LIVINGSTON MANOR — Livingston Manor, through the Town of Rockland, has been awarded $4.5 million through New York State’s NY Forward program, with the funding intended to support downtown improvements involving housing, infrastructure, public spaces, walkability and the arts.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the award July 8 during an event in Yonkers. Livingston Manor and the Village of Ellenville were each selected as Mid-Hudson Region winners of the fourth round of NY Forward, while Yonkers received $10 million through the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

“Anyone who’s spent time in Livingston Manor knows why people are drawn to it,” Hochul said. “It’s the creative vibe, the beautiful scenery, the Main Street that looks like a postcard.”

Hochul said the Livingston Manor proposal includes reimagining vacant properties, expanding arts spaces, improving walkability and strengthening connections to the Willowemoc Creek.

“This investment will help Livingston Manor remain unmistakably itself, but also enhancing that even more,” she said.

Town of Rockland Supervisor Rob Eggleton said meetings with the state and Hudson Valley Economic Department will occur this week to begin the planning process. The town has a number of projects listed that are, “close to shovel ready,” he said. 

One major project under consideration is a new sculpture garden for the Catskill Art Space, who announced the following day that its proposed project had been identified as a cornerstone of the Livingston Manor initiative.

The garden is envisioned as a public space beside the Willowemoc Creek, extending the organization’s art programming beyond its galleries and into the downtown.

“This grant is a powerful affirmation of what we have long believed: that art, culture and community are economic drivers,” Catskill Art Space Executive Director Sally Wright said. “The CAS sculpture garden will be a lasting and freely accessible landmark for residents and visitors alike. This moment belongs to all of us.”

The organization described the garden as part of Livingston Manor’s continued transformation from a community once supported by logging, tanning and the Catskills resort industry into a destination for the arts, outdoor recreation and small businesses.

According to Catskill Art Space, more than $38 million in public and private investment has gone into Livingston Manor over the past decade.

The hamlet’s Main Street now includes galleries, breweries, boutiques, restaurants and other businesses alongside its historic buildings.

Hochul said NY Forward was created to give smaller communities access to the type of concentrated downtown investment available through the larger Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

“We launched these two programs because we know investing in downtowns is not about investing in a space,” Hochul said. “It’s about investing in people and their identity, which is often so linked to the community they’re raised in or that they move to.”

The state has committed more than $1.4 billion to the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward programs to date.

Hochul said each of this year’s Mid-Hudson recipients had also been designated a Pro-Housing Community and emphasized housing construction as part of the state’s downtown revitalization strategy.