A modest brouhaha erupted last week over Elizabeth Manor, the county-owned property at 21 Elizabeth Street in Kingston.
Formerly a shelter for wayward, troubled and not necessarily young men, the building was purchased during Pat Ryan’s administration for $700,000 in February 2022.
The announced plan was to create the first county-owned transitional and emergency housing facility with 35 units to meet the needs of struggling families. It was anticipated that renovations would cost a million dollars. The facility could begin housing families by the end of that year.
Government projects in Ulster County, like everywhere else, tend to increase in scope and cost with the passage of time.
Sixteen months later, Ryan has gone to Washington. Renovation has not begun.
The county legislature is showing signs of reluctance in following through with the project. In June it voted to send back to two committees a resolution which would have accepted $500,000 in ARPA money earmarked for the project from Kingston mayor Steve Noble.
Legislator Joe Maloney has claimed that the initial estimated cost of renovation has nearly quadrupled. Deputy county executive Johanna Contreras pegged that number at $3.7 million, an amount more likely to move higher than lower.
An investigation into the building’s innards which commenced in April revealed the presence of significantly more lead and asbestos than had previously been revealed.
Previously, members of the Bruderhof had signed on to perform demolition elements in preparation for the renovation, but their cost-free involvement has been nixed.
A more extensive remediation process will drive costs up further.
After a walk-through of the building on July 5, legislators Maloney and Laura Petit speculated that the job is likely to cost at least $4.5 million, especially if it needs either a lift or an elevator, which for purposes of ADA compliance is likely.
Finding the path forward
County executive Jen Metzger is currently gathering all available facts and assessing the path forward. “What is an amount reasonable that we should be paying for a facility like this?” asked Metzger. “I’m getting information from DPW and planning, asking those departments to put this information together.”
To demonstrate transparency in the process, Metzger released a timeline of administrative actions undertaken. Steps are being taken to get the project into position for the actual physical work of renovation: applications filed, drafts submitted, RFPs announced, demolition studies conducted. State agencies have stipulated their requirements for emergency housing. The state Historic Preservation Office has had its say.
“There are certain requirements that we have to meet that aren’t going to be easy to do,” said Metzger. “If you were just doing a gut reno of a residence, that would be one thing. We have to be ADA-compliant. We have to pay prevailing wages. Our differences add costs.”
The timeline shows the title on the property was closed on in July 2022, four months after Ryan announced the deal, RFPs for architects and engineers followed.
“This is the other side of government,” explained Metzger. “Government processes take time. There are reasons for protecting the public interest and taxpayer money that these processes exist. But the tradeoff is that it’s like [Metzger hums the “hearse song”] one step at a time.”
Just at the time the RFPs were scheduled to be decided upon, a transition in political leadership took place. After Ryan left office in November, deputy executive Johanna Contreras held the wheel steady until Metzger took over in January. By that time, the original deputy executive responsible for oversight of the project, Marc Rider. had also resigned.
“I have nothing personally invested in this location,” said Metzger. “I have a personal investment in finding a solution for the unhoused. So I’m open to suggestions but making the right decision it’s important for everyone to have an understanding of what the requirements are for emergency housing.”
The walk-through
Metzger and mayor Steve Noble were present for the July 5 walk-through of the property, along with county legislators and Nate Litwin, the finance department official responsible for leading the project,
Reviews by attending legislators were not glowing. Legislator Petit called attention to large cracks on the outside at the rear of the building. Maloney deplored the derelict shape into which the premises had sunk.
The building exterior was overgrown in many places. Broken windows were visible from the front sidewalk An active hornets’ nest buzzed along under the eaves. A picture of the property as purchased a year and a half ago showed a maintained structure, windows intact, hive not present.
Legislator Phil Erner offered to bring his own push-mower by if it would help the county engage in responsible upkeep.
Litwin noted that the county had actually mowed the lawn once.
Asked about the interior, legislator Peter Criswell cautioned that construction and demolition weren’t part of his skill set. “I could say surface-wise that it looks like a place that is in need of a lot of help,” allowed Criswell, “But again, I don’t know the bones of the place. I don’t know how to assess the internal systems and things like that.”
Criswell was among the minority who, regardless of the new estimate of renovations, voted to accept the ARPA funds from mayor Noble rather than send the matter back to committee.
“There’s frustration that the process has taken longer than we want it to,” said Criswell. “There’s frustration that the costs are over what we had anticipated. But on the flip side, we’re in a housing emergency right now. So there’s a real need, and especially for family shelter projects like this, and location is really important when you’ve got a family that are in need of emergency housing.”
Finding alternatives
Marlboro legislator Tom Corcoran, a professional building inspector for more than 20 years, arrived before the tour began.
“On face value,” said Corcoran, “the purchase I think was a good site. I’ve seen stuff that’s junk and I’ve seen stuff where I see what I call good bones. I think this building has good bones.”
Corcoran shot down the explanation that the fourfold increase in cost estimates for the project was due to inflation and supply-chain issues alone. “These numbers didn’t increase over the last 16 months based on availability and supply-chain stuff,” said Corcoran. “Somewhere along the line, without pointing fingers, there must have been a piece of the puzzle missing. What did they tell him [Ryan]? The legislature’s not privy to that.”
More often than not, the subject of increased costs is eclipsed by the need to create emergency housing. Legislators evidence an almost fatalistic view of the situation.
“Do I want to spend $4 million? I don’t,” said Corcoran. “I don’t think that’s where we should go. Can we get it down to two and a half? Maybe, maybe not.”
Corcoran doesn’t want to write Elizabeth Manor off. But he also says he doesn’t have a problem looking at other opportunities if it’s on the back burner. He brings up the recent acquisition of the Coleman High School building as a potential missed opportunity and case in point of what the county should be looking for, He noted that 35 housing units will not solve the county’s emergency housing problem.
“I don’t want to abandon the project,” said Corcoran. “But again, obviously, I’m not going to spend four million dollars on it. If you’re telling me I’ve got to vote on this thing, tomorrow, four million dollars, probably not going to happen. I’d hate to say, let’s list it with a realtor tomorrow. I don’t think that’s the solution. I think the solution is just ride it out a little bit. But I’m an optimist. The county executive says she’s going to do all she can to start working on those numbers and make something better. And that’s what I’m gonna wait for.”
Corcoran offered his own experience working on municipal projects in Marlboro as an example of how to bring costs down.
“So if DPW comes in,” hypothesized Corcoran, “and they could contribute a point where you don’t have to put something out to bid that’s going to cost $500,000 and they could do it for $150,000 because it’s not prevailing wage and it’s done in-house, that’s the way to start shaving some of the numbers down.”
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