Biographies for Melinda Moulton & Elizabeth Steele
Bio for Melinda Moulton
CEO/Redeveloper
Dated 2009
Bio for Melinda Moulton
Melinda Moulton has been involved in environmental and socially
conscious redevelopment since 1983. She and her redevelopment partner, Lisa Steele, are co-founders of Main Street Landing. They created the innovative “team approach to design, development, and construction” philosophy and produced in concept a 25-year incremental redevelopment project for the Burlington Waterfront. The most-recent project is at the corner of Lake & College Street on Burlington, Vermont’s waterfront, which includes a 230-seat film house, black box performance theater, restaurant, atrium, board room, great room, retail and office space, viewing and pedestrian terraces, public linkages to the Waterfront, and 18,000 sq. feet of new public park land. This project has received Silver LEED from the Green Building Council, and is the first commercial building in Vermont to receive this recognition. Melinda spearheaded 250,000 square feet of built environment on Burlington’s Waterfront over the past twenty-five years.
Melinda’s passionate commitment to public transit has produced the renovated Union Station and a vision for a state-wide multi-modal transit system. She created the proclamation for Vermont Rail Day, which was signed into existence by Governor Howard Dean on June 22nd, 1999. She serves on the Board of the Vermont Rail Advocacy Network which is a state-wide network of thousands of Vermonters who support rail. A resident of Vermont for thirty-six years, Melinda, along with her husband Rick, built a stone house and barn, raised two children, have three grandchildren, made documentary films, and serve on a variety of community endeavors.
Melinda served for eight years as the Chair of the Burlington Parking & Transportation Council, and was Chair of the Burlington Business Association which she served for ten years. Melinda serves on the Boards of the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, the Orton Family Foundation, The Vermont Audubon, and the Vermont Arts Council. She is past Board member of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, The Intervale Center, YMCA, Opportunities Credit Union, and the Vermont Retail Association. She sits on the Advisory Council of the Vermont Green Building Network and on UVM’s 2020 Sustainability Task Force. Melinda served four years on the School Board of Chittenden East School District and spearheaded the six million dollar expansion project at the Mount Mansfield High School.
Melinda was honored by the Burlington Business Association with the Nate Harris Award in recognition of her contribution to the economic vitality of downtown Burlington. Recently she received the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility Terry Ehrich award which recognizes those individuals who exemplify extraordinary socially-responsible business practices.
Main Street Landing has won the 2002 Energy Star for Small Business Award from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. The award recognizes firms that have exemplified the EPA’s Energy Star goals of common-sense, profitable efficiency improvements through better lighting, building tune-ups, electricity load reductions, efficient HVAC and office equipment. MSL’s CornerStone Building and their new Lake & College Project won the illustrious Hertzel Pasackow Award presented for architectural excellence by the Burlington Business Association. Melinda lectures on sustainable redevelopment, environmental and social consciousness in the development profession. Main Street Landing’s projects have also been recognized with awards for historic preservation by both the Chittenden County Historical Society, and the Burlington Historic Preservation Association, and the Burlington Development Award.
Melinda lectures around the country on sustainable development, urban design and planning, and leadership.
Melinda grew up surrounded by the construction business where her father owned one of the leading general contracting firms in Pennsylvania, H. E. Stoudt & Sons. Her role as co-founder and redeveloper of the Main Street Landing project includes supporting the arts and local culture, providing incubator space for start-up local businesses, nurturing social responsibility, and educating people about environmental and social conscience. Her sustainable agenda of ecological integrity, economic security, individual empowerment, and social well-being is recognized throughout the country as the way of the future for design, development, and construction.
One Main Street
Burlington, Vermont 05401
802-864-7999
visit
or contact Melinda@mainstreetlanding.com
Bio for Elizabeth Steele
Owner/Redeveloper
Elizabeth Steele is the co-founder and owner of Main Street Landing, a Vermont based real estate development and operating company. She co-founded Main Street Landing in 1988 with the objective of leading the transformation of the Burlington, Vermont waterfront from a largely abandoned commercial site to a mixed-use site with recreational, transportation, commercial, performing & visual arts, and residential uses.
Main Street Landing began the redevelopment process by acquiring the former train station located at One Main Street and the adjacent properties. Main Street Landing was instrumental in reintroducing commuter train service to the City of Burlington. It redeveloped the One Main Street property as a transportation center and commercial building. It also built the adjacent CornerStone and Wing Buildings, and the newly constructed Lake & College Project. The CornerStone building is a mixed-use residential and commercial property anchoring the intersection of Main and Battery Streets. The Wing Building is an innovative, commercial, incubator building providing retail and office space for both established and startup enterprises. Lake and College is a commercial project with a performing arts center. Main Street Landing contols and manages over 250,000 square feet of rental property.
These developments undertaken by Main Street Landing has been characterized by sensitivity to environmental issues, sound community development and sustainability. Main Street Landing has worked closely with other local businesses and the City of Burlington to promote these values in its development. Main Street Landing has been willing to "pioneer" in the redevelopment of the Burlington waterfront area. It believes that its initial success with its development of One Main Street, the CornerStone & Wing buildings, and Lake & College has encouraged other landowners and governmental agencies to further the development of the Burlington Waterfront.
Prior to embarking upon her business career, Ms. Steele was an elementary school teacher. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Wheelock College and a Master of Arts degree from Teachers College at Columbia University. She serves as a member of the Board of Director of Shelburne Farms and the Dow Jones & Company, Inc. She lives in Shelburne, Vermont with her husband, Scott Hammond.
