Many cities in the northeast that had spent much of the 20th century as industrial hubs have spent the last 15 years reinventing themselves.
It”™s no different in Westchester and the Hudson Valley, where some cities that have limited land to build new construction on are turning to many of those old industrial buildings, and into them breathing new life.
Adaptive reuse, the concept of taking existing vacant structures and giving them fresh uses, such as apartment buildings, has gained prominence in recent years nationally and in the Hudson Valley.
That practice is central to the heart of “new urbanism,” an architectural design and development movement that has become increasingly popular in the last 20 years.
New urbanism stresses bringing residents and tourists back into downtown areas, and building mixed-use projects that have retail and commercial components.
“In small cities, particularly on the Hudson River, where the geography (of a city) is perhaps four or five square miles in size, the impact that economic development and the adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings can have is greater and has more positive ripple effects than in larger cities,” said Mayor Steve Gold of Beacon.
Beacon has one of the more notable examples of adaptive reuse of an old building in the Hudson Valley in the Dia:Beacon museum. The modern art museum opened in 2003 in a former Nabisco box-printing factory.
Gold said the city is currently in talks with owners of several vacant buildings to explore similar ways of reusing them. These buildings include 1 East Main Street and the Beacon Theater.
“The city has decided to take an aggressive position to prevent some of these buildings from being demolished,” he said.
Gold said the city will use a “carrot and stick” method with owners of these vacant buildings. The stick will be a strict enforcing of zoning codes so the buildings do not continue to fall into disrepair.
The carrot, however, is that the city will actively help the building owners pursue county, state and federal grants to help finance adaptive reuse projects.
“We want to help property owners become aware of all the opportunities for grants and tax incentives,” Gold said. “The message that the city wants to send is that we”™re not going to ignore vacant buildings on Main Street and allow them to become further dis-repaired.”
Up the river and on the other side, the city of Kingston has done similar things.
Old industrial parcels on the waterfront have been turned into public park space. The former Cornell Steamship building, which is on the National Historic Building Register, was turned into a restaurant.
AVR Realty bought land three years ago on the Kingston waterfront on the site of a former cement plant with plans to build a large mixed-use project. Since its original proposal to put 2,200 houses on an abandoned quarry site owned by Tilcon Cement on the city”™s waterfront, AVR has met with resistance from Scenic Hudson and other environmental groups.
Further south in Newburgh, two old industrial parcels on the riverfront were turned into restaurants, office space, art galleries, and condominium units earlier this decade.
Currently, Newburgh has partnered with developer Leyland Alliance with plans to develop 30 acres of waterfront in an as-of-yet-unspecified manner.
The idea of adaptive reuse works best for a city when it can keep the “base structure” of a particular neighborhood and build around it,” said Ellen Lynch, president and CEO of the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency.
“I think it”™s important because you want to hang on to the historical flavor (of a building) while still having it be used,” she said.
However, Lynch said with these types pf projects, a developer and municipality must take into account how much it will cost to refurbish an old building to see if it is cost effective.
Yonkers has several notable examples of adaptive reuse projects, such as the old Otis Elevator Works which is now a library, the former Gazette building that now houses office space and a restaurant, and Metro 92, the former Trolley Barn that now has artist”™s lofts. Lynch”™s office is in a rejuvenated pharmaceutical plant on Nepperhan Avenue called i.park.
Lynch said the city is looking at other vacant buildings where similar projects could be constructed. One such building would be the city jail, which would become obsolete if a new jail is built, as is the plan in phase I of the multi-billion dollar Struever Fidelco Cappelli Yonkers development project.
In neighboring Mount Vernon, where about 96 percent of the land is built on, reusing vacant buildings is a big part of any redevelopment plans.
“It”™s important to get these properties back on the tax roll,” said Mayor Clinton Young.
Young said areas of the city he is looking at for redevelopment are Third Street and south of First Street.
“We are looking to bring in more market-rate housing, while not abandoning our commitment to affordable housing,” he said. “I am aggressively going after retail banking for Third Street and I”™m very confident we”™re going to get it. That would be a true sign there is economic opportunity on the south side of Mount Vernon.”
Young said his office has requested a list of vacant properties from the city comptroller”™s office to see where there might be more redevelopment opportunities.
Young said he planned to unveil four “major” development projects by the end of this month.
The city of Peekskill is also looking to bring new uses to some of its older buildings, with plans for a dining and entertainment corridor on Division Street.
Peekskill is also exploring the possibility of building a consolidated firehouse to replace the existing six smaller firehouses, which could then be redeveloped.
A major reason for the rise in adaptive reuse projects is, “It allows a city to grow while still maintaining the character and history of the community,” said New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson.
“The adaptive reuse of older structures is one important part of an overall smart-growth policy,” said Bramson.
New Rochelle has embarked on such projects, including transforming the Roosevelt Elementary School into condominiums, and the former Knickerbocker Press printing house into the Knickerbocker Lofts residential building.
Right next to City Hall in New Rochelle is a city-owned building, a former church, that one day in the future could come to life in a different capacity, said Bramson
