Standing in the rainbow crosswalk in uptown Kingston, it’s impossible to miss the out-and-proud lavender pastel-painted three-story building at 300 Wall Street.
See the twin pilasters. See the faceted capitals. The tapestry brick-patterned row building with Art-Deco elements make it the most fabulous protected landmark in the Stockade National Historic District. The Hudson Valley LGBTQ community center made the building its headquarters in 2007.
But now the building’s facade is drawing scrutiny for what it’s missing.
The removal of an approximately 30-foot section of canopy on October 22 has left the lower third of the building exposed to the sunlight for the first time in a half-century. Reminiscent of two layers of a Neapolitan ice-cream cone, a line of chocolatey dark brick begins, weathered by water damage below where the lavender paint ends.
“The effect isn’t cute,” said Chris Canly, a tourist visiting from Long Island City. “I’d get my money back.”
Don’t blame the community center. It was the City of Kingston, out of an abundance of caution, which took the bold step to remove the city-owned sidewalk canopy structure.
City director of communication Summer Smith explained that after being notified that “a support beam in the canopy at 300 Wall Street appeared to have rapidly worsened … our team immediately installed a temporary brace to protect the structure from further collapse, and it was deemed necessary for quick removal on an emergency basis.”
The new face of the building is also drawing scrutiny for what the canopy’s removal might portend for the remaining canopies of some other 40-odd buildings on a two-block stretch of the Stockade District.
The canopies were originally affixed to their facades as part of the Pike Plan in 1974. Plans for the larger, more extensive campaign of canopy removal broadcast by the city in August have become uncertain pending the outcome of a class-action complaint filed by Greenwich Village billionaire Neal Bender, who would like to see the removal of the canopies derailed indefinitely.
Court papers filed on Bender’s behalf attribute the current poor condition of the existing canopies to “reckless and ineffective stewardship” by the city. Referencing “several piecemeal, often botched attempts at repairing it,” the complaint attempts to prevent any action by the city to “hastily demolish and destroy … the visual centerpiece of Kingston’s historic Stockade District.”
On October 15, justice of the Supreme Court David Gandin denied a temporary restraining order requested by Bender’s attorneys.
In announcing his decision, the judge did further note that the city “shall not work on, repair, restore, demolish, damage, or remove any part of the Pike Plan and/or publish any request for proposals or let any contracts or enter into any binding agreements relative to any of the foregoing,” pending the city’s response to an order to show cause which the court expects to receive on November 15.
The common council has already approved the mayor’s $1.2-million request to seek bond funding for the demolition of all the canopies and canopy support structures.
The project was expected to take place over two phases. In the first phase, the city-owned structures would be removed and weatherproofing repairs performed at the attachment point of each building. During the second phase, the condition of the exposed façades where the structures were previously attached would be assessed in order to create a detailed scope of work to “assist the property owners in returning these impacted sections to the condition of the original building.”
At a Finance and Audit Committee in July, mayor Steve Noble repeatedly suggested a $2-million fund for the second phase of façade repairs and renovation. The council has yet to earmark money for the post-demolition rehabilitation of the buildings’ façades.
The scope of that renovation post-demolition, its costs, and the sources of the funding remain keen points of interest for uptown building owners both with and without attached canopies.
The winning bid to the city’s request for proposals for the demolition of just this part of the canopy placed the cost at $24,120. It has been reported that mayor Noble and city engineer John Schultheis would be meeting with director for the LGBTQ building Richard Heyl de Ortiz to discuss the rehabilitation of the façade.
Before the court action taken against the city, the demolition of the remaining canopies of the Pike Plan had been expected to begin just after the Christmas shopping season and had been projected to take three to six weeks to complete. The timeline of the project, like the schedule for further work on the present façade of the property at 300 Wall Street, now looks anything but certain.
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