The City of Newburgh is accepting requests for proposals for the purchase and rehabilitation of 257 Liberty Street. All proposals are due by December 7th. You can find the entire file for the RFP here. This building is historically significant, estimated to have been constructed between 1867 and 1872. Fortunately the city has given extensive details of the building, hoping they will entice the right developer.
The City of Newburgh is seeking a developer to repurpose this building for a public use that will serve the community and incorporate the use and maintenance of the adjacent public park into its programming.
The building at 257 Liberty Street is estimated to have been constructed between 1867 and 1872. It was first used as a parsonage for Calvary Presbyterian Church. Calvary Presbyterian Church originally stood next to the parsonage, on the lot of the present-day playground of Audrey Carey Park. The congregation of Calvary Presbyterian Church had separated from First Presbyterian Church (then located at the corner of First and Montgomery Streets) and built their own church at the location known today as 251 Liberty Street. In the 1940s, Calvary Church once again merged with the First Presbyterian Church. The reunited congregations occupied – and continue to occupy – the Frederick Clarke Withers’ Calvary Presbyterian Church that stands today at the corner of Grand and South Streets. During the 1940s, the vacated Liberty Street Calvary Church was acquired by the City of Newburgh. The City briefly considered using the church as a firehouse but instead, shortly after World War II, decided to demolish it and create a park. The parsonage, though, remained. Beginning in the 1950s, 257 Liberty housed the City’s Building Department, Office of the Corporation Counsel, Surrogate Court Office and Civil Defense Office. Through much of the 1960s the Red Cross and the Orange County Heart Association had offices in the building. By 1968, most of the municipal departments and the health organizations had left the building. The Newburgh Youth Corp moved into the building in the late 1960s, followed shortly thereafter by the Newburgh Community Action Committee (NCAC). The NCAC had offices at 257 Liberty Street for nearly 20 years until they also left the building. The building and playground subsequently fell into disrepair. In 2004, the playground was rehabilitated and dedicated to a former Newburgh Mayor Audrey Carey. The building remains unoccupied and continues to deteriorate.
