Newburgh’s $10.9 Million State Grant Adds Up to 354 Downtown Apartments and a Deep Water Cruise Pier


Waterfront and downtown skyline of Newburgh, New York.

Newburgh came out of the 2025 Regional Economic Development Council round with three grants totaling $10.9 million, all of them pointed at the same stretch of the downtown waterfront. The awards, announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul in late December 2025, are moving toward construction through 2026 and reshape what downtown Newburgh’s pipeline looks like over the next three years.

The largest piece, $6.9 million, funds upgrades to water, gas, sewer and road infrastructure along Liberty Street under a long-term control plan. The state’s summary attributes the grant to enabling at least three new mixed-use housing developments that together deliver 209 mixed-income apartments in downtown Newburgh. Without the utility work, those buildings can’t move.

A second award of $2 million goes to a mixed-use project next to Washington’s Headquarters that activates a vacant parcel that has sat unused for more than fifty years. The building will deliver 145 units of housing and roughly 10,000 square feet of commercial space at the north end of Liberty Street. Between that project and the Liberty Street utility scope, Newburgh is on track to add 354 downtown apartments and about 10,000 SF of new ground-floor commercial space from this single grant cycle.

The third piece, another $2 million, is for a rebuilt deep-water pier at Newburgh Landing. The current pier will be demolished and replaced with an extended structure that includes a fixed arm designed to receive large cruise ships, plus mooring slips for recreational boaters. Newburgh is the only deep-water port between New York City and Albany, and the pier upgrade is designed to open the waterfront to Hudson River cruise itineraries that currently pass the city by.


New York State Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Harvey of Newburgh

Three points worth noting.

First, the utility grant is a supply-unlocking event. The 209-unit downstream count is the state’s own figure, and the Washington’s Headquarters project adds another 145. If both scopes move on schedule, downtown Newburgh’s multifamily pipeline steps up materially, which will pressure asking rents and cap rates on existing stock. Owners of comparable properties should re-price with the new pipeline in view.

Second, the pier is a tourism-infrastructure move that changes the retail thesis for the blocks between Water Street and Liberty Street. Cruise-ship traffic feeds a very specific mix of tenants, ie: coffee shops, casual dining, small-format retailer. Newburgh has been rebuilding that mix through both public and private investment for several years. This is the piece that ties it to the river.

Third, the awards land in a broader $53.1 million Mid-Hudson round covering 53 projects, plus the separately funded One Lafayette mixed-use in Newburgh (127 affordable units, previously reported). Taken together, downtown Newburgh has one of the most concentrated public-investment pipelines in the Hudson Valley right now.

What to watch

  • Construction start dates on the three Liberty Street mixed-use buildings and the Washington’s Headquarters project — the utility grant is the gating item.
  • Pier design finals and cruise-line commitments through the REDC’s Newburgh Landing Pier CFA project record.
  • Any additional Orange County REDC follow-on funding this cycle, given the state’s stated focus on downtown Newburgh.
  • The city’s own permitting cadence — 354 downtown apartments is a lot of Certificate-of-Occupancy work in the next 24–36 months.
Sources

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