Housing, bars and groceries: Poughkeepsie leaders plan to upgrade downtown through coveted state grant
The projects include a cocktail bar on the train station platform, a revamp of a closed community center and a six-story apartment complex at the former office of the Dutchess County Board of Elections.
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From a bar on the train station platform to a high-rise apartment building in the middle of the city, Poughkeepsie leaders are upgrading the city's downtown.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday a list of newly approved projects that will make up the city's $10 million improvement plan funded by a highly coveted Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant.
One of the projects will replace a long-vacant Main Street building with an apartment building, possibly with a grocery store on the ground floor.
Independent barber Len Jackson, who works next door to the site, said Main Street business owners are prepared for more residents and more foot traffic.
"We have multicultural restaurants," Jackson said. "We have barbershops to handle it, and we have other shops down the street too."
The state approved a list of projects the city will help develop with the DRI grant it won last year.
The projects include a cocktail bar on the train station platform, a revamp of a closed community center and a six-story apartment complex at the former office of the Dutchess County Board of Elections.
City Administrator Joe Donat said Friday that developers are lined up for most of the projects and site plans are approved.
"The stars are aligning," Donat said in an interview outside the old BOE building on Cannon Street, adding that the city has been working with residents and developers on the projects long before the city even won the DRI grant.
"It's been a team effort all along," he said. "Now is when the fun begins, but there's been several years of hard work to get us to this point."
Organizers of the city's monthly First Friday events approve any plan that concentrates homes, services and especially food downtown.
They said walkability is key to the city's success.
"I feel like most food is up Main Street that way," First Friday organizer Adam Reid said, pointing west down Main Street, "So it's hard for some people to get to it. I definitely think a grocery store on the lower end of Main Street could definitely help our people."
It may take several years before all the projects are finished, and not every proposed project is guaranteed.
Donat said, though, that since so much planning has been done already, some of the projects will begin this year.
Past winners of the Downtown Revitalization grants include Middletown in 2016, Kingston in 2017, and Haverstraw in 2021.
Middletown leaders used their $10 million to build up its commercial district, which the mayor said has already inspired millions more in outside investment in the city.
Kingston is investing nearly all its DRI grant money in a boutique hotel, a promenade, apartments and a parking garage.
All those projects have been delayed.
