Orange County is offering to sell all or part of the former 258-acre Camp LaGuardia to a developer. The property served for more than seven decades as a New York City homeless shelter. It had originally been developed in the early 1900s as a women”™s prison known as Greycourt.
In 2007, New York City closed the homeless shelter, which at one time had more than 1,000 beds. The property was sold to Orange County for $8.5 million. A Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking one or more developers for the property was issued by Orange County in 2007 but did not lead to any projects. In 2020, the county issued another RFP, which also did not result in any projects that moved ahead.
The Camp LaGuardia property is primarily located in the Town of Chester and the Town of Blooming Grove, with a small portion of the site within the Village of Chester. The property is approximately 10 miles west of New York Stewart International Airport and is located along Greycourt Road with access to both Routes 17 and 17M.
“As the economy continues to recover and commercial interest in Orange County remains strong, we encourage potential investors to make offers which comply with local zoning and will create job opportunities,” County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus said.
The Orange County Legislature will need to give final approval to a sale.
“I”™m pleased that the county is moving forward to put these properties back on the tax rolls,” said Katie Bonelli, the legislature”™s chairwoman. “We anticipate proposals which will generate long-term revenue for the county and are compatible with local land use requirements.”
According to the RFP, the county has the option to sell the property at fair market value or any other price it deems to be in the best interests of the county. The highest bidder would not have to be chosen as a developer.
There are several criteria that the County Legislature would use in deciding whether to approve an offer, including: the offering price for property; potential tax revenues and jobs generated by a project; feasibility and potential timeline of development given zoning or other development challenges posed by the proposed project; a developer”™s experience in successfully developing similar projects; the financial capability of the developer; and community benefits of a project.
