Port Jervis wins $1.7 million for Front Street property

Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that Port Jervis was awarded $1.775 million for the demolition and reconstruction of 29 Front Street, a gutted and privately owned 22,563 square-foot three-story brick building.

According to Hochul’s announcement, the building, originally built around 1910, was beyond rehabilitation. The funds will be used to demolish and rebuild a new, architecturally consistent, high-efficiency insulated concrete form, seven-story mixed-use building with 26 basement storage units, two to four commercial spaces on the first floor, and 32 variously sized apartments on floors two through seven.

The building is located in the city’s central business district and what is considered a Downtown Revitalization Initiative focus area. The building was briefly owned by the city after the former owner defaulted on a lien. It was then sold to private owners in 2020 for $50,000, according to county parcel data.

The property was one of 43 projects throughout the state to win Restore New York funding this year.

“Revitalizing and rehabilitating vacant and blighted areas of our communities brings new energy and investments that support local and regional growth,” Governor Hochul said in her July 30 announcement. “Restore New York helps our municipalities plan for the future by catalyzing economic growth and supporting housing, businesses and cultural spaces. We are further unlocking the potential of these sites and communities across New York.”

Separate from Restore NY, the city was also one of 30 municipalities in the state named by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) Board of Directors to participate in a lead service line inventory project. The goal is to document the number of lead pipes used in the city’s water system so that they can be replaced in the future.