New Business Planned For Route 9 Plaza Abandoned Since 2019

A vacant building on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie that was once the home of Umberto's Restaurant could now see new life.

In 2019 it was announced that Umberto's Restaurant would be closing after 45 years. Just before the pandemic hit, the Annunziata family made the decision to step away from their restaurant to instead focus on catering.

Not long after Umberto's closed, Stewart's Shops announced that they were seeking approval to purchase the building and convert it into a convenience store and gas station. The plan was submitted to the Town of Poughkeepsie and Stewart's continued to move forward with the project before suddenly withdrawing its application last spring.

In May, the company responded to an inquiry about their plans for the vacant Route 9 building with a short statement that read, "At this time, the application has been pulled and we do not have plans to move forward with this shop at this time."

Since then, the building has remained empty but now it appears that there may be another plan in the works for the old Umberto's building.

On February 16 the Town of Poughkeepsie Planning Board will be reviewing a plan to convert the building into a massive car wash. Splash Car Wash Inc. has submitted approval to open a 5,400-square-foot car wash. There used to be a small car wash attached to Umberto's, but this new business appears to be much larger in scale.

The current building is listed as just over 6,500 square feet and used to house the restaurant, pizzeria, car wash and another business. It's unknown if the plan would be to convert the existing structure into a larger car wash or completely raze it to make way for the new business.

The Poughkeepsie Planning Board is scheduled to review the plans next week.