In 2012, Hudson Valley Newspapers, now known as Columbia-Greene Media, sold its historic building on Warren Street to Galvan Partners. The building, which, according to the vintage photograph below, was erected in 1805, had been the home of the Register-Star, which traces its history back to 1785, continuously up to that point.
Recently, the Register-Star moved back into the building, now as a tenant of the Galvan Foundation.
Our local newspaper has joined its editor, Mary Dempsey, and our mayor, Kamal Johnson, as tenants of the Galvan Foundation. Both Dempsey and Johnson live in houses they rent from Galvan, located only a few doors apart.
Yesterday, Galvan stepped up with a proposal to solve the problem of City Hall not being universally accessible.
In the proposed deal, the Galvan Foundation would provide a $1 million grant for project planning and construction, donate construction drawings and environmental reports, and give the historic building to the City in exchange for a City-owned lot at Washington and Seventh streets. The parcel Galvan seeks appears to be the lot across Washington Street from the Central Fire Station, at the northern end of Galvan's proposed "Depot District." The lot, which is now used for parking when there is an event at the fire station, abuts Oakdale Park.
Galvan Foundation argues that the project would be an affordable solution to the City's ADA compliance issues at 520 Warren Street. It would involve constructing an annex to the 1818 building at 400 State Street. The proposal distributed yesterday includes an outline of the estimated costs.
It will be interesting to see how the current occupants of City Hall respond to this proposal.COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK
How does that go again ? YOU SCRATCH MY ASS,& I WILL SCRATCH YOURS.
ReplyDeleteThat old building as City Hall, regardless of upgrades? The response should be "NO THANKS."
ReplyDeleteGreat headline, Carole. I can't wait to see how readers answer it.
ReplyDeleteLove that building but from what i remember the rooms aren't large enough for todays needs.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about money, isn't it? I remember a question about gentrification at a mayoral debate; Rick Rector (friendly with Galvan) said that he would be powerless to intervene in the real estate market; Mayor Johnson emphatically (and rightly) stated that he would do everything to stop Galvan. Now the tune has changed ... why? Has anyone actually spoken with any of Galvan's tenants? It seems like turnover (at least in their commercial properties) is high, and considering Galvan is seeking to expand its portfolio of managed properties in Hudson, one would think that responsible leaders (if they sincerely care about putting more QUALITY affordable housing on the market) would be able to look past nice-sounding promises or flashy giveaways and actually talk to people who have worked or lived in Galvan properties. For starters.
ReplyDelete-Jerome Riviere
Why?! Because the mayor nurses on Galvan’s teat. The rot in city hall is complete with the Common Council converted to a politburo and the mayor essentially on Galvan’s pad at risk of his home. He doesn’t have the strength or moral compass to do what’s right as exhibited by his complete and unlimited support for all things Galvanian to date.
DeleteYou ask the right question, Carole. Will Hudson give the right answer? --peter meyer
ReplyDeleteLet’s kill two issues with one stone.
ReplyDeleteErect a parking building where the present day parking lot exists on the south side of the 500 block of Columbia St.
A multi level parking garage with City Hall and a park on the top level.
An attendant stations the garage plus an access walkway to Warren St exists.
What remains is what to do with the existing City Hall on Warren.
Sell it for $5 million.
OK what’s next?
I am very curious as to what Galvan would be doing with this lot at Washington and 7th. Parking for their Depot project? Why isn't that part of their proposal? It seems to me that 400 State St would cost too many millions to turn into a decent office building.
ReplyDeleteWhat if Bliss was replaced by new housing located at the properties which are now the elementary school and 400 State St? Then a new City Hall plus lots of great new stuff could be sited where Bliss had been and the people would stay at Bliss until the new building was ready. There are probably a hundred reasons I am not aware of which make this unworkable...
ReplyDeleteIt's been my understanding that the building Galvan is offering needs significant work (Hudson Area Library moved out and Galvan took a pass on turning it into their headquarters for just that reason) and I doubt $1M in grant funding (some of which would probably be available to the City of Hudson directly if Galvan would get out of the way) is going to get us across the finish line.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the post-Covid landscape, it would probably behoove us to ask what functions need to be at City Hall. Some work can be done remotely, meetings will (or should) continue to incorporate videoconferencing for participation (and we do have a meeting room at the firehouse.)
Some tasks, particularly those involving interface between the City Clerk and the Treasurer, probably require proximity
If Kamal Johnson and Tom DePietro, knowing we need to have office space that is ADA compliant, still feel the need to fiscally mismanage our city into a state of crisis, either directly through the budget process or indirectly by enabling department heads who stumble into HR disasters through sheer incompetence, they can do so from a reasonably priced retail space rented on the cheap.
Galvan is desperate for parking for their proposed development -- their offer is an act of desperation to a city somewhat desperate to find a new city hall. Also, it should be pointed out that the now much larger parking lot at the firehouse is a very convenient dumping site for DPW's plowed snow. Take that away and, I believe, all the snow goes very inconveniently to the dump on Court Street and other open spaces not designed for dumping and piling sometimes very large amounts of snow. Of course, Galvan doesn't give one crap how DPW has to handle snow removal,they just want the 200 parking spaces that they feel entitled to. After all, it's THEIR Depot District, why shouldn't that lot be part of their expanding empire?
ReplyDeleteB Huston
Hudson is becoming Pottersville. Where's James Stewart when we need him?
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I get the angst leveled against Galvan, because instead of renting their properties to low-income individuals / families at reduced rates, they turn around and try to flip renovated properties for a profit. On the other hand, we may have to take the good with the bad. There's not a lot of other investment and development coming into the city, and Hudson isn't exactly booming with good paying, open jobs.
ReplyDelete130 units and no associated parking? It's insulting, but a typical Galvan approach. This is UNWISE development from amateurs obviously in way over their heads. It reminds me of a few years ago when Galvan tried to install a bicycle rack in front of the Armory, which they own. They felt it was appropriate to permanently fix the rack directly in the middle of the sidewalk, that is until DPW and Code Enforcement found out about it. They feel entitled to do things their way, the rest of us be damned. B Huston
DeleteWhat’s the good again?
DeleteGalvan gets to pad its non-profit margins.
DeleteTheir projected 65 permanent jobs would be good, but like their so-called parking study, we know that this is nonsense.
DeleteThere are only 3 permanent building related jobs in their proposal. The other 62 jobs are part of the future/potential retail tenants renting at their commercial space in this location.
Delete