POUGHKEEPSIE – A lawsuit brought by a real estate company and others seeking to prevent a large mixed-use development, the Wallace Campus, from being built on Main Street in Poughkeepsie was dismissed by Dutchess County Supreme Court Justice Christine D’Alessio on Tuesday.
Kirchner Realty LLC was the primary petitioner and is also seeking to develop a mixed-use development of their own at the former “Up To Date” building a block away from the project they tried to stop.
Kirchner and others brought the suit against Wallace Campus Management (WCM), the developer, and the City of Poughkeepsie Planning Board.
Kirchner and the others claim that WCM’s project was too big for the area and would burden the police department and other services. With regard to the planning board, the petitioners sought to overturn the board’s approval of the WCM application in January. The proposed Wallace Campus calls for 187 residential units and more than 14,000 square feet of commercial space.
The legal documents initiating the lawsuit, according to Justice D’Alessio, were never properly served on Wallace Campus Management and the documents were not served to the planning board within the time required by law. Both mistakes led the judge to dismiss the case against both WCM and the planning board.
Kirchner and the other petitioners were represented by Poughkeepsie attorney Colby Creedon. When Creedon filed the lawsuit in February of 2022, he was a member of the City of Poughkeepsie Industrial Development Agency (IDA). Mayor Rob Rolison called for Creedon’s resignation from the IDA when he learned of the Kirchner lawsuit. Mid-Hudson News reached Creedon on the evening that Rolison called for him to step down and the attorney said, “I will probably resign from the IDA tonight.” When asked if he thought he had a conflict of interest, the lawyer said, “I’m an attorney doing a job. I don’t have anything else to say.”
Creedon subsequently resigned from the IDA.
