It's been twenty-two years since Richard Cohen pitched his idea of turning the buildings on the northeast corner of Warren and Fourth streets into a luxury hotel. That, of course, never happened, but during the decades Cohen tried to keep the fantasy alive, Hudson lost two historic buildings. In 2006, the building that stood at 406 Warren Street was demolished, without a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission, because Cohen wanted the site cleared so he could construct the entrance to his proposed hotel there. In 2013, one of the three Greek Revival town houses along North Fourth Street was demolished. The reason for the demolition was given as "public safety," but the site of that building, too, figured into Cohen's fantasy hotel plans. There was to be a porte-cochere there, where cars could drive in to an interior loading area.
Over the course of several months in late 2022 and early 2023, during the review by the Historic Preservation Commission, the design for the reproposed hotel evolved from something rather fanciful to something more respectful of the buildings' original architectural design.
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The proposed hotel, to be known as Hudson Public, received site plan approval from the Planning Board in September 2022 and was granted a certificate of appropriateness by the Historic Preservation Commission in March 2023. Still, for more than a year, there has been no evidence that work on the project had begun. That changed recently.
This morning, a reader sent me these photographs.
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| Photos courtesy Win Jackson |
I'm still a little bit confused on their business model. So Galvan, who has no experience in hospitality is going to directly operate this hotel? On top of that, the clientele will be artists performing in town? It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteInteresting points, Union Jack. The quotes are from a Galvan press release issued back in April 2021, so you never know how things might have changed. It should be remembered, however, the Galvan now owns what was Helsinki Hudson and the Community Theater. They may be planning to create their own business for the hotel with those venues.
DeleteI looked at the plans that Galvan's Engineering firm submitted to the Planning Board for this hotel and restaurant last year or the year before. It looked to me as if only about half the width of the sidewalk on 4th street would be blocked with a fence. That was the case on the sidewalk until yesterday. The entire sidewalk is now blocked, forcing all pedestrians off the sidewalk over a 4 or 5-inch curb into a walking area protected by lovely white plastic barriers and orange NO PARKING signs and back up over the tall curb onto the sidewalk. Nowhere in Galvan's plans or drawings were there any indications that they would need to occupy three metered parking spaces for their project. Nowhere! The PB did not grant Galvan's contractor permission to entirely block the sidewalk or block ANY parking spaces, but that is what they are doing. The questions are:
ReplyDeleteHas anyone (DPW, HPD or CEO) given Galvan or their contractor permission to do these things?
Was a permit or permits issued?
Is the city held harmless should a pedestrian get hurt or killed there?
How long will the metered spaces be off limits to cars?
And, how much in revenue will the city be out while the spaces are only being walked in?
In other words, is anyone at City Hall paying attention to what Galvan is getting away with at 4th & Warren now and for the foreseeable future, possibly for years?
From my perspective, there is no justifiable reason that the sidewalk needs to be completely blocked and no reason to occupy those metered, revenue-producing parking spaces in the heart of downtown, possibly for years! My guess is that the contractor is doing it because they can do it and no one told them they couldn't, not because they had to and were given permission to do so.
That "hotel" has a long history indeed. Glad you have an archive, Carole. I particularily liked one of Richard Cohen's ideas which was a waterfall falling down the front of the hotel. I would have liked to have seen that implemented.
ReplyDeleteExciting to see Galvan Foundation pushing Hudson forward with interesting projects. The drawing above look incredible. Hotels bring additional tax dollars, more tourists and jobs. Look forward to see how the project develops. Thank you Eric Galloway.
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