NPA facilitates sale of Train Station

The Newburgh Preservation Association recently helped facilitate the sale of the former West Shore Train Station to Ray Yannone of Storm King Builders. The 1914 station was designed by Warren & Wetmore, the same firm that designed New York City's Grand Central Station.

The train station has been on the NPA's radar for years. In March 2008, NPA asked architect Peter Smith to make an assessment of the building. The report, issued a week later, expressed both the danger and near destruction of the facility. Galvanized into action, NPA President Nancy Billman, Vice President Stuart Sachs, Giovanni Palladino and Andrew Nunez, president of the Historical Society, took immediate steps to save the building.

A task force including NPA, the Historical Society, Rick Milton, and the City's Cheryle Branson met several times to persuade the former owner of the risks involved and to urge that the building be rehabilitated or sold. After several meetings, the building was sold to Storm King Builders. During the summer of 2009, Ray Yannone and his crew stabilizing the building. The flags were added to help celebrate Flotilla Day and Flag Day - part of Newburgh's quadricentennial celebrations in 2009.