Saturday, March 1, 2014

Ear to the Ground

After acquiring the building a decade ago, removing its porticoes, emptying it of tenants, taking up the Historic Preservation Commission's time reviewing a plan to convert the building into two giant townhouses, gutting the interior, while all the time warehousing the building, T. Eric Galloway seems to be exploring a new plan for 202-2o4 Warren Street: turning it into some kind of subsidized housing. The rumor is that Rick Scalera, special adviser to the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, is shopping the idea around the Second Ward.
The building was acquired by Galloway's Historic Preservation Group, but according to the 2013 assessment rolls, which indicate that it is assessed at $125,000, ownership was at some point transferred to Galvan Partners LLC. Once known as the Brousseau Bldg (it's etched in the transom over one of the doors), it was designed as six apartments by Hudson architect Michael O'Connor, whose work includes the Allen Street School, the original Firemen's Home, and several residences in the neighborhood of the courthouse, and constructed around the turn of the century. 

 The original porticoes disappeared soon after Galloway took possession of the building, but they are fondly remembered by many early admirers of Hudson's historic architecture. Fortunately, the porticoes were documented by Lynn Davis in her Warren Street Project, the monumental collection of photographs of all the buildings on Warren Street taken over the course of two years in the mid-1990s.
Copyright 1995 Lynn Davis
 COPYRIGHT 2014 CAROLE OSTERINK
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 1, 2014 at 10:37 PM

    eric galloway purports to be an historic preservationist, but the insensitivity in allowing the buildings to be denuded of detail, and then leaving them derelict shows his real character. the buildings could be used as housing for the young creative class that is arriving in hudson, attracted by the dynamic environment.

    mr galloway, however, seems to want to perpetuate the old boy system of trapping the poor in downtown hudson in a hostile environment. its all about the section 8 or government revenue that he will earn. its not about any lofty ideals but about the money.
    the poor deserve a ticket to the middle class schools outside of hudson. the school system is about the worst in the state, and the nation.
    eric and henry are doing the poor no favors, nor are they reviving hudson in a good way.

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  2. victorinhudsonMarch 2, 2014 at 4:38 AM

    Hear hear 6b150574-8168-11e3-afe1-000bcdcb2996, You are exactly correct.

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  3. Social Justice CenterMarch 2, 2014 at 7:43 AM

    if this is fact true we support the idea for a building that formerly housed people of low to moderate income returning to a building that will house low to moderate income. The poor deserves a lot of things but we need all hands on deck not just your comments but your sweat equity in a program or project that lifts someone out of poverty to those opportunities you speak of. If this is true Eric and Henry has started to do their part. The young creative class are in a much better position than may who live in these neighborhoods who we might add don't want to leave. You want to help stop talking and start acting. Go volunteer at habitat, promise neighborhoods, sbk. They have no programming at Bliss towers but their are all types of project specific grants to help the residents who don't work find jobs, help with life skills and dress for success but none of these opportunities are reaching the residents.

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  4. tmdonofrioMarch 2, 2014 at 8:38 AM

    Here's how it works.
    Find apartments for tenants of Bliss Towers to schedule its' demolition. Hey we gotta put 'em somewhere. 2nd & 3rd on
    Warren, S. 5th & Union.
    Find landlords to house Section 8 people. Galvan.
    Hey, wake up. It is about the Money.
    The solution. All low income residents of Hudson are given a sizable check, a one-way ticket to anywhere.
    Everyone's happy.
    The poor now have money. The ghetto is bulldozed.
    You know how it works, out of sight out of mind.
    The beautiful people will have condos, apartments, w/ river & mt. views.
    Hey if the Proprietors could give a woman a few dollars & tell her she must leave Hudson we can do the same today. History repeats itself.
    What's the next issue.

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  5. michael lesawyerMarch 2, 2014 at 10:31 AM

    ...re-entry Columbia is the leasing agent for galvan. started with a 5K "gift" from galvan and after receiving over 100K from the Columbia County board of supervisors they are ready to do business. re-entry's stated purpose is to help the recently released "find apartments"...does the county BOS have any clue or did they think re-entry is just two lttle old ladies being nice?

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  6. victorinhudsonMarch 2, 2014 at 4:51 PM

    The legitimate needs of the poor, have absolutely nothing to do with Eric Galloway in Hudson. His only track record in this regard is evicting poor and middle class residents. Then leaving their former homes to rot.

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  7. victorinhudsonMarch 2, 2014 at 4:53 PM

    The only residential projects which Eric Galloway has completed have been luxury housing. Anyone who sees Eric Galloway as a champion for the poor who need housing, is deluding themselves.

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  8. AnonymousMarch 2, 2014 at 6:49 PM

    BLISS TOWERS is not a problem. tearing it down is another hugely expensive government project that rick scalera and the boys want for their own pockets. LEAVE BLISS TOWERS ALONE ! the disabled live there now with elevators and services.

    where is all the money coming from for these enormous projects. ? hudson isnt new york city and has plenty of subsidized housing as it is. it cannot afford more.

    where is all this money coming from that is going to build more subsidized housing. these projects are a fantasy of rick scalera and erics. they have the plans in place but is the community really behind these ideas of 1970s ill advised urban housing ? it didnt work then, and it doesnt work now. hudson s north side is proof of that. its a ghetto where heroin and other drugs are easier to get than food.

    the community gives to the poor each day, through the opera house and other programs.

    the almost illiterate answer to the first comment bespeaks the clouded thinking and real bad intentions of the old boys of hudson. enough with the antiquated welfare programs of the past that trapped the poor in a ghetto.

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