POUGHKEEPSIE – The two companies that want to redevelop the DeLaval property on the City of Poughkeepsie waterfront have filed a lawsuit against the city, the common council, and the Industrial Development Agency claiming they reneged on a 2009 agreement authorizing them to develop their Poughkeepsie Landing project.
Poughkeepsie Waterfront Development LLC and JM Development Group, LLC, have invested millions on the project since 2002 and now they are alleging “a illegal city ‘shakedown’ that would send the marquee project, a vital step in Poughkeepsie’s revitalization, back to the drawing board.”
The article 78 lawsuit, filed in Dutchess County Supreme Court, alleged the city agencies “illegally reneged” on its site plan approval and an agreed-to payment in lieu of taxes for the 13.9-acre property and had rebuffed all efforts to discuss options to move the project forward.
Project principal Joseph Bonura, Jr. said they did not want to file the suit, but he said the common council and IDA “have been unwilling to sit down and discuss a path forward.”
Last month, the common council passed a resolution giving Bonura 45 days to work out a PILOT agreement with the IDA and that caught Bonura off guard.
“We did our end of the deal and we have been waiting for the city to deliver the lease and the PILOT agreement, which are in ironclad contracts that we signed. We spent a bunch of money based on those contracts, and now the city said basically, ‘no, let’s renegotiate and start over,’ and that’s not fai9r to do when one side has already acted,” he said.
Common Council Chair Sarah Salem said there is no current PILOT, and the chair was under the impression that Bonura was willing to work within the 45-day timeframe.
“The last action by the council was just to get the ball rolling again. It has been stalled too long. We all want to see some vibrancy down on that southern waterfront, it is the first thing you see when you come into the city on trains. Nobody wants to see it vacant; however, to bring a suit against, the city, common council, and IDA, it is unjustified,” Salem said.
“Rather than facing this lawsuit, the city’s residents would likely already be enjoying the completed, newly renovated waterfront on the DeLaval parcel,” the lawsuit says. “Instead, the waterfront – perhaps one of the city’s best potential features for economic revitalization – sits largely dormant, undeveloped and with the promise of a public oasis undelivered.”
