Energy Square

Organization Name: RUPCO, Inc

Project Title: Energy Square

Project Location: Kingston, Ulster County, NY, 12401

Project Description:
Energy Square (E2) is a newly constructed single, net-zero-for-living, 5-story building providing 57 rental apartments. 15% of the units will serve households at 30% AMI including 7 ESSHI units with rent subsidies and 2 units set to 30% AMI rents. A total square footage of approximately 71,000 square feet (SF) includes 11,000 SF of first-floor commercial and community service facility space with 2 elevators. Residential space includes a community room, laundry room for exclusive tenant use. Parking is provided for residents and commercial tenants, but not for use by the general public. The design of E2 draws from the late 19th-century industrial mill buildings and is consistent with the historic character and density of the neighborhood. Masonry and punctuated fenestration characterize the street facades. The building breaks down in both material and massing to resemble the scale of the existing urban fabric. Structurally, the building design will employ steel and concrete platform framing up to the second floor and wood framing above. As a net-zero-for-living building, E2 boasts a geothermal ground source system and a 300 kW system capacity solar array with an annual production of 352,000 kWh.

Community Impact:
E2 adds 57 affordable units in an area identified by the City of Kingston’s 2016 Comprehensive Plan as an area with “the greatest housing need … which has become home to the poorest, most underserved neighborhood in Kingston.” As outlined in its 2016 Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) that focused on Midtown, Kingston guides equitable revitalization of Midtown without displacing families that make up the diverse community. Located in Qualified Census Tract 9521, E2 presents a transformative opportunity for Midtown Kingston. E2 offers two community development spaces: first, a Community Service Facility (CSF) that will be operated by the Center for Creative Education, a non-profit arts program that provides services for children and adults through arts, music and dance, and secondly, E2 adds a storefront space for the Kingston Midtown Arts District (Kmad) Department of Regional Arts Workers, or D.R.A.W., a growing community of artists, educators, entrepreneurs and students who believe in the ability of the arts enrichment and education to act as an agent of positive change for urban neighborhoods.

Organization Description:
Established in 1981, RUPCO, Inc. is a Kingston based not-for-profit affordable housing and neighborhood reinvestment agency serving the mid-Hudson Valley region. Our mission is "To create homes, support people and improve communities."

Team Members:

DEVELOPER: RUPCO, Inc., Kingston, NY
ARCHITECT: Scott Dutton, Dutton Architecture PLLC Kingston, NY
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Affordable Housing Concepts, Newburgh, NY
NYSHCR; NYSERDA; NEF; CHASE; CPC