Decades-long problems with Poughkeepsie’s police and courts facility are finally coming to an end, and the Town of Poughkeepsie will be entering a “new era” over the next three years, according to Town of Poughkeepsie Supervisor Rebecca Edwards.
This next chapter is being ushered in through the move of the Poughkeepsie Town Hall to Poughkeepsie Day School’s Gilkeson Center on Boardman Road.
Poughkeepsie’s Police and Courts building will then be relocated from its current building on Tucker Drive, atop a sinking, uncapped landfill site, to the current town hall on Overocker Road.
These shifts were only potential until now. As of April 23, the Town of Poughkeepsie officially closed on the Gilkeson Center, purchasing it for $6.35 million from PDS — the town set aside a maximum of $13.2 million for this project.
The remaining funds will go toward repairs, such as the roof — the most expensive one — increased accessibility and renovations of classrooms to offices.
The town is promising a wider array of community services for residents at the town hall, and a police and court facility that can better serve the public and meet the needs of its officers and employees.
For PDS, according to Head of School Spiro Gouras, the school comes out of this deal debt-free and with the funds to invest and “reestablish Poughkeepsie Day School as the leading progressive school in the mid-Hudson Valley.”
Poughkeepsie police and courts facility’s chronic issues
According to Poughkeepsie Journal archives, Poughkeepsie’s police and courts facility has faced major issues at least since April 1999.
In spring 1999, some of the issues the Journal reported on included the building being inaccessible for those with disabilities, employees experiencing sewer-type smells, as well as the building’s “massive slab floor” settling and moving, due to it being on the landfill. This, in turn, caused the base of the walls to separate from the floor slab in some areas of the building. Plus, internal doors that used to open fully ended up scraping the floor.
In recent years, some of those same problems persist.
Edwards said gaps under walls and doors that won’t close properly are some of the issues they face today, as well as constant roof leaks and parking lot potholes.
“Taxpayers should know that the Town has tried to fix and patch these problems for decades, but nothing stays fixed because of the shifting landfill materials underneath,” Edwards said.
In the past four years, Edwards said the town has spent “roughly $500,000 on fixes to the building,” and she doesn’t think anyone is going to miss the police and courts facility on Tucker Drive.
But the Tucker Drive police site won’t be left abandoned either. It’s part of the $252,000 state planning grant for the former landfill area, which includes the former Kmart and Dutchess Plaza.
A community-driven vision for the land is already taking root and will continue over the next 14 to 18 months, to “get it officially designated as a state brownfield,” Edwards said.
“We hope that will attract developer interest in the former landfill parcels, and open the way for the remediation and revitalization that has been so long needed,” Edwards said.
What to expect from the new police and courts facility on Overocker
The town needs a police headquarters, Town of Poughkeepsie Police Chief Joseph Cavaliere said in a statement on April 8, a “civic anchor,” that will maintain Poughkeepsie police’s critical operations, but also foster “community trust through transparent, inclusive design.”
“The headquarters will evolve from a closed security outpost into a vital, resilient neighborhood asset,” he said.
Edwards said architects have just commenced the schematic design phase of the new police and courts facility on Overocker Road.
By early this summer, the town expects interior and exterior layouts, in addition to renderings of what the building will look like.
Kenyon House becomes PDS home again
The historic 1913 Kenyon House will once again be home to the Poughkeepsie Day School, after the town moves into its current Gilkeson Center.
The Kenyon House was originally a family home, later taken over by IBM. It housed grades 9-12 as recently as 2020, but since the school’s reopening in 2021, the Kenyon House has had limited use.
As the 2025-26 academic year comes to a close, the 113-year-old home will get a “facelift,” according to PDS Director of Admissions Tammy Reilly, in preparation for students coming back in the fall.
The plan is to uphold the historic character of the home, develop a school culture once more in the Kenyon House and be an “organic part of the community,” Gouras said.
