Empire State Today

The city is seeking qualified developers to offer their vision for a prominent 14-acre site on the city’s southern waterfront.

The city has released a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the DeLaval site, which takes its name from the former owner and occupant of the site, the DeLaval Separator Company. 

The site is the last parcel with undeveloped acres on the city’s waterfront, with spectacular views of the Hudson River and the Highland bluffs of Franny Reese Park. 

The city’s goal is to identify qualified developers/organizations that have both the experience and financial and design/construction capabilities to be able to successfully complete a redevelopment project.   

“This is a key opportunity for the city and the community to see their visioning of the southern waterfront come to fruition,” said Development Director Natalie Quinn. “For a confluence of reasons, this site has been idle for too long. The parcel is not only of historic significance, but it has the potential to play an essential role in an active, vibrant waterfront that helps to connect the city’s southern and northern ends. We look forward to seeing what kind of innovative ideas are proposed for the best and most realistic use of the site.”

The city has completed a number of visioning exercises concerning the site and arrived at the overarching goal of creating an anchor on the southern waterfront — providing public space and water-related uses, driving tourism to bolster the local economy, and complementing existing waterfront assets, such as Waryas Park and the Walkway Over the Hudson. 

 The RFEI invites a dialogue with qualified respondents to develop a plan that meets the objectives of the city and is financially feasible. The RFEI is seeking the broadest range of responses, recognizing the once in a lifetime development opportunity presented by the site.

The city’s development goals for the site include:

-- Establish mixed-use waterfront facilities and programming that make optimal use of the city’s waterfront, including day and nighttime activation via development that includes a creative mix of uses, such as restaurants, a boutique hotel, docks, water recreation, or other such uses.

-- Make the site fiscally productive, contributing to tax revenue generation, both on and off site.

-- Provide riverfront walkway connectivity and public gathering spaces.

-- Landscaping and architecture that is inspired by the site’s unique location, including consideration of native plantings and resiliency to climate change.

“Careful and strategic development of this waterfront property offers us tremendous opportunity for transformative change in the City of Poughkeepsie,” said Mayor Marc Nelson. 

“This RFEI will be well marketed, not only regionally but nationally as well. 

We invite those with extraordinary vision and a proven track record of success to participate as we prioritize and balance our chief objectives of achieving a continuous walkway along our waterfront, stimulating our local economy and creating jobs, attracting more visitors, expanding available housing options in the city and growing the city’s tax base. 

The foundation for proposals should emphasize public access to the waterfront and our goal of advancing our designation under the New York State Climate Smart Communities Program. 

In designing an eco-friendly and sustainable destination, respondents should be guided by the city’s newly adopted Comprehensive Plan and Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, available on our website at www.cityofpoughkeepsie.com. ”

Proposals that are based on a master developer model and employ a collaborative approach using multiple architects, landscape designers and engineering firms to produce a total site plan that looks organically developed over time and is compatible with the historic fabric of the city are preferred.

City officials said the RFEI may lead to a Request for Proposals (RFP) process that may result in an award of a preferred developer to negotiate a Development Agreement that will memorialize the terms and conditions for a development. Accompanying appendices to the RFEI can be found here.

Proposals in response to the RFEI should be sent by 3 p.m. Thursday, March 23 to: Natalie Quinn, Development Department, 62 Civic Center Plaza, 2nd Floor, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. 

Please include five (5) hard copies and one (1) electronic copy of the proposal as part of your submission.

Original source can be found here.