Associated Press
WINOOSKI, Vt. — A fast-growing high-tech company plans to move into the Champlain Mill in Winooski; city officials hope the move will draw more businesses to the vacant office space in their newly redeveloped downtown.
MyWebGrocer has purchased the former woolen mill-turned-retail-and-office space and plans to move its headquarters from Colchester into the 5th floor by January.
The company, which creates digital options for grocery stores around the country — including websites, mobile applications and online circulars — is still growing and adding jobs, after doubling its staff between 2009 and 2010. It’s currently hiring across all departments, officials said.
The company also hopes to attract other high-tech companies to the historic mill.
‘‘We look forward to ideally making this a tech hub,’’ CEO Rich Tarrant said. ‘‘MyOwnGrocer’s going to be here. We’re going to invite other technology companies to move into space that we don’t need and really help be part of a vibrant revitalization of downtown.’’
But first the brick mill on the Winooski River must undergo a multimillion renovation, including the replacement of windows, heating and air conditioning system, and other work.
Only about 20 to 30 percent of the 150,000-square-foot building is currently occupied, officials said.
Other office and retail space also is vacant in the newly redeveloped section of town.
‘‘We started when the economy was booming and then it went south and we’ve been struggling with that to get the interest,’’ Mayor Mike O’Brien said.
But he said businesses have shown interest in the vacant spaces. ‘‘I think this is one thing that’s going to galvanize that,’’ he said of the purchase of the Champlain Mill.
Robert Villemaire, 69, a retired teacher who has lived in Winooski all his life, was delighted to see new buildings go up in a city that some thought would turn into a ghost town after the mills shut down in the 1950s.
‘‘To see buildings instead of a parking lot is sort of a fulfillment of a long-range plan many years ago,’’ he said.
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