An Early Proposed "Formula Structure"
This morning, I went down to the train station to check out the progress on the reconstruction of the red barn that is to become The Caboose, which will house a wine shop, a makers' market, and an event space.
Visiting the site this morning, I recalled that back in 2006 or 2007 CSX sought site plan approval from the Planning Board, then known as the Planning Commission, to construct a building--a crew shack--near the railroad tracks, visible from South Front Street. What CSX proposed was a blue and white metal building, a formula building, its trademark building. In a review that went on for several months, the Planning Commission succeeded in getting CSX to build what exists today: an unassuming brick building with a hip roof, that in a minor way echoes, in materials and design, the historic train station across the street.
Hudsonians should be grateful to that Planning Commission of yesteryear. Had it not been for its vision and persistence, there would be today, midway between The Wick Hotel and the culinary native garden of The Caboose, a blue and white metal building possibly sporting the blue and white CSX logo.
COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK
Thanks Carole. I was on the Planning Board at the time, and we pushed very hard to get CSX to erect a decent building. Part of the problem is that our waterfront has been a post-industrial visual nightmare for so long that there hasn't been much impetus for raising the bar and doing things better. The present review of the Colarusso gravel dump is a perfect example-- that disaster should have been thrown off the desk of the Planning Board six years ago. But the community has unfortunately grown accustomed to blight and is still having a hard time imagining a great waterfront that would benefit the citizens.
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