Mayor eager to get schools HQ back on tax roll

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Mayor Steve Noble says he hopes the Kingston school district can sell its administration building to a private developer in order to get it back on the city’s tax roll.

The school district is looking to sell the Cioni Building at 61 Crown St. in Uptown Kingston and relocate the offices to the former Frank L. Meagher Elementary School on Wynkoop Place in Midtown.

District voters on Tuesday approved using $4.2 million from a capital reserve account to convert the Meagher building into administrative offices and a prekindergarten center. The work is to be funded, in part, by proceeds from selling the Cioni Building.

Noble said he voted in favor of the Meagher plan.

“This will ... allow the school district to again market the Cioni Building,” the mayor said in the email. “... Interest has been expressed over the years by numerous developers, who see the building ... can be adaptively reused, whether for a boutique hotel or apartments.

“Putting this property back on the tax rolls while also continuing to further our economic goals for Kingston is a win-win,” Noble said.

There currently are no hotels in Uptown Kingston’s Stockade District, though one is being developed in the former Tonner Doll Co. building at Wall and John streets.

That hotel, which will have nine guest rooms, is being created by New York City developer Charles Blaichman, whose company paid $925,000 for the building.

A Mexico-based company called Grupo Habita, which develops highend hotels and restaurants, has offered to buy the Cioni Building for $1 million and turn it into a 34-room hotel, but no formal deal is in place. A real estate agent recently told the Kingston school district the Cioni Building, a former school, could fetch up to $2.2 million.

Of the Meagher plan, Noble said he likes the idea of offering pre-K classes there.

“Pre-K is important for our youth to begin the learning process and get ready for kindergarten,” he said. “... It was extremely helpful in getting my son ready for his first day in kindergarten.

“I want to see every child in our city have access to the same quality of pre-K programming,” the mayor said.