This Month’s Featured Article

Photo above is an aerial view of Malcolm X Park taken on July 9, 2023, the day of a ribbon-cutting ceremony and family-friendly event celebrating recent park improvements. (Photo: Jeff Mertz / Courtesy ScenicHudson.org)

Scenic Hudson, an organization that has safeguarded the region’s landscapes, promoted sustainable development, and protected the Hudson Valley from environmental threats since 1963, has recently been collaborating on multiple projects in the Northside neighborhood of Poughkeepsie, NY.

In fact, its transformation of the 58 Parker Avenue property in Northside is “one of the most significant and transformational projects in its 60-year history,” according to the organization. In completing this monumental renovation of the former Standard Gage Factory site, Scenic Hudson seeks to reimagine these depleted ruins and create a space where the entire community can connect.

Not only did the Standard Gage Factory play a key role in the manufacturing of measurement instruments amidst the WWI and WWII efforts, but it was visited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and employed 600 workers at its height. In 1943, the factory even received a national award for excellence.

The company shuttered its doors more than 20 years ago. Since that time, the site has remained a “largely derelict, contaminated eyesore.” Scenic Hudson hopes to clean up this polluted brownfield site and bring the building back to life.

Responding to a disastrous history

This endeavor is crucial for Poughkeepsie, which was one of many small cities nationwide that suffered greatly from the federal government’s “urban renewal” programs. In the 1960s and 70s, these demolition and construction programs were put forth to combat poverty but, in practice, often reinforced segregation in numerous ways.

The billions of dollars invested in these initiatives funded the building of highways through downtown areas, creating harsh divisions throughout places like Poughkeepsie. On top of challenges with economic development, affordable housing, and crime, abandoned manufacturing sites have played a large role in perpetuating the Northside neighborhood’s decades-long struggles.

Thus, the renovation and repurposing of the Northside Hub is a major part of Scenic Hudson’s plan for both the future of their organization and the region at large. This project will result in new, carbon-neutral office spaces for Scenic Hudson staff; outdoor parkland; and public space for community gatherings, events, and activities. The Northside Hub has been a long-held goal for the group, embodying all that the organization strives to achieve through their River Cities Program.

Revamping the River Cities

Launched in 2017, the River Cities program works to establish new, effective infrastructure and community initiatives in Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Kingston, NY. According to Scenic Hudson, “These three communities have flourished in the past as centers of industry, commerce, and culture all set within the natural beauty and bounty of the Hudson River Valley. We want to build on the past, redress historic wrongs, and help these three cities to thrive again, for the benefit of all of their residents.”

To this end, Scenic Hudson has collaborated with several partners to restore two Northside parks: Malcolm X Park and Pershing Avenue Park & Neighborhood Farm. In 1978, Malcolm X Park was renamed for the civil and human rights activist when Black students organized and staged a takeover, demanding that the park be owned by the community – not the city. Scenic Hudson explains that although the park never changed ownership, in the following decades it has offered neighborhood children a safe space to play and provided a gathering area for the entire community.

In 2017, the park was adopted by The Hudson Valley ReEntry Network, which led park clean-ups and honored the site’s legacy with a new sign among other initiatives. The City and partners including Scenic Hudson, The PARKnership, and New City Parks completed the first set of improvements to the park in June 2023, informed by a community engagement process. This undertaking included renovations to the basketball court, play equipment, natural landscape, furniture, and structures like a new pavilion and raised garden beds.

Pershing Avenue exemplified the lasting devastation of redlining and other efforts to enforce structural racism in the country’s housing system. Poughkeepsie has seen decades of divestment and racial segregation, and according to Scenic Hudson, the neighborhood surrounding Pershing Avenue Park & Neighborhood Farm “was labeled as a ‘red’ and ‘undesirable’ area by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. This prohibited families from securing loans and building equity and escalated poor housing conditions, inadequate infrastructure, and economic instability.”

Now, Scenic Hudson has worked with the City and numerous partners, including many Northside residents and local organizations, to create the Pershing Avenue Park & Neighborhood Farm on a previously under-resourced, wooded, quarter-acre site.

Today, the initiative provides free, fresh produce to neighborhood families, while supplying local bodegas and restaurants with fruits and vegetables as well. Notably, the farm grew over 1,000 pounds of produce last year, and residents can farm their own plots. Scenic Hudson points out, “The farm also provides opportunities for Poughkeepsie youth to learn life and work skills through hands-on experiences in farming and gardening, health and nutrition, and entrepreneurship and leadership.”

The park area has also had many upgrades, including a new basketball court, playground, benches, picnic tables, and a walking path, as well as solar lighting, native plantings, and a meadow. Thus, Pershing Avenue Park & Neighborhood Farm is developing a new focus as a wellness, entrepreneurial, and celebratory space that combats food insecurity and promotes healthy living.

