‘NO ADVERSE IMPACT’
State historic preservation office drops objection to The Kingstonian
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has done an about-face regarding the proposed mixed-use development known as The Kingstonian, now saying it won’t have an adverse effect on the historic nature of Uptown Kingston’s Stockade District.
In a letter dated Feb. 14, four days after a meeting was held among state and city representatives and members of the development team, John A. Bonafide, the state office’s historic preservation officer, wrote: “Based on the redesign material submitted, it is the opinion of the Division for Historic Preservation that the project, as now proposed, has minimized its direct and indirect impacts on the ... Kingston Stockade Historic District. As such, it is now our opinion that the project will have no adverse impact on the district.”
A September 2019 letter from the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation said just the opposite — that The Kingstonian, which is to comprise apartments, a hotel and retail space, would “have adverse effects” on the surrounding area.
The developers of The Kingstonian cheered the revised opinion.
“We are happy that [the state historic preservation officer] acknowledged all of the
hard work and collaboration on the building design with the various boards and community groups we have participated with over the past two-plus years,” they said in a prepared statement.
“From the outset, we have worked hard to successfully mitigate and eliminate all of the architectural and archaeological concerns,” the developers added. “... Although this letter comes to us as no surprise, the decisive wording ... clearly supports the city of Kingston Planning Board’s unanimous findings and undercuts any legal arguments presented against the city and this project.”
The Kingston Planning Board in December 2019 ruled the project would not
have a significant impact on the environment, though that decision is being challenged in court.
The Kingstonian — which would be built on two sites at Fair and North Front streets — is proposed to include 143 apartments, 8,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, a 32room boutique hotel, a pedestrian plaza, a footbridge crossing Schwenk Drive between the new development and Kingston Plaza, and 420 parking spaces.
In the September 2019 letter to the developers of The Kingstonian, Weston Davey, historic site restoration coordinator for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, wrote: “We believe that the proposed development will have adverse effects to the Kingston Stockade Historic District . ... We request that you develop and evaluate modifications
to this project that could avoid, minimize or mitigate the adverse effects.”
Bonafide’s Feb. 14 letter, addressed to Meghan Ferrelli at Empire State Development, said improvements had been made.
“In our previous correspondence, we noted that the scale, parking entry, hotel reconstruction and the loss of Fair Street Extension could have adverse impacts on the ... Kingston Stockade Historic District,” he wrote. “... We note [now] that the introduction of brick, a variety of siding materials and colors has helped to break up the original monolith look of the complex. We also note that the now more open plaza area and intact location of Fair Street Extension, now used for parking garage entry, retains this opening in the district’s streetscape.”
Also, Bonafide wrote,
the building’s North Front Street façade has been redesigned to more appropriately approximate the “height and form of the buildings that once occupied that block.
“Furthermore, the parking garage opening has been redesigned to de-emphasize it in the streetscape and as viewed from Wall Street,” the letter says.
Bonafide added that “the re-establishment of this vibrant architectural component at this corner of the district will aid in minimizing the views of the large housing complex that will extend further north along the upper section of the former North Front Street Extension.”
Mayor Steve Noble, a strong supporter of the project, said he welcomed the state office’s new opinion.
“I am pleased with the updated response,” Noble said in an email. “... Their
revised decision demonstrates that The Kingstonian developers heard the concerns raised during the review process and appropriately addressed these concerns.
“At every turn, these local developers have listened to the community, as well as the preservation agency, and responded with thoughtful designs and solutions,” Noble added. “I also hope this will lay to rest concerns raised in the pending lawsuit.”
The lawsuit, filed on Jan. 16 by a prospective tenant in one of several Uptown buildings near The Kingstonian site owned by New York City developer Neil Bender, seeks the reversal of the Kingston Planning Board’s ruling that the project would not harm the environment.
Attorney Victoria Polidoro, acting on behalf of limited liability corporations
that are operated by Bender and own seven Uptown addresses, filed a motion on Feb. 20 to join the suit.
Polidoro said in a press release that while there might be a need for mixeduse development in Uptown Kingston, key issues in this matter are “the lack of diligence performed by the Planning Board during its environmental review and the negative visual impact the proposed monolithic Kingstonian structures will have on the otherwise charming district.”
Polidoro’s release cited the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s September 2019 letter as evidence of the project’s adverse effects. Polidoro said Tuesday that she did not see the new letter prior to it being provided to her by a reporter and that she would comment about it on Wednesday.