Underwear Factory to Become New Communal Space Starting this Spring
After 30 years of a vacant, stagnant existence right on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie’s Main Street, it looks like the Underwear Factory is finally coming back to life — and this time, as a combined multipurpose community hub and housing unit.
The Underwear Factory, which is on the Historic National Registry, was first built in 1874 and has since served a variety of different purposes, with some antique memorabilia still inside (including an old-fashioned scale and the old elevator with names and dates scratched into it). Though it’s been out of use for 30 or so years, the building was acquired by Hudson River Housing 10 years ago and has been an “upcoming project” ever since.
Hudson River Housing is a local nonprofit whose main priority is to develop and offer “safe, clean and affordable housing” options to local residents, according to Nora Culhane. Culhane, a Marist ’15 alumna, has been a member of the Hudson River Housing team for 2 years now, starting her time serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer and now working full-time as project coordinator for the Underwear Factory redevelopment project.
“It didn’t even have windows when we got it,” said Culhane. “They were boarded up.” But now, with sufficient funding and an enthusiastic team behind it, the project is not only underway, but is nearing its completion.
The coolest part about the new and improved Underwear Factory space, which has different sized windows spanning the entire length of the building, is that it’s set to be home to not only a variety of different local businesses but local residents as well. After speaking to Nora, I learned that the building is literally split in two, with lobbies on each floor where one can hop off the elevator and turn left for residential apartments (studio apartments mixed with some one-bedrooms) and right for communal hubs.
These communal areas will consist of a coffee shop operated by locally-run North River Roasters, art and printmaking studios, the youth art programs Mill Street Loft and Spark Media Project, and a commercial kitchen — called Poughkeepsie Open Kitchen, or POK for short — that will be open for anyone to rent whenever they’d like for whatever purpose they’d like: pop-up shops, cooking classes, etc., and all for just $25 an hour.
Mentioning that the Underwear Factory hasn’t actually been an underwear factory since the early 1900’s, Nora explains the building’s new purpose and the goals for it moving forward. “We’re going to be offering affordable housing so the people who can’t afford high-priced housing can come to us. Our waiting list is so long, people [just] know to come to us.”
As for the communal aspect, she even mentions the small little park outside the factory — Murphy Park, which is marked by a small archway that leads from Main Street directly to the building — as a possible spot for future events. She says, “It’s a good community resource so we’ll be providing more housing, programming, we’ll use the park to have events, and there’s opportunity for art exhibits in the coffee house. We want to hang art in the coffee house, we’ve already talked to art teachers about it.”
Nora admits that watching the transformation is her favorite part of the project and she looks forward to the day when the rest of the city gets to experience the blown-away feeling she’s had for the past few months. “This is really an important project for the city. I hope this is going to be a community hub. I hope people come to a coffee shop and have a meeting like this, I hope they’re starting their food truck business, I hope they’re learning to cook. I think it’s an exciting time for Poughkeepsie in general, I think it’s gonna bring some positive light to the neighborhood.”
What’s more — taking the old and making something new from it can serve to link the past of Poughkeepsie with the future. As Nora puts it, “people are excited to see what’s going on inside. People are like ‘my grandmother talked about that building, what’s going on there?’” It seems that though the original freight elevator is no longer deemed “new” technology and the “factory” is no longer operating as a factory, history and culture are alive and well in this building and the legacy it encapsulates.
With a new mayor, a new communal space, and a new perspective on what it means to live and enjoy living in Poughkeepsie — and to wear your hometown with pride — it seems the revamp of the Underwear Factory is only one of many upcoming projects that the city of Poughkeepsie and its residents can expect to improve and involve their community.
For more information, visit their website: http://middlemain.com/underwearfactory
To inquire about POK availability and rent space, email underwearfactory@hudsonriverhousing.org
And don’t forget to show up for the grand opening on March 30!
