KINGSTON, N.Y. – A developer plans a mixed-use project including 100 apartments on the grounds of a former barrel-making company where notorious gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond had stored illegal alcohol, according to documents filed at City Hall.
MVH Development said it plans to embark on the project which will be under review by the city’s Planning Board.
The company is calling its project the Barrel Factory Lofts which will be located on Cornell Street and Bruyn Avenue near where the vacated barrel-making building is located, at 35 Bruyn Ave., along with the Fowler & Keith building at 104 Smith Ave. and an adjacent garage. The property is L-shaped and has fronts on Smith and Bruyn avenues and Cornell Street, developer wrote.
“It’s most historically significant period, this property operated as a Cooperage from 1910-1954 for several different corporations — American Cooperage Co, Kingston Cooperage, and Kingston Barrel Corp.,” a narrative of the project said. “Kingston Barrel Corp was one of the biggest manufacturers in Kingston with over 70 employees at one point. During prohibition (1920-1933), the notorious gangster and bootlegger Jack “Legs” Diamond stored illegal alcohol in the barrels of this factory. The ale was manufactured at a Brewery across town and the Barrel Factory property was used to run the logistics of his booze running operation throughout New York.”
Developer Steve Aaron once proposed a housing project at the Bruyn Avenue site but that never materialized.
Daniel Simone, a partner in MHV Development, was also involved in a company that proposed a large-scale housing development along the banks of the Hudson River in Kingston in what is now Sojourner Truth Park. That project did not come to fruition.
According to the narrative, the Barrel Lofts project is to built on 2.35 acres.
”The proposed project contemplates the construction of a new 4-story wood frame building (Building A), aka “Barrel Factory Lofts”, along Cornell Street and Bruyn Avenue,” the narrative read. “The new building, which is 78,400 square feet in size, will contain 100 residential rental units (10% of which will be affordable as required) along with 2,978 square feet of commercial space along Cornell Street.” The residential component will consist of 54 studio apartments, 28 one-bedroom apartments and 18 two-bedroom apartments.”
The Kingston Barrel Factory building “will be renovated to provide for tenant leasing and support services for residents such as a tenant lounge and co-work area, fitness room and tenant storage as well as the development of commercial/Flex and studio art spaces totaling 5,640 SF (square feet) to support the Midtown arts district and neighborhood business community,” according to the project’s description. “In addition to the studio and commercial spaces, the second levelof the Barrel factory will provide seven Live/work artist studios ranging from approximately 800 square feet to over 900 square feet.”
The existing Fowler and Keith building of approximately 21,240 square feet will be renovated to provide a new roof and siding and new windows, the document said. “The current warehouse use will be maintained,” the narrative said.
In 1931, the brewery and barrel factory were raided in what was known as the “Million Dollar Seizure,” the narrative read.
“Over $1 million dollars in ale, liquor, and equipment were confiscated in one of the biggest raids during the prohibition.”
“Police later determined that the operation was able to avoid notice for so long because a half-mile-long rubber hose was snaked through the city sewer system from the brewery to this barrel factory. Since 1954, when American Cooperage was foreclosed upon, the property has been operating as a series of logistical or building supply companies. The Fowler and Keith building located on Smith Avenue was also constructed in the early 1900°s and operated as a Feed Mill originally.
