The battery company Zinc8 will locate its manufacturing operations at the former IBM site called iPark 87 in Kingston. The $68 million investment will create 500 clean energy jobs, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.

“It’s an opportunity to show who we are and to attract supply chain, to show other companies that they can be successful here," Hochul said. "It ties in with all of our goals: creating jobs, developing formerly abandoned sites, bringing them back to life, but also helps us achieve our very ambitious energy goals.”

It's part of the governor’s clean energy plan, which includes a $500 million investment in clean water funding and plans for zero-emission new construction by 2028.

Randy Spiesman, a Kingston native and nextdoor neighbor to the formerly abandoned campus, is glad to see a huge investment coming to the area.

“I grew up in Kingston and I remember driving and seeing parking lots full of cars," Spiesman said. "So many people worked there. It’s just a great thing. I’d love to see that parking lot filled with cars and people working.”

The project also includes 600 units of net-zero carbon housing. It's an addition to the local housing stock that Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger said is sorely needed.

“The fact that housing is being built into this project is huge," she said. "It’s really creating the whole ecosystem and the commitment to sustainability and net-zero. It’s standing up models.”

As a real estate agent, Spiesman agreed with Metzger. Six-hundred additional units will go a long way.

“The market is good, prices are holding fine," he said. "It’d just be nice to have people working in our area, living in our area, rather than commuting all the time.”