Think Dutchess 2017

THINKDUTCHESS MAGAZINE

$500M Investment Transforms Healthcare in the Hudson Valley Beacon – Art, Entrepreneurs and Revitalization  Millennials Bring New Life to Historic Properties Poughkeepsie’s Hudson River Waterfront Reinvented Craft Beverages and Farms Boost Local Economy

Changing the World GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the largest privately held semiconductor company in the world, bringing customers around the globe the differentiated semiconductor solutions that are transforming industries.

Our team at Fab 10 in East Fishkill works to deliver the products we depend on today and develop the technologies that drive what’s possible for tomorrow. Technologies manufactured in Fab 10 are used in applications ranging from mobile and wired communications to data centers and cloud computing.

50+ Years in Dutchess County • 2,000 Employees Locally • Thousands of Patents

Our Community Connection We are proud to be part of the community fabric of Dutchess County.

• Our employees give generously to the local community through charitable donations and volunteer activities.

• Fab 10 volunteers mentor local students, encouraging them to pursue careers in science and math.

• We work with regional partners to develop the skilled local workforce we rely on for continued success.

globalfoundries.com ©2016 GLOBALFOUNDRIES

Our family of hospitals and healthcare facilities is completely dedicated to another family. Yours.

Health Quest is transforming healthcare for the communities of the Mid-Hudson Valley. By providing a high level of care close to home, patients have access to top-notch providers who can easily connect them with leading specialists in the Health Quest network. Expect more than a doctor, expect an entire network of dedicated healthcare professionals. Learn more at healthquest.org

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Think Dutchess Magazine

Marcus J. Molinaro and Anthony Campagiorni Co-Chairs, Dutchess County Economic Development Advisory Council

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ocated in the heart of New York’s Hudson Valley, Dutchess County has long been known for its hightech industries, educational institutions, and charming cities, towns, and villages, as well as its wealth of arts, culture, recreation, and culinary offerings. This magazine is designed to highlight the assets of Dutchess County and why so many people find it a great place to live, work, and do business in.

From the eras when the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt families built their great country estates along the Hudson River, Dutchess County has been home to thriving industries and entrepreneurial endeavors. IBM has long been a mainstay in the county, continuing to employ thousands of workers and producing the most powerful and secure computer system ever built: IBM’s z13. Companies

like Gap Inc. and its Northeast distribution center continue to expand alongside data centers and technology companies, including leading advanced manufacturers that range from highend lighting and injection-molded automotive parts to military-gradeactive-matrix microdisplays and infrared optical components.

Today, Dutchess County’s economic development efforts have coalesced under the Think Dutchess Alliance for Business. Members of the Alliance are working together as a team under one countywide strategy to expand and diversify economic opportunities and enhance the quality of life for all in Dutchess County.

We hope you enjoy reading about all that Dutchess County has to offer and get inspired to Think Dutchess!

Cover image: Mary Fris, owner of Flora Garden and Home in Beacon, New York. Photo by Eva Deitch.

Right: Scenes from the Annual Hudson Valley Hot-Air Balloon Festival.

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Table of Contents

MEMBERS OF THE DUTCHESS COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL Sheila Appel, IBM Corporation

Ed Kellogg, PC Construction

Mike Betros, D’Arcangelo & Co.

Julie Krieger, M&T Bank

Betsy Brown, Morris Engineering

Joseph Lepore, LCS Companies

Paul Calogerakis, Poughkeepsie Alliance

Timmian Massie, HealthQuest

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DUTCHESS AT A GLANCE

5

MAP

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DUTCHESS COUNTY PROFILE

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RICH HISTORY, BRIGHT FUTURE

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PROFILE: KIM WILLIAMS Community Connection Drives Family Business

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POUGHKEEPSIE Thriving on the River: Poughkeepsie Gains Momentum

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PROFILE: STEVEN EFFRON Jam Packed: Poughkeepsie Roots, Global Business

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HEALTHCARE A New Dawn of Innovation: Healthcare Rises in Dutchess County

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PROFILE: DENISE GEORGE Care Leader Enjoys a Healthy Lifestyle

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EDUCATION A Winning Partnership: Working with Business to Educate the NextGeneration Workforce

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PROFILE: KATHLEEN DURHAM Leader Empowers Young Women to Lifelong Success

38

HUDSON VALLEY REGIONAL AIRPORT Flying High: Dutchess County is Taking Off

44

PROFILE: MICHAEL LYONS IBM Draws Young Talent to Dutchess County

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BEACON A River City Reinvents Itself

