(Photo by Phyllis McCabe)
A New York City based-LLC has sent Uptown Kingston’s real estate boom to new heights by placing a $4.2 million bid on a Crown Street building owned by the Kingston City School District.
The Kingston City School District has been seeking to sell its current administrative headquarters at 61 Crown Street since 2013. At the time district officials listed a sale price of $750,000. In 2014, the district turned down two bids of approximately $660,000 bid on the property. Last year, Mexican hotel chain Grupo Habita unveiled a proposal to buy the building for $1 million for conversion into a 34-room boutique hotel. Instead, on the recommendation of Kingston realtor Joe Deegan, the district placed the parcel back on the market with an asking price of $2.25 million.
Friday’s bid by 61 Crown Street LLC came in at nearly double the asking price for a total of $4,253,000. The offer would also bind the district to a one-year rent-free lease with the new owners and give district officials the option to remain in the building for an additional year if they chose. The KCSD is in the process of planning a move of its administrative offices, currently housed in Cioni, to the shuttered Meagher Elementary School.
The next highest bidder, Hoboken-based Iron State Holdings LLC, offered $1.8 million with a free lease-back period of up to two years or $2 million with a one-year lease-back period with a rent of $10 per square foot. A representative for 61 Crown Street LLC said that the offer was made on behalf of BRE Properties. State records indicate that BRE Properties is a “Foreign Limited Liability Corporation” based at 544 Hudson St. in New York City. LLC’s associated with the company are listed as owners of a number of Manhattan residential and commercial properties. Deegan said that he did not know what the high-bidders plans were for the property.
The school board will meet on Wednesday, July 19 to consider the bids.
Darn – The Goupo Habita hotel project would have been amazing for Kingston. Their
network of about 30 luxury hotels worldwide — NYC, Mexico City, Chicago and other cities would have immediately put the hotel and Kingston’s awareness on the map for
literally thousands of tourists who would have visited here to stay in the hotel and
discover a town and region they had not yet visited. The positive economic impact for
our restaurants, new stores, and events would have been in the millions of dollars and
litereally a few thousand new jobs in Ulster County over a five year period with that hotel brand coming here. Such a shame. I wonder if Habita can circle back and partner with the new owners?
Here’s an idea:make it a wax museum, and wax Dr. Padalino and Allen Olsen into immortality. After all, that’s exactly how they regard themselves anyway, how they behave, and how they swagger.