The long-awaited groundbreaking for Beacon”™s new hotel and conference center will have to wait a bit longer, according to Matt Rudikoff, spokesman for Long Dock Beacon, developers of the city”™s first hotel proposed for the waterfront.
“We had 100 percent of the funding in place when the bank that was giving us the construction loan pulled the rug out from under us,” Rudikoff said.
“What can you do? We know the project is going to be a tremendous economic engine for the city and its long-term waterfront plans. While we”™re waiting, we are working with the Army Corps of Engineers to mitigate areas around the site that need remediation and getting the necessary permits in place.”
Rudikoff confirmed that Doral Arrowood of Westchester will be in charge of daily operations when the hotel is built. “Now, we just have to work on getting that final piece of funding,” he said. “There”™s so much stimulus money floating around, it would be nice if someone would take note of what a landmark project this is going to be, not just for the city and the Hudson Valley, but the entire state.”Â
When built, the hotel will not just be a first for the city, but it will be the only conference center between Westchester and Poughkeepsie that can hold more than 300 people, a bonus for visiting scientists and tourists, since it will be within walking distance to the Beacon Institute of Rivers and Estuaries, the freshwater equivalent to Massachusetts”™ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, planned for Dennings Point.
John Cronin, who was the head of Riverkeeper for 25 years, is its president and CEO. Earlier this year, he confirmed that funding for the scientific research facility was kept in place by Albany, despite massive budget cuts.
“We expect this is going to have worldwide implications, not just impact the Hudson River Valley,” said Cronin in an interview in November 2008. “We”™re going to attract scientists from all over the world who will be able to study our worldwide fresh-water ecosystem. Our lives depend on fresh water””something we”™re going to run out of if we don”™t start looking at ways to protect it and to mitigate potential problems.”
IBM has taken an active interest in the potential the Beacon Institute will offer, already working with Cronin to measure changes in the Hudson through an intricate technological web of sensor cables that run along the shoreline to gather information about the activities both above and under the surface of one of the world”™s most famous rivers.
As for the hotel, Long Dock Beacon has not veered from its original plans. The hotel will be one of the first Platinum LEED certified hotel and conference center, from the top of its vegetated roof to below ground, where its geothermal system will be hard at work to both warm and cool the building. That”™s just for starters, says Rudikoff.Â
The Beacon Institute has already opened one 5,000-square-foot teaching facility at Dennings Point, where the research center”™s property will be located, in anticipation of what lies ahead. The new building will double as a visitors center once the institute officially opens. Cronin is looking at 2012 as the year it will officially begin monitoring fresh water systems around the region and the world. The Beacon Institute”™s storefront on Main Street will remain open; Cronin says it has become one of the anchors in Beacon”™s downtown revitalization, hosting a revolving art show focusing on the Hudson Valley and its history. “It”™s a great location, and it”™s been a real attraction for downtown Main Street.”
Scenic Hudson, owners of the 25-acre former brownfield site, will retain ownership rights to the parcel where the hotel will be built, leasing it to Long Dock Beacon. Unlike the problems the hotel owners have run into, Scenic Hudson is moving ahead with building its waterfront park.
“We”™re hoping to complete at least seven to nine acres and renovating the interior of the ”˜red house”™ on the property,” said Marge Groton, Long Dock Beacon director. The house was once the site of a former junkyard building; it”™s been transformed on the outside, but the inside still needs a complete makeover. Scenic Hudson estimates the cost to complete the park and the “red house” interior renovation to be between $7 million and $9 million. It plans to incorporate a walking promenade, a fishing pier and outside kiosks for vendors, as well as connecting to an existing park on its north flank and creating a walkway over the marshes on the south side of the property to link with the walking trail leading to the site of the new Beacon Institute.
“It”™s a very exciting time for us,” said Groton, “and we”™re glad we”™re finally going to be starting work on the park. We”™re confident Matt (Rudikoff) is going to get the funding; we understand the financial markets are in turmoil right now; for us, there”™s no reason to wait to build the park. We know what the layout of the hotel will be, and will work around the site.”
Groton says Scenic Hudson hopes to have the park opened to the public by this fall, with the remainder of the property completed and ready for use “hopefully by mid-2010, depending on how the weather treats us,” Groton said.
The multimillion-dollar undertaking has several stakeholders, most notably Scenic Hudson; but whatever their pedigree, all are on the same page. Once the park, hotel and research center are complete, as well as the MTA”™s commitment to expand its parking at the site, Beacon hopes its cachet will extend beyond local visitors and attract an international crowd, much like Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has done for that small city on the water.
“Truly, our waterfront is a fantastic feather in Beacon”™s cap and the renovations going on there a validation of the value of our city,” said former Mayor Clara Lou Gould in a 2007 interview. The woman who once headed the city”™s garden club and eventually became mayor led the city from shuttered storefronts to popular mecca for artists, cafes and galleries during her long and creative tenure. Steve Gold, the city”™s current mayor, picked up where his predecessor left off. While Gold is facing a challenger in this year”™s election, there”™s little doubt that residents of this waterfront city, who boast Pete Seeger as their own living legend in residence, will make sure the once forlorn waterfront becomes a highly desirable destination.
