A Poughkeepsie building where IBM once worked on a pioneering air defense computer for the military ”” and was later called home by numerous government agencies ”” may be converted for residential use and supplemented with a second apartment building.
Poughkeepsie-based Page Park Associates and 27 High Street Lofts LLC are proposing to repurpose the existing four-story office building at 27 High St. from an office building to a multifamily residential building that conforms with Poughkeepsie”™s R-4 zoning.
A five-story building would be constructed next to the existing building, with parking included at the lowest level.
The combined buildings would house 21 one-bedroom units, 42 two-bedroom apartments that have a den or office work area, and four one-bedroom units that are classified as “live-work,” for a total of 67 units.
Access to the 1.23-acre site would be via existing curb cuts on Croydon Court and Zimmer Avenue.
The existing building has a footprint of 11,429 square feet while the new building is proposed to cover 10,260 square feet.
Kelly Libolt of Page Park Associates told the Poughkeepsie Planning Board that shortly after the applicant bought 27 High St. it appeared before the city in order to have the R-4 zoning applied to the site.
Libolt explained that the fourth floor of the existing building would be used as a rooftop terrace. She said the plan was crafted to maintain the existing grade of the site, and that they would be handling stormwater runoff through the use of porous pavement and a water retention system discharging into an existing catch basin on the site.
“We”™re proposing to add 16 new trees, 144 new shrubbery plantings, which is really the predominant planting here, and a number of perennials and grasses to supplement the site,” Libolt said.
“This building is actually a very beautiful building and it”™s very close to me because my father worked here many years ago when it was IBM and I”™m pretty passionate about it,“ she said.
Photo by Bob Rozycki.
In the early 1950s, IBM had a contract with the U.S. military to develop an air defense computer in conjunction with scientists and engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; IBM leased the third floor of the building for its personnel to begin working on the computer system.
In later years the building was occupied by a number of government agencies, including the Dutchess County Office for the Aging, Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development and Dutchess County Transportation Council.
The applicant is seeking site plan approval from the city as well as variances from its Zoning Board of Appeals.
Libolt said that there is a solid demand for one-bedroom apartments in the area.
“We do quite a bit of housing by Fox Run and by Marist College and there”™s a fair amount of students that are in those buildings,” she said. “I do understand that there”™s certainly the need for apartments for families, but we just felt that this was a better use of the space and ”” given the location and the type of design that we were trying to implement here ”” that the ones with the dens was a preferred design.”
Libolt said the group is also proposing that 10% of the building be allocated for affordable housing.
The Poughkeepsie Planning Board is expected to take up the application again on May 18.
