RUPCO boss confident of tax credits for E Square
Affordable housing agency RUPCO expects to know by May whether it will get requested tax credits to offset the cost of building its proposed E Square apartment building in Midtown.
The credits are being sought from the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal
Tara Collins, a RUPCO spokeswoman, said the agency already has secured $1 million for the project from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, and RUPCO Chief Executive Officer Kevin O’Connor said this week that he’s confident about getting
the tax credits.
“We were thrilled to recently receive the support of NYSERDA’s ‘ Cleaner Greener’ program for the project,” O’Connor said in an email. “We believe Energy Square (the project’s full name) is transformative for Midtown Kingston because it proposes a dynamic
use for a vacant site.”
The 57-unit apartment building — which also is to include 14,688 square feet of commercial and civic space on the ground floor — is proposed for the 1-acre site at 20 Cedar St., just off Broadway, where the vacant Mid-City Lanes bowling alley stands.
RUPCO plans to demolish the 20,000-square-foot bowling alley, which has been closed since June 2014.
“The project’s impor-
tance in terms of its geographic location, the role it could play in community building and its unique incorporation of innovative, sustainable and design strategies make it ripe for the awarding of funding,” O’Connor said.
Also, he said, “RUPCO’s track record of success in developing such innovative opportunities makes it the kind of partner we hope the state will bank on.”
The tax credits from the
Division of Housing and Community Renewal would fund most of the project, and additional grants are being sought, Collins said. RUPCO expects to learn about that money in May, too.
The Kingston Planning Board gave RUPCO the green light in December to build the E Square project. It’s called Energy Square because a 160-kilowatt solar panel array on the roof would make electricity free
for the tenants of the apartments.
The approval granted by the Planning Board allows for 44 one-bedroom apartments, eight two-bedroom apartments, three threebedroom apartments and two studio apartment in t he 73,000- square- foot building. There also would be a rooftop park.
The building is to have two three- story sections, a four-story section and a five- story section.
Part of the f irst- f loor space would house the Center for Creative Education, which currently is on nearby Railroad Avenue, as well as Hudson Valley Tech Meet Up and Ulster County Community Action.
In November, the Kingston Common Council and then-Mayor Shayne Gallo approved a rezoning of the property from O-2 (office) to C-2 (commercial/mixeduse overlay).