A review released last Friday of The Kingstonian project, a $62-million mixed-use development proposed for Uptown Kingston, by a national non-profit economic development and housing advisory company argued that the direct public benefits of The Kingstonian were less than the project benefits in the proposed payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (Pilot) agreement. The National Development Council (NDC) proposed a revised financial incentive package that it said still met the financial metrics of the project. Instead of total payments to the City of Kingston, the Kingston School District and Ulster County of $1.656 million over the course of the 25 years of the Pilot, the NDC proposed that the developer, Kingstonian Development LLC, pay $5.057 million in taxes – about three times as much .
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan released the NDC report last Friday. “As I have said, a decision of this magnitude requires an impartial assessment of the costs and benefits of the project,” he wrote. ”The completed report will allow the public to see the full picture of the community impacts of The Kingstonian in a fair and transparent way.”
That wasn’t the reaction of Kingston Mayor Steve Noble, who in an October 22 memo wrote that the city government had “identified multiple omissions and incorrect assumptions” in the NDC cost-benefit report. He listed a number of these.
The difference in perspective between the two political leaders couldn’t have been more clear. Noble decided years ago that he was in favor of The Kingstonian project, private-investment cornerstone of the $10-million state Downtown Revitalization Initiative the state had awarded Kingston. It didn’t bother him that the local developers, led by Joseph Bonura, Jr. of Poughkeepsie and Brad Jordan of Kingston, declined to disclose financial details of the project on the grounds the information was proprietary. Ryan, on the other hand, has taken the position that financial data was essential to the determination of county support for a tax assistance package for the project.
Residents express opposition
Most speakers at the most recent Ulster County Legislature meeting on October 20 expressed opposition during the public-comment period to an agreement which would save developers nearly $30 million in full taxation over the course of 25 years.
One resident said going forward with the project would make Kingston “the laughing stock of the county, if not the country,” because the city was a real-estate hot spot that didn’t need to provide large tax breaks to incentivize development
Another said, “Wealthy developers who want to build high-end buildings and see high-end profits must pay their fair share of tax. This isn’t a project that should see any taxpayer money.”
She went on to suggest that projects that had received Pilots in the past had “an obvious public benefit.”
Others said the timing was unfortunate. “Right now during Covid, we’re not just in a housing crisis, we’re in a public health crisis,” said another speaker. “The fact that we’re talking about such a massive tax break that’s hinged on parking spaces is really disheartening and obscene when we have families here who do not have homes to live in.”
Others termed the proposed called Pilot “absolutely heinous,” “irresponsible,” and “an utter joke.” One person said it “would be a symbol of alienation and failure of the local political process” if The Kingstonian got built.
The city’s Common Council has already given tax breaks for the project. One resident on Tuesday offered an explanation. “Please understand why the Kingston Common Council voted unanimously for this. It’s because there was an enormous political pressure.”
In addition to the council’s approval, the tax agreement also has to be approved by both the school district and the county legislature.
The legislature was originally expected to vote on the request during the Tuesday meeting. It was announced on Monday that the vote would be delayed so that lawmakers would have the opportunity to review the independent study done by the NDC.
What will happen?
Despite the NDC report and the spirited public feedback at the county legislature meeting last week, opinion on the proposed Pilot for The Kingstonian remains sharply divided. The developers have said the Pilot agreement is necessary for the project to be profitable, and pointed to the expansion of public parking and designation of 14 apartments as affordable to support the case that the project is in the public interest.
The developers of the $62-million project, which will be home to 143 units in all, have said the tax agreement was needed for the development to be profitable. The Kingstonian would also have a parking garage with a total of 420 spaces (277 public), 8000 square feet of commercial/restaurant space, a 32-room boutique hotel, a pedestrian plaza and a footbridge to the Kingston Plaza. There’s no question it will have a major impact on the neighborhood and the city as whole.
In their comments, the Republicans in the county legislature have by and large welcomed the addition of the project to the tax base and seem not dissatisfied with the terms of the original Pilot. The Democrats are divided, with some legislators opposing revision of the original Pilot agreement and others wanting it changed in the direction NDC has proposed.
The Kingston School District, to which the largest share of tax revenues will go, may be the jurisdiction most anxious to limit The Kingstonian’s tax breaks.
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