When an earlier project to convert an 80,000-square-foot former refrigerated rail car factory to condos went bankrupt in 2019, the historic Newburgh property, which overlooks the Hudson, ended up on the auction block. The recently completed Lofts at The Foundry have added 59 light-filled one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments to the rental market. The adaptive reuse project is emblematic of the kind of steady traction Newburgh is determinedly gaining in recent years.
“There’s been a lot of great energy around this project,” says Eric Edelman, principal at Mana Tree Properties, a Newburgh-based company dedicated to helping solve the housing shortage across the Northeast. “We’re part of a wave in Newburgh—there’s been a very bottom-up effort by people, building by building and block by block, to really fix up the city and bring it back to its glory days.”
Mana Tree partnered with Attic Labs, another Newburgh company, to purchase the building at the bankruptcy auction. “Our thesis was that we knew a lot of artists and creatives were moving from Beacon to Newburgh,” says Edelman, “and we knew a lot of people who were moving up from the city to the Hudson Valley to work remotely and commute a couple of times a week. So we felt the demand would be there.”
That turned out to be an accurate perception. Before the property even began leasing, owners had developed a 200-person wait list of prospective tenants. As of this writing, 40 of the 59 units are still available, with options ranging from penthouse units with river views to loft-style apartments with varied floor plans. “What’s neat about these old industrial buildings is the flexibility,” says Edelman. “You don’t have to just build cookie-cutter rectangles.”
To transform the property, Mana Tree and Attic Labs reached out to Affordable Housing Concepts LLC, the Gardiner-based general contractor and developer that created Zero Place in New Paltz and specializes in historic renovation along with workforce and senior housing. “We were looking for a general contractor and found AHC, and they told us that not only would they love to build it with us, but that they’d love to come in as partners,” says Edelman. “Keith H. Libolt, a founder, was born in Newburgh, so helping the city come back means a lot to him. So they’re the builder and 50 percent of the partnership group.”
Local talent is hands-on throughout the project: Newburgh architect AJ Coppola of Coppola Associates, Newburgh-based interior design firm Terrotti, and ZZ Driggs, a furniture rental company with a warehouse across the street from The Foundry that furnished the model unit and is offering furniture rental options to tenants.
The apartments are market-rate, but as Edelman points out, housing experts agree that new opportunities for moderate- to middle-income renters help alleviate pressure on the entire market, freeing up more affordable spaces in turn—especially when, as here, entirely new housing opportunities are created. “This is new supply,” says Edelman. “It’s not like we took over existing units, fixed them up, and raised the rent. This was a vacant building and an eyesore, so developing it has a major impact.”
Numerous factors have fallen into place to help the project thrive, from the reasonable purchase pricxe at bankruptcy in fall 2020—had it not been for the pandemic, Edelman says, “somebody out there might have paid more, just to sit on it and speculate,”—to state historic preservation tax credits and a PILOT agreement with the city. “Converting these old buildings is as expensive or more expensive than building new, so all of those factors really helped make it viable,” says Edelman. “The city got behind us from the beginning, which really set us up for success.”
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Units in the building average 915 square feet, and include single-floor and two-floor, loft-style apartments; two-bedroom/two-bath and three-bedroom/two-bath units. Many of the fourthfloor units are penthouse-style with floor-to-ceiling windows. Interiors are designed in a minimalist, industrial style to provide a spacious, light-filled feel, and include stainless steel appliances, modern fixtures, an in-unit washer/dryer, and hardwood floors. Edelman says the governing concept was comfort for body and spirit. “We wanted nice spacious units, so someone downsizing from a house won’t feel claustrophobic, and a family leaving the city will get the feel of an actual home.”
An internal Zen courtyard will host programming from local artists and practitioners. And the building’s already won some Hollywood-on-Hudson cred, with an independent movie starring a SAG award-winning actor and a Golden Globe award-winning actress filmed at The Lofts during construction.
“When I told my parents I was doing deals in Newburgh, they got a real kick out of it because my grandfather was the civil engineer who built the Newburgh Beacon Bridge,” says Edelman. “The puzzle pieces that came together here have deep community roots, starting with the architecture—it’s glorious, the kind you don’t find everywhere. Mana Tree already owned just shy of 30 units in the city, and we’re really excited to be a part of the revitalization story.”
