A $1.15 million state grant will help transform a former schoolhouse in Uptown Kingston into an office and residential complex. On Tuesday, Mayor Steve Noble announced the new funding through the state’s Restore New York program.

The money will help fund the St. Joseph’s Lofts redevelopment project on Wall Street. Plans call for the conversion of the 16,000-square-foot, three-story original St. Joseph’s School building at 236 Wall into an event center and office space. The adjacent former convent house at 59 Pearl St. would hold three market-rate apartments. Developer Charles Blaichman bought the buildings in 2020. Blaichman has experience with adaptive reuse projects in the Stockade District — he’s the developer behind the Hotel Kinsley, a constellation of small boutique hotels located in historic Uptown buildings. Blaichman has previously said that he hoped to place a mid-sized music venue in the former schoolhouse.

“This funding will help with an exciting redevelopment project that makes improvements to unique existing historical buildings,” said Mayor Steve Noble in a statement announcing the grant. “Projects like the St. Joseph’s Lofts are exactly the kind of smart development we need in our community, that preserve historic architecture, create new neighborhood amenities and build much-needed housing.”

The money for the schoolhouse project is part of a $112.9 million package of Restore New York funding announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday. The money will go towards 70 projects around the state including a $10 million allocation to the owners of the former TechCity, now iPark 87, to fund the ongoing rehabilitation of the site. The Restore New York program offers aid to local governments to revitalize neighborhoods, build their commercial tax base and get vacant properties back on the tax rolls. Previous rounds of Restore New York funding have assisted the effort to convert a former cigar factory in Midtown into a new home for the Photography Center Woodstock and the 2017 teardown of the former Mid-City Lanes bowling alley to make way for RUPCO’s Energy Square project.