Developer resubmits plan for apartments
KINGSTON, N.Y. » A developer has resubmitted its proposal for a 47-unit apartment complex at the corner of Lucas Avenue and Bluestone Court.
The complex, to be known as Bluestone Commons, would be built by SSLI Holdings LLC on the vacant parcel at 264 Lucas Ave.
The city Planning Board is expected to take up the proposal when it meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19. There will be no public speaking period during the meeting, but comments may be emailed to City Planner Suzanne Cahill at scahill@ kingston-ny.gov.
The public can access the meeting by calling (646) 558-8656, and entering meeting ID 822 5985 5019 and passcode 66055717.
The developer first submitted the proposal in early 2020, but it asked soon after for the Planning Board to put off starting its review.
As currently proposed, Bluestone Commons would comprise four buildings, each with no more than 12 apartments. The buildings would total 117,500 square feet and stand on a 2.7-acre parcel.
The plan calls for 14 onebedroom apartments, 32 two-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom unit, along with 96 parking spaces.
The plan states the buildings “will be sufficiently set back [from the road], consistent with applicable zoning setback standards” and that “landscaping will provide screening and buffering .... ”
There also is to be “a central rain garden to soften the parking lot and aide in water absorption and stormwater quality treatment,” the plan states.
Additionally, it says, “comprehensive erosion and sedimentation control measures, as well as temporary drainage control measures, will be installed and maintained during all construction activities.”
The developer says outdoor lighting will be kept dim.
“Exterior lighting will be minimized,” the plan states. “... The design and character of exterior lighting will be of a residential-scale appropriate to the architectural features .... ”
SSLI Holdings LLC is a partnership of Stefan Sanzi and Luke Interrante, both lifelong residents of Kingston.
Sanzi owns multiple properties in Kingston and elsewhere. Interrante is the owner of Interrante DesignBuild and previously was a project manager and senior project manager for a large-scale construction company.
Sanzi said last year that he and Interrante originally planned to build singlefamily homes but switched to apartments because of a local shortage of marketrate units.
The Bluestone Commons proposal comes amid the city’s ongoing review of a proposed residential and commercial development called The Kingstonian, which would comprise 129 market-rate apartments and 14 “affordable housing units” between North Front Street and Schwenk Drive in Kingston’s Uptown business district.
It also comes as Mayor Steve Noble has proposed affordable housing be built on two parcels in Midtown; as affordable housing agency RUPCO works to convert the former Alms House on Flatbush Avenue into apartments; and as plans are in the works for workforce housing at the site of the former Ulster County Jail off Golden Hill Drive in Kingston.