CBS Visits Poughkeepsie For ’60 Minutes’ Segment About the City

Lesley Stahl took a trip to Poughkeepsie during Sunday night's show.

In a segment on this weekend's edition of the award-winning news magazine program, Poughkeepsie was described as a "once-thriving industrial city" that has seen better days. Stahl pointed out that Poughkeepsie has seen factories closed down and now has many boarded-up storefronts. The reporter pointed out that the city's geography is also working against it. With the arterials running east and west through Poughkeepsie, the downtown area is essentially "chopped off" by highways.

Despite its challenges, one Poughkeepsie man is helping the city rise from the ashes through his passion for architecture. Stahl interviewed Michael Murphy, who discovered his passion for architecture after returning home to Poughkeepsie to be with his dying father. Together, they restored their historic city home and then Murphy was inspired to turn his attention towards the rest of the city.

The segment highlights Murphy's work restoring an old trolly barn and turning it into an art space. His company, MASS Design Group, is working out of their Main Street office designing housing and finding ways to utilize abandoned buildings throughout Poughkeepsie. One project the company completed in 2017 is Maple Street Housing. The site, which is located next to the oldest remaining home in Poughkeepsie, has added 40 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units to the city.

Stahl took a walk through Murphy's latest projects, converting an abandoned building into a food hall and transforming an old factory into the headquarters of Scenic Hudson. Groundbreaking on the food hall project, known as the HIVE took place last October. in coordination with Baxter Built. The building on Academy Street will include a fresh food market, food hall vendors, commissary and teaching kitchen, a craft brewery, co-working space, and 28 residential units.