The Tale of 432 Warren Street

Five years ago, 432 Warren Street was at risk of collapsing and leaving a tragically regrettable gap in the streetscape. Gossips included it as No. 4 in a series documenting at-risk buildings in Hudson called Nine Not to Ignore. This is what the building looked like then.

Photo: Zillow (2019)

Its loss would not have been without serious ramifications. It wasn't actually an independent building. It started out as one half of a single building. The picture below, taken after the Blizzard of 1888, shows 430 and 432 Warren Street as they were originally constructed to be.

Exactly when the building was divided into two buildings is not known, but for many years, probably close to two decades at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, it was part of Phil Gellert's notorious "Northern Empire." It was included in Gossips' "Gellert Gallery" in 2010. That post reported the building had been the scene of an attempted armed home invasion in October 2009.

Photo: The Gossips of Rivertown (2010)

In November 2020, the Historic Preservation Commission granted a certificate of appropriateness to the plans for the restoration of the building, which involved re-creating the storefront; adding a fourth floor, set back so it would not be visible from the street; and creating seven apartments in the building. 

Soon after the certificate of appropriateness was granted, the new owners of the building raised some hackles by posting about the building and their plans for it on Instagram. The following is excerpted from one of their posts:

Have you ever seen an uglier building? Get ready to see it revived. This 8-unit project up in Hudson, New York, is about to kick into high gear. . . . 

As you know, real estate is all about location and this eyesore is dead center on Warren Street--the main commercial corridor of this artsy little city that is a popular escape for New Yorkers. It's got great restaurants, a major antiques scene, and it's right on the Hudson River with a direct train to Penn Station. Hudson is enjoying a bit of a boom as so many are looking to work from more interesting places. . . .

The posts on Instagram provoked Michael Hofmann, before he became mayor's aide and was known only as the author of the Hudson Breathe Act, to send an email to the Common Council with the subject line: "This is gentrification. What are we doing about it?" In the email, Hofmann warns: 

If left to their own devices, Duffy and Nierdo [the owners and Instagram posters] will convert this building into yet another set of unaffordable units, which are already being marketed to affluent escapees of New York City, to make as much money as they possibly can. This is not what Hudson is asking for.

Hofmann's entire email can be found here. 

That was December 2020. Now, almost five years later, the restoration of the building is complete, and the ground floor retail space is being advertised on Zillow. The rent for the space is $5,000 a month.

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