COHOES, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Gov. Kathy Hochul announced millions of dollars in funding for several upstate towns and cities as part of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The City of Cohoes received $10 million, the town of Coxsackie received $4.5 million, and Cambridge and Kinderhook received $2.5 million each. 

“Reinvigorate our historic places so they’re here 150 years from now, our city hall, the music hall, the beautiful public library we have here,” Hochul said.

Cohoes has been seeking funding to restore the city’s library and historic music hall, receiving multiple grants over the past year for much-needed repairs. Mayor Bill Keeler said the $10 million will go towards bringing new apartments and opportunities to the downtown area. 

“We are reimagining that downtown and with this DRI funding, long-vacant buildings will soon have ground-floor restaurants, entertainment shops, shopping supported by new residents who live in apartments up above,” Keeler said.

Hochul said housing that would increase population density and bring small businesses to Upstate New York is one of her top priorities.  She proposed funding for the New York Housing Compact in her State of the State address in January, with a goal of building 800,000 homes across the state over the next three years.

“I’m leaning hard into this idea of building more housing simply because other states are far ahead of us,” Hochul said. “We’re losing people to our neighboring states because they have more supply therefore the prices are cheaper.”