Thinking About the Dunn Warehouse

With about two feet of snow on the ground and on the roofs of Hudson buildings, the state of the Dunn warehouse, the last surviving industrial building on the waterfront, comes to mind. So today, Gossips reports on the discussion of the building that took place on November 19, at the most recent meeting of the DRI (Downtown Revitalization Intitiative) Committee.

The City has been awarded $1.5 million for the stabilization and restoration of the building--$500,000 in a Restore NY grant awarded early in 2017 and $1 million in DRI funding. It has been unclear until recently if any of that money can be claimed and spent without a private developer partnering with the City in the building's restoration and reuse. In the past year, it has been determined that the $500,000 Restore NY grant can be utilized, but the $1 million in DRI funds cannot be used without there being a private sector partner for the enterprise.

In October, a team of structural engineers from Chazen, the group that is helping administer the DRI projects, was dispatched to assess the building and make recommendations for its immediate stabilization. At the DRI Committee meeting on November 19, they made a preliminary report, identifying two areas of immediate concern: the roof on the eastern portion of the building and the brick wall on the south side of the building, where there is now a giant overhead door, which was installed in the 1850s building sometime in the 20th century. (The pictures below were taken in April 2018.)  

The initial recommendation was that the roof on the eastern portion of the building be removed and rebuilt and that the collapsing southern wall be braced. A full assessment report and a stabilization plan package is expected to be presented at the next meeting of the DRI Committee, currently scheduled to take place on Tuesday, December 10, at 2:30 p.m., at City Hall.
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