Anthony Campagiorni, Central Hudson

Michael McCormack, Liscum McCormack VanVoorhis

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Christy Caridi, Marist College

PROFILE: BRIAN ARNOFF Everything, Especially the Kitchen Sink

Carl Meyer, TSEC

Melissa Clark, United Way

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Richard Mignault, CIA

AGRICULTURE Growth Opportunity: Dutchess County’s Agricultural Heritage

60

PROFILE: JOSH MORGENTHAU A Return to the Family Farm

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PAWLING A Storied Past with an Eye on the Future

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REAL ESTATE The Real Deal: Ambitious Development Projects Boost Residential Options

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FINAL WORD For Life And Work, Dutchess County Rises Above

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THINK DUTCHESS

Charlie Daniels, Rose & Kiernan John Davies, Salisbury Bank Tim Dean, Marshall and Sterling Steve Domber, Berkshire Hathaway

Marcus Molinaro, Dutchess County Mark Newton, Hudson Valley Radiology

Rob Dyson, Dyson Kissner Moran Corporation

Jason Page, Page Park Associates

Pamela Edington, SUNY Dutchess

Andrea Reynolds, Dyson Foundation

Patrick Flaherty, Global Foundries March Gallagher, Community Foundation of the Hudson Valley

Mike Quinn, Rhinebeck Bank Barry Rothfeld, Poughkeepsie Journal, Retired

Ronald Hicks, Dutchess County

Steve Salomone, Houlihan Lawrence

Robert Kaehler, Perreca Electric

Brian Swarthout, Vassar College

Mark Kastner, The Chazen Companies

David Yellen, Marist College

Custom publishing services provided by

Luminarymedia.com.

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At A Glance

Dutchess County At A Glance

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Community Population*

Union Vale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,864

Poughkeepsie, Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,944

Washington. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,725

Poughkeepsie, City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,716

Amenia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,399

East Fishkill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,241

Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,306

Wappinger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,194

Stanford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,819

Fishkill, Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23,392

North East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,022

Hyde Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,474

Rhinebeck, Village. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,642

LaGrange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,763

Pine Plains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,576

Beekman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,557

Pawling, Village. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,297

Beacon, City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,437

Milan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,254

Red Hook, Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,298

Fishkill, Village. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,923

Pleasant Valley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,708

Red Hook, Village . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,760

Dover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,638

Millbrook, Village. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,510

Pawling, Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,420

Tivoli, Village. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,091

Rhinebeck, Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,641

Millerton, Village. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

Wappingers Falls, Village . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,377

*Population as of 2014 Census.

At A Glance

MASS.

COL U

MBI

A CO

UNT

Y

Bard College

Red Hook 199

Rhinebeck 9

44

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Millbrook kwa y

e Par

Taconic St a t

ULSTER COUNTY

Hyde Park

Culinary Institute of America Marist College

CONNECTICUT

HUDSON

RIVER

Stanfordville

SUNY Dutchess

Vassar College

22

Dutchess County Airport

Poughkeepsie

55

ORANGE C OUNTY

Pawling 84

Beacon

OUNTY PUTNAM C

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Demographics

.4% 18

POPULATION

HELOR'S DEGREE BAC

295,754

15 .1

as of July 2015

%

M AS

R'S TE D EG R

MEDIAN AGE

40

26.7 %

GE LLE CO E M SO

EE

Educated Workforce

HI G

GROWTH OF MILLENNIAL POPULATION

H SC

O HO

DU RA LG

19

ATE

9.7% ASS OC IAT E'S

Dutchess County Profile

21%

.8

%

between 2010 & 2025

85%

of Dutchess County High School grads plan on attending college or other post-secondary education.

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT (full-time) Bard College Culinary Institute of America

2,778

AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME

6,425 5,600

Marist College

AVERAGE COMMUTE TO WORK 7,006

SUNY New Paltz

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$224,700 $90,923

2,406

Dutchess Community College

Vassar College

MEDIAN HOME PRICE

2,396

31 min.

Demographics

#

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TOP 6 INDUSTRIES

Dutchess County ranks #3 (out of 114) for safest mid-sized metro areas across the U.S.

