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KINGSTON, NY – The Ulster County legislature on Thursday voted to accept deeds for 18 parcels, covering approximately 160 acres, at TechCity, a major step towards what county officials hope will lead to the revitalization of the old site IBM has been dormant for a long time in the city of Ulster.
The legislature’s action came after Ulster County Judge Bryan Rounds approved an agreement between the county and TechCity owner Alan Ginsberg under which Ginsberg would turn over his remaining holdings to TechCity in the county in exchange for the county waiving the roughly $ 12 million Gingsberg owes in property taxes. . That would pave the way for the property to be purchased by Connecticut-based real estate investment company, National Resources.
The county legislature has yet to agree to transfer the plots to the Ulster County Economic Development Alliance, which would then sell them to National Resources.
National Resources would pay the Economic Development Alliance $ 5 million in cash over five years to take possession of the site and perform at least $ 7 million in required environmental clean-up. The real estate company would then market the site to potential commercial tenants.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan has previously said the goal is for businesses in areas such as manufacturing, film production and agricultural distribution to create 1,000 jobs on the site.
The Legislative Assembly will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on December 21 on the transfer of land to the Economic Development Alliance.
The proposal could finally breathe new life into a property that has long been a source of frustration for government officials and others who have seen that a once vibrant manufacturing hub in the county has become a symbol of economic inactivity.
Ginsberg, a downstate developer, bought the site from IBM for around $ 3 million in 1998, three years after the computer giant took stakes in the city of Ulster and brought it down. renamed TechCity. He has had only limited success in filling space in the buildings of the sprawling property, and he has a long history of legal battles over site property assessments and not paying taxes.
Ginsberg also demolished several TechCity buildings in an attempt to reduce ratings. The United States Environmental Protection Agency declared TechCity a Brownfield Superfund in December 2019 after three mounds of demolition rubble, each about 15 feet high, remained intact for more than three years.
Ulster County seized buildings on the west side of TechCity’s campus in November 2019 due to non-payment of taxes, renamed that area Enterprise West (because it is on the west side of Enterprise Drive) and dumped it. then transferred ownership to the Economic Development Alliance. In the middle of last summer, the county had started foreclosure proceedings on most of Ginsberg’s remaining holdings in TechCity.
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