Hudson waterfront development plans outlined at forum

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 3, 2003

In an upcoming public forum, Scenic Hudson and partner, Foss Group Beacon, will outline plans for transforming a former industrial section of Beacon's waterfront into a pioneering green redevelopment project.

Citizens who attend will be able to offer feedback on how the project can maximize community-based goals.

Scenic Hudson has spent more than a decade working to protect Beacon's natural and historic resources.

The group began in 1997 to purchase parcels that now comprise its 23-acre Beacon Landing property along the city's waterfront.

With significant input from government and business leaders as well as residents, the Poughkeepsie-based environmental, land-preservation, and community-planning group decided to create a smart-growth development it hopes will become a model for the Hudson Valley.

Working with Foss Group Beacon and a design team spearheaded by Patkau Architects and Gruzen Samton, Scenic Hudson will create a vibrant urban waterfront development.

Plans call for the 23-acre Beacon Landing to feature a 14-acre public park; a cutting-edge hotel; a conference center; restaurants; offices; a community boat-building center; and an environmentally friendly harbor.

A key component of the project is a public park with waterside trails, docks and a fishing pier. The project is intended to complement a revitalized Main Street and the recently announced Rivers and Estuaries Center, which is expected to be partly sited on Beacon Landing.

"Scenic Hudson is known for opposing bad development and encouraging smart growth, but this effort is a major step forward," said Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson.

"We and our team will demonstrate that developers can create environmentally and economically viable projects that enhance community quality of life and prosperity."

Ned Foss, lead partner and manager of Foss Group Beacon, said, "There's been a dismissing of the concept of sustainable development as unrealistic, and we don't accept that premise. This project will prove that economic development and environmentalism need not be mutually exclusive."

The public process has been, and will continue to be, vital in shaping plans for Beacon Landing, according to City of Beacon Mayor Clara Lou Gould.

"I believe the success of Beacon's revitalization has been largely due to our including the community in any planning process," she said. "Scenic Hudson has always been a very willing partner in that respect, and we thank them for making public input a vital part of their process."

The planning process for the Beacon Landing project is expected to last three months. Environmental reviews and permitting applications should be completed in 2005. The hotel is expected to open in 2007.