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Dutchess County Colleges listed in

Princeton Review's 2017 Best Colleges

Health Care & Social Assistance: 19,234 Retail Trade: 14,211 Accommodation & Food Services: 9,391 Manufacturing: 8,872 Educational Services: 7,750 Construction: 5,080

BARD COLLEGE MARIST COLLEGE VASSAR COLLEGE

MAJOR EMPLOYERS HealthQuest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,600* IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,100 Bard College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,800 GlobalFoundries . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,800

4% Unemployment

MidHudson Regional Hospital . . . . 1,800 Culinary Institute of America . . . . 1,500 Marist College . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,300 Vassar College . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,100 Central Hudson . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 * Includes Vassar Brothers Medical Center

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Think Dutchess

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Think Dutchess

Rich History. Bright Future.

Left: Replica of Henry Hudson's Half Moon.

Above: Main Street, Poughkeepsie, early 1900s. Colorized photo by Mike Savad.

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our Hundred years ago, when Henry Hudson sailed his ship up the mighty river that now bears his name, he discovered land rich in natural resources and beauty. Dutchess County, which lies at the midpoint between New York City and Albany, would prove to be particularly fertile ground for business, industry, and innovation over the next four centuries.

Presidents and poets, industrialists and inventors, farmers and philanthropists have all been drawn to Dutchess County through the years for its enviable location nestled between the Hudson River and the Southern Berkshires; proximity to the world’s largest market; smart, industrious people; and bucolic charms.

Today, Dutchess effortlessly mixes big names in corporate America like IBM, GlobalFoundries, and Gap Inc. with untouched landscapes that provide both a retreat from and a foodshed for New York City. Small businesses of all kinds are also prospering in the county,

which now boasts nearly 300,000 residents.

The waterfront cities of Beacon and Poughkeepsie are being revitalizing, with an influx of small businesses attracted by the scenic beauty, culture, affordability, and opportunity for growth. Quaint towns and villages like Pawling, Rhinebeck, Millbrook, Millerton, Fishkill, and Wappinger are thriving too—attracting residents, businesses, tourists, and second-home owners.

“Dutchess County is New York City’s northernmost suburb,” says Ron Hicks, assistant county executive for Dutchess County, who also spearheads the Think Dutchess Alliance for Business. “This proximity contributes to our strong appeal as one of the best places to live, work, and play.”

It’s little wonder that Dutchess County’s economy is growing, with nearly $1 billion in major projects under construction and more than $2 billion in developments in the planning or permit thinkdutchess.com

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Think Dutchess

phase. A case in point is the Silo Ridge Field Club, which recently broke ground on a $500 million development in Amenia. Silo Ridge, a joint project of the Discovery Land Company and Stoneleaf Partners, includes 245 residential units and an 18-hole golf course across 670 acres—80 percent of which will be preserved as open space in perpetuity.

Fueling the growth of Dutchess County is exceptional transportation and communications access. The county is served by two Amtrak stations, as well as nine stations along the Harlem and Hudson lines of Metro-North. The express train to Grand Central Station takes just 75 minutes from Beacon.

The county is also intersected by the Taconic State Parkway and I-84, which connect the Massachusetts Turnpike and New York State Thruway. Gap, Inc., for example, has capitalized on the road network by building a massive, 2.5-million-square-foot distribution center in Fishkill that serves the entire Northeast. The company recently invested an additional $96 million in the facility and committed to creating 1,200 new jobs.

Dutchess County also boasts a robust telecommunications infra-

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structure, including dark fiber (optical cable that is currently in place but not being used) and reliable, redundant power, with competitive utility rates that are essential for growing industries like big data. IBM and CyrusOne are among the companies that have major data centers in the county. Other related assets include the New York State Cloud Computing and Analytics Center and Marist’s Institute for Data Center Professionals.

Businesses looking to expand or relocate to Dutchess County can tap into a range of state and local incentives, as well as the county’s expedited permitting and review process. A recent example of a company that was attracted to Dutchess is Hudson Valley Lighting, which will transform a 260,000-square-foot building into its new headquarters for research and development, manufacturing, and distribution.

Hopewell Sports Dome Ventures, which includes celebrity investors like music executive Tommy Mottola and actor Richard Gere, recently capitalized on the availability of prime property along the I-84 corridor to build the Sports Kingdome, a $25 million indoor

field sports complex—one of the largest in the United States.

One of the reasons that Dutchess County is so appealing to businesses and residents alike is that it places a high priority on education, offering a mix of excellent public and private schools that help keep the talent pipeline flowing. The county is home to five highly regarded institutions of higher education, including Marist College, Vassar College, Bard College, Dutchess Community College, and the world-renowned Culinary Institute of America.

