POUGHKEEPSIE – The Dutchess County Legislature unanimously approved the sale of two Fairview Avenue properties that are situated in the Town and City of Poughkeepsie to a partnership of two well-known property developers. Buildings on one of the two parcels have recently been the site of three fires lit by a suspected arsonist. The parcels are identified as 60 Fairview Avenue and 68-70 Fairview Avenue.
Legislature Chairman Gregg Pulver said remediation and redevelopment are a long time in coming.
“It’s taken 30 years to finally come up with a viable option to utilize the property. We have two developers that have great track records in RUPCO and the Kearney Group and it seems like it’s going to help with the housing shortage in the City and Town of Poughkeepsie,” Pulver said.
The two entities have formed Fairview Avenue JV LLC to purchase the properties at 68-70 Fairview Avenue, the site of the former Schatz-Federal Bearing company, as well as the buildings that are occupied by Sarjo’s Fasteners and M&O Sanitation.
The 18-acre parcels are considered a New York State Brownfield site with contaminants including PCBs, PAHs, and volatile organic compounds. There are also drums and barrels of chemicals, discarded tires, asbestos, lead paint, and other hazardous materials on the property that have been a tax burden on the county for more than 25 years.
County Executive Bill O’Neil told a legislative committee last week that the listed owners of the properties, Lot Six Realty Corp. and Hudson Valley Management Association Inc., both with a New Windsor PO Box address, were a myriad of shell corporations that made it impossible for the county to locate the actual owners responsible for more than $14 million in taxes owed to the county. O’Neil did indicate that existing businesses on the properties had been paying rent to Stanley Schutzman, an attorney who also uses the same PO Box in New Windsor.
The developers have purchased the parcels for…
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