Kingston has not received any development proposals for the vacant King”™s Inn, despite actively seeking out builder”™s ideas for the property. For now, city mayor said the most likely scenario is to raze the structure and perhaps use it as a parking lot for the nearby Ulster Performing Arts Center.
In late August, city officials appointed the King”™s Inn Review Committee to request and review ideas submitted by developers for the former motel, now fenced off in the heart of midtown on Broadway. The parcel is .78 acres and it contains the 14,000-square-foot building.
The motel, which opened in 1964 and was condemned and closed by city officials in 2007, is near UPAC. City officials said that a mixed-use retail and restaurant complex could partner with the theater and help spur activity and investment in that part of the city. Others suggested creating affordable housing and studio space for artists.
But with an ongoing economic downturn depressing investments of all types, Kingston Fire Chief Richard Salzmann, who heads the King”™s Inn Review Committee, described the lack of proposals as “disappointing, but not surprising.”
He said the city in late November had received a consultant”™s report on asbestos in the structure and said that it was relatively good news. The interior of the motel has asbestos only in enclosed storage areas and in some areas of the structure”™s roof.
“Fortunately, there was less asbestos inside the structure than we expected,” Salzmann said. He said the results of the testing would be provided to the city engineer for a determination on how to remove the asbestos prior to leveling the two-story structure. He said it was too early to estimate costs of abatement and demolition.
The city seized the King”™s Inn property in July because the owner had failed to pay taxes on the site and Mayor James Sottile said there was irony connected to the ongoing saga of the former welfare motel. “The King”™s Inn when it was operating was a drain on the city and when it is closed it is a drain on the city,” said Sottile, saying the structure harbored “constant crime, constant prostitution.”
The deadline for submitting proposals was just before Thanksgiving holiday, but the date came without any response.
“Unfortunately we didn”™t have any bidders with regards to the RFP. I”™m a little disappointed because there was so much interest at one time during our presentation about the property,” Sottile said.
“What we”™re looking at now is going in a different direction, we”™re probably going to have to raze it, tear it down. We can let UPAC use it for additional parking until we figure out what else to do with it.”
Sottile said, “I”™d like to get it down as soon as possible but obviously we are in a financial crunch. My goal is to try for demolishing it in 2011, but whether we”™ll be successful I don”™t know.”
And the future, Sottile said, must be considered with care. “It”™s a prime piece of real estate and we have to be very careful how we redevelop it, because it will influence the redevelopment of our entire Broadway corridor.”
Comments 1