Downstreet looks to line up tenants as new apartments near completion
April 27, 2026 | By Lisa Scagliotti
Downstreet Housing & Community Development's Marsh House apartments at 51 S. Main St. are nearing completion. Photo by Gordon Miller
Construction is in the home stretch and applications for leases are now open for the 26-unit Marsh House apartment complex in downtown Waterbury.
Project managers at Downstreet Housing & Community Development say they are aiming for a June 3 ribbon-cutting and grant opening ceremony and they have begun to work on lease applications for tenants interested in the new studio, one- and two-bedroom units.
Construction began on the three-story apartment building at 51 South Main Street in March 2025.
Plans to construct housing on the site date back to soon after Tropical Storm Irene which flooded downtown Waterbury in August 2011. The former two-story home on the site and its additions were heavily damaged and later demolished as the costs to restore them exceeded their value. The resulting vacant lot was used for parking from 2019 until construction on the Downstreet project began last year. Along the way, the property’s sale needed approval from the Edward Farrar Utility District voters. The district inherited ownership of the property from the village municipality, which was dissolved in 2018. In October 2022, the voters overwhelmingly approved the sale to the Barre nonprofit housing agency.
Marsh House, as it now will be known, is Downstreet’s fourth housing development in Waterbury and its third downtown. It also owns and manages the South Main Apartments at the edge of the Vermont State Office Complex. That project was developed following Tropical Storm Irene, after the state determined it no longer would use what had been Ladd Hall for offices. The apartments – a mixture of 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom units – opened in the summer of 2015.
The Stimson and Graves apartments on Stowe Street above the Waterbury Area Senior Center and Axel’s are another Downstreet property. Those one- and two-bedroom units are exclusively rented to tenants age 55 and older. They were created as a result of the first major renovation project spearheaded by Revitalizing Waterbury and opened in 1993. Downstreet also owns and, since 2002, has operated the Green Mountain Seminary one- and two-bedroom apartments on Hollow Road in Waterbury Center.
In all, Downstreet currently has 57 units in Waterbury, according to Nicola Anderson, Downstreet’s director of real estate development. Marsh House will increase that inventory by just over 45%. As part of its design, the new facility has office space for a Downstreet property manager based in Waterbury and responsible for all of the agency’s units here.
A nod to local history
In naming the new housing complex, Downstreet took a page from local history. “Marsh House” is a nod to the legacy of James Marsh of New Canaan, Connecticut, who was Waterbury’s first permanent settler in 1784. His time here was short-lived, as he died several years later in a winter accident on the Winooski River. According to Waterbury Historical Society records, of his family members, his eldest son Elias remained in Waterbury into adulthood, making his home at what is now 51 South Main until he died in 1802. He is buried in Hope Cemetery.
Lining up tenants
Construction at Marsh House began a little over a year ago, with ReArch Construction from South Burlington as the lead contractor. The complex was designed by gbA Architecture & Planning in Burlington. Project managers say work is expected to continue through May on the building, which is situated alongside Waterbury Service Station and across from the Wesley United Methodist Church.
Meanwhile, Downstreet staff are now beginning to process lease applications. The building’s 26 units are configured as four studio apartments, 17 one-bedroom, and five two-bedroom units.
In keeping with Downstreet’s mission, the apartments are designed to be affordable for low- to moderate-income tenants. Downstreet uses federal housing data to determine income eligibility for applicants. Leasing decisions take into account the number of people in the household and their total income.
The project aims to rent to tenants whose annual income falls between 30% and 80% of the Area Median Income. That range could be as low as $23,200 for a single person at 30% of Average Median Income to $88,300 for a four-person household with income at 80% of AMI.
Rent for studios will range from $937 to $1,124 per month; one-bedrooms from $1,004 to $1,606 monthly; two-bedrooms between $1,446 and $1,927 per month, according to Downstreet.
Working with Upper Valley Services, Downstreet has pledged to lease three units to tenants whose household includes an individual with developmental disabilities. Downstreet also plans to work with Good Samaritan Haven in Barre for referrals of tenants who have recently been homeless to move into up to five units.
With 30 parking spots on site, there is a spot for each unit and staff. Anderson noted that the parking lot will have four charging stations for electric vehicles. As for pets, just service animals will be allowed, she noted.
Prospective tenants will get a chance to tour the building once their applications are determined to be eligible for leasing a unit. The public will have an opportunity to see the new complex at the June 3 grand opening.
Addressing Waterbury’s housing need
Joe Camaratta chairs Waterbury’s Housing Task Force, a volunteer town committee tasked with promoting housing development with an emphasis on growing the community’s supply of affordable housing. It has supported the creation of a municipal housing trust fund that so far has launched a modest grant program to help property owners create or upgrade rental units.
Camaratta is watching the Downstreet project with keen interest. He said the task force’s research has found that Waterbury has about 800 households in rental units and about half spend more on monthly rent than what is considered “affordable.” That works out to mean mean more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, he explained.
The task force’s research also has found that about two-thirds of Waterbury’s renters earn incomes that fall within the range that Downstreet is seeking for the new apartments. “The important point is that Marsh House will benefit people already living in our community,” Camaratta said. “It will allow them to live and work in town more affordably.”
Camaratta said the task force is eager to hear from Downstreet about the applications they receive for the new units as a barometer for the local housing market’s future needs. A large number of applicants “would demonstrate the demand for more affordable housing,” he said.
More information about leases at Marsh House is online at downstreet.org/marsh-house-apts.