Eyesore blighting Newburgh's West End to get makeover by local family
CITY OF NEWBURGH − A local family will take on the challenge of transforming a burned-out shell of an automobile service center on Newburgh's western border and turning it into a more attractive gateway.
Travelers in and out of Newburgh along Route 17K − where Broadway begins − have been greeted by the charred, vacant building at 842 Broadway since it burned down in 2018.
With the lot being the first Broadway property for West End travelers, the city was eager to find developers who could clean up and reimagine the site.
Shaul Vaknin, his son Eli Vaknin and his stepson Dan Gilbert, the brotherly pair that run Fidelity Real Estate Management in Newburgh, have stepped up to the plate.
They are buying the property priced at $205,000, according to a site agreement approved by Newburgh's city council on July 11 and signed by the developers last week.
Up to $175,000 of the developers' above-ground remediation costs will be credited by the city toward the purchase price, according to the site agreement. This would include removing debris outside the structure.
The family trio of developers have strengths that complement one another, Gilbert said, making their partnership easy and natural. Gilbert described himself as the "organizer" who handles all the paperwork; his stepbrother as the "doer" who makes sure everyone stays on task; and his stepdad as the "dreamer" or visionary.
Eli Vaknin and Gilbert grew up in Sullivan County and moved to Newburgh about five and seven years ago, respectively.
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Their plans for this site include building a new two-story structure with about 6,000 square feet of space on each floor. The top floor will be split into office spaces and the bottom floor will be dedicated to retail. They envision at least one of the downstairs businesses being an eatery, whether it be a restaurant, ice cream shop or something similar. But the overall idea is to entice local, small businesses to open there, the brothers said.
Outside, they plan to build a patio where people could eat, drink or relax near the Quassaick Creek.
Nailing down a timeline is tricky, Gilbert and Eli Vaknin said this week. Much of the development is contingent upon how long it takes to clean up the site, which will involve extensive above- and below-ground remediation of environmental hazards. And they have no idea what surprises may lurk below the surface.
A chance to build new, help the environment
The lot at 842 Broadway, measuring just under an acre, currently has a single-story, 3,360-square-foot shop built in 1945 and was most recently known as Dennis' Service Center.
Besides the building's blackened shell, the site is littered with relics from the property's past businesses. Before it was a service center, it was a gas station. Eli Vaknin and Gilbert said there are old cars, boats, scrap metal, car parts and potentially thousands of tires they will have to haul out of there.
Once they strip the property down to the grass and dirt, the state Department of Environmental Conservation will remediate environmental hazards underground.
When that is finished, the sale of the property to the new developers can be finalized, and new construction can move forward.
It's a project that clearly involves a considerable investment of time and money, and it's the family's first all-commercial project together. Their past work has been mostly in redeveloping residential and mixed-use buildings in Newburgh's East End Historic District.
Why take this on?
They have several reasons.
For starters, building anew can be easier than fixing an old building with dodgy plumbing, electric or structural issues, Gilbert said. The opportunity to build something new in Newburgh is rare, because of its large historic district.
Moreover, they say they want to jumpstart new, small businesses that could in turn hire local employees.
But also: "One of the things that really stood out to us was helping with the environmental aspect in this," Gilbert said. "It's not just building a new building. It's also helping clean up something that really needs to be cleaned up.
"I think there's something really alluring to redeveloping an old gas station, especially as electric vehicles are really starting to come into prominence. I see it as cleaning up the infrastructure of the 1900s and putting new, exciting infrastructure and spaces in so that people could continue to enjoy these spaces in a new way."
Lana Bellamy covers Newburgh for the Times Herald-Record and USA Today Network. Reach her at lbellamy@th-record.com.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Newburgh NY vacant building to be transformed into offices, shops
