FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2022
Two Projects in the City of Kingston
Receive Restore NY Grants
KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble is pleased to announce that two redevelopment projects in the City of Kingston have received Restore New York Communities Initiative grants for a total of $2,340,000.
This week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced more than $102 million awarded to 64 projects throughout New York through the Restore New York initiative, which supports municipal revitalization efforts, helping to remove blight, reinvigorate downtowns, and generate economic opportunity. The program, administered by Empire State Development, is designed to help local governments revitalize their communities and encourage commercial investment, improve the local housing stock, put properties back on the tax rolls, and increase the local tax base.
The City of Kingston-based projects awarded Restore New York grants were:
The Center for Photography at Woodstock ($1.5 million): The Center for Photography at Woodstock will adaptively reuse and rehabilitate a 40,000 square foot former cigar factory to allow the organization to relocate from a much smaller space on Broadway in Kingston and expand its growing arts and cultural programs in Midtown Kingston.
The Barrel Factory Lofts Project ($840,000): The Barrel Factory Lofts project is an adaptive reuse of a 120-year-old warehouse originally used as a Barrel Factory in Midtown Kingston that has been vacant for 15 years. The 18,000 square foot building will be redeveloped into a mix of live-work spaces for artists, commercial flex spaces, and amenities spaces.
“These Restore New York grants will help to reimagine downtowns across our state and transform vacant, blighted, and underutilized buildings into vibrant community anchors,” Governor Hochul said. “Thanks to $102 million of state investment, we are breathing new life into communities from Hudson to North Hempstead, jumpstarting new economic activity, and ensuring that New York State continues to be a place where people come to live, work, and raise their families.”
“We are thrilled to receive two Restore New York grants for two worthy redevelopment projects – one which would create a mixed-use housing complex in an underutilized area in the heart of Midtown, and the other would help a world-renowned arts organization to expand here in the Midtown Arts District,” said Mayor Noble. “These projects align with many of our goals for the City of Kingston – to create new housing, increase density, support our arts community, and more. We thank Governor Hochul, the Empire State Development and Restore NY initiative for continuing to invest in Kingston.”
“We have seen firsthand how adaptive reuse projects dedicated to the arts and mixed-use housing have made Ulster County into the thriving community that it is, and I want to congratulate the City of Kingston and our Economic Development team on two successful Round 6 Restore NY applications,” Acting Ulster County Executive Johanna Contreras said. “Through these awards, over $2.3M will be invested in Midtown Kingston to bring these abandoned properties back to productive use, creating jobs, adding tax revenue and supporting a stronger and more sustainable local economy. Thank you to Governor Kathy Hochul for her support through the Restore New York Communities Initiative.”
Previous Restore NY grants in the City of Kingston include Energy Square and the restoration of three homes in Midtown for sale at an affordable price.