page_title: The Station (New Paltz restaurant)
section_title: Renovation
hierarchical_section_title: The Station (New Paltz restaurant) / Renovation
caption_attribution_description: English: An addition to the former railroad station in New Paltz, New York, after it had been converted to a restaurant.
context_page_description: The Station is an Italian restaurant and former train station in the village of New Paltz in Ulster County, New York. The building was the first of two railroad stations constructed in the town of New Paltz, and it is the only former Wallkill Valley Railroad station standing at its original location.
  After a lengthy public debate over whether to place the station to the east or west of the Wallkill River, it was built in 1870 on the east bank, within the village of New Paltz. The rail line was formally opened during a large ceremony on December 20, 1870. A decade later the station had become a popular departure point for the Mohonk Mountain House by many vacationers, including two U.S. presidents. In the late 19th century, over a dozen stagecoaches ran between the station and Mohonk daily.
  The station burned down in 1907 and was rebuilt later that year. The rise of the automobile caused the railroad to end passenger service in 1937; by 1959 the station was completely closed and sold off. After closure, it was used for a variety of businesses, including serving as a public-access television station.
context_section_description: Robert Mark Realty bought the former station in 1986 and renovated it at a cost of $175,000. Work began in October 1987 and was more than halfway done by January 1988. Matt Bialecki, the architect who had overseen the renovation of the former New Paltz opera house as a restaurant, served as the project's architect. Wilro Builders served as the contractor. The building's design follows a Shingle Style architecture and its sidings are both shingle and clapboard. There are bay windows on the east and west faces, and rafters are partly visible. The building served as a real estate office.
  On February 9, 1999, the village approved a plan to allow the building to open as a 36-seat Italian restaurant under the co-ownership of two men, Jeff DiMarco and Rocco Panetta. It was at this time the station was given its former name, La Stazione. DiMarco had previously managed construction for an adjacent restaurant, the Gilded Otter. He sold his ownership of The Station in August 2000.
  The building is adjacent to a rail trail, and there is a 3-foot (0.91 m) bike rack by the building's northern end. The village of New Paltz purchased its section of the former Wallkill Valley rail corridor from Conrail in 1991, formally opening it on October 9, 1993 as a public walkway, the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. The permit allowing The Station to operate as a restaurant also required the placement of a sign in the building's parking lot to indicate the presence of the trail. The village allowed The Station to place a public picnic table under an overhang by the rail trail, on the condition that the restaurant did not provide outdoor food service. In August 1999, the restaurant was forced to remove a gas tank and gas line that were placed under the trail; failure to do so could have resulted in the revocation of The Station's certificate of occupancy, preventing the building from being operated as a restaurant.
  In 2001, the village was experiencing water drainage issues in the area by the restaurant. By early 2002, the village approved plans for an expansion of The Station, which addressed the drainage issues; the restaurant offered to install larger pipes than were necessary in exchange for the village "defray[ing] their costs". When the Gardiner station burned down on October 10, 2002, The Station was left as the last former station of the Wallkill Valley Railroad remaining at its original location. The building's addition was completed in 2003.
  A scene from the 2008 mob film Front Man was filmed at The Station; the film's director, Ray Genadry, is the cousin of the restaurant's owner, Rocco Panetta. The scene featured Chris Colombo, son of the late Joseph Colombo, a former boss of the Colombo crime family. Colombo had previously starred in a 2005 mobster documentary on HBO. The building was added to the New Paltz Downtown Historic District on July 24, 2009.
caption: The Station being expanded in 2003
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