Newburgh approves 33-year tax deal to renovate Bourne, Kenney apartments

Newburgh gave Pennrose a 33-year property-tax deal to help finance a long-awaited overhaul of the Bourne and Kenney apartments at 55 Walsh Road, a move city leaders cast as the price of forcing a distressed complex back into livable shape.

The City Council’s April 13 agenda listed Resolution No. 57-2026, authorizing the city manager to execute a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Bourne and Kenney Housing Development Fund Company, Inc., for Bourne and Kenney LLC. In plain terms, the city agreed to accept reduced tax payments over more than three decades so the project can support major renovations, even as Newburgh gives up a portion of the property-tax revenue it would otherwise collect.

The decision comes after months of crisis at the apartments. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a verified petition in Orange County Supreme Court on February 3 against Bourne & Kenney Redevelopment Company, LLC and All County Property Management, Inc., saying tenants had lacked consistent heat and hot water since at least 2023. The petition also said about 160 code violations remained unaddressed and listed mold, leaking sewage, unsafe electrical wiring, cockroach and mice infestations, peeling paint and roof leaks.

That record of neglect helped turn the PILOT vote into more than a routine financing matter. News 12 reported that city inspectors logged 64 code violations at the complex in January alone, four times the total recorded during all of 2025. Mayor Torrence Harvey apologized on Jan. 13 after previously saying heat had returned, when residents said it had not.

Pennrose says the redevelopment will preserve and revitalize 205 affordable homes, with apartments ranging from studios to four bedrooms and targeted to households earning up to 60% of area median income. The company says the project is in pre-development and is expected to move forward in 2026, with work phased to limit disruption. Pennrose also says it plans to keep the apartments affordable for at least 40 more years, improve building systems and interiors, and seek at least 140 project-based voucher units through the Newburgh Housing Authority.

For current residents, the most immediate protection is temporary space while apartments are remodeled, a critical detail for families who have already lived through boiler failures and months of complaints. A January town hall drew nearly 100 tenants from the complex, underscoring how deeply the conditions had worn on the community.

City Councilman Ronald Zorrilla said the agreement tied the project to performance and code enforcement, arguing that Newburgh could not keep allowing a tax discount while residents were mistreated. The city is now betting that a long PILOT will deliver what years of complaints and inspections did not: safer, more reliable housing for tenants at Bourne and Kenney.