Proceeds of Bearsville sale to benefit affordable housing in Woodstock

HVNY News + Notes

Apr 13

Written By HVNY

Learn more about Project Regeneration during Earth Week tour

Lizzie Vann, the UK entrepreneur who led the revitalization of the iconic Bearsville Theater and Utopia Studios complex in 2019, is now selling the Bearsville Center and reinvesting the proceeds directly into her next venture, Project Regeneration, “using the outcome of one regenerative project to fund the next and keeping both capital and commitment firmly rooted in Woodstock.”

The Bearsville Center was listed in January 2026 for $7.9 million. Vann purchased the site in September 2019 for $2.5 million.

Vann’s Project Regeneration aims to convert six “beloved, but redundant older” buildings in Woodstock, including the former Woodstock Library, the former Lasher Funeral Home on Tinker Street, into 100-percent green affordable housing units, co-working spaces, and space for health care practitioners. (The funeral home closed in 2022, and the library moved to a newer facility on Dixon Avenue).

Plans also include expanding the Forever Green area at the former library into a new park with “natural ponds, permaculture orchards, old-tree celebration spaces, and a natural play area for children.”

In 2009, Vann helped restore several “run-down” buildings in the Historic Green Village in Anna Maria, Florida, including an old schoolhouse and several historic structures, to create apartments, a mixed-use retail space with a beloved bakery and educational center, all powered by renewable energy. The project became one the of the first LEED platinum-certified net-zero-energy developments in the United States.

“This project is about protecting what makes the town special while ensuring it continues to work for the folks who call it home,” Vann said, adding that the Project Regeneration “offers a rare chance to follow a real-world experiment in regenerative, community-involved design, one that’s grounded in history but fully oriented toward the future.”

Learn more during a special site visit to Project Regeneration on Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 1pm as part of Earth Week Woodstock. The event will feature a Q+A with the team followed by a 30-minute walking tour of the buildings and grounds.

For more information, visit https://project-regen.com