Struggling Newburgh business owners who have been surviving on the hope that new development may bring them much-needed foot traffic have reason to be excited.

A five-story, affordable housing project could soon be built on Liberty Street, a business district where shop owners have had to be creative to make up for the absence of walk-in customers.

It is not a done deal, though.

Dorea Paci, owner of Betty's Snack Bar, said businesses like hers stand to benefit a lot from the project, One Lafayette, if it receives the green light from the City Council and the Newburgh Industrial Development Agency.

"You see a lot of empty storefronts," Paci said as she wiped down the restaurant's windows facing Liberty Street. "I don't foresee those stores filling up until we have a larger density of people."

Developer Andrew Schrijver, who is not far removed from finishing the third phase of the Foundry just behind the One Lafayette site, is planning 145 apartments.

There would be 18 market-rate apartments.

The rest would be for renters making between 30% and 80% of the area median income.

The project would cost up to $75 million, Schrijver said.

"This project offers the opportunity to reknit the downtown and bring people back," he said Thursday standing at the proposed One Lafayette site, "while simultaneously providing housing options that are affordable."

Schrijver said that to be able to offer rents as low at $1,000 a month, he needs the Newburgh IDA to grant the project more than $7 million in tax breaks over the next 30 years.

The IDA board has been waiting for the city council's blessing before awarding the tax relief.

Ward 2 City Councilwoman Ramona Monteverde, who represents the neighborhood where Schrijver is planning to build, said the project could inspire future developments, but added that many city residents are still "in fear of change."

She has heard from homeowners who struggle pay the full non-homestead property tax rate have concerns about fairness.

"There's the 30% homeowners who bear the tax burden in the city of Newburgh," Monteverde said. "So we're trying to take all of this into account."

Schrijver said that if he is not granted tax relief soon, the project might not happen.

If he does receive it on time, he expects construction to begin this fall, and the project to be completed by fall 2027.