Evernorth witness tells committee rising hard-construction costs, supply-chain delays are throttling multifamily housing

Kathy Beyer, vice president for real estate development at Evernorth, told the House Committee on General and Housing on Feb. 4 that rising hard-construction costs, supply-chain delays and regulatory complexity are the principal factors driving up the total development cost (TDC) of multifamily housing in Vermont.

"An elevator is $200,000 a pop," Beyer said, pointing to fixed mechanical costs that fall more heavily on smaller projects. She described multifamily buildings as inherently more complex than single-family homes because they require more kitchens and bathrooms per square foot and often need elevators, different framing or commercial energy-code compliance as they rise above certain heights.

The stakes, she said, show up in project budgets. Beyer gave two recent examples: Riverwalk Apartments in White River Junction, a 42-unit project that opened in summer 2024 at a little under $400,000 per unit, and Kelly's Field 2 in Hinesburg, a 24-unit 4% tax-credit transaction that closed in 2024 at about $465,000 per unit. She attributed much of the unit-cost variance to scale, added site features such as parking…