Vermont Public Radio has started an $8 million expansion of its Colchester facility that will add 13,000 square feet, reports VTDigger.org. The expansion will nearly double the pubcaster’s current 14,000 square feet of space.
According to VTDigger, VPR is investing $8 million into the expansion and raising another $2 million for an innovation fund to support investigative and local reporting and music offerings.
“What listeners are expecting and hoping for is that we do more enterprise, more investigative stories and projects, and we’ve been trying to do that all along,” VPR News Director John Dillon told VTDigger.
VTDigger said VPR has raised $7.4 million from individual donors and aims to raise the rest within a year. Its current facility was built in the 1990s and is over capacity, with the newsroom located in a former storage attic.
The expansion is slated to be completed by next September.