Economic thrust
Even as markets tremble and the Federal Reserve made its biggest rate cut in 20 years to stave off recession, Stewart International Airport in New Windsor continues to attract major attention and developers to its door.
The town of New Windsor will use the $2.5 million of the Restore-NY grant it received to demolish 50 to 60 buildings that remain on the former Army sub-post at International Plaza. The demolition will be done by First Columbia, developers of the property. Chris Bette, speaking on behalf of the company, said he expects to start taking down the abandoned buildings in April.
“This is not the first time we have tried for the grant,” said Bette, speaking from his Latham office. “We first applied in 1999, but were not successful. Now, with the Port Authority taking over the airport and a new highway interchange leading directly into it, I am sure it made the application more attractive to the state. The town of New Windsor will administer the grant money and work out the reimbursement with us.”
Bette says International Plaza and the land where the sub-post housing is scheduled for demolition is in the Newburgh-New Windsor Empire Zone. What of rumblings on the state level to “freeze” Empire Zones to study if companies have been in or out of compliance? The developer said the EZ designation helps “level the playing field with other parts of the country. It is helping to attract business here. While there may have been some misuse of the EZ designation in other parts of the state, the prospect of freezing the program to study it does not sit well with us. We have definitely created jobs and made $60 million in investments in the property to date.”
In addition the scheduled demolition of the former army buildings, First Columbia is ready to submit final engineering plans for the first of two new office buildings it is planning at Airport Centre Drive. The mortgage meltdown, however, has made commercial loans tighter than before. Said Bette: “We have a good relationship with our lender; if you have that, you are in good shape and can still get things done. But the measuring stick has gotten longer.”
The Department of Defense”™s Base Realignment and Closure Act is also planning to replace current U.S. Marine Corps”™ housing contiguous with International Plaza. Bovis Lend Lease, based in New York City, is managing the abatement, demolition and construction for the new military housing. Out of a total 171 proposed homes, 21 will be single-family and the remainder two-family. Actus Land Lease, headquartered in Tennessee and the U.S. Department of Navy are acting in a private-public partnership as Atlantic Marine Corps Communities, L.L.C. In addition to the Newburgh Terrace project at Stewart, Actus will demolish and rebuild Marine Corps housing in North Carolina.
“When people drive into the old entrance of Stewart Airport, they think it is all part of the airport”™s property, but the actual property that the Port Authority has jurisdiction over is not contiguous,” said Colonel Charles Faro, vice commander for Stewart National Guard”™s 105th Airwing. “Our base is not connected with the airport, and much of the property still remains in the hands of the federal government.”
New Windsor Supervisor George Green is also eyeing some potential property on Stewart”™s base closing (BRAC) list. “There are a few buildings on the property we”™re looking at and may negotiate with the government to purchase, in much the same way we obtained the land for International Plaza,” said Green. “We need a new highway building; our current one is on Union Avenue, which is a highly desirable location for other uses. We are also contemplating moving our current police headquarters on Route 207, currently connected to the Town Hall. That would allow us to expand our Town Hall facilities. The town is growing and we are running out of room.”