Milk plant reborn as studio space August 7, 2003 - Associated Press By Associated Press BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - A former milk bottling plant has a new life as a work and exhibit space. The former H.P. Hood & Sons Inc. milk bottling plant on South Winooski Avenue was purchased in 1998 by Metropark, LLC, which renovated the building and an adjacent barn that are now leased to local artists and designers for studio space. Metropark owner Anne Rothwell dubbed the art space The Harry Hood Gallery, a reference to the Phish song "Harry Hood," released in 1995, which was written about the building in its milk-processing days. Current Hood Plant tenants include Place Creative Co., Michael Sipe Photography and the Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center. Completed renovations to the Hood building are just the first of a multipart construction project planned for the Metropark property, Rothwell said. The next step will be adding eight residential units to the building. Final approval for the project is pending from the city, but it is hoped that construction will begin in the spring, she said. Longer-term Metropark plans are to put up a six-story building along 200 feet of Church Street frontage bordering the parking lot that is part of the one-acre property. The building would house commercial space on the ground floor, with higher stories containing residential units, Rothwell said. "It's going to change the neighborhood significantly," she said. Article Copyright © 2003 Associated Press