KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Plans for a mixed-use project containing 70 apartments and ground-level retail at the former King’s Inn site at 615 Broadway took another step forward when the Common Council voted unanimously on Thursday, Sept. 4, to transfer the property at 615 Broadway to the project’s developer, Poughkeepsie-based Baxter Development, for just over $242,500.

Baxter could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday about when construction will begin or the project’s timeline.

Summer Smith, the city’s director of communications and community, said Thursday that Baxter will “start construction as soon as all financing is in place” and referred further comment to the firm.

Under the agreement between Baxter and the city, the property will be transferred from the city to the developer at the full assessed value of $242,553.

The project is planned to feature 56 workforce units and 14 affordable units as defined by the city’s zoning code. The 14 affordable units will be permanently deed-restricted as affordable units.

The project is slated to comprise 10 studios, 44 one-bedroom apartments, and 16 two-bedroom apartments, all spread across three buildings. Additionally, it will feature 8,000 square feet of street-level commercial space, divided among up to six units.

Representatives for Baxter have pledged that 100% of the project will be offered at below-market rates.

Developers have not indicated what monthly rents might be at this complex. The city’s zoning code currently allows an “affordable” one-bedroom apartment can rent for up to $1,758 a month, while a one-bedroom workforce unit can rent for upwards of $2,697. The current limits have drawn the ire of activists and some city lawmakers who have called for the limits to be lowered.

The project will also feature a 3,630 square-foot public plaza known as the Pauline Oliveros Deep Listening Plaza, which will be open to the public when the businesses in the ground-level retail spaces facing the plaza are open, developers have said.

Baxter representatives previously told city Planning Board members that the firm’s plan call for the plaza to be open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends. A requirement that the plaza remain open to the public in perpetuity is written into the deed, City Planner Sue Cahill has said.

In June, the city Planning Board unanimously approved the project after a lengthy delay related to the sale of a 9,053 square-foot parcel by the Salavation Army to the developers after more than 15 months of negotiations and red tape that held up the project.

The project was announced with much fanfare at an October 2022 press event.