Watervliet Getting a Riverfront Overhaul Including Old Rusty Anchor Bar

More reconstruction is coming and this time it's the Watervliet riverfront. The Hudson Shores Park will be getting a complete overhaul including replacing the old Rusty Anchor Restaurant and Bar.

The Rusty Anchor Restaurant and Bar was actually a floating barge that used to have good food and great happy hours. In January 2019, about four years ago, there was an ice jam in the Hudson River that caused the Rusty Anchor to break free from its moorings and float down the river. It eventually crashed into the Livingston Avenue Bridge in Albany.

The barge was badly damaged and had to be scrapped. The shoreline near Hudson Shores Park still holds the pilings and those metal ramps that, if you wanted to party on the Rusty Anchor, you needed to cross those bridges.

What Will Be Built in That Area?

There is a rendering or a sketch that depicts what the plan will be to build up Hudson Shores Park. They are looking to bring a tour boat operation and install a bulkhead that would have stairs to the river according to the Albany Business Review. There would be another permanent restaurant with a bar, new ramps, and a row of trees. The trees would act as a way to silence the noise from traffic on nearby 787. They hope to build a tunnel too from foot and bicycle traffic so pedestrians and patrons could get to the park safely.

What Happens Next?

There is also interest from the City of Watervliet to put in a permanent restaurant and bar that will have a deck that faces the Hudson River. The builders are hoping to get the owner of Hudson Cruises to have a forty-seat tour boat and maybe a pontoon boat that would be at the park. These tour boats would be offered to the public and are similar to the Captain JP service.

The Watervliet City Council may be able to vote on a resolution by the end of this month to negotiate a contract with the cruise line.