In Beacon, all eyes are on the waterfont

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It has been bought up, cleaned up and gussied up, with the city getting politicians and environmental groups like Scenic Hudson aboard its waterfront plan for action. The overall mission won the city the new Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, a/k/a the Beacon Institute; Beacon was selected by the Pataki administration from 25 sites that vied for the center.

Add the MTA”™s expansion of its nearby Metro-North station, and you”™ve got all the makings of a tourism/business economic driver for a city that was once deteriorating and dangerous.Â Now, smart cafes, art galleries and upscale shops have replaced much of nearby Main Street”™s boarded up buildings; eventually, it will boast one of Dutchess County”™s most spectacular waterfronts.

To complement the expansive research facility planned for the city”™s former brownfield, another project, Long Dock Beacon, will be built less than a quarter-mile from the Beacon Institute acreage leased from Scenic Hudson.

Scenic Hudson has already renovated one of the dilapidated buildings and created a learning center. Several otherÂ waterfront upgrades are in place, with more to come, not just with money from Scenic Hudson, but from the state and city as well.

Ned Sullivan, the environmental group”™s president, had a souvenir for state Sen. Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie: a railroad spike that workers found buried near the site of the new pier. At a recent meeting of the Greater Southern Dutchess”™ Chamber of Commerce, Sullivan thanked Saland for bringing bacon to Beacon in the form of $1.5 million member item that will be used to build park amenities. The cost of the new park is estimated to be $7 million.

When the project is completed, Beacon”™s residents and visitors will enjoy not only the park, walking paths and piers, but also Long Dock Beacon, the first “totally green” hotel and conference center planned for the Hudson Valley ”“ right down to a vegetated roofÂ and geothermal heating system.

It will be spotted near the new Beacon Institute and MTA train station. Partner Matt Rudikoff told the Business Journal back in January that Foss Group Beacon has inked a deal with Doral Arrowwood as its choice of hotelier for the $85 million project. When completed, Long Dock will offer 366 rooms and a 29,000-square-foot convention center.

While Foss Group Beacon has secured most of the needed finances, Sullivan acknowledged the tough times most developers are experiencing when trying to find banks and investors willing to infuse cash into commercial projects. The timeline for the Beacon Institute may be planned, signed and sealed, but when shovel will hit dirt has yet to be determined. As far as the park and Long Dock project, those have a firmer footing.

“The final environmental impact statement for Long Dock was submitted to the Beacon Planning Board in August and it is in the design/development phase. We”™re submitting subdivision and site plans for those permits now, and we are hoping to have those by the end of the year, moving into more detail,” said Margery Groton, Long Dock Beacon project director for Scenic Hudson.

Right now, Saland said, “Beacon and its residents can enjoy its continuing renaissance. It”™s not the same city I knew 10 years ago, and I”™d venture to say it will be a totally different city 10 years from today.”