Opening up access to the Fall Kill Creek, an important Hudson River tributary, is also central to Scenic Hudson’s work in Poughkeepsie. Collaborating with a variety of partners, the organization is striving to create access points along the post-industrial creek where families can connect with nature and learn about the region’s ecosystems. Supporting this effort, Scenic Hudson shares that it recently partnered with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies “on a multi-year research project to engage local residents to discover the amazing diversity of animal and plant life all around them.”

About the upcoming, vibrant Northside Hub

The Northside Hub will be aptly situated to meet the recreational and environmental needs of the community as well. Not only is it positioned directly across from the famed Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park, a National Historic Landmark, and the Dutchess County Rail Trail, but it is also adjacent to the Fall Kill Creek and the Marcus J. Molinaro Northside Line – all of which are renowned initiatives that Scenic Hudson has collaborated on. The latter is a former rail bed which was acquired by Scenic Hudson and is being converted into a 2.7-mile trail by Dutchess County.

As Scenic Hudson president Ned Sullivan explains, Scenic Hudson is excited to connect various key sites in Poughkeepsie: “The new hub hopes to serve as a gateway to the Walkway Over the Hudson, the Northside, and to the rest of the city.”

“We’re excited to create this one-of-a-kind space,” says Jason Camporese, chief finance and operations officer at Scenic Hudson. “Once completed, Scenic Hudson will utilize the energy-efficient site not only for staff offices, but as a community hub – for meetings, classes, events and more – as well as a gathering place for convening regional, state, and national partners.”

These unique and effective spaces, according to Scenic Hudson, will include “a 5,000-square foot, light-filled auditorium and the ‘Storefront,’ an inviting, dynamic exhibit space.”

This will all be powered by carbon-neutral, solar-powered means year-round; airflow throughout the structure will be facilitated by an innovative ventilation system. Outdoor parkland will be available for public gatherings and activities, and a green roof featuring native plantings will absorb rainwater, therefore limiting runoff and reducing solar gain.

“From an architectural perspective, this project is really about revealing the beauty of what was already there,” says project manager Caroline Alsup. “Our renovations are in keeping with the industrial nature of the space. We’re leaving the basic structure, but opening up the floor plates and re-opening and recreating the beautiful oversized industrial windows with trickle vents that will allow fresh air in.”

A historical and environmental model

The emphasis on ecological sustainability is a guiding principle of the endeavor, as Scenic Hudson seeks to enmesh the historical preservation of the space with a focus on reducing the structure’s carbon footprint.

Indeed, the building’s heating and cooling system was even highlighted in a CBS 60 Minutes episode focused on MASS Design Group, the lead architect on the Northside Hub and the same organization that made the initial designs for Malcolm X Park. “The project reimagines how forgotten industrial buildings can be adapted for the climate change era,” Scenic Hudson observes.

The hope, then, is that the Northside Hub will serve as inspiration and lead the way for other communities. “The importance of this cannot be overstated: imagine a future where all our historic buildings in city centers can actually contribute to addressing the climate crisis,” says Sullivan. “Approved for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, it is a model for projects across the country – and the world.”

Creating a community resource

This dynamic undertaking is being completed with another very significant aim: continuing to invest in the surrounding Northside area of Poughkeepsie. Through the intentional reclamation of this polluted historic site, community engagement and support is a primary goal.

Sullivan emphasizes that this project is not only a dedication to the region but also designed to promote a sense of community well-being. “Poughkeepsie has been our home for many decades; this innovative project reflects our ongoing commitment to working with other stakeholders to revitalize the city’s Northside neighborhoods, Fall Kill Creek, and the many parks and trails that connect residents and visitors to the great outdoors.”

He adds: “These renovated buildings, which once employed hundreds, will once again serve as an economic engine for the greater Hudson Valley region. This project, in conjunction with our collaborative work to revitalize city parks and urban waterways, and to create rail trails, can serve as a national model for environmental and conservation organizations’ impacts in post-industrial cities.”

Alsup underscores this idea and believes that the renovated space will be a cornerstone of greater investment in Poughkeepsie. “This building will not only be a point of pride for the region, but it will also highlight the potential for the good that is already here in the city – the people, the organizations, the places. I think of it as a metaphor for the whole Northside neighborhood. It turns out that these ‘liabilities’ – whether we’re referring to old buildings, a post-industrial creek, or aging parks – are actually incredible assets just waiting to be transformed. It’s an exciting time for Poughkeepsie.”

For more information about Scenic Hudson, please visit scenichudson.org. All images below taken at the Northside Hub site on December 14, 2024. (Image: Jeff Mertz / Courtesy ScenicHudson.org)