Developer envisions Uptown hotel
10 guest rooms and a restaurant would occupy building at Wall and John streets
KINGSTON >> A New York City developer who 18 years ago proposed building a hotel near the Rondout Creek waterfront now wants to create a boutique hotel in the city’s Uptown business district. Charles Blaichman, whose Noah Hotel proposal for a site on Abeel Street never came to fruition, has purchased the building at 301 Wall St. and plans to open a 10-room hotel and restaurant there, according to Kingston architect Scott Dutton, who is designing the project.
Nan Potter, owner of Potter Realty Properties, said the threestory building, at the corner of Wall and John streets, was sold by T&S Realty Holdings to Hudson Valley Kingston Development LLC for $925,000. Blaichman is a partner in that firm, Potter said.
Potter said the deal closed on
Friday.
The Kingston Assessor’s Office said Tuesday that building is assessed at $405,000, less than half what Blaichman paid for it.
Blaichman’s company also owns the former Bank of America building at Broadway and Henry Street in Midtown Kingston, a building at 38 Main St. in the Uptown area and the Abeel Street property where the Noah was to be built.
The Noah was proposed in 1998 and ultimately fell through because Blaichman could not finance a $5 million gap in the construction cost.
Blaichman’s Uptown proposal will be before the city Planning Board at its next meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 14 in City Hall.
Dutton said once approvals for the project are granted, it will take about six months to make the needed renovations to the building, which dates to 1884.
Five hotel rooms are planned for the second floor, with another five on the third floor of the building built.
The ground floor, which will house the restaurant, and the second floor have 2,923 square feet of space each, Dutton said. The third floor has 2,566 square feet.
The brick building, which has a limestone façade, at one time housed a bank. Its most recent tenant was the Tonner Doll Co., which has moved to 1094 Morton Blvd. in the town of Ulster.
Mayor Steve Noble said the project appears to something he could support.
“While there is much more to learn about this specific proposal, I am supportive of this type of development in our community,” he said.” “Lack of lodging continues to be an issue, especially in our bustling business districts.
I” am confident that additional lodging options will make Kingston an even more attractive place to visit,” the mayor said.
Dutton has no doubt that the issue of parking will come up during the review process.
“With every single applicant in Uptown, we have to discuss parking,” he said.