It’s time for the regeneration of six beautiful buildings in the heart of Woodstock!
Our beloved former library and funeral home on the west end of Tinker Street are being repurposed, recycled and reborn, undergoing a complete makeover so they can address the needs of Woodstock residents.
The team that brought you the renovation of Bearsville Theater and Utopia Recording Studios is once again working to update and repurpose old spaces that are integral to the town and its creative, community-focused philosophy. Six beloved, but redundant, older buildings will be updated and reimagined for multi-purpose use, creating the best possible low-cost rental housing, coworking spaces, and facilities for use by health practitioners and other community members.
We call this Project Regeneration. Project Regeneration seeks to serve five key needs of the Woodstock community.
FACILITATING
Sustainable Employment
Decent jobs are also not easy to come by. We want to support Woodstockers so they can build new businesses and create sustainable jobs for diverse income groups. We are working with New York State government agencies to create a physical hub where Woodstock entrepreneurs and innovators can find the advice and services they need to be successful.
Building on Woodstock’s history of creative and progressive values that benefit the community, we are planning a state-of-the-art co-working space where enterprising folks can rent, at a reasonable cost, space to work on their own projects, network, and socialize with like-minded neighbors.
CREATING
Green and Affordable Housing
Housing is in short supply in Woodstock and expensive to rent. So we plan to build at least 12 attractive, affordable, and 100% “green” new housing units. These comfortable apartments will be carefully built, or converted, so the energy costs to live in them will be minimal.
ENABLIING
Community Building
Woodstock is short on adequate health services. We plan on dedicating facilities within our buildings to medical practitioners and health providers, nurturing a much-needed community of accessible healers.
Utilizing
Renewable Energy
Most of us are worried about climate change. We plan on making the whole project carbon neutral with net-zero energy use. We will be using many types of sustainable and renewable building materials and techniques to reach that goal. Then we will publish all that information here, including how we do it and what it costs, so others can do the same in their own homes.
Establishing
A Beautiful Park
The icing on the cake is a bigger public park for all to enjoy! We want to extend the Forever Green area in front of the former library, more than doubling its size and creating a new park located on the lawns of the former Lasher Funeral Home. This new park will feature natural ponds, permaculture orchards, old-tree celebration spaces, and a natural play area for children, honoring the past while addressing current needs.
What’s the Background?
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Woodstock’s Comprehensive Plan from 2018 spells out the need for:
- More housing options with smaller, more affordable units, particularly for artists
- Renewable energy use plus energy efficiency
- Expanded recreational facilities
- More diverse types of businesses, encouraged by the establishment of a “business incubator” to support local people
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The Project Regeneration team has taken into consideration the needs expressed in the Comprehensive Plan and matched them to the desire to reuse the six beautiful buildings on the west end of Tinker Street:
- The former Woodstock Library (the first part of which was built in 1777), which has now moved to a new building on Dixon Avenue
- The Lasher Funeral Home at 100 Tinker Street, which closed in 2022
- The house adjacent to Lasher’s at 106 Tinker Street
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Who’s on the Team?
We live and work in Woodstock. Our small group is led by Lizzie Vann and her Bearsville colleagues, along with the architectural expertise of Graydon Yearick and Joseph Vescio, and the engineers Barry Medenback and Solomon Latham.
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Where will this happen?
All of this exciting work takes place in the three adjoining properties at 106 Tinker Street, 100 Tinker Street, and 5 Library Lane, in Woodstock, New York.
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What is the timeline?
Our plans must go through extensive review by you, the citizens of Woodstock. This work has begun and will continue over many months into 2026.
Get Involved
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