FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2023
$1.15 Million Restore New York Grant Awarded to Uptown Kingston Mixed-use Project
KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble is pleased to announce the City of Kingston has been awarded $1.15 million from the Empire State Development’s Restore New York Communities Initiative to support the St. Joseph’s Lofts project in Uptown Kingston.
The St. Joseph’s Lofts project at 59 Pearl Street is an adaptive reuse project that will convert a former schoolhouse into three floors of office space and an event center. The adjacent former convent house will be renovated into three residential apartments.
“I am so proud of the work my Grants Management team does each day to help private entities and nonprofits access State resources, and I’m thrilled we were able to secure this funding for a great mixed-use project in the heart of the Stockade District,” said Mayor Noble. “I want to thank Governor Hochul and Empire State Development for their continued support of Kingston. This funding will help with an exciting redevelopment project that makes improvements to unique existing historical buildings. Projects like the St. Joseph’s Lofts are exactly the kind of smart development we need in our community, that preserve historic architecture, create new neighborhood amenities, and build much-needed housing.”
On Monday at iPark 87 (formerly Tech City), Governor Kathy Hochul announced more than $112.9 million to 70 projects through the Restore New York Communities Initiative, which supports municipal revitalization efforts across the state, helping to remove blight, reinvigorate downtowns and generate economic opportunity. The program, administered by Empire State Development, helps local governments revitalize their communities and encourage commercial investment, improve the local housing stock, put properties back on the tax rolls, and increase the local tax base.
“These Restore New York grants will help to reimagine downtowns across our state and transform vacant, blighted and underutilized buildings into vibrant community anchors,” Governor Hochul said. “Thanks to a more than $146 million state investment, we are breathing new life into communities from Hudson to North Hempstead, jumpstarting new economic activity and helping ensure that New York State continues to be a place where people come to live, work, and raise their families.”
Past City of Kingston Restore NY Grants include, in 2022, an award of $1.5 million for The Center for Photography at Woodstock to adaptively reuse and rehabilitate the 40,000 sf former cigar factory in Midtown, and $840,000 for the Barrel Factory Lofts Project, an adaptive reuse of a 120-year-old warehouse originally used as a barrel factory in Midtown that has been vacant for 15 years. The 18,000 sf building will be redeveloped into a mix of live-work spaces for artists, commercial flex spaces, and amenities spaces. In 2017, a Restore New York grant assisted with the cost of demolition of the former Mid-City Lanes bowling alley at 20 Cedar Street, the now-home of RUPCO’s Energy Square, a mixed-use residential, commercial, and nonprofit space.