The site of the Crescent Garage, 752 Warren St. Members of the Hudson Industrial Development Agency approved a 10-year PILOT agreement with the developers of the property.
Project manager and design consultant of the Crescent Garage building project Kris Perry speaking during the Hudson Industrial Development Agency meeting Wednesday.
The site of the Crescent Garage, 752 Warren St. Members of the Hudson Industrial Development Agency approved a 10-year PILOT agreement with the developers of the property.
Project manager and design consultant of the Crescent Garage building project Kris Perry speaking during the Hudson Industrial Development Agency meeting Wednesday.
HUDSON — The Hudson Industrial Development Agency approved at its meeting Wednesday a 10-year tax break for the developers of the former Crescent Garage building.
The payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, agreement was approved unanimously by the agency following a brief public hearing where no public comment was made.
The Hudson Industrial Development Agency also determined during the meeting the project would have no environmental impact, and gave it a negative environmental impact based on state environmental review laws.
Through the agreement, Top of Warren Street Property Bros., LLC, the ownership group spearheading the project, will be required to make fixed payments to the city the first year after construction is completed.
The first payment under the agreement will be $34,437, and the final payment will be $78,196. After the agreement is completed, the developers will be required to pay 100% of the building's assessed value, which is currently assessed at $980,000, totaling an $83,000 payment in the first year after the agreement is completed.
The building is currently assessed at $980,000, and when the rehabilitation project is finished, the assessed value of the property is expected to increase to $2.7 million.
“Assistance from the agency [the Hudson Industrial Development Agency] is crucial to the success of the project,” project manager and design consultant Kris Perry said during the meeting.
The project will also be exempt from sales tax on construction materials or equipment purchases, as well as mortgage tax for the duration of the 10-year PILOT agreement, amounting to $125,000 in mortgage tax savings and $696,380 in sales tax savings.
In total, the project will receive a roughly $1 million tax break, or 7% of the project's total cost of $14.7 million.
The developers also have 36 months to complete the project, as well as hire one retained employee and a new full-time employee as part of the agreement with the Hudson Industrial Development Agency, according to the agency's resolution.
The 18,000-square-foot building at 752 Warren St. will be completely rehabilitated to include space for an art gallery, film production studio and a rooftop event space.
Three apartments will also be included in the project to provide space for artists to live and work in, as well as office space. The redevelopment of the Crescent Garage building is expected to be completed in 2027.
Developers received approval for the project from the city’s Historic Preservation Committee in 2024, and the project does not require planning or zoning board approval to move forward due to the developers not conducting any work on the exterior of the building.
City Treasurer and Hudson Industrial Development Agency member Heather Thompson said at the meeting she was concerned about a potential “cliff” forming due to tax rates potentially increasing, which could require a higher tax payment than the developers could anticipate after the agreement is finished.
“Just given the way that real estate prices have gone, it seems interesting not to assume there’s going to be some increase in valuation on the product,” she said.
Thompson added she did not want the agency to be in a situation where a jump in the tax payment could lead the developer to exit the project when the PILOT is completed.
“And then, we just subsidized 10 years of something for no long-term benefit,” she said.
First Ward Councilmember Margaret Morris questioned why the agency does not increase the fixed payments for the PILOT agreement in anticipation of any potential changes to the tax rate, which Columbia Economic Development Corporation President and CEO F. Michael Tucker said would make the project “undoable.”
“You’re adding additional expenses,” he said.
The Crescent Garage building was built in 1916 and was formerly home to the Crescent Garage, a showroom and garage for cars.
The building has sat empty and unused for roughly 12 years until it was purchased by an ownership group made up of Ian Hague, Daniel McCabe, Perry. The ownership group, Top Of Warren Property Bros., LLC, purchased the building for $2.2 million in 2020.
The building was also the former home to Ackerman Appliances, before being sold in 2012 for $737,000.
In 2023, the project was awarded a $1.3 million Restore New York Communities Initiative grant, which provides municipalities with financial assistance for the revitalization of commercial and residential properties.
