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Golden Hill Apartments Will Transform Vacant Former Ulster County Jail Site Into an Intergenerational Housing Community
Pennrose, Family of Woodstock, and its partners broke ground recently at Golden Hill apartments, a 164-unit affordable housing project in the City of Kingston. The $87 million project, bolstered by a $10 million award from the Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund, is being built on a 20-acre site that was formerly the Ulster County Jail.
Pennrose, a national multifamily, mixed-use, and mixed-income development company, is the same developer working to convert the Village of Haverstraw’s Chair Factory site into a mixed-use residential/retail, waterfront project with differing levels of housing affordability, but is struggling to secure a necessary PILOT agreement with the Town of Haverstraw.
Golden Hill will include two mid-rise apartment buildings, four townhomes and a central community building. All apartments will be affordable to households earning up to 80 percent of the AMI with nearly half of the apartments reserved for senior households aged 62 and older. Forty-eight apartments will be set aside for households in need of onsite support services, including families that have experienced homelessness.
Golden Hill is designed to be a highly-efficient, all-electric development. Each building will have a rooftop solar array that will generate roughly 700kw of renewable energy combined. All buildings will have free broadband internet access, and a series of landscaped outdoor areas will link the buildings together with five playgrounds customized for different age groups, exercise and recreation spaces, planting garden, outdoor plaza, electric-vehicle chargers, parking and a wooded trail connection to the adjacent Empire State Trail.
HCR financing for Golden Hill includes Federal and State Tax Credit programs that generated approximately $41 million in equity, $42 million in housing bonds and $8.7 million in subsidy. The development received a $902,000 grant through HCR’s Clean Energy Initiative program, created in partnership with the NYSERDA. New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance provided a subsidy loan of $15 million from its Homeless Housing and Assistance. Empire State Development contributed $10 million from the Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund.
Ulster County allocated $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to demolish the former jail structures. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. Patrick Ryan allocated $1 million to the Golden Hill project from the Fiscal Year 2024 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The City of Kingston will provide a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement at $620 per unit and an $18,000 per year Community Impact Fee with annual increases for the length of the Community Impact Fee and PILOT agreements.
RUPCO Receives $5 Million Award to Rehabilitate Vacant Rental Units Across Nine Counties
RUPCO (Rural Ulster Preservation Company), a non-profit agency based in Kingston that builds, renovates, and manages mixed-income and affordable rental apartments, was awarded $5 million through New York State’s Vacant Rental Program (VRP). The funding will support the rehabilitation of 80 vacant and uninhabitable rental units across Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, Westchester, and Sullivan counties, transforming them into safe, high-quality, and affordable homes for low- and moderate-income tenants.
The VRP, created as part of New York’s 2025 Budget, is designed to assist small scale landlords with revitalizing vacant properties. The program targets the rehabilitation of up to 600 vacant apartments statewide, focusing on communities outside New York City.
“At RUPCO, we are committed to expanding access to affordable housing and strengthening communities,” said Faith Moore, Senior VP of Housing Programs and Solutions of RUPCO. “This $5 million award will enable us to bring much-needed housing units back online, ensuring they meet the highest standards of safety and quality while remaining affordable for decades to come.”
The Vacant Rental Program provides grants of up to $50,000 per unit for repairs in properties serving tenants with household incomes up to 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) and up to $75,000 per unit for tenants with incomes up to 60% AMI. Eligible improvements include health and safety upgrades, correction of code violations, accessibility modifications, environmental remediation and general repairs to restore properties to habitable conditions.
VRP awards are made to not-for-profits and municipalities that will serve as local administrators and make funding available to eligible participants in the area they serve.
Eligibility is limited to legal owners of 1-5 unit residential properties, mixed-use buildings with up to five (5) housing units, and other buildings that will be converted to one of the above. A 10-year Regulatory Period will be required during which the owner must be willing to execute an agreement and rental covenant on assisted units that will subject units to rent limits and other requirements.
Empire State Development MHV Development Break Ground On $26.2 Million Mixed-Use, Mixed-Income Barrel Factory Apartments In Kingston
MHV Development, a Hudson Valley-based developer, and Empire State Development broke ground last month on the Barrel Factory Apartments, a 100-unit mixed use, mixed income housing development featuring 20% affordable units, and the grand opening of the project’s earlier phase, the restoration of the historic 120-year-old Kingston Barrel Factory into a multi-use community hub. The building had been vacant for 15 years
The Barrel Factory project consists of two phases. The first is a $4.6 million community-focused mixed-use development that will drive housing, job growth, and restore the deteriorating Historic Kingston Barrel Factory building to create a new central hub for Midtown Kingston. This phase received $840,000 in Restore NY funding and Historic Preservation Tax Credits. As part of this project, MHV Development undertook an adaptive re-use of a 120-year-old warehouse originally used as a barrel factory. The 18,000 square foot building has been transformed into 12 affordable residential units, along with another 3,500 square feet of commercial flex space, and the amenities for the complex.
The second phase is a $26.2 million project creating a 100-unit mixed-use, mixed-income development. The project was awarded $4.78 million from the Mid-Hudson Momentum Fun and is located on a key corridor in Midtown Kingston, an area that has historically gone through economic distress and has limited housing options. It will feature 80 market rate residential units and 20 affordable units at 80% Area Median Income (AMI). The four-story project includes a ground-floor commercial component, and the restoration of The Barn, a vacant 21,000 square foot warehouse targeted for manufacturing and professional, or maker office uses.
“One of the smartest things we can do as a community is take old, abandoned buildings and turn them into much-needed housing and mixed-use spaces that spark untapped economic opportunity. The 120-year-old Barrel Factory in Midtown Kingston is the perfect example. What was once a forgotten site is now becoming a thriving hub that’s increasing local housing right where it’s needed while driving growth for our small business neighbors,” said State Senator Michelle Hinchey.
“The building that we’re in is on the National Historic Register,” said Kingston Mayor Steve Noble at the groundbreaking. “We are so lucky to be able to have not only a city that has a lot of these historic treasures, but also development partners that want to actually preserve these buildings.”
The Mid-Hudson Region has become a top destination for both tourists and new permanent residents, with more than 33,000 new residents moving to the region over the past two years.
