Walking around Scenic Hudson’s “Northside Hub” at 58 Park Avenue, the halls are filled with quiet focus and anticipation. The environmental group’s employees started moving in from their office at the Poughkeepsie Journal Building a couple weeks ago, so there are still some unpacked boxes, but the overall space is orderly and polished, with loft ceilings, big windows, soft lighting, and a central staircase that, quite literally, feels like a breath of fresh air.
"This is the atrium," points Chief Finance & Operations Officer Jason Camporese. "Rather than having an aggressive HVAC system that uses all sorts of duct work and energy, the building is designed to be net-zero. So, there’s what’s called ‘trickle vents’ at each window that take in fresh air. The air is actually conditioned at the window, and it works with the fans and this space — which just seems like a large staircase, but it’s actually the heartbeat of the building.”
The five-year, $43 million renovation project did more than give Scenic Hudson a nice place to have their meetings: it revived a long-abandoned factory and remediated a brownfield site in Poughkeepsie’s north side. President Ned Sullivan says it’s possibly the largest single investment in the neighborhood since the Dutchess County Jail, and one residents will actually want to use.
"This, we hope, will lift up the community," says Sullivan. "We’re all about partnerships and collaborating with the city and the people of the northside.”
Before Scenic Hudson came along, Camporese says the building sat mostly vacant for more than 20 years. In its heyday, it was a factory for the Standard Gauge Company, which made precision instruments during the first and second World Wars. It employed roughly 600 people at its peak, and former President Franklin D. Roosevelt once visited the site to recognize its contribution to the war effort. But Camporese says the workers didn’t really know how to dispose of the chemicals they were using. When Standard Gauge eventually shut down, the property was left empty and contaminated.
“There were PCBs in the soil. There was arsenic and all other sorts of chemicals that came from the plating process that happened during the manufacturing days," Camporese explains. "There were floor drains throughout the building, and they would just get dumped.”
Part of the redevelopment involved remediating the site by removing the contaminated soil or capping it with concrete. The revived property includes an outdoor park that residents can use, a “green roof” with vegetation to help absorb rainwater, and a solar canopy parking lot that, together with solar panels on the roof, powers the entire building and then some.
Sullivan says Scenic Hudson also got the property listed on the National Register for Historic Places. This opened it up to more government funding and tax breaks, but it also kept Scenic Hudson from changing too much about the property. The result is a huge factory building of which Scenic Hudson only occupies a portion: Sullivan says there’s plenty of additional space for other offices or vendors to move in.
"We want to get an understanding of how it's working for us as an organization, and then we'll develop criteria for co-tenants," he explains. "And then we'll probably issue an RFP (request for proposals) and go from there."
In addition to office space, the campus also has a gallery, conference room, auditorium, pavilion, and green space that will be available for community organizations and events to book starting in January.
Sullivan says he’s excited to see the property back online for the community. Part of the appeal for Scenic Hudson was its proximity to projects the organization has worked on over the years, like the Walkway Over the Hudson, and its proximity to Fall Kill Creek. Sullivan says he hopes to see more access points and community spaces around the creek, to better connect residents with nature.
"The Fall Kill [Creek] and the Quassaick [Creek] in Newburgh, those are resources that have been kind of invisible," adds Sullivan. "We're working with the City of Poughkeepsie to create about a half dozen different places where people can connect with the river."
