WATERVLET — Eight years after the city last had regular food and bar service at its Hudson Shores Park, a new outlet, albeit not floating, is being developed for a projected opening on Fourth of July weekend.
Hudson Shores Tavern is under construction in a shipping container with a large deck. The owner is Lance Rider, who has owned the Albany bar Rocks for 19 years and last summer opened Just a Bar in the city’s warehouse district. The tavern is being built by Rider’s partner, Peter Hitchcock, who owns a construction business and built Just a Bar in a two-story brick building that until 2024 was home to Albany Elevator Inc.
As with Just a Bar, the partners were not actively looking for a new venture. But they fell in love with the warehouse district building, and when Watervliet Mayor Charles Patricelli stopped in and mentioned that he still hoped for a new bar/restaurant for Hudson Shores Park, the pair was intrigued, Hitchcock said…