Access to high-quality health care is another benefit of living, working, and doing business in Dutchess County.

Vassar Brothers Medical Center recently broke ground on a $510 million expansion in the City of Poughkeepsie.

Opposite page: Dutchess County offers a wealth of arts and culture, including the acclaimed Power-house Theater — the first home of the multiple Tony Award winner "Hamilton" - and the historic Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie.

Below: vibrant shopping district adds to the Village of Rhinebeck's charm.

Think Dutchess

The project features 264 private medical/surgical patient rooms and 30 critical care rooms, among many other amenities that will make it one of the finest medical facilities in the country.

Likewise, Northern Dutchess Hospital and MidHudson Regional Hospital, with its Level II Trauma Center, combine with community health-care facilities throughout the county to provide the most advanced care to residents.

Few dispute the quality of life in Dutchess County. The county offers easy access to the great outdoors, with ample opportunities for hiking (including a stretch of the Appalachian Trail), biking, and kayaking. Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie is the world’s longest linear park, and the Hudson River comes alive during the warmer months with crew races, dragon boat races, and numerous other activities. More than 15 golf facilities, including Trump National Golf Club and the Links at Union Vale, challenge all levels of golfers.

The Culinary Institute of America has enabled a strong farm-to-fork movement and a breeding ground for exceptional restaurants, wineries,

microbreweries, and distilleries.

Shopping runs the gamut from unique boutiques, antique shops, and vintage clothing stores to national retailers throughout the county. World-class outlet centers and all the shopping New York City has to offer are just a short ride away.

Arts and culture also abound. Art offerings range from the high-profile Dia:Beacon to small downtown art galleries. Performance centers include the famous Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College, where productions like “Hamilton” and “Bright Star” were developed; the beloved Towne Crier, which recently relocated to the heart of Beacon; the historic Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie; and the stunning Frank Gehry–designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College.

“There’s a new energy here,” adds Hicks. “Our rich history, arts, culture, the Great Outdoors, an excellent business climate, skilled workforce, and topnotch educational institutions create the perfect mix for a bright future for Dutchess County.”

“Dutchess County leaders care about all walks of life, and they show it by their commitment to all county issues, big or small. Whether it’s feeding the poor or making the longest and greatest park over a river a reality, we get it done, and that’s what makes this county great.” ­— Kelley Redl-Hardisty Managing Partner, Herb Redl Properties and Guardian Self Storage

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Kim Williams WILLIAMS LUMBER & HOME CENTERS Location: 6760 Route 9, Rhinebeck (flagship) Founded: 1946 Number of employees: 260 • Eight other locations throughout the Hudson Valley • Northeastern Retail Lumber Association’s Lumber Person of the Year in 1996 (Sandy Williams), 2008 (Kim Williams)

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Profile

Community Connection Drives Family Business

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or 70 years, Williams Lumber & Home Centers has been a key member of the Dutchess County business community. Founded in 1946, when Stan Williams purchased the Gibson Lumber Company in Rhinebeck, the company is in its third generation of leadership.

Stan’s son, Sandy Williams, is president of Williams Lumber, and his daughters Kelly and Kim serve as vice presidents. Kim Williams, vice president of retail operations, was honored in 2008 with the Northeastern Retail Lumber Association’s Lumber Person of the Year award.

She helps preside over Williams Lumber’s eight locations, with five in Dutchess County, and 260 employees—some whom have worked with the company for up to 45 years.

Williams devotes her life to ensuring the family business continues its success.

“Our associates and their families depend on Williams Lumber to be there for them, and we have a community that depends on us,” says Williams. “So I wouldn’t think of doing anything else in the world. This is my lifeblood.”

Despite her grandfather’s early objections to having family involved in the business, Williams spent her high school years and college breaks answering telephones, organizing stock, and working the registers. She attended Simmons College in Boston for retail management, then worked at Macy’s as an executive in training before father Sandy asked her to come home to help run Williams Lumber.

At the time, Williams Lumber had two locations, in Rhinebeck and Salt Point, but soon expanded to Columbia County, Ulster County, Greene County, and Hopewell Junction. The main Rhinebeck store transitioned into a

home store, and is today the largest independent home center in the Hudson Valley. More recently, Williams Lumber opened a design center in Millbrook and a full-service home center in Hyde Park.

“We have a community that depends on us.

So I wouldn’t think of doing anything else in the world. This is my lifeblood.”

