A number of more recently vacated storefronts have joined a number of empty buildings and dark windows around town. Some of these are businesses shuttered under the weight of a pandemic-fueled economic crisis, but others have been in that limbo between uses for a longer period of time. It’s time to round up what’s known about a number of these New Paltz business properties.
Starting closest to the river, the old railroad station at 5 Main Street has been vacant for several months. The Italian restaurant called La Stazione or the Station was there. Village building inspector Cory Wirthmann said that the restaurant use — granted under a special-use permit — will expire if it’s not used in the next three or four months. Special-use permits have a “use it or lose it” set of conditions, but can be passed from owner to owner as long as there isn’t a significant break in activity in between.
The brick building at 52 Main Street has been the site of a long series of pizzerias — most recently Flames — but old-timers recall Chez Joey’s was a hot late-night spot. Commercial real estate broker Matt Eyler, who keeps an eye on local properties that are available, expressed ignorance about anything that’s being cooked up for the brick corner building.
Across the street, one of the longest-vacant buildings in the village is also one of the newest buildings in the village: 51 Main Street, the “rectangle” that’s never been occupied, has become infamous as an icon of epimethean planning. Residents were shocked by the building’s apparent height when it was first constructed; developer Dimitri Viglis planned the tallest possible building under the zoning code, and as it’s on a slope it appears larger still. However, Viglis later discovered that one cannot mount heating and cooling and other systems on the roof, because the height limit still counts. That led to an attempt to bury a propane tank next to village parking spaces, which in turn led Mayor Tim Rogers to coordinate an effort to sell that lot and resolve a mess of complicated easements. Wirthmann said that because this building has been standing for years, an updated engineering report is needed to close out open permits and allow the rectangle to be occupied by humans. The owner is working under a permit that expires May 11, 2022.
In the shadow of that rectangle, the Mediterranean restaurant Zaytune has been opened at 53 Main Street. Those who have a hankering to try out that fare can stop by any day; the business is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
At the site of what was most recently Murphy’s — and once Foley’s — at 107 Main Street, a massive renovation project has been undertaken. It’s “full steam ahead” according Eyler, the broker who closed the deal on the property, but Wirthmann predicts that the opening of the new Lemon Squeeze will be “not anytime soon.” The work includes tearing out quite a bit of the guts of the building, as well as moving the bathrooms downstairs to make them accessible to all patrons. There’s also an application open to increase the size of the deck out back, which because it would be expanding a nonconforming use, cannot be approved without a variance being granted first. Wirthmann believes that the piano bar could be opened for business while that matter is still pending, but there’s a lot of work yet left on the renovations before that’s on the table.
One of the businesses that got closed down during the worst of the pandemic restrictions was Anatolia, the Turkish restaurant at 71 Main Street. Wirthmann believes that the space has been vacant long enough that the restaurant use may have expired. If a tenant wants to open another restaurant there, it’s going to require some time before the Planning Board.
Inside 125 Main Street, customers of Burger Box are finally able to enjoy something that’s “not your average cheeseburger,” according to proprietors Steph and Tiffany Verney.
There was a plan to build a hotel at 184 Main Street that’s been collecting dust for some time because the variances needed would be difficult to obtain. Wirthmann believes that the owners of the old Jack-in-the-Box building that most recently was briefly used for Moxie Cup are waiting for village trustees to change the zoning. A public hearing to replace the B-1 zoning with B-2 rules instead — which would increase coverage area, reduce front-yard setbacks and add uses such as hotel — has been open over the course of several meetings, with little comment being provided thus far. The mayor tends to leave such hearings open for a good deal of time to ensure that anyone with an opinion has the chance to share it.
Farther uptown is the former site of Joe’s East-West, at 252-256 Main Street. The two-acre site is listed for sale with broker Mark Stryker; the asking price is $2.5 million. Stryker’s had the listing for several years, and explained that the owner understands that redeveloping the property could take significant time, and is awaiting a buyer willing to take on that risk rather than making those approvals a condition of the sale. “It will take a lot to develop” the site, Stryker said, which has three buildings on it presently. If razing the site is part of the vision, the effort would include the time to secure all the permits, as well as the time and money to do the work. Someone interested in reusing the current buildings as a night club again would have fewer hurdles. Stryker is working with several potential buyers considering a variety of ways to use this site.
Longtime residents know the 57-acre parcel bounded by the Thruway and Paradies lane as the “Plesser property,” but Steve and Shelly Turk have long desired to create the Turk Hospitality Group’s newest offering there. The Turks already control Rocking Horse Ranch in Highland and Splashdown Beach in Fishkill, and the plans for Wildberry Lodge include a hotel, conference space, a restaurant, a spa, an open-air amphitheater and a butterfly conservatory. The Turks were given their marching orders in 2018 when the scope for an Environmental Impact Statement was finalized, and there is no deadline to complete that lengthy and extensive document. Steve Turk did not respond to a request for comment in time for this article.
The derelict College Diner is now on track to come down; an application filed this week calls for replacing it with a local branch of Hudson Valley Credit Union.
Looking up Chestnut, residents have been patronizing the new Stewart’s location for several weeks, and the old site up the street is now for sale. Wirthmann confirmed that the fuel tanks have been removed and remediation on the site has been completed. According to Eyler, there’s a business strategy driving that work: any purchaser will have to accept restrictions on the deed that prevent the property being used as a gas station, convenience store or food sale business; that’s on top of the restrictions on development that exist on account of the Mill Brook running alongside the lot. The existing building is 2,500 square feet, and Eyler believes that the “cleanest path forward” is a buyer who chooses to renovate the existing structure into an office. The site is listed with an asking price of $600,000.
Across the street from the new Stewart’s and next to Zero Place — which itself is nearing completion despite continuing supply-chain issues — is 85 North Chestnut Street, a squat building housing the now oddly-named Main Street Auto.” Owner Radi Serdah hopes to knock it down and erect a mixed-use three-story building that is supposed to be a “transition” between Zero Place and the converted homes closer to downtown. It will be just three stories because the height limit in the neighborhood-business-residential district was dropped a full floor after residents were dismayed by the size of Zero Place. That stands in contrast to Stewart’s, which was allowed to be built on the largest parcel in the NBR zone with just a fake second floor, rather than requiring that the innovative standards intended to increase use density in the village core be applied. What’s slowing down this particular application is that the roof line is designed with high peaks to better blend with those converted houses, and they exceed the height limit by a few inches. A variance is being sought.
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