Developers have big plans for apartments, fire truck museum in Middletown

Feb. 20--MIDDLETOWN -- Yet another developer is betting big that Middletown is where young people want to live, work and play, purchasing two prominent downtown buildings and continuing the city's red-hot recent redevelopment streak.

Andrew Leider closed on the Fort Knox Self-Storage Building at 9-29 Canal St. on Tuesday, and he said he will soon purchase the former Acme Bus Corp. building, also a former Honda dealership, at 21 Fulton St.

The Fort Knox building will remain a storage facility, with a few commercial tenants, until February 2020 when, pending city planning board approval, Leider plans to convert it to market-rate apartments and retail by February 2021.

By June, Leider intends to transform the Acme Bus Corp. building into a museum for 30 fire trucks from Orange, Sullivan and other local counties. Most of the fire trucks will come from his personal collection of nearly 600, manufactured between 1915 and 1990.

"This (redevelopment) is our Middletown theme, 'Live, work, and play,' happening right on that block," said Maria Bruni, Middletown director of economic and community development.

Leider, 66, of Warwick and Staten Island, is a Middletown-based real estate attorney, and he's been a residential and commercial developer in New York City since 1979.

By Leider's count, he's participated in eight medium- to large-scale development projects since 1979, converting factories into residential buildings and reconfiguring industrial buildings for commercial uses, primarily in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Proceeds from the recent sale of a 22-unit apartment building, which he and partners built 16 years ago in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, funded the $3.25 million cash purchase of the 130,000-square-foot Fort Knox Building from West Solloway.

Now, Leider, managing and majority partner in the Fort Knox building, and three silent partners plan to invest $9 million to convert the four-story building into 40 to 50 market-rate apartments. Nearly all will have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Besides including retail space, Leider may target a restaurant and a café. The vehicle lot for the parking-challenged building is planned for next to the former Acme Bus building, which Leider and the same silent partners are about to buy for $1.15 million from the Baumann Bus Co.

"I believe Middletown has the location -- it's the heart of Orange County -- and a governmental administration that has been heavily focused on bringing the city up," Leider said.

"Demand is here for market-rate housing, and you now have infinitely better transportation from the city, restaurants and various things to do," Leider added. "Plus, there's Orange Regional Medical Center, and proximity to institutions of higher learning, including Touro, so there are opportunities to bring young professionals back to the city."

Leider hopes to use a mix of commercial loans, state and federal historic tax credits and state economic redevelopment grants to fund the Fort Knox building overhaul.

The historic brick building began as the Orange County Milk Association's creamery in the 1860s, before being purchased by the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co. in 1882.

The Borden's Milk Condensary took it over in 1902, closing most of its operations in 1925 and the last remnants in 1937. Thereafter, the building served as the Classy Leather Goods factory for more than a quarter century.

"The building has so much architectural character, but now an old factory will be transformed into a vibrant repurposed building, with great potential for residential and commercial space," Bruni said.

Leider's unlikely hobby collecting fire trucks is a whole other story, featured by national news outlets such as the New York Times. Now, some of his local trucks will be moved from his various warehouses to a fire truck museum at the former Acme Bus building.

Leider is a retired full colonel, who served in the U.S. Army Reserves and acted as the New York Army National Guard's liaison officer to New York City, including during 9/11.

Moved to his marrow by the bravery of 9/11 firefighters, Leider began his collection with one damaged 9/11 fire truck before expanding it to honor each fallen firefighter.

A name has yet to be picked for the 15,000-square-foot fire truck museum, which also will house the former archives of the Ontario and Western Railroad, currently located in the Fort Knox Building and overseen by a nonprofit. Leider plans to invest $100,000 to fix the building for a summer fire truck museum opening, plus an undecided amount for future improvements.

Leider "is making a significant investment, to go along with some other pretty large investments in downtown," said Middletown Mayor Joe DeStefano. "We need to continue changing perceptions to continue to make Middletown a cleaner and safer place to attract businesses and people."

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