At the informal meeting of the Common Council on Monday, Council president Margaret Morris provided an update on the status of the sale of the Dunn warehouse building.
It will be recalled that at its informal meeting in May, the Council tabled a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a contract for the sale of the building to Hudson Brewing Co. This provoked Mayor Joseph Ferris to issue a statement denouncing the Council's actions and calling what transpired "the orchestrated takedown of a small business that wants to continue to grow in Hudson." Gossips' post about that meeting, which contains Ferris's complete statement, can be found here.
At this month's informal meeting, Morris reported on a meeting she had with Kaitlin Armocida, the operations manager for Hudson Brewing Co. The conversation dealt with two issues in particular that were not addressed in the contract. The first was stabilization. The resolution indicates that Hudson Brewing would be required to pay the City $90,000 if they fail to stabilize the building within twelve months of closing, but what constitutes "stabilize" is not defined. Morris and Armocida agreed that exactly what is expected needs to be defined in the contract of sale.
An issue of concern for Morris was the use of the property. The recommendation to sell the building to Hudson Brewing was based on the proposed use of the building as a brewery and taproom, and Morris wanted that use memorialized in the contract of sale. Morris reported that Armocida was agreeable to this.
At the informal meeting in May, several members of Council thought the $90,000 penalty if Hudson Brewing failed to stabilize the building within twelve months or sold it within twenty-four months was inadequate. They wanted ownership of the building to revert back to the City in the first instance and wanted the City to have first right of refusal in perpetuity if the building were to be sold. Morris's update on Monday did not address this issue.
According to Morris, a new contract is expected to be ready for the Council's review last month.
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How will parking be controlled so that customers of the brewery are not taking up spaces meant for park patrons? Will they have their own parking lot, perhaps a concrete one where grass is right now? Will the city have to lease them space for a parking lot?
ReplyDeleteThis seems to me to be another sell-our-soul kind of deal, though worse than leasing city property to the Pocketbook for their parking needs. I know the city has limited control over what kind of business can take over the Dunn, but a brewery seems like an awful thing for the park. Will they still have live concerts, with noise filling the park? A food truck out front? Lots of loud motorcycles coming and going? Drunk customers peeing in the river with beer in hand at midnight, 3 hours after the park is closed? I can't wait!
Have you ever been to the park? It's usually always empty (I assume because it is somewhat uninspiring, and ruined by being overtaken by DUST AND TRUCK NOISE)....parking will be fine. Hope the Dunn can be one way in revitalizing that area (and one step in reclaiming the waterfront for the people, not a corporation (Colarusso)). Taking the Amtrak down the Hudson River towns, Hudson's waterfront is an embarrassment. Hopeful always for a transformation, slowly but surely.
DeleteIsn't the only way to avoid parking issues to put nothing of interest at all into the building and therefore, leave it as is? Not a winning strategy in my book.
DeleteBTW, between Rick's Point and Water St, there's surely enough parking.
I also doubt that your view on brewery patrons is entirely accurate. I regularly frequent Union St Brewing and not once on my grueling walk back to Greenport did I feel the need to fertilize the trees along the way.
So, are you both saying that making the park more popular should come at the hands of a commercial operation with late hours?
DeleteI am saying that if the Dunn Warehouse is part of making the waterfront more attractive, it will only happen through private initiative and money. This necessitates the sale.
DeleteThe past ten years have shown that the city neither has the means, the ideas, nor a population disciplined enough to come together and develop a plan.
This is a good thing. The city will never be able to do anything with it. Let’s get it on the tax rolls and bring something fun to the waterfront. Chris is right. Hudson’s waterfront is an embarrassment compared to the other river towns. It’s always sad looking over at Hudson whenever I’m enjoying myself at the Athens side of the Hudson. Also, Hudson Brewing is one of the rare places that both “locals” and visitors enjoy equally. I think most other choices would have fed into the never ending “us vs them” proxy wars. I also generally support what Ben Fain wants to do on his side of the street, but a little diversity in businesses will be nice. Furthermore, this is a way better deal for the city than when they sold the other side of the park to the Power Boat Club for a single dollar. (Don’t come at me, Power Boat people. I have no problem with it and yada yada “nobody wanted it when it was a fuel depot” …we get it). But when people criticize this deal, especially PB members, I think they should be reminded of the deal they got.
ReplyDelete👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Union Jack
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