A recently completed study found that the city’s underutilized business park in Ponckhockie could hold more than 600 units of housing. But at a meeting with city lawmakers last month, city Director of Housing Initiatives Bartek Starodaj conceded that the development of the site faced obstacles including rugged terrain, lack of infrastructure and relative isolation retail and other amenities.

“This site has some challenges,” Starodaj said at a Feb. 25 meeting of the Kingston Common Council’s Housing and Community Development Committee. “But it could be a great place to live.”

The Kingston Business Park was created in 1998 in the wake of IBM’s economy-wrecking departure from the city. City leaders at the time hoped that creating a new “shovel-ready” industrial site would help maintain what was left of Kingston’s manufacturing sector while attracting new business. Investment in the site, which sits high up on rugged terrain overlooking the Hudson River off Delaware Avenue, included construction of an access road and water, sewer and electrical infrastructure. But plans for four or five light manufacturing businesses occupying 500,000 square feet at the site never came to fruition and today it is at just 30 percent occupancy.

Last year, the city commissioned urban planning consulting firm Buro Happold to conduct a feasibility study to explore the potential for creating a mixed-use development, including housing at the site. The study found that about 640 units could be accommodated in various configurations while leaving much of the surrounding forest intact. The plan calls for the total preservation of the entire eastern side of the site, which includes a steep escarpment, former mining pits and other rough terrain. The remainder could be developed with selective clearing with housing and other buildings clustered within the forest.

The study found that the proposed new community would enjoy access to a number of local amenities, including a direct link to the new Sojourner Truth State Park. The site also has easy access to Kingston Point and Hasbrouck Parks, JFK Elementary School and the Empire State Trail. But the study also identified drawbacks, including the fact that the site sits atop a steep hill making it difficult to access on foot or by bike. The study also found limited prospects for retail or other commercial activity at the site (though it did find the parcel could likely support medical offices or a daycare facility).

The business park is owned by the Kingston Local Development Corporation and, Starodaj said, the process of finding a developer to buy or lease the site would be in their hands. Other considerations include who would fund additional infrastructure needed to develop the site and what, if any, role the city would play in the process.

“Despite the topographical and some ecological challenges this is a large site that’s really accessible to some amenities that are quite exciting,” Starodaj told lawmakers.