Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that the Village of Maybrook will receive $25.48 million to transform the long-vacant Maybrook Rail Yard into a modern industrial park, part of a broader state initiative to attract manufacturing companies to upstate New York.
The funding, awarded through the state’s Focused Attraction of Shovel-Ready Tracts New York program, will support infrastructure improvements at the site to create the Switchyard Terminal for Economic and Advanced Manufacturing Rail & Business Park. The grant will fund upgrades to roads, water, sewer and drainage systems, resulting in six building-pad sites accessible via the existing Middletown, New Jersey, rail line.
The Maybrook award was the largest of five grants totaling more than $43 million announced by Hochul under the seventh round of FAST NY funding. The program, administered by Empire State Development, has awarded more than $326 million to 39 sites across upstate New York since its inception.
“Through FAST NY, we are effectively promoting manufacturing and bringing good-paying jobs to communities across Upstate New York,” Hochul said in a statement. “Leading companies are choosing to come to New York because of our top-tier workforce, and the added attraction of plentiful shovel-ready sites makes our state a destination for world-class businesses seeking to expand their operations here.”
Located 75 miles from New York City in Orange County, the redeveloped site aims to establish Maybrook as a regional economic hub and attract strategic industries to the area.
Village of Maybrook Mayor Dennis Leahy said the rail yard has long represented both potential and disappointment for the community.
“Today, through Governor Hochul’s leadership and the FAST NY program, we take a transformative step forward,” Leahy said.
The Maybrook Rail Yard operated as a major freight interchange from 1889 until 1974, when a fire destroyed the Poughkeepsie Bridge and severed the rail line. At its peak, the yard featured 177 tracks spanning more than 71 track-miles and served as the western gateway for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
After the rail yard closed, Yellow Freight Corp. developed a portion of the property but filed for bankruptcy in 2023. That property was later purchased by R+L Carriers, an Ohio-based trucking company.
The announcement comes days after the Town of Montgomery Industrial Development Agency approved an application for a film production studio expected to create 800 to 1,200 jobs with average salaries ranging from $100,000 to $145,000.
Vincent Rouhotas, executive director of the Town of Montgomery Industrial Development Agency, called it “a monumental week for economic development” in the region.
Hochul secured an additional $100 million in the fiscal 2026 executive budget to expand the FAST NY program.