financing for the development through a variety of sources: the City of Burlington’s Housing Trust Fund, state support of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, state and federal grants that were allocated by the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, charitable gifts from EastRise Credit Union and the Argosy Foundation, and energy incentives from the Burlington Electric Department. Vermont’s Local Investment Advisory Committee approved financing through Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak’s office for the overall infrastructure in the neighborhood being developed by Eric Farrell.
The anticipated final pricing will range between $175,000 and $210,000. Construction is targeted to be complete with occupancy by the end of 2027.
More information can be found at: https://www.getahome.org/shalebeach/