KARC served as planning lead for the redevelopment of the City-owned 615 Broadway site in Midtown Kingston, guiding a complex public-private partnership initiated through the City’s Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) process. The project focused on transforming a highly visible and underutilized municipal parcel into a mixed-use, mixed-income development anchored by a publicly accessible cultural and community space. Located within Kingston’s Midtown Arts District, the site presented a unique opportunity to align public goals for neighborhood revitalization, arts programming, and housing with private development feasibility and regulatory compliance.
From the outset, KARC structured the project around a community-informed planning framework that preceded formal site plan review. Working closely with the City, elected officials, and the development team, we designed an early master planning process that centered stakeholder input while remaining grounded in zoning, infrastructure, and market realities. Engagement with the Midtown Arts District and other local partners helped shape the project’s program, public realm, and operational concepts, ensuring that the redevelopment reflected neighborhood priorities and local character rather than imposing a pre-determined development model.
In parallel, KARC conducted detailed zoning and regulatory analysis under the City’s Form-Based Code, assessing allowable uses, dimensional standards, parking requirements, and approval pathways. This work was paired with a feasibility-based review of site conditions and infrastructure constraints to test how policy objectives could be realistically implemented. Through this “ground-truthing” process, KARC translated community feedback and City goals into a development framework that was both code-compliant and economically viable.
The 615 Broadway planning and approvals process demonstrates the value of front-loaded engagement, regulatory analysis, and municipal coordination in shaping successful redevelopment. Early collaboration built trust, reduced conflict during formal review, and provided decision-makers with a clear, policy-aligned basis for action. The project demonstrates KARC’s ability to align community engagement, regulatory analysis, and development feasibility to produce implementable, policy-consistent outcomes.
