Builder re-works plans for Kingston’s waterfront BY KATHY KAHN

Builder re-works plans for Kingston’s waterfront
BY KATHY KAHN

From left: Tom Perna, partner, RPA Associates, White Plains; Anthony Nester, senior production manager, John Meyer Consultants, Armonk; Joseph Riina, president, Site Design Consultants, Yorktown Heights; Anthony Russo, president, Environment Compliance Services, Middletown; and Dan Simone, vice president and senior engineer, AVR Realty, at recent event in Fishkill.

After five years of meetings with the public and Kingston city planners, AVR Realty of Yonkers is ready to unveil its revised proposal for developing the former Tilcon cement plant into a waterfront community of homes, businesses and stores.

AVR Realty (www.avrrealty.com) purchased Tilcon’s mile of shoreline in 2002, proposing to build 2,182 new homes, 200,000 square feet of class A office space, and 45,000 square feet of stores and restaurants. But the Landing at Kingston & Ulster was opposed by several groups, with the environmental group Scenic Hudson (www.scenichudson.org) at the forefront.

Five years and several meetings with the public and city planners later, AVR has another proposal for what some have dubbed a city within a city. The developer went through a series of public hearings, submitted its draft environmental impact statement and gave several public tours of the property by land and water. For the past year it has been working with the city on project modifications. “We have a new plan through this revision process that responds to all the concerns of the city and the public,” said Dan Simone, AVR’s vice president.

The company said it scaled down from 2,182 to 1,750 the number of units it proposes to build, and will incorporate a natural buffer between the north and south cove neighborhoods that will preserve more than 1,000 feet of natural shoreline.

Simone said the project’s design incorporates a recent development trend called neo-traditional neighborhoods. “It will be a mix of downtown retail, apartments and condos over stores, and single-family homes and townhomes,” he said. “We are also developing guidelines for future Hudson Landing building proposals that lay the groundwork for how the project should be developed over the next quarter-century.”

The developer has scaled back its plans for commercial development to 75,000 square feet, 50 percent of which will be live/work townhouses, with a for-sale unit or general commercial on the first floor. “These will be available for local business people or investors, and the goal is to create a work/live environment,” said Simone.

City planners will meet with AVR on Wednesday, April 18 at 6 p.m. at Kingston’s City Hall, where the builder will unveil its new plans and the public will have a chance to see the proposal.

Organic neighborhood

Simone said feedback from Scenic Hudson has been positive. “I think they see we are trying to be responsive to the public and to their concerns.” Ned Sullivan, Scenic Hudson’s president, said he has concerns about the proposal’s impact on the city’s waste treatment plant that, according to Scenic Hudson’s calculations, can only handle 500 more housing units.

But Sullivan is looking forward to seeing the changes AVR is proposing, saying there is an increased desire for neo-traditional neighborhoods rather than a string of suburban homes lining the Hudson. “We would welcome a neighborhood-friendly environment,” he said.

“We have heard informally they are modifying the project to comply with what we and Friends of the Kingston Waterfront (www.fokw.org) have asked for an organically built neighborhood rather than a wall of condos,” Sullivan said. “I’m hoping they are also going to move away from purely residential with a stronger mix of business and retail and other things that will contribute jobs and vitality to the community.”

Sullivan said the environmental group would also like to see the developer “create a truly public waterfront rather than one that is someone’s back yard. It is such a significant portion of the town of Ulster’s and Kingston’s waterfront. It should be accessible to all residents and anyone who visits Ulster County.”

Future generations

FOKW spokesman Lowell Thing said his group’s concerns are “traffic, sewer and the potential visual effect these proposed developments will have on the city.” AVR will pay for connections to the sewer system, he said, “but will they pay for the extra capacity that will be needed?”

AVR’s Simone said the revamped plans for the Tilcon site include building a direct connection to Route 32 and not utilizing side roads when building Hudson Landing. The other concerns will be addressed at the public hearing.

There’s no doubt in Thing’s mind that development will come to Kingston. The city lost 25 percent of its work force and their families when IBM Corp. closed its facility, and when completely built, the Landing will bring the city’s population up to its pre-IBM levels. “I’ve been living here more than 30 years,” Thing said. “It is a wonderful city with a wonderful history. Why wouldn’t developers want to come and build projects here?” “But we have to make sure they maintain the character of our city. We don’t want them to spoil it.”

Both Simone and Tom Perna, senior partner at AVR, say their project will keep with the fabric of the town of Ulster and city of Kingston. “There’s a need for housing to meet the needs of future generations,” Simone said. “The population is growing, and you can’t stop that. The trend is to move northward away from the metropolitan area, yet people from the metro area do like city living and are drawn to our upstate cities. We are building on already disturbed properties. We are going to provide a diversity of housing, from one-bedroom condos to single-family homes. They are not going to be ‘affordable’ per se, but 10 percent of our homes will be regulated by HUD standards. Keep in mind that as the cost of living goes up and the median income goes up, so does the cost of the affordable units.”

Diversity, said Simone, is the key. AVR wants to cater to a large spectrum of people. “We do not want anyone left out.”

Exciting time

“This is an exciting time to be in land development,” Simone said. “The whole concept of neo-traditional building is new to the Northeast, but from what we’ve seen, there is increasing interest. People are attracted to those types of communities; they like the feeling of a ‘real’ neighborhood.”

Simone optimistically predicts a groundbreaking in 2008. “We are not fly-by-nights,” he said. “Our New Windsor (Orange County) project is sold out, and we are opening a new phase in Fishkill (Dutchess County) called Overlook Point by the end of the summer. We’re building apartments in the same city called Rivercrest that will have 20 affordable units and about 250 apartments at market rates. We are mass builders and price our products competitively. We like building projects we can be proud of.”

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