Public can weigh in on Kingstonian tax relief
The Ulster County Industrial Development Agency will hold a public hearing Thursday about the tax breaks being sought by the developers of the proposed residential/ commercial project known as The Kingstonian.
The online hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be joined on the Zoom platform. (Instructions for logging in are to be posted at ulstercountyida.com.)
Tax relief being sought include a $28.2 reduction in property taxes over 25 years, a $1.4 million waiver from local sales and use taxes, and a $325,000 exemption from mortgage recording taxes.
The Kingstonian, proposed by Kingstonian Development LLC and Herzog Supply Co., is to straddle Fair Street Extension in Uptown Kingston between North Front Street and Schwenk Drive. Part of the site is owned by Herzog’s, the rest by the city of Kingston.
The project is expected to cost about $60 million to build and comprise 143 apartments, 8,000 square feet of retail space, a 32room boutique hotel, a pedestrian plaza, a footbridge crossing Schwenk Drive between the new development and Kingston Plaza, and a 420-space parking garage.
The Industrial Development Agency board is going ahead with the planned public hearing despite delays in getting responses from the county Legislature and Kingston school district about whether they support the tax relief.
The site’s third taxing authority, the city of Kingston, has signed off on the proposed payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, agreement. The city’s Common Council, though, made its support contingent on setting a base payment of $40,000 for the life of the 25-year agreement.
The developers say both an affordable housing element of the project and the addition of public parking in Uptown Kingston make the tax breaks a good deal for the community. Of the planned 420 parking spaces in the garage, 277 are to be for public use.
Lawsuits regarding The Kingstonian have been filed by limited liability corporations associated with New York City-based real estate investor Neil Bender that own several properties in the Uptown Kingston business district.
The lawsuits contend the Kingston Planning Board, the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the Empire State Development Corp. have made incorrect decisions involving land use and zoning for The Kingstonian.