At the Historic Preservation Commission meeting on Friday, the five members of the commission present--Phil Forman, Jeremy Stynes, Hugh Biber, Paul Barrett, and the new architect member, Cara Cragan--unanimously voted to approve a resolution recommending that the Common Council designate the Dunn Warehouse a local landmark. When the resolution will be taken up by the Common Council is at this point unknown.
 |
| Photo: Dunn & Done LLC |
Meanwhile, Gossips has learned that three proposals were submitted in response to the City's latest RFP (request for proposals) for the redevelopment of the iconic historic building. Two of the proposals come from familiar sources: one from Hudson Brewing Company; and another from Ben Fain, of Kitty's and The Caboose, and Caitlin Baiada, who was part of the project team for Pocketbook Hudson and part of Dunn & Done LLC. The third proposal is from Zena Development, in partnership with Plotwork. Could this be the same Zena Development that proposed a development in Ulster County last year that inspired the Woodstock Land Conservancy, environmental activists, and non-profit entities in the eastern Catskills to organize in opposition to it? So far, all Gossips knows about the proposals is who submitted them.
Gossips has also learned about the committee that will be reviewing the proposals. According to Gossips' sources, the committee will be made up of Mayor Kamal Johnson, Council president Tom DePietro, Council president elect Margaret Morris, DPW superintendent Rob Perry, Housing Justice director Michelle Tullo, and Second Ward councilmember Mohammed Rony. It is not known when this committee will meet to review and discuss the proposals, but it is clear from the fact that Johnson and DePietro are on the committee that they intend to get this done before the end of the year.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
I hope Ben Fain wins that project, because he already has a track record of doing good work on the waterfront. ~ PJ
ReplyDeleteI hope Ben fain does not win it. He has developed a bad record. The dozens of buildings he bought in catskill sit fallow. They are now being sold again because he has no ability to develop anything that is not massively
DeleteCommercial. 100k a weekend for the caboose? While it sits 120 yards from the terrace apartments. Those are some insulting optics. Only one residential house remains on tanners lane. Great he bought the Kaz building. What about the several dozen residential properties that have been sitting empty in our city since he bought them?
I am not convinced he has the city’s best interests in mind.
Whatever Zena Development has in mind, in all likelihood it won't go anywhere. They are known to be a residential developer and if I understand Hudson's zoning correctly, the Core Riverfront district excludes residential use.
ReplyDeleteLast year when Dunn and Done LLC did their community survey, I was grossed out over how silly and unrealistic the proposed options in that survey were: No one will regularly visit the waterfront because there's a knitting station or a bike shop (two of the proposals).
I think Hudson Brewing is the ticket. In my opinion, this location is perfect for a beer garden-style establishment. Last year, I didn't think it was an option because the brewery market is already saturated in Hudson. But Hudson Brewery moving from the Warehouse to Dunn would get around that problem. It's a wonderful location for a brewery, certainly in summer and something that would make me regularly come down there. Plant a few chestnut trees and in conjunction with the mountains across the river, you have a credible simulacrum of a Bavarian beer garden - the greatest social space ever conceived by man.
Me thinks this that the monumental drvions on this project that are ahead, given that they are mostly political should be turned over to the new Mayor. Is he bring briefed? Doing this in a rush will be worse than not doing it at all. I dunno why it would be rammed thru by the departing team. Will only bring bad blood and bad ending. Or at least delayed. Celebrate the new leadership by letting them handle tough stuff on day one. Instead of someone else handling it on day last. Ken Sheffer
ReplyDeleteI meant to write “monumental decisions” in first sentence. My fingers are not working. Also “is he being briefed?” Is wrong. Maybe all of these mistakes will make you read it again. Good luck to those devoted to Dunn. I know you’ve burned the midnight oil on this. Happy Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAll committee applications should be posted online. This is public business, funded by the public.
ReplyDeleteIf City Hall does not publish them, residents will FOIL them and publish them ourselves.
First, why is Michelle Tullo on this committee?
She has been grant funded to work on “housing justice,” and she has a conflicted relationship with the mayor. That combination alone should trigger disclosures, and it should mean they do not serve on the same committee.
Kamal, Tom, and Michelle will no doubt vote as a block... so this is all rather constrained.
Second, why is Mohammed Rony (2nd Ward CC) on this committee? He is an active council member, but why is there no representation from the 3rd, 4th, or 5th wards? (This project is only in the 1st ward)
Why not include Alex Madero, the incoming 1st Ward Supervisor who lives close by? The 1st Ward is also a Columbia County BoS district, and the gateway to the County from Amtrak and the port.
Maybe this process is fully above board. Maybe it is not. When the mayor and the council president refuse to explain basic reasoning or follow clearly laid out rules in advance, they invite distrust.
The reason Rony's there is because only the First and Second Wards abut the waterfront.
DeleteRony is smart and does the work, so no disrespect to him on this point.
DeleteBut the 2nd Ward's section of the waterfront is not impacted by the Dunn Warehouse. Maybe he has expertise on these types of matters? Did First Ward CC members get greater say over the furgaries / North Bay Shacks, than the 3rd ward or 5th ward?
Our point is simply that a good administration would have published a clear process / rules for who sits on which committee.
Upfront clear rules or procedures, well communicated, is good for everyone and minimizes politics.
Why not a County Supervisor... the final use of that building could impact the County, sales tax etc.
The Second Ward's strange relation to the waterfront has been going back for a while. I remember a public meeting about the future of the Dunn Warehouse in 2017 (I think Carole provided an introduction at that meeting) where residents were spitballing ideas. At some point, Kaya Weidman spoke up and raised the concern that all these ideas being discussed were all very white and not all that inclusive.
DeleteIn that moment, she had made herself the sole proxy for the Second Ward. The room was teeming with residents from the First Ward and what became evident to me when watching the YouTube video (it's on Dan Udell's channel) was the total absence of residents from the Second Ward.
I still have no real idea what their ideas for the waterfront are. Given that the Hudson Terrace Apartments (split between the First and Second Ward) is right on it, they must also have some opinion.
For those who don't like Ben Fain's projects, what is the alternative? I've been here 36 years, and am very tired of bad land use outcomes. He is raising the bar big time, and is employing a lot of people in Hudson in the process, way more than Colarusso ever will. And we should not allow a 1970's housing mistake (Terrace Apartments) to define what our waterfront can be. - PJ
ReplyDeleteHousing is with the current zoning not an option.
DeleteAs for Ben, I'd expect one of these types of proposals: An event space, some sort of hotel (unlikely - Warehouse is too small), some sort of restaurant (maybe too small).
Another event space is actively bad for Hudson. It's what a city planner would call a non-porous business: There's either no event going on or there is, in which case it's very likely an event closed to the general public. Residents and random waterfront visitors cannot in any meaningful interact with such a business.
A restaurant is kind of meh. There's plenty of them already in Hudson. Ben has one in walking distance with Kitty's and it would thus not make a whole lot of economic sense.
Beer garden is what makes sense tho. Unlike a restaurant, it's casual enough and it benefits from an attractive outdoor setting far more than a restaurant would. Such a non-fussy establishment can also work around the fact that the Warehouse routinely floods.
But I reckon Ben will propose another boring event venue. It is by the way questionable how many of the people he employs actually live in Hudson. I'd be shocked if it were more than a handful. That is just the nature of the businesses he runs: They do not pay well enough to afford to live in the city.