Williams Lumber is devoted to community service, supporting Eagle Scouts and Boy Scouts, local churches, and charity events. Being involved in the community is most important to Kim Williams, who says her business gives back because “they have always been there for us.” Along with that, Williams Lumber has an open-door policy with the public.

“There are a lot of businesses today where you can’t get to the owners— they don’t want to deal with people.

That’s what makes us real,” says Williams. “People know that if they have a problem, they can come see us.”

The community connection is what Williams loves most about Dutchess County, but she’s also amazed at the transition of her hometown of Rhinebeck from cozy village to bustling tourist attraction. Rhinebeck’s proximity to New York City, along with its country character, makes it an appealing place for visitors.

“There are all these beautiful shops and wonderful little restaurants here,” says Williams. “Everybody has found this quaint town, and everyone wants to be here in Dutchess County.”

"Everybody has found this quaint town," says Kim Williams of Williams Lumber about Rhinebeck, pictured above.

Her family lumber business started in Rhinebeck in 1946.

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Poughkeepsie

THRIVING

Rıver on the

Poughkeepsie Gains Momentum

The Poughkeepsie Journal building, modeled after the architecture of early Dutch settlers.

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Poughkeepsie

Jacob Blanchard (Fourth State Employee in Poughkeepsie), welds a custom grill on new fixture table.

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ake it from David MarkusenWeiss, co-owner of Fourth State Metals, a metal design business new to Poughkeepsie: The city has “good bones.”

Nicknamed “Queen City of the Hudson” for its active industrial sector during the late 19th century, Poughkeepsie’s proximity to New York City and waterfront location made it an essential manufacturing hub, with access to both railroads and seaways.

Today, a new energy is fueling the city, with businesses and developers taking a page from the past. They’re moving north from New York City, restoring and building new structures and spurring economic development throughout the city.

“There’s a real momentum building in Poughkeepsie now,” says Poughkeepsie Mayor Robert Rolison.

“As a riverfront city with room for development and growth, it offers an excellent return on investment.” thinkdutchess.com

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Poughkeepsie

Top: IBM's z13 mainframe, the world's fastest and most secure enterprise server, built in Dutchess County. Its development is the culmination of a $1 billion investment and five years of development. It also includes more than 500 new patents and represents a collaboration with over 60 clients. Above: GlobalFoundries Fab 10 in East Fishkill.

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HISTORIC STRUCTURES In the late 19th century, Poughkeepsie was a leader in whaling, brewing, and shipping, as well as paper, iron, and glass manufacturing. Some of the mills active during this time are now the subject of adaptive-reuse projects happening throughout the city. Two located in the central business district, Blue Collar Brewery and Mill House Brewing Company, are resurrecting Poughkeepsie’s brewing heritage. Mill House, which opened in 2013 as a restaurant and brewpub, is already expanding. It began distributing its beer in 2015, and will be opening a separate site for production and distribution in a once-vacant city property.

Another building from that era, the Bardavon 1869 Opera House, is the oldest continuously operating theater in New York. At the turn of the 20th century, acclaimed performers like Sarah Bernhardt and John Barrymore graced the Bardavon stage. Today, it’s home to the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and hosts performances by renowned artists like Tony Bennett, Kevin James, and John Legend.

The mid-20th century is also an important part of Poughkeepsie’s history.

The offices of the Poughkeepsie Journal, the oldest newspaper in New York and the second-oldest nationwide, are located inside a meticulously restored 1941 Colonial Revival building influenced by the region’s rich Dutch history. The iconic fieldstone building served as the CNN headquarters of its day.

Today, the Journal is being reshaped by its new publisher, Jim Fogler, a native of Dutchess County who returned in 2016 after working at newspapers across the Northeast. Fogler, who has said that his dream was to be publisher of the Journal, is energizing the Poughkeepsie Journal Media Group as it looks into the future of media with multimedia and the production of digital and print content.

The 19th-century manufacturing history of Poughkeepsie meshes well with its mid-20th-century industrial renaissance. Among the companies that call Poughkeepsie home are EFCO

WATERFRONT PLAN For centuries, the Hudson River has provided Poughkeepsie with many benefits, and it continues to be an unparalleled asset for the city. From 1895 to 1949, the Hudson played host to the Poughkeepsie Regatta, which was regarded as “the greatest one-day sporting event in America.”

Today, the rowing history continues through the Hudson River Rowing Association—which operates the HRRA Boathouse and offers rowing for all ages—and Marist College’s Cornell Boathouse. Constructed in the 19th century and renovated in 2009, the boathouse is now a dual-use building, with boat storage on the first floor and event space on the second.

