HIGHLAND – The Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park broke ground for a new welcome center that will be located on the Highland side of the park.
The Ulster Welcome Center is a $4.5 million project that will be overseen by Meyer Contracting Corporation. Construction started in late May and is expected to be completed by early 2018. The center is expected to include administrative offices, upgraded restrooms, a picnic area under a covered pavilion, and an outdoor plaza.
Welcome centere rendering
Foundation work well underway
The need for the center arose from public concerns, according to Walkway
Over the Hudson’s Executive Director Elizabeth Waldstein-Hart.
“We have come into this beautiful park with porta-potties and parking lots so our goal is to transform that experience when the visitor enters the park,” Waldstein-Hart said. “This attractive building, with amenities for bathrooms, with a gathering place for people under an awning, with a beautiful plaza for people to come into will really change the perception. When you walk into this welcoming area you will feel like you walked into something special and you will start your Walkway experience from the minute you come.”
Fred Schaeffer, a Poughkeepsie-based attorney and the former Walkway board chairman, who is often credited with being the driving force behind the development of the park, could not be more excited and proud of its newest addition.
“It’s another nice amenity to add to the Walkway experience,” Schaeffer said. “This will make a really nice addition and it will make everybody a lot more comfortable, and it will be beautiful and very compatible with the environment.”
Assemblyman Frank Skartados (D-Milton) weighed in on the possibilities the center poses for the district he represents.
“We are improving on an excellent organization and an excellent state park that already exists,” Skartados said. “We are telling people to come down because this is the most unique state park that has ever been created.”
Since the park opened in October 2009, it has attracted 500,000 visitors annually.
