Business View Magazine November-December 2018

220 221 closely linked to the tourism industry. If you haven’t heard of Poughkeepsie for our academic institutions, you probably know us for the Walk- way Over the Hudson. It’s a historic state park that opened in 2009; an adaptive re-use of a former railroad trestle that had been left derelict for de- cades and was converted into a pedestrian bridge that spans the Hudson River. A mile and a quar- ter long and 212 feet high, the bridge connects Poughkeepsie with Highland on the west side of the river. Tourists come here to visit that and our waterfront.We’re also in close proximity to well- known Dutchess County hotspots like the FDR Presidential Library and the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, just north of here.” BVM: How is the housing situation in the city? Quinn: “Right now, in terms of what’s moving through the land use approvals process, we’re seeing an even mix of rehab of existing struc- tures, especially on Main Street, as well as new infill development. Poughkeepsie is pretty built out at this point, but the city is moving forward to infill some of the gaps in our downtown with a new zoning code that’s attached to the Pough- FOR MORE INFO. CONTACT A CPL TEAM MEMBER: CHRIS COLBY RA,LEEDAP ccolby@cplteam.com PETER D. SETARO PE psetaro@cplteam.com RAY JURKOWSKI PE rjurkowski@cplteam.com TIMMOOT P.G. tmoot@cplteam.com ALBANY HUDSON NEWBURGH POUGHKEEPSIE CPL has Eastern New York and the HV Covered! MATT SMULLEN PE msmullen@cplteam.com JOHN HALL jhall@cplteam.com BETSY BROWN bbrown@cplteam.com AIA,MRAIC, OAA,NCARB POUGHKEEPSIE, NEWYORK keepsie Innovation District.” Hesse: “While we’re seeing a lot of new apart- ments come online, we’re also seeing real estate sales of single-family homes increasing over the last five years. The grand old homes are starting to move now; average days on the market are going down; percentage of sales are going up. People are seeing the opportunity and potential in the city. Compared to the amount of home you can purchase in nearby Westchester County, you can get a much better deal here.” BVM: Do you have major infrastructure projects in the works? Hesse: “One of the biggest city-driven infra- structure projects we’ve seen in decades is to our water distribution system. We’re installing a new water reservoir to replace our nearly 100-year-old outdated reservoir. Along with that, we’re doing upgrades to the distribution system, and sewer upgrades. All told, this is more than a $20 million project that’s been ongoing for a couple years and will continue for the next few. The Mayor is also focused on parks upgrades, which feeds into improving quality of life for Poughkeepsie residents.” Quinn: “The city recently won a PSAP (Pedes- trian Safety Action Plan) grant from New York State, so we’ll have $2.4 million to invest in pedestrian crossings and safety measures, in addition to the sidewalk improvements we do annually. We want to make people feel com- fortable and safe walking around the streets. There are also discussions about greening our