Three large building projects got the green light from members of Peekskill’s Planning Commission at Tuesday’s meeting held via Zoom. Board members approved a 31-space parking lot at 1028 Main Street, adjacent to Pugsley Park.  Members also gave final site plan approvals to a 51-unit market-rate condominium project on the corner of South and Grove streets. And a 22-unit building on the corner of S. Division and Second streets received approval. This project has retail space on the main floor and one and two-bedroom apartments on the second and third floors. All the units will be market rate rentals.  Developers from both housing projects pay the city $4500 per unit before building permits are issued. The Grove Street project will yield $229,500 while S.Division Street will net the city $99,000 in development fees.
After last week’s post about Cornelius Pugsley donating land to the city for a park that bears his name on Main Street, Frank Goderre called to say the reason Pugsley donated the land in 1931 was connected to the plan for a 5-story hotel to be built on the spot where Hudson Valley Healthcare Center is located today. The proposed hotel was going to be facing east, where there is a cut through today to the James Street parking ramp. According to Goderre, who was the city historian from 2014-2018, Pugsley wanted a pleasant place for patrons of the hotel to wait for their transportation. He thought a park would be better for patrons instead of curbside. The hotel was never constructed when the Depression decimated the economy.