An international engineering and design firm will conduct a feasibility study in accordance with a plan by Mayor Steve Noble to build housing at the city’s underutilized business park. U.K.-based Buro Happold will conduct the study in conjunction with architects MVRDV and landscape architects Assemblage.

The Kingston Business Park opened in 1998 in an effort to bring manufacturing jobs back to the city following the disastrous shutdown of IBM’s massive facility in the Town of Ulster. Located on a 170-acre parcel off Delaware Avenue, the business park was designed to accommodate four or five light manufacturing facilities occupying 300,000 to 500,000 square feet of commercial space. But after 26 years and a revolving door of tenants, just two firms currently operate at the site: Howmet Aerospace and Community Manufacturing Solutions.

With Kingston facing a housing affordability crisis, plans call for repurposing a portion of the business park for residential or mixed-use development. But city officials concede that the project faces challenges based on the site’s location on boulder-strewn rugged upland terrain. Part of Buro Happold’s task will be to assess potential locations where housing could be built, as well as examine the site in the context of the city’s new Kingston Forward zoning code and make recommendations for programs to complement any residential use.

“[Buro Happold is] a firm that brings a wealth of experience and expertise in planning and designing mixed-use developments,” said Noble. “Here in Kingston, we are exploring a number of areas to increase our housing, and we believe the Kingston Business Park could be a great area to expand our housing options. The site does have some challenging topographical features, which will require a creative and forward-thinking approach. We look forward to seeing how Buro Happold approaches these infrastructure challenges.”

The effort to redevelop the business park comes as the city begins focusing on vacant or underutilized parcels Downtown to help accomplish a goal of building 1,000 new units of housing by 2029. Last week, Noble announced plans for the city to acquire a long-vacant site adjacent to Route 9W opposite Rondout Gardens for redevelopment into as many as 200 units of new housing.