PROMISE FULFILLED
Scenic Hudson Land Trust subsidiary buys 508 acres in Kingston and Ulster
Scenic Hudson has made good on its pledge to buy more than 500 acres along the Hudson River in the city of Kingston and the town of Ulster, the environmental group said Tuesday.
The Poughkeepsie-based organization plans to turn the property, which once was eyed for a large housing development called Hudson Landing, into a public park.
Quarry Waters LLC, an affiliate of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, bought the 508 acres from Hudson Landing developer AVR Acquisition Corp. of Yonkers, but a purchase price was not disclosed in a press release announcing the sale. The land has an assessed value of about $5.1 million, according to city of Kingston and town of Ulster records.
“Securing this property will bring tremendous recreational, ecological, scientific and economic benefits to city and town residents and the entire region,” Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan said in the announcement. “... This acquisition represents Scenic Hudson’s most ambitious undertaking in its history to transform a former industrial site on the Hudson into a community asset in an urban setting.”
The land straddles the border of Kingston and Ulster and has the Hudson River at its eastern edge. The southern end of the site is just north of the Hutton Brickyards property.
The announcement from Scenic Hudson said the land includes 260 acres of woodlands, more than a mile of Hudson River shoreline, a cliff and ridge line, and 37 acres of wetlands.
A section of the land is to be
come part of the state’s 750-mile Empire State Trail.
“The trail will enter the property at the Hutton Brickyards and then lead north through East Kingston (part of the town of Ulster) to the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge,” Scenic Hudson’s announcement said.
The bridge, where work to accommodate pedestrians was completed recently, also is to be part of the state trail.
When Scenic Hudson first announced its plan to buy the riverfront
property, this past February, Kingston Mayor Steve Noble called the site an “urban oasis” with boundless potential. On Tuesday, in a prepared statement, Noble called the purchase a “transformative moment for our city” that provides “the opportunity to create an exciting green space for residents and a destination for visitors .... ”
The site — 75 percent in Kingston and 25 percent in Ulster — long ago was used for cement mining and processing and was known as the Tilcon property. AVR proposed the 1,682-unit Hudson Landing development in 2002 and finally received preliminary approval from the Kingston
Planning Board in 2010. But with the country just coming out of a housing market crisis and the Great Recession, nothing ever took shape at the site.
Scenic Hudson said key funding to acquire the land was provided by private donors, including philanthropists Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the Walbridge Fund, the PCLB Foundation, the Kathryn W. Davis Fund for Hudson River Parkland Acquisition, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Will Nixon, Illiana K. van Meeteren, Sue Sie, Steven Holl and Robert Lonergan.
Scenic Hudson Land Trust Executive Director Steve Rosenberg said the land has “powerful
potential.”
“Reclaiming and restoring this waterfront, long off limits to the public, can transform [Kingston’s] relationship with the Hudson River and create new opportunities to build a strong sense of community by creating public spaces and programs that reflect residents’ needs and desires,” Rosenberg said in the announcement of the purchase.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said Scenic Hudson “is to be commended for taking the first step toward turning this industrial site into a magnificent destination for recreation and connecting with the county’s past.”