READING ABOUT DUTCHESS MALL https://highlandscurrent.org/2023/03/10/dutchess-mall-plan-approved/ Dutchess Mall Plan Approved Leonard Sparks By Leonard Sparks, Senior Editor | March 10, 2023 Warehouse to replace blighted vestiges A plan to replace the rundown remnants of the former Dutchess Mall on Route 9 with a massive warehouse facility won approval from the Town of Fishkill Planning Board last month. The board gave preliminary approval on Feb. 9 to Crow Holdings Industrial’s application to demolish the long-abandoned remaining buildings from what was once Dutchess County’s first indoor mall and construct a 350,000-square-foot facility with 78 loading docks and 209 parking spaces. The warehouse would sit on 28.9 acres of a 39.3-acre parcel currently owned by Hudson Properties LLC along the south side of the Home Depot, which is flanked on the north by the Fishkill campus of Dutchess Community College. In addition to the warehouse, Crow says it will install bike racks and six charging stations for electric vehicles, as well as add a sidewalk and bus shelter on Route 9. Hudson Properties will retain ownership of the remaining 10.4-acre lot, which fronts the property along the state highway. Before anything is built, the project needs other approvals, including the state Department of Transportation’s endorsement of Crow’s concept for sidewalks and other additions along Route 9 and consent from Dutchess County for the project’s sewer and water infrastructure. The Town Board is also requiring that Crow provide a $15 million performance bond to ensure completion of certain elements of the project unrelated to the main facility, such as sidewalks, storm water controls and landscaping. During a public hearing in December, Jennifer Gray, an attorney with Keane & Beane of White Plains, which is representing Crow Holdings, described the property as a “gateway” to Fishkill. “It’s long been a dilapidated, abandoned, moribund site, so we are pleased to be able to bring this back to productive use,” she said. A rendering shows how the proposed warehouse would appear to southbound drivers on Route 9. Home Depot is at the far right. A rendering shows how the proposed warehouse would appear to southbound drivers on Route 9. Home Depot is at the far right. Before the property became an eyesore, it opened in 1974 as Dutchess County’s first indoor mall on part of the site of the Fishkill Supply Depot, a Revolutionary War-era encampment. Tenants have included several department stores, Jamesway, Lucky Platt and Mays, a Radio Shack and a Waldenbooks. But the opening of the Poughkeepsie Galleria and other retail centers along Route 9 siphoned away customers and the mall closed in 2001. Home Depot opened in July 2006. Seven years later, Dutchess Marketplace, an indoor/outdoor flea market, opened in the former Jamesway space but shut down in 2019. Redeveloping the site has been a priority for the town, but not every resident embraced the construction of a warehouse. At the public hearing in December, Ann LaGoy called the site a “national treasure” because of the Fishkill Supply Depot but said it was “disappointing to see that this is our gateway into Fishkill and it’s going to be a giant warehouse.” The town’s goal of seeing the property redeveloped received a boost in August 2021 when Dutchess Community College opened its Fishkill campus in the former Jamesway building. The college said it chose the location in part because of its proximity to Interstate 84 and the belief that it could attract more students from Beacon and Putnam County, which does not have a community college. Under a 15-year lease agreement, J.W. Mays Corp. renovated 47,000 square feet on the second floor of the two-story building, which dominated the north end of Dutchess Mall when it opened nearly 50 years ago. In addition to 20 classrooms, the building has a lecture hall; biology, design and physical science labs; computer rooms; administrative offices; and a library.