A major boost is coming to development efforts in the city of Poughkeepsie as the state announces a $10 million grant for downtown development.

Poughkeepsie Mayor Yvonne Flowers said the state funds are a huge deal for the city because they will potentially contribute to several projects her administration is working on right now. Those projects include increasing foot traffic at the Bardavon theater, further developing Cannon Street and turning Market Street into a two-way.

Flowers said the funding is about more than just these plans.

“It all aligned well to show that we were ready for development in our city to expand even more than what is going now," she said. "So this $10 million is going to help spark even more of a growth, and it happened a little faster than we expected, which is great.”

Flowers added there’s not yet a timeline for deploying these funds. They will work with the state and also get input from the local community.