Also located on the riverfront is Poughkeepsie’s train station, which provides an opportunity for transit-oriented development. Dutchess County is leading the charge, in partnership with the City of Poughkeepsie and the Metropolitan Transit Authority, to develop residential and commercial units and to preserve parkland for community and social gatherings. This vision has a clear goal: to create a world-class waterfront for Poughkeepsie that links all the communities in the city to one another.

“We’re focusing on areas of the city that will accommodate growth,” says Poughkeepsie Mayor Robert Rolison. “We think our waterfront area, with its easy access to the train, is our best bet for redevelopment.”

Poughkeepsie’s plan calls for increased green space along the waterfront, along with the completion of One Dutchess Avenue, a development of 384 townhomes and condominiums on the former Dutton lumberyard site. The $80 million project will also include more than 13,000 square feet of commercial space and a public waterfront park. A greenway along the length of the waterfront would link to sections of the Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail System, which will ultimately connect New York City to the Federal Dam in Rensselaer County.

Restoration of the waterfront Kaal Rock Park is also included in the plan. Poughkeepsie Alliance, a group of business and community leaders inside and outside of the city, is helping spearhead efforts to restore the park. These efforts will connect the city’s main waterfront to both Main Street and the city’s southern waterfront. Development along the waterfront, from high-density housing to parkland, is key to the city’s economic future.

“People are moving back to cities for those reasons—being close to transit, being close to recreational venues and restaurants,” says Rolison.

“When you’re down by that waterfront, one of the most beautiful rivers in the world is right in front of you. That’s an asset that can’t be overstated.” thinkdutchess.com

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Poughkeepsie

“Here in Poughkeepsie you can build a successful business while also helping the community. Commerce is grounded in manufacturing, and agriculture is a form of manufacturing.

We’re growing our product, and we’re creating something that has significant value for the community.” ­— Austin “Brud” Hodgkins Founder, Indoor Organic Gardens of Poughkeepsie (shown right)

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Poughkeepsie

Above: The facade at the 1869 Bardavon Opera House. The oldest continuously operating theater in New York State.

Opposite page from top: Public art installation manufactured by Fourth State Metals. Morty's Kosher Style Delicatessen on Main Street.

Products, an international leader in bakery products such as fillings, mixes, and concentrates, and Dorsey Metrology International, which has been producing gauges for worldwide clients since 1955.

IBM has been in Poughkeepsie since 1941, first manufacturing munitions for the American effort in World War II, and today developing some of the most powerful computers in the world. IBM designed and built its z13 mainframe— capable of processing more mobile transactions at a faster rate than previous models—in Poughkeepsie in 2014, and made further enhancements in 2016. And MPI, the global leader in the manufacture of wax-room equipment, is based in Poughkeepsie, and has a client list that includes Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Honda, and Hitachi.

EXCITING BUSINESS, DEVELOPMENTS New development in Poughkeepsie nods to the Queen City’s manufacturing past while looking toward a a vibrant 21st century.

The Walkway Over the Hudson, a former railway trestle that connects Poughkeepsie to Ulster County, welcomes 500,000 visitors annually and serves as a space for charity events, marathons, bicycle races, and special community gatherings.

Poughkeepsie’s proximity to New York City and other urban centers cannot be overstated. From the city’s train station, travelers can take a 90-minute train ride to Manhattan and a 45-minute ride to Albany. Amtrak has two stops in Dutchess County— one in Poughkeepsie and the other in Rhinecliff. Amtrak provides trips north to Montreal and Toronto and south to New York, plus offers connections through Albany to Chicago and Boston.

Brooklyn-based Fourth State Metals was drawn to Poughkeepsie by that proximity, as well as the opportunity to have more space for its growing business. The metal design

Dutchess County is so wonderful because the nonprofit organizations support each other. We collaborate on efforts to enhance the lives of individuals and families in our county—particularly those of children. ­— Shirley Adams, Executive Director Catharine Street Community Center

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Poughkeepsie

WALKWAY OVER THE HUDSON Of all the adaptive-reuse projects in the county, none may be as impressive as the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park.

Built in 1889, the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge was a vital part of the nation’s transportation infrastructure during America’s late 19thcentury industrial heyday. More than a mile long and crossing 212 feet above the Hudson River, the multispan cantilever truss bridge was considered an engineering marvel, carrying freight trains between industrialized Northeastern cities and the Midwest.

