KINGSTON – Ulster County has received 22 responses to its request for ideas to redevelop two parcels on the west side of the former IBM campus in the Town of Ulster, now known as Enterprise West.
The expressions of interest include uses for the former office building and surrounding property and would place the long-dormant site back to productive use, creating jobs and providing local tax revenues to the county, the Town of Ulster, and the Kingston City School District.
The two county-owned parcels comprise over 80 acres of land and a 400,000 square foot office building that was last used in 2015 as a tax processing center by Bank of America.
County Executive Patrick Ryan said they want the successful project to be in sync with the 21st-century economy. “My priority is to make sure that turn this site, which used to be the beating heart of the Ulster County economy, back into that kind of an engine economically for the region,” he said.
Among the submissions received by the county are five proposals to purchase some or all of the county-owned property, 11 proposals to rent or lease, and 12 proposals to provide services to assist the county in redeveloping the site. Submissions include redevelopment proposals from:
- Bard College, to use the existing buildings for academic 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, the 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 multi-media, performing arts and education center that taps into the area’s growing film and television sector
- Plant Seeds, to establish vertical gardens using their 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; Bier, Allison, to rent space for a women-owned and operated coop outfitter
- Town of Ulster, to develop soccer fields and trails, a solar farm, and a new Town facility
- UCSPCA, to develop a new animal shelter
- Vertices Media, to manage outdoor events in the parking lot.
- In addition, several responses were received from real estate professionals who wish to support the County’s goals for redevelopment of the site, including:
- A Larovere Consulting & Development, to purchase the site and collaborate with other local firms who are interested in reinvigorating the site
- Advance Testing Company, 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.
- The county legislature’s Economic Development, Tourism, Housing, Planning & Transit Committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss transferring Enterprise West to a local development corporation.
The deadline for submissions for requests for expressions of interest was last Friday.