Developments

Liberty Street south of Spring Street might not be considered as progressive as the northern side, especially in terms of commercial development. Part of this reason is that between Spring and South William there are more residential buildings, and there is an empty lot that disconnects Liberty Street. Most of the buildings here are in disrepair and overall give the impression of lack of investment.

We know that 67 Liberty Street was bought by Atlas Industries, 71 Liberty has a new owner and a new business, and now we see new progress at 69 Liberty Street. I have been told many times that this building has structural issues. It is encouraging to see that the storefront has been restored and work has been reported on the building. Hopefully this is enough to address the problems it had earlier. This storefront has been an abandoned eyesore for quite some time. The new transparent facade is progress, although I am curious why the windows are so small.

Uncovered was an original tiled entryway “Ushman’s”. Does anyone remember this store and what they used to sell? With all the activity that is happening over at Atlas, it was only a matter of time 69 Liberty would see some attention. Now the question remains, what are the plans for this for the entire building? And what business would occupy the storefront?

69 Liberty Before:

This City of Newburgh will be announcing today a new “Hot Box” and the “Mill & Fill” project to deal with the many pot holes that plague the city. The City Council identified over $1 million to purchase the Hot Box which will mill and fill 4-6 streets.  The Hot Box will allow patches to be applied in the cold weather and to last longer. This is the start of a three year project.

-Photo by NR Flickr user Steven Rosas

Yesterday, the City of Newburgh released images from the Central Hudson Broadway Corridor Demonstration Project that will comprehensively reimagine the Liberty Street-Broadway intersection. The images include a rendering of 96 Broadway, the Broadway/Liberty Street lot future park, and the complete streets design we saw a few weeks back. The plans for 96 Broadway are to create a farm to table restaurant on the first floor and finish the renovation of the upper floors to create residential housing. The Land Bank hopes to start façade work at the end of September/beginning of October.

Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation provided the funds for these plans through a grant provided by the utility’s Main Street Revitalization program, and the City of Newburgh partnering with the Newburgh Community Land Bank.

A few weeks back the Newburgh Community Land Bank published renderings for its Broadway Corridor Demonstration Project that reimagines the Broadway/Liberty Street intersection. The City of Newburgh and the Land Bank want to demonstrate options for redesigning Broadway to improve safety, enhance open space, and encourage sustainability.

There are 4 concepts which show the gradual development of Broadway for complete streets. Concept 4 shows a grand vision of widened sidewalks, a bus lane, and a planted median. This intersection is considered the heart of downtown Newburgh as it extends to Washington’s Headquarters. It was the heart of the Newburgh Illuminated Festival, and plans are now moving ahead for a community park on the south west corner. For more information, go to the Newburgh Community Land Bank website.

It’s been about a year now since the street has been closed at the intersection of Broadway and Chambers Street due to a report of falling bricks from a vacant building. Recently, repair work has been done to the facade to repair loose bricks. It is unclear whether the owner is making these repairs as a short term solution to hold on to the property longer, or if he is preparing it to sell it. This is a highly visible building on Lower Broadway with a lot of potential that could help the development of the area.