In 1992, advocates began discussing restoring the bridge, which had been unused for 18 years, as a pedestrian walkway. These activists mounted an intensive outreach campaign, and with funding from the Dyson Foundation, the state and federal governments, and other sources, bridge restoration work began.

Today, the Walkway is the longest pedestrian footbridge in the world. Its economic impact on Dutchess and Ulster counties—including its indirect impact, which accounts for employees spending money in other sectors—is $24 million and 383 new jobs annually. It sees 500,000 visitors each year, pedestrians as well as cyclists, and is the site of charity races and special community events. It also links the Hudson Valley Rail Trail in Ulster County with the Dutchess County Rail Trail, ensuring greater collaboration between counties and added health benefits for the region’s residents.

The Walkway Over the Hudson proves that adaptive reuse can lead to an internationally renowned economic engine for Dutchess County and the Hudson Valley.

“You have history buffs, you have hikers, bikers, and walkers, you have people who want to enjoy the scenic beauty, people who appreciate the environmental impact,” says Elizabeth Waldstein-Hart, executive director of the Walkway Over the Hudson. “People come from lots of different perspectives to the Walkway, and I think that tells you how the repurposing of old structures can pay dividends for the future.”

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business, which focuses on high-end architectural and art pieces, moved its production operation from Brooklyn to Poughkeepsie in 2016. Its owners needed more production space, and personally, room to breathe and grow their families.

“We found the right property in Poughkeepsie,” says Markusen-Weiss of Fourth State Metals. “We like the fact that it has a lot of really good bones and potential for the future. We also chose Poughkeepsie because it’s just a beautiful place to live.”

Fourth State collaborates with other manufacturers and fabricators, and has brought fellow Brooklyn business RUSHdesign to Poughkeepsie.

Facing higher costs and lack of space in Brooklyn, the company, which specializes in multi-disciplinary design, engineering, and fabrication, has found room to grow in Dutchess County.

The increase in business and manufacturing is leading to a need for more residential housing, with new development now spreading throughout the city.

FOCUS ON MIDDLE MAIN One of the city’s more ambitious recent development projects is the $7.2 million restoration of the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory in the Middle Main Street area. Built in 1874 and used as a garment manufacturing plant, the threestory, 22,000-square-foot factory is being converted into a multiuse space.

North River Roasters, Poughkeepsie’s only resident coffee roaster, will operate a production facility and café in the factory. The building will also include studio apartments; artist work studios; a shared-use commercial kitchen for chefs, caterers, educators, and food truck operators; and an education and event space for corporate gatherings and weddings. Hudson River Housing, which is spearheading the project through its group Middle Main, is creating more than a dozen jobs with the Underwear Factory project.

“We really think it’s key to the community that it brings it back from

Poughkeepsie

the 1800s into now, and people can see that and enjoy it,” says Mary Linge, director of real estate development at Hudson River Housing.

Middle Main promotes existing small businesses through its Made in Middle Main membership alliance. It also hosts events like Poughkeepsie First Friday, food tastings, and ribbon tyings meant to unite professionals in the Middle Main area.

Other action in the Middle Main area includes Art Centro, a project of the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center.

Art Centro is a community art space that hosts workshops, performances, and meetings. And recently, Family Services, Inc. and MASS Design Group collaborated on a project of conceptual designs for the Family Partnership Center, which houses social services, health-care nonprofits, and youth programs in the city. MASS Design Group, which has built numerous

hospitals and schools across Africa, was co-founded by Michael Murphy, a Dutchess County native.

New restaurant openings in the city are now a common occurrence.

Charles Fells, a city-born restaurateur, has helped reinvigorate Main Street with his four businesses. With wife Megan Kulpa Fells, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, they serve gourmet French fare at Brasserie 292, locally sourced American cuisine at the Artist’s Palate, Asian-style noodle bowls at CHU Noodles & Dumplings, and hearty old-style sandwiches at Morty’s Delicatessen.

There’s a youthful vibrancy throughout Poughkeepsie, from the attractive waterfront to the busy Middle Main area. It’s drawing people to the Queen City who realize the potential that exists in this regional destination “This is a place to come to. This is a city on the move,” says Rolison.

“People in Dutchess County are willing to go above and beyond to help you so that you can help the county. They want you to do business locally, so they’re willing to assist you. There’s something to be said for that.” ­— Jenna Riess Owner, NYCOMCO

Beacon and Poughkeepsie, with their Metro-North Railroad accessibility, are creating transit-oriented development opportunities. By clustering development close to train stations, the cities will create hubs that will draw even more professionals.