Plus, it supports a more “sustainable” version, Gouras said, of their PDS Grow strategic plan, launched in 2024, which amplifies a “town square” education model — a community school involved with local organizations.
The school will be able to rent and use prime features of Gilkeson Center, such as the gymnasium and theater, but Gouras hopes to get PDS students involved with “local action,” like having their middle school students watch a town hall meeting, or build better relationships with the Boardman Road Branch Library, about a minute drive away from PDS.
“Look out,” Gouras said, “Poughkeepsie Day School is back.”
PDS move keeps costs down
The move also marks a reduction in overhead costs. The Kenyon House is the right size for PDS — the school currently has 45 students and is estimated to have 55 to 60 students in the fall.
Spiro said a major problem he has experienced working in private schools is the “skyrocketing” cost of tuition, which many times can be attributed to facility maintenance.
For PDS, revenue that would have gone to maintenance costs can now be refocused toward the children, along with the highly trained faculty and advancing their program.
Sprio said this move helps PDS stay ahead of the curve and keep maintenance costs at bay.
“We tell our kids, ‘Live within your means,'” Spiro said. “We’re living within our means right here.”
For the future, PDS aims to have around 100 students in the Kenyon House and in the long run, eventually bring back Pre-K-12 education. Currently, they have Pre-K through eighth grade students.
How PDS moves impacts school parents
Reilly said utilizing the building on their property, just steps away from the Gilkeson Center PDS currently resides in, makes this move less “drastic,” and PDS administration has felt immense trust and support from their families through conversations and weekly updates.
Jessica Hayes’ 8-year-old son, Holden Carr, has been at PDS since Pre-K, and is now in second grade. She is originally from the Bronx, but now resides in the Town of Poughkeepsie.
Hayes said in an email statement she feels the move will “set a strong foundation for PDS’ future,” and she doesn’t have worries about how the transition will affect her son.
“PDS does a great job of meeting kids where they are, keeping the entire school community involved in inner workings and supporting learning across many contexts and settings,” Hayes said.
Any move might have its “hiccups,” according to Hayes, but she has confidence in the school’s leadership and their ability to address and adapt to hitches that may arise.
Moreover, she’s excited this move will resolve “enduring COVID challenges,” making way for a more “reasonable footprint” for the school now and in the future.
“I found the solution that was proposed to be such a win for all parties,” Hayes said.
What to expect from Poughkeepsie Town Hall
Immediately after closing on the Gilkeson Center, Edwards said, the sports fields will be made available to youth leagues, but the town also hopes to begin offering youth and adult programs in the gymnasium by the fall.
Poughkeepsie Town Board Ward 6 member Ann Shershin, who represents those on Boardman Road, according to the town’s website, said in an email statement the new town hall will be able to add the types of community spaces “people have been asking for, for years.”
Once the town hall officially moves into the building come January 2027, work will begin to activate other spaces, like the James Earl Jones Theater, commercial kitchen and meeting rooms.
“At the new Town Hall site, we will not be doing any additional building — just adapting the current school building for Town Hall and community needs.”
During the 2027 summer season, expect the town’s summer camp to be fully transitioned to the new town hall. Edwards said the move will enable the town to strengthen and broaden its summer programs.
“The Recreation Department and the Rec Committee are hard at work planning for future programs,” Edwards said. “We are in dialogue with a number of local nonprofits, about partnering on various programs.”
Visit townofpoughkeepsie-ny.gov for updates, also available through the Town of Poughkeepsie’s board meetings, e-newsletters, fliers at town hall, ward meetings and information in the annual resident services guide.
Nickie Hayes is the Breaking & Trending News Reporter for the Poughkeepsie Journal and focuses on how to make the most of what the mid-Hudson Valley has to offer. See her most recent articles here. Contact reporter Nickie Hayes: NHayes@poughkee.gannett.com, 845-863-3518 and @nickieehayess on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Poughkeepsie closes on Gilkeson Center to resolve decades of facility issues
Reporting by Nickie Hayes, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
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