County gets 20+ proposals for Enterprise West property
TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. » Ulster County has received more than 20 proposals for the redevelopment of all or part of the countyowned property known as Enterprise West — a portion of the former IBM-Kingston property, and later TechCity.
Among the proposals submitted by the Feb. 26 deadline, County Executive Pat Ryan said Monday, were five to purchase some or all of the site, 11 to rent or lease some or all of the site, and 12 to provide services to assist the county in redeveloping the site. There also were six proposals from real estate professionals willing to provide services, including environmental testing, planning and design or leasing and marketing services.
Development proposals — from such entities as small businesses, existing businesses, academic in
stitutions and local government — include an indoor tennis facility, an SPCA animal shelter, food-production operations, vertical gardens, solar energy farms, soccer fields and college classrooms.
“The interest from local and regional businesses, developers and other partners is strong, as we knew it would be when we first took control of these parcels in 2019,” Ryan said in a prepared statement. “For far too long, we have watched this site decay right in front of us, but now we see a path forward to finally address this longstanding reminder of what we lost as a community when IBM left.
“We have an opportunity now, as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, to rebuild better and stronger than we were before — to leverage our resilience during the pandemic into the energy and cooperation it will take to build a more people-centered economy going forward,” Ryan said.
In January, Ryan issued a call for “expressions of interest” for the redevelopment of the site from developers and others interested in buying the property, or leasing or renting all or some of the site; or willing to provide services related to developing the property.
Ulster County took ownership of two parcels on the west side of Enterprise Drive in November 2019 due to nonpayment of property taxes by the owners of TechCity, which bought the former IBM property from the computer giant in 1998. The parcels total 82 acres, including a 24.7-acre site that has three attached vacant buildings on it. A 400,000-square-foot building on the site last was used in 2015 as a state income tax processing center operated by Bank of America.
At Ryan’s request, the county Legislature has approved spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the 400,000-square-foot building, first to separate its electric and gas services from other buildings on the site and most recently to winterize the structure and make upgrades in order to get a temporary certificate of occupancy.
On Tuesday, the Legislature’s Economic Development, Planning, Housing and Transit Committee will consider a resolution to transfer ownership of Enterprise West to a local development corporation, a move Ryan has said is necessary for the county to sell the sites while maintaining control over the kind of development that occurs.
Committee Chairman Brian Cahill, D-town of Ulster, said he was “thrilled” to see the level of local and regional interest in the site.
“It really shows we are at a tipping point, and that once we give a green light to move forward with redevelopment we will see this site come back to life in some exciting ways,” Cahill said.
The proposals received by the county were from:
• Bard College, to use the existing buildings for classrooms, performance/event space, and storage for the college’s art collection.
• Blueprint HV, which represents a consortium of Kingston-area businesses including The Farm Bridge, Farm Hub, NoVo Foundation and multiple artists/ musicians, to create an agriculture and arts center in the existing buildings and parking lot.
• Borrego Solar, to develop a utility-scale solar farm on vacant land near the Esopus Creek.
• Bridge Arts and Education, to house artistic and educational programming and collaborative community events.
• C2 Biotechnologies, to create a waste-to-energy project that supports indoor agriculture on the site.
• The Farm Bridge, to expand its food processing and distribution operations, which aggregate local farm products for value-added production.
• First Serve, to create an indoor tennis facility.
• Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, to create an incubator/accelerator program for growth-oriented local businesses.
• Jonathan Burkhart, to create a multimedia, performing arts and education center that taps into the area’s growing film and television sector.
• Plant Seeds, to establish vertical gardens using its locally designed vertical garden planter in multiple locations at the site.
• Rough Draft and Kingston Bread Bar, to expand their Kingston operations into the town of Ulster and to establish a bread production kitchen.
• Snider, Sarah; Dukler, Sarah; and Bier, Allison, to rent space for a womenowned and operated co-op outfitter.
• Town of Ulster, to develop soccer fields and trails, a solar farm and a new town facility.
• Ulster County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to develop a new animal shelter;
• Vertices Media, to manage outdoor events in the parking lot.
• Larovere Consulting & Development, to purchase the site and collaborate with other local firms who are interested in reinvigorating it.
• Advance Testing Co., to provide environmental testing services.
• CPL, to provide design, engineering and construction management services.
• Duna Real Estate, to provide property management and leasing services.
• Pioneer Realty, to provide general real estate advisory services.
• Sustainability Solutions and the Center for Post Carbon Logistics, to provide planning and design services.