Beacon is exploring the potential development of a 22-acre site by the Metro-North train station into a technology hub with housing. Poughkeepsie’s transit-oriented development plan calls for pedestrian-friendly recreation and access to both the railroad station and Walkway Over the Hudson. The plan includes the completion of One Dutchess Avenue, a development of 384 townhomes and condominiums on the former Dutton lumberyard site. The $100 million project will also include more than 13,000 square feet of commercial space and a public waterfront park.

“You want to grow your city in the area that will accommodate the growth, and for us that’s in and around the train station,” says Poughkeepsie Mayor Robert Rolison.

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Steven Effron

Chief Executive Officer & President EFCO PRODUCTS Location: 136 Smith St, Poughkeepsie, NY Founded: 1903 • Number of employees: 70 • Originally focused on providing local feed, flour, and grain • Now specializes in bakery mixes and fillings, with a signature line of pure jams, distributed nationally and internationally

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Profile

EFCO Products manufactures bakery mixes and fillings, fruit, and specialty toppings, supplying them to bakers, restaurants and wholesale food distributors worldwide.

Jam Packed

Poughkeepsie Roots, Global Business

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hen Steve Effron’s great-grandfather started a grain, seed, and animal feed business on Main Street in Poughkeepsie in 1903, the Eastern European immigrant delivered burlap bags to his customers in the rural Hudson Valley by horse-drawn cart. By the 1940s, the company was manufacturing jams, jellies, and fruit fillings at a location a few blocks away, and it began to broaden its distribution network. Today, EFCO Products is a global business that supplies bakery mixes and fillings, fruit, and specialty toppings to wholesale, retail, and supermarket bakeries, chain restaurants, and food processors worldwide.

Although Steve grew up in the family business—his father, Jack, and uncle Ira still sit on the board, and matriarch Sadie Effron continued dispensing advice until she died at

107—he attended Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and then worked for a few years with a food brokerage company and Hershey’s to gain outside perspective. He returned to the company in 1995 to work in sales, product development, and quality assurance, and took the helm as chief executive officer and president in 2011.

Commenting on more than a century of doing business in the Hudson Valley, Effron said, “Our business is constantly changing and we’ve had to continue to evolve with it.” The Poughkeepsie native also pointed to a long list of advantages of doing business in the Hudson Valley: “We have a long-tenured workforce that is very skilled and adept at what they do. Our workforce is also fueled by a strong educational system, particularly Marist College, the Culinary Institute

of America, and Dutchess Community College,” he said. “We also benefit from our proximity to a large population base in the eastern corridor and great access to the New York ports.

“The strength of our business is innovation, and we like our customers and prospective customers to see how our products are developed and made,” Effron continued. “Fortunately, both our domestic and international customers love coming to the Hudson Valley. Whether they’re from New York City, Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America, our customers appreciate the rich history of the area and of our company.”

“I’m very proud to be from the Hudson Valley and have followed in my ancestors’ footsteps by giving back to the community,” he noted. He currently serves as a Marist College Trustee and as a trustee of the MidHudson Regional Hospital Board of Visitors.

“Dutchess County is a great place to live and work,” Effron said. “My wife and I enjoy the outdoors, the schools are outstanding, and there’s terrific theater, arts, and restaurants. It’s also a nice balance because our family can get to New York City easily if we want.

I hope we’re in the Hudson Valley for a long time to come.” thinkdutchess.com

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Healthcare

A New Dawn of Innovation Healthcare Rises in Dutchess County

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utchess County residents don’t have to travel to New York City or Albany for specialized and innovative health care. Thanks in part to two major projects creating hundreds of jobs, Dutchess County patients are getting more options for dynamic, high-quality care.

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Healthcare

“I was really focused on bringing quality health care to Dutchess County, so I was excited to come work at the hospital. There is a lot happening at Vassar Brothers, from starting new programs to building a new hospital. I’ve also fallen in love with the area.” ­— Ann McMackin President, Vassar Brothers Medical Center

A record $510 million project in the City of Poughkeepsie, Vassar Brothers Medical Center's new pavilion will include private rooms for all patients and an emergency and trauma center.

ELEVATING THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE Vassar Brothers Medical Center, the vision of Matthew Vassar Jr., a member of the accomplished Vassar family of Poughkeepsie, opened in 1887 