Galvan Asset Management has been marketing Hudson Depot Lofts for several months now, but it doesn't appear that they have made a great deal of progress in filling the apartments. Yesterday, at the meeting of the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA), Mike Tucker reported that, as of Tuesday night, 55 of the 64 units in the building were still available. It was suggested that the process of submitting an inquiry about the building was off-putting, and there were unintended barriers for people seeking information. Mentioned in particular was the final step in the application, which reportedly requests payment of a $35 fee.
Since the IDA has started exploring whether the process of renting apartments at Hudson Depot Lofts was in compliance with the terms of the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement, Galvan seems to have stepped up its efforts to attract applicants. Toward that end, they have produced the leaflet reproduced below (click to enlarge) announcing an Open House at the building from 9 a.m. until noon every Saturday in the month of August: August 9, August 16, August 23, and August 30.
It appears Hudson Depot Lofts may be one of the properties included in Galvan's gift to Bard College. Chris Brown, Housing Development Coordinator with Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC), reported at yesterday's IDA meeting that so far the public knows of only three properties that are not included in the proposed gift: the buildings at the corner of Fourth and Warren streets being redeveloped as a hotel; the former Community Theater building at Columbia and Seventh streets; and the apartment complex Crosswinds.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
Huh. Galvan not on the up and up? Dog bites man.
ReplyDeleteHelsinki is in the package being offered to Bard?! That's excellent news! Could it be that the once-impressive venue could again be an asset for the city? Surely a better chance of that once it's out of Galvan's clutches.
$35 is an illegal application fee. In NY, after the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act passed, landlords cannot collect "application fees" and cannot charge more than $20 for any background or credit check. If applicants are being charged $35 to apply, they should report the landlord and/or management company to the NY Office of the Attorney General.
ReplyDeleteHere's an explainer mentioning the fee cap from the AG's office. https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/changes-in-nys-rent-law.pdf
And here is another that also outlines the applcation fee rules published by NY Assemble Speaker Heastie: https://nyassembly.gov/write/upload/req/tenants_rights_nys.pdf
They could lower the ridiculous rents, that might help. Of course, they may not have considered that most people moved to Hudson because they liked the small city with quiet dark streets full of crickets and peepers at night. Who really wants to live in a giant apartment building across the street from a fire station.
ReplyDelete... and with no assured nearby parking unless you pay to walk back and forth to the parking lot (still under construction) at Washington & 6th.
DeleteLet's not forget that Galvan and their engineering firm convinced the Planning Board that there are always plenty of parking spaces available in the City Hall municipal parking lot at night. It's only a 3 block, 5 or 10 minute walk, depending on how many groceries and/or children you have. That's how stupid this idea was.
At some point, perhaps in five years or more, City Hall will wish Galvan had never been allowed to raze those three perfectly good houses of theirs on North 7th to make way for an apartment building that never materialized . This whole thing, including the one being built, will probably go down as an ignominious blunder, as well as Kamal's legacy. Bard would be wise to stay away from it.
DeletePeople may want to double check that fee amount. According to Real Property Law § 238‑a, the fee cannot exceed the actual cost of a credit check or similar third‑party service, and in no case may it exceed $20.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I’m a bit confused about how they’ve only lease out a small fraction of the units after being heavily marketed for around 3 months now. I guess luxury vinyl flooring isn’t the draw it used to be. Also, didn’t Mayor Johnson claim (at the debate possibly) that he reviewed the applications coming in and a lot were from firefighters and hospital workers? It struck me as weird at the time because I wondered how he would have been able to review lease applications, assuming they would be confidential. Maybe they gave him a summary and the Galvan people overhyped it. Nevertheless there doesn’t seem to be a market for this type of housing. Could also be one of the triggering factors for Galvan to abruptly exit Hudson. Would be developers: take note.
I reckon the reason that these aren't flying off Zillow is that high-priced rentals don't work as second homes which is what fuels a lot of the high prices of home sales.
DeletePeople already living in Hudson won't move into them either because they are either not affordable to them or offer the same experience as NYC housing, but then why be in Hudson? Many people move here because they don't want to share a wall with their neighbors.
This stuff works in NYC as transient housing because there's always people freshly moving into the city with a high-paying job in their pocket who need a pad until they find something better. This type of clientele does not exist in Hudson.
Yes, TvP, and sorry my sarcasm wasn’t clear ;) I agree with you and Slow Art about why these aren’t moving. They are in the doughnut hole between “affordable” and “luxury.” People who would want to live there can’t afford them and people who can afford them don’t want them. That’s what they get for trying to both maximize their profit while at the same time faking “affordability” to swindle a pilot at the taxpayer expense. If they wanted true, yet dense, luxury, they could have built townhouses or larger condos, mixed use, in a more modest building footprint. No pilot, but sell at the full market $$$. But they like to use taxpayer money, so they built a cheap 5-over-1 wood framed tenements, with a brick facade and “luxury vinyl floors” in order to entice the imaginary 2008 Williamsburg hipsters that they used in their stock marketing photos. Well, newsflash, T. Eric Galloway—the 2008 Williamsburg hipsters are today’s trad wife Instagram chicken herders with 120 acres and a pool in Austerlitz. The last “Lofts” they lived in were McKibbin, not “Depot.”
DeleteI suggest Galvan renames it “Kamal’s Kerfuffle.” In the lobby they can hang a blow up poster of Mayor Johnson, hard hat wearing and shovel in hand, from the groundbreaking ceremony. Under it reads the text: “I had nothing to do with Galvan because I sat out of that one vote that one time.”
Why on earth would Bard College even accept the Depot Lofts as a gift? Surely they do not intend to operate a regulated apartment complex for one minute longer than they have to. The carrying costs, both human and financial, could easily exceed the proceeds of what is likely to be a fire sale to some shadowy private equity group.
ReplyDelete