Tinkelman Architecture is preparing to break ground on a five-story building, located at the Van Wagner Place mixed-use campus in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., that will have 28 luxury apartments, commercial space on the first floor with an indoor pool that will be used by the British Swim School franchise, and a top-floor community space that opens onto a roof deck.
Tinkelman Companies, the firm’s development and property management arm, has been involved with Van Wagner Place for a decade, starting with the renovation and repurposing of four derelict buildings. The campus is now home to offices, shops, and other businesses, as well as the firm’s headquarters inside a former warehouse in Poughkeepsie’s Arlington business district.
In fact, over the 30 years it has been serving New York’s Hudson Valley, Tinkelman Architecture has been the designer on more than 100 projects within that market. Its fingerprints can be found on local banks, wineries, restaurants, retail stores, historic structures and parks, to say nothing of the numerous residential projects it has engaged.
“We like doing a lot of housing,” says Steven Tinkelman, a Poughkeepsie native and life-long Hudson Valley resident, who founded Tinkelman Architecture in 1993. Over the years, his work has contributed to this market becoming, in his words, “more sophisticated, regional, cosmopolitan.”
Tinkelman Architecture generates between $1 million and $2 million per year in revenue from its design work, and double that when development and property management are included.
Wide-ranging projects
A graduate of Cooper Union and a modernist by training, Tinkelman also acknowledges the aesthetic influence of rustic summer camping as a child. “So there’s a blending of modern tradition with sticks and twigs,” he quips.
His 14-person firm has no signature architectural style, and he is fine with that agnostic approach because he believes it opens portals to pursue a diversity of projects in a market where, he says, other small design firms have come and gone. (While the market’s growth has attracted more civil engineering and construction firms, Tinkelman observes that there’s still a need for structural and mechanical engineers.)
One of Tinkelman Architecture’s better-known infrastructure projects was the design for the Upper Landing Park in Poughkeepsie, which sits under a 1.28-mile walkway across the Hudson River, which opened in 2009. The park includes an elevator to the walkway, which is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world.
Among the projects Tinkelman Architecture is currently working on are a 56-unit residential building in Fishkill, N.Y., with 5,000 sf of commercial space; and a 40- to 45-unit residential building in the urban part of Poughkeepsie that will overlook its train station. The latter project, says Tinkelman, includes the restoration of an 1860s-era building that will be used by an arts organization.
The firm has also designed a four-story, 20-unit building called The Westerly, and was recently retained by New York’s Dutchess County to design a campus for homeless housing.
Seeking expansion opportunities
Among Tinkleman’s ongoing clients is the retailer Adams Fairacre Farms, whose stores mingle a country feeling with contemporary design. Tinkelman designed this retailer’s outlets in Newburgh and Wappinger, N.Y., and the expansion of its Poughkeepsie location. The firm is currently working on Adams Faircare Farms’ 56,643-sf store in Middletown, N.Y., which is under construction, and when completed next year will include a 2,905-sf tropical greenhouse and 6,048-sf seasonal greenhouse.
Tinkleman Architecture is looking to expand beyond the region with which it has become synonymous. It currently has active projects in Ulster and Orange counties (the latter is where the Middletown store will be located), and has been looking for opportunities in Westchester County and nearby Connecticut. But Tinkelman, who lives with his wife Rachel in Pleasant Valley, N.Y., says he still gets a kick from seeing local residents course through buildings and spaces in the mid-Hudson Valley his firm helped create.
Related Stories
Urban Planning | Jul 28, 2022
A former military base becomes a substation with public amenities
On the site of a former military base in the Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco, a new three-story substation will house critical electrical infrastructure to replace an existing substation across the street.
Hotel Facilities | Jul 28, 2022
As travel returns, U.S. hotel construction pipeline growth follows
According to the recently released United States Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the total U.S. construction pipeline stands at 5,220 projects/621,268 rooms at the close of 2022’s second quarter, up 9% Year-Over-Year (YOY) by projects and 4% YOY by rooms.
Codes and Standards | Jul 27, 2022
Biden administration proposes drastic flood insurance reform
The Biden administration’s proposed major overhaul to the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, would drastically alter how Americans protect homes and businesses against flooding.
Concrete | Jul 26, 2022
Consortium to set standards and create markets for low-carbon concrete
A consortium of construction firms, property developers, and building engineers have pledged to drive down the carbon emissions of concrete.
Green | Jul 26, 2022
Climate tech startup BlocPower looks to electrify, decarbonize the nation's buildings
The New York-based climate technology company electrifies and decarbonizes buildings—more than 1,200 of them so far.
Education Facilities | Jul 26, 2022
Malibu High School gets a new building that balances environment with education
In Malibu, Calif., a city known for beaches, surf, and sun, HMC Architects wanted to give Malibu High School a new building that harmonizes environment and education.
| Jul 26, 2022
Better design with a “brain break”
During the design process, there aren’t necessarily opportunities to implement “brain breaks,” brief moments to take a purposeful pause from the task at hand and refocus before returning to work.
Building Team | Jul 25, 2022
First Ismaili Center in the U.S. combines Islamic design with Texas influences
Construction has begun on the first Ismaili Center in the U.S. in Houston.
Codes and Standards | Jul 22, 2022
Office developers aim for zero carbon without offsets
As companies reassess their office needs in the wake of the pandemic, a new arms race to deliver net zero carbon space without the need for offsets is taking place in London, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
Codes and Standards | Jul 22, 2022
Hurricane-resistant construction may be greatly undervalued
New research led by an MIT graduate student at the school’s Concrete Sustainability Hub suggests that the value of buildings constructed to resist wind damage in hurricanes may be significantly underestimated.