Dutton Project Underway in City; Stalled in Town
In the shadow of the Walkway Over the Hudson is an empty lot called the “Dutton Site.” Though dormant for years, thanks to the current trend of turning inactive property in Poughkeepsie into mixed residential and commercial space, construction is about to be underway that will transform the site into a thriving community on the Hudson River.
The property once housed the former Poughkeepsie Iron Company, and later the A.C. Dutton Lumber Company, until it was abandoned in 1982. Approximately 22 years later, it was purchased by developers and in 2009, the final scoping document for a planned residential/commercial complex was approved by the Poughkeepsie City Council.
The Dutton Project — also called One Dutchess Ave by its developer — has essentially taken on two different lives since 2009, and it is due to the complex nature of its location.
Just off Route 9, the Dutton Site lies within both the City and Town of Poughkeepsie jurisdictions. While development has been approved for the 11-acre portion of land on the city side, the town passed a resolution on November 16, 2016 outlining their concerns about the plans the developer — The O’Neill Group-Dutton LLC — had for the 3.8 acres of land on their side.
“They want to build townhomes in the town parcel of the Dutton site,” Town of Poughkeepsie Fourth Ward councilman Michael Cifone said. “We had issues with them from the beginning because it is a small parcel. 84[residential] units seems awful high… there’s not enough space for residents to use.”
With the resolution passed in November, Town of Poughkeepsie Supervisor Jon Jay Baisley explained that the town side of the project is currently halted.
“It has come to a stop, we voted it down,” Baisley said. “[The Dutton Project is] moving slowly forward but as far as the town is concerned, it’s done — it’s a dead project as of now.”
Since building a highly-concentrated, 84 unit residential complex on such a small property did not work out, Baisley theorized that selling the town parcel may be in the developer’s best interest, especially since a potential buyer may pay a premium to turn it into a commercial space.
“It’s not like it’s in a big neighborhood where the piece of land is going to be vacant,” Baisley said. “If anything, it might become a more viable piece because the developer has that last piece to sell. If they have built this housing complex and it’s something that turns out to be a positive, that piece may be worth more for a potential commercial space, or maybe different kind of housing, so it could benefit the developer in the long run.
“With the riverfront coming back to life, someone may want to come in and make it a commercial space. Sometimes waiting is best. Not having anything there [for a while] isn’t always a bad thing.”
Another issue the town had with the developer’s proposal was its lack of logistical planning.
“We had serious issues with parking, a lot of parking is along streets in the plan,” Cifone said. “There was no plan made for snow removal.”
“They actually have a little piece that they own that’s on the town side and I think they turned it over to the city, so they could still do something there,” Baisley said of the piece of land the developer intends to build a walkway on.
“The reason we didn’t take it is because it was a landfill and if you look at reports, it doesn’t really say that even though they cleaned up, it’s guaranteed for life. So if we were to take it, five years down the road from now we could still be responsible for it. We wanted a little bit of a commitment that just because we took it, we weren’t going to be stuck with all the responsibility.”
Cifone further explained that the developer did not want to pay the town recreation fees for the walkway they proposed, so the town would have had to pay for its maintenance, had they taken it on. He also emphasized the fact that despite the current situation, he hopes the developer brings forward another proposal both sides can agree upon.
“I do want them to come back and I hope we get something ironed out for the future,” Cifone said. “I think it would be a boon to the town to have amenities on the town side — shops, coffee houses, etc. right on the waterfront without needing your car. Plus they want the walkway.
“They are talking about restaurants on the water, so we would rather have commercial [development] since there are 300 residential units on the city side. We really would love to see something happen down there but 84 units won’t work.”
Though the proposed town parcel utilization is currently in limbo, construction on the city side is right around the corner. The project will take several years to complete, but developer Finbar O’Neill of the O’Neill Group-Dutton LLC outlined what Poughkeepsie residents can expect to see at the site in the future.
“We have approvals for 300 units of luxury, high-end apartments,” O’Neill said. “It is going to be done in two phases. The first phase includes 139 units in three buildings. Those buildings are known to us as B, C and D. They will have an outdoor amenity area which will include a full-size pool, a wade-in pool and a sauna.
“Then we will have four barbecue station areas, an outdoor TV area and a fire pit. There will be a clubhouse as well.”
O’Neill also described some indoor amenities; including a fitness center, library, community room, steam room and another sauna. He explained that most units in these buildings will have Hudson River views.
“The second phase will be 161 units in buildings known as A, E, F, G and H,” O’Neill said. “Building A will contain approximately 14,000 sq. ft. of commercial space which will have community retail.”
When asked about potential tenants for the 13,800-square-foot commercial space, O’Neill explained that several people have expressed interest but it is too early to “pin that down.” He did say that they plan to do so within the next year, though.
And as for future residents, he expressed that there is no specific demographic they’re targeting, citing all different different structures, from start-ups to empty-nesters. He even included those who prefer “headache-free living” where, according to him, maintenance will be taken care of for them.
City of Poughkeepsie First Ward Councilman Christopher Petsas explained that although there has not been much activity on the site lately, there will be some soon.
“Outside of the cleanup of the contamination of land — because it was an old lumber company/processing warehouse — nothing really has gone on,” Petsas said. “They just secured all the necessary paperwork, which was 7–8 years in the making.”
Petsas said that the city’s main concern with regard to the Dutton Project is the flow of traffic, due to narrow roads. In terms of its impact on the community, he said the initial construction should provide plenty of construction jobs, and once completed, retail jobs will open up in stores on the property.
In the meantime, O’Neill is gearing up for groundbreaking in March 2017.
“We are scheduled to go vertical within 30 days,” O’Neill said. “We have already prepared the buildings with surcharge, which is basically a way to prepare the foundations.”
“Part of the first phase is completing the river-walk walkway. The environmental side of the work has all been done. We got a sign-off at the end of 2016.”
It has been slow, but progress is finally being made at the Dutton Site. There may be no plan for the town parcel just yet, but at least on the city side, locals and newcomers alike have something to look forward to.
More information about the Dutton Project/One Dutchess Ave can be found at the developer’s official website.
