RUPCO aims to start work on Metro
The agency hopes construction on the project, which includes a film and TV production studio, can begin next year
RUPCO, a Kingston-based affordable housing provider, hopes to secure tax credits soon and start construction of a film and television production studio and commercial space at a building on South Prospect Street by next year, an official said.
Kevin O’Connor, RUPCO’s chief executive officer, said the agency is actively seeking tax credits to offset construction costs associ-
ated with the project. “We hope to complete the task of securing the financing and start construction in September 2018,” O’Connor said in an email Friday. “Construction will take approximately one year.”
The renovated building will be called The Metro. Construction costs are expected to total $14 million.
“We see The Metro as being at the cutting edge of today’s community development work,” O’Connor said.
The agency views the project as an important one “that has gained much attention,” particularly from the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council, which listed it a “priority project.”
When completed, The Metro is expected to house a television and film production center called Stockade Works, which will be headed by actress and director Mary Stuart Masterson, who lives in Dutchess County. The Metro also is expected to have rent-paying tenants that RUPCO calls “makers,” which could include craftspeople.
RUPCO, an affordable housing agency making its first foray into an all-commercial project, bought the former Metropolitan Life
Hall of Records building for just under $2 million.
In October, the city Planning Board unanimously adopted a resolution approving the site plan for The Metro project at 2 S. Prospect St., as well as a separate resolution declaring the project would have no significant environmental impact.
“We are working with Stockade Works as a partner and talking to several entities that are seeking to co-locate their mix of creative and entrepreneurial business ventures at this location,” O’Connor said. “Our intention for this ‘community wealth building’ project is to gather the right mix of creative uses that will support and blend with the plans Stockade Works has for a film, TV and technology hub at The Metro.”
O’Connor said RUPCO recently hired Luminary Media, a consulting firm, “to research the economic impact potential of several industry clusters to determine their likelihood to achieve market success and deliver significant lift to the community through robust paying jobs or pathways to successful entrepreneurship.”
O’Connor pointed out that The Metro is one of three projects that the agency has embarked on recently in the city’s Midtown area. The other two are the completed Lace Mill Apartments on Cornell Street at South Manor Avenue and the planned Energy Square apartment complex and retail hub on Cedar Street near Broadway.
“The timing is ripe, as we are witnessing a significant trend towards adaptive reuse of old factory buildings up and down the Hudson Valley, while at the same time, we are experiencing disruption in our economic models,” O’Connor said. “We all see Uber and Lyft changing transportation, Airbnb changing hospitably/lodging and Amazon changing retail and how people shop.”
“Now is the time for innovation and new ideas,” O’Connor added. “Kingston and the Hudson Valley are currently benefiting from their proximity to New York City in many ways, and a large part of that stems from the influx of creative and technologically savvy people.”
O’Connor said interest in space at The Metro is also bubbling up.
“Over the past several months, RUPCO, Stockade Works and Luminary Media have all been out there speaking to numerous small businesses and entrepreneurs about their needs and potential interest in The Metro, and we can report that the interest is significant,” O’Connor said.