Booming Beacon

Updates on development projects in city

Construction is ongoing all over Beacon — from primary thoroughfares like Route 9D, Main Street and Fishkill Avenue to at least a half-dozen side streets and pockets in between. Our last of these updates, in July, noted that many approved projects had been delayed for one reason or another. Most have since gotten off the ground, and more applications are making their way through the review process.

45 Beekman St.

Number of units: 64 apartments
Status: The Planning Board has been reviewing this application since December 2023 to build two 4-story, mixed-use buildings along the north side of Beekman Street, from High Street to the corner of Wolcott Avenue (Route 9D). The buildings are proposed to include 13,670 square feet of first-floor commercial space with one- and two-bedroom apartments above. A garage beneath one building would include 41 parking spaces, while a lot behind the buildings would have 50 spaces. 

At its May 13 meeting, the Planning Board completed its environmental review, certifying that the project should have no negative effects, including through added traffic or impacts on historic resources. The latter has been a sticking point with neighbors who believe the development is out of scale, particularly with the historic Victorian homes on High Street. More than 350 people have signed a petition in protest. Project officials say their plans meet the high-density criteria of the linkage district, which connects Main Street and the waterfront. A public hearing will continue next month. 

14 North Cedar St.

Number of units: 4 apartments
Status: This proposal for a two-story building on a mostly empty North Cedar Street lot was introduced in June 2023. It returned to the Planning Board last fall and again this month. The design, which calls for using a modular building, has been reoriented to face Church Street, and a parking area with five spaces is included in the plans. Board members, critical of the design, asked the applicant to refine the proposal before they schedule a public hearing. 

Mirbeau Inn & Spa

Number of units: N/A
Status: Mirbeau is restoring the 64-acre Tioronda Estate, which includes the former Craig House psychiatric hospital, and plans to open a luxury spa and hotel at the site in March. The historic Howland mansion, the centerpiece of the site, will have a restaurant and kitchen on the ground floor, with four guest suites on the second floor and three suites on the third. An adjacent hospital wing was demolished; a chateau with 65 guest rooms and 20 spa treatment rooms is being constructed in its place. A network of walking trails on the property will include a publicly accessible segment of the city’s Fishkill Creek Greenway and Heritage Trail.

291 Main St.

Number of units: 3 apartments
Status: Feedback on a proposal to build an L-shaped addition onto the historic Telephone Building has been almost entirely negative — from both the public and Planning Board members. During the board’s meeting this month, John Gunn, the chair, acknowledged the talk of not letting the proposal proceed. “If there’s any mechanism that’s going to strengthen the case for not allowing it,” he said, “it needs to be tied back to the law and the [zoning] code.” To prepare for the June meeting, board members agreed to review the design standards of Beacon’s protected historic district. They asked the applicant to do the same. 

Beacon Views

Number of units: 37 townhouses
Status: We reported last year that the developer of this project near Conklin Street had secured a permit for construction from the Army Corps of Engineers, which regulates activity in waterways and wetlands, and was working with the Dutchess County Health Department on approval of sewer and water connections. The Planning Board this month granted two 90-day extensions of site plan and subdivision approval — at least the sixth and seventh extensions the project has received since 2022. Litigation ensued following a dispute with a neighbor over an access easement, a project representative said. 

Beacon Commons

Number of units: 62 apartments
Status: The development team has begun removing trees and setting up erosion-control systems for this project at West Main and Bank streets. A project manager said this week that he had no details on the construction timeline. 

Does Beacon Need a Historic Review Board?

Dana Rubin was one of about a dozen people who spoke during the Beacon Planning Board’s May 13 hearing on a proposal to build two 4-story buildings on Beekman Street with 64 apartments and nearly 14,000 square feet of commercial space.

“I understand the importance of growth and I welcome it,” she said. But, like most residents who spoke that night, she said the project, at one of the gateways to the city, is too big for the space it intends to occupy.

Noting that it abuts a cluster of historic homes on High Street, she rattled off 15 municipalities in the region, including Cold Spring, Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Kingston and New Paltz, with boards or commissions that review development proposals involving historic sites.

“Even White Plains has a Historic Preservation Commission that meets monthly and reviews applications and makes recommendations to the planning commission,” she said. “They see the need to welcome and encourage growth and at the same time to safeguard their historic and cultural heritage. In Beacon, we give all that work to you [the Planning Board]. We should be thinking about how to restructure this process, to bring in more expertise to support you.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” responded Planning Board Chair John Gunn. He encouraged Rubin and others in the audience to lobby the City Council.

If Beacon had a historic review board, what would it do? More than a decade ago, Cold Spring’s Historic District Review Board voted 4-1 to permit demolition of the former Julia L. Butterfield Hospital building and reviewed designs before redevelopment of the site was approved by village officials. In March, the Cold Spring board submitted comments to New York State on the potential impacts of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail.

In Kingston, a Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission reviews projects involving the publicly visible exterior of historic properties before a building permit is issued.

Mayor Lee Kyriacou said this week that he would rather tweak Beacon’s zoning than add another layer of government oversight. “Once the zoning is right, it’s just a matter of implementing,” he said.

The City Council attempted to do just that, Kyriacou said, in 2020, when it rewrote Beacon’s historic preservation guidelines to mirror the state code. The city regulations now identify architectural features, such as historic storefronts, porches or cornices, that it seeks to preserve while spelling out details like window size or the finish materials required for new construction or renovations in the historic district.

Gunn also pointed to zoning as Beacon’s best long-term solution. Although people often ask the Planning Board to “just say no,” it cannot arbitrarily deny code-compliant applications, he said, so “if the community feels Beacon needs stronger regulations for developing historic properties,this is something the City Council would have to address through zoning.”

As Gunn had suggested, Rubin spoke about other municipalities and their historic projects during the council’s May 19 meeting. She asked the council members to meet with the Planning Board to discuss convening an independent group of experts on historic properties.

Kyriacou responded later that evening, saying the Planning Board and City Council would hold a joint meeting in September.

193-195 Main St.

Number of units: 5 apartments
Status: The Planning Board began its review this month of a proposal to construct a three-story building with one- and two-bedroom apartments in an undeveloped area behind the Beacon Bread Co. The existing development, including the restaurant, in the front of the property would remain. The new building would be accessible by a driveway that opens onto Cliff Street. Planning Board members expressed concern about emergency access. “It definitely needs work,” said Gunn.

The Mews at Beacon

Number of units: 9 condominiums
Status: A lender sued the developer of this Eliza Street project in February, alleging that he had failed to repay loans of more than $4.6 million. While the litigation is pending, a project official said this week that “we are back at the table with the lender” to discuss repackaging the loan. Plans approved in 2019 call for loft-like condos around a landscaped courtyard. The project official said that infrastructure has been completed on the three buildings and construction should be complete by October. Insula Capital Group, the lender, in February asked the court to force the sale of the development to pay the debts, plus interest and fees. The developer responded in March, asking to have the suit dismissed. 

Prophecy Hall

Number of units: N/A
Status: The Planning Board this month approved the developer’s request to amend its plans for the former Reformed Church of Beacon on Wolcott Avenue. Approved in 2023 for conversion to a hotel, cafe and event center, the development group will open a 150-seat restaurant instead of the event venue. The 30-room hotel planned for the parsonage will be downsized to 16 rooms. The restaurant will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday brunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

300 Main St.

Number of units: 8 apartments
Status: The Planning Board began its review this month of an application to convert the existing structure at 300 Main into a three-story, mixed-use building with eight 1- and 2-bedroom apartments above a first floor with five retail stalls. Plans call for eliminating a driveway to create a parking space on Main Street. A walkway along the east side of the building would provide pedestrian access to the retail spaces. “This has a lot going for it,” said Gunn. 

536 Main St.

Number of units: N/A
Status: Construction is expected to begin in the fall now that the developer has secured access agreements with neighbors. This vacant lot on the east end of Main Street will contain a three-story commercial building with showroom space for Warp & Weft, a custom and designer rug business.

409 Fishkill Ave.

Number of units: N/A
Status: A Buddhist organization, Soka Gakkai International, is leasing and renovating a building owned and used by the Healey Brothers auto dealerships. An SGI representative said this week that while work at the site has been delayed, the organization hopes to open its worship center by the end of the year. 

Rose Hill Manor

Number of units: N/A
Status: The owner of Rose Hill Manor Day School, a preschool located for 40 years at 1064 Wolcott Ave., proposed in February redeveloping the site as a three-story, 42-room hotel with a gym, spa and 56-seat restaurant. The owner said he plans to relocate the preschool, which has seen enrollment decrease since the Beacon City School District launched a pre-K program. Planning Board members called the proposal, including a 21/2-story addition linking the school buildings, “massive.” 

A second draft of the plans was presented in April but did little to allay board members’ concerns. “There’s nothing residential that has this kind of scale anywhere in the city,” said Kevin Byrne. The parcel, which sits on a hill overlooking Wolcott, is in a residential zone. It is also part of Beacon’s protected historic district, which requires a special-use permit for some commercial uses, including hotels. 

364 Main St.

Number of units: 20 apartments
Status: Construction stalled after the former Citizens Bank building was razed more than a year ago. However, it began in earnest after 364 Main BCN bought the property from O’Donnell Construction Corp. in July for $1.3 million. The three-story building will feature retail on the ground floor and apartments on the second and third floors. 

2 Cross St.

Number of units: 18 apartments
Status: The foundation has been poured for this three-story building at the corner of Main St. It will include retail on the street level and 18 apartments on the two top floors. Rental schemes have changed as the developer has sought funding. Eleven of the apartments will be below market rate, and nine of those will be be for tenants who need social services support. The project, which received $2.25 million in state funding last year, is scheduled for completion by summer 2026.  

Edgewater

Number of units: 246 apartments
Status: Three buildings with 106 apartments are complete and nearly full at this complex overlooking the Hudson River. Two buildings with 68 additional units are under construction, with two more buildings (and 72 units) to follow. The developer hopes to complete the project, which will be Beacon’s largest residential development, within the next two years.

GarageWORKS

Number of units: N/A
Status: Construction is ongoing at the site, a former auto repair shop at 3-5 Henry St. being converted into carbon-neutral, solar-powered artists’ studios along with gallery space. New York State last year awarded the project $1 million through the Restore New York Communities Initiative. Property owner Michael Braden said that construction is about two months behind schedule. He hopes to open in mid-2026.