Scroll Ironwork on the Liberty Street School

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This scroll ironwork above the doorways at the Liberty Street School has been there for some time now, however, I am just getting around to showing it. Was it always there or is this something new? If you peek in the doorway shown below you can see original yellow tile lining the walls. The plan is for the school to be converted into housing with historical touches of the school’s past. I don’t know if that plan has since changed.

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6 Comment

  • The lack of development on this property may relate to the lack of parking. Bluestone Developers had an interest to purchase the vacant lot on 7-11 Johnes St. which is owned by the City. The property is a ‘brownfield’ and one of five City owned properties which are part of the Environmental Restoration Program under the DEC. Though the program picks up 90% of the associated clean up costs, I cannot comment on the status of 7-11 Johnes St.. If indeed this is a consideration, accessibility to the lot and how it relates to the Liberty Street project is interesting. Related, Bluestone also owns several smaller properties in close proximity on Liberty and Renwick.

  • I drive past this building all the time. (My inlaws live up the street) There has been no noticable work done in the while. Also down the street a few buildings is the loft that those artists bought that had a roof cave in. You guessed right, still no roof on that building and again not much noticable work being done there either….

    • John, I am actually posting an update on that building next Wednesday. Work is being done, there were just some issues that happened.

  • Well as far as I can tell the work has completely stopped on the Liberty School building. If parking is needed the building directly across the street is completely falling down little by little why not put some parking there plus use the street like most other places in Newburgh. Anyway if anyone does see this any insight with this stalled project would be nice.

    • Liberty St School work has stopped. Decisions are pending as to next steps for the city. It will be a process, that is for sure, and difficult to find just the right developer to take it on.

  • When the county just sunk $1 million dollars into an 8 family over on Chambers St, I fail to comprehend why a private developer would have a problem moving forward with a larger project UNLESS there is no financing for a market rate project— which is likely the case in City of Newburgh. WHERE ARE THE BANKS? Why must government pay for everything in City of Newburgh?

    Instead of setting private small investors up for failure when they come in, why not create a city real estate finance committee to insure that everyone who comes to invest in The City has access to what they need in order to fund their development project instead of pretending that The Land Bank does this.

    After all, you feed. clothe, and provide medical and education for the poor from cradle to grave. Why not have a finance program to enable small investors make connections to financial resources so their developments don’t fail?????????? I would like to hear more about the financial needs of the Liberty School project owners!!!!!

    We went to The Land Bank as advised early in 2014 to purchase, but were told by the director that The Land Bank is only lending in “certain areas” of The City only to see an unlisted property on Grand Street sold by the Land Bank a block away from where we had inquired about— AND it was sold for pennies on the dollar in a “private” City of Newburgh and Land Bank “deal” that was never offered for sale to the general public.
    This is not right and it should stop.

    ALSO-as long as I am on a rant–There should be a clause for immediate exterior upkeep on city sold real estate— no matter what work is scheduled for the long term. Boarded up exteriors and padlocked doors are not NORMAL and add an air of SLUM to a neighborhood–it’s not a “HISTORICAL” LOOK. Make the new owners change the exteriors immediately so other properties are not continually affected by the ongoing blight.

    The same story is all around Newburgh which is that people WANT to buy a city owned or abandoned property to invest in but can’t quite figure out how because they are given the runaround. There is something wrong with the process as it is designed—and the City is losing out. It’s LOSE-LOSE.

    The process is not open, not fair, and not working FAST enough….as more and more properties show up all boarded up (recently on Liberty Street by the corner of Clinton Street) while the code enforcement respond to leaky faucets reports and scammer tenants like they were the Queen of England just because they got a “report”–there is NO TRIAGE. It’s time for a COMMON SENSE approach. Don’t go around chasing property owners for laughably minor reports designed to harass (leaky faucets) while MAJOR HORRIBLE STUFF IS HAPPENING in plain sight like drug addicts living in buildings without doors!!!!

    Use some judgement in the enforcement. (For example, a crazed tenant lets in the City code enforcement to the apartment while the building owner’s property manager stands in the hallway with licensed workers called in to address any issues–but “locked out” from the inside. Tenant LOCKOUTS of building management should not be used to create code violations!!! Yet this is what the City is doing every day to empower criminals acting against property owners. It is FRAUD and must stop.)

    I know it’s hard to understand for City officials who aren’t owners or investors in the City where they work–it is all too easy to back off from real problems and just put out hypothetical answers that solve the needs of the politics. but sloganisms and politics never really do anything but state the obvious.

    The city needs to MONITOR problem fraudulent scamming people who make numerous calls to ensure that they keep the violations coming while they are busy creating the violations in order to live rent free on an investor’s money. You don’t have to travel far to hear the stories of people who invested in Newburgh only to incur losses due to scamming tenants WITH the complicity of the city agencies. This dynamic is a REAL TRAP for investors.

    I imagine every time I see some empty distressed property that The City of Newburgh had some role in creating that loss for whomever had come with dreams and money–with high hopes for a future investment only to be told by a bank that investment in their project or business was not viable due to the high taxes, requirements of the City of Newburgh, and downright harassment by Newburgh scammers in addition to the depressed values caused by the City ownership of properties off the tax rolls.

    Too bad for the Liberty Street School project–but why not do an interview here on Newburgh Restoration of the developer to find out what happened and if anything can be salvaged of their project by them or someone reading this blog. It will either be a cautionary tale or a public unveiling of a systemic issue…..