BURLINGTON – After years of planning, false starts, public opposition, and loss of financing, developer Don Sinex has confirmed his intention to abandon Burlington’s CityPlace project and leave the giant hole in the center of downtown, right where residents have become accustomed to having it. Instead he has secured financing to begin building a vast underwater complex at the bottom of Lake Champlain that he is calling “LakePlace.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LakePlace will feature over 300 sub-aquatic apartments, over 30% of which will be “low-depth” housing for those unable to afford units closer to the surface. There will be plenty of office space for rent, as well as a four story shopping mall and two grocery stores. Most of the initial vision has remained unchanged, although a planned casino was nixed when Sinex was informed that the bottom of the lake was not “international waters” as had previously been hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Honestly, this is going to be way better,” Sinex said via the front page of the Burlington Free Press, which he purchased as advertising space. “I can build it as tall as I want, and it isn’t going to wreck the skyline. Nobody is going to sue me or protest at my house. I don’t know why we didn’t think of this earlier. There’s so much valuable real estate just literally sitting there on the lake bed. Thanks to salvage laws and a good legal team, I got that land for free!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The released plans for LakePlace show that it will be environmentally self-sustaining, drawing on the power of water to provide electricity for the facility. Access for residents and shoppers will be via a system of tubes and tunnels that will connect LakePlace with the giant gaping eyesore that would have been CityPlace, but will now be a literal pit leading underground and out to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DISCLAIMER – This article has been a paid advertisement for LakePlace, paid for by “Mer-People<\/a> for LakePlace,” who are in no way associated with Don Sinex, and definitely think this is a good idea and have not been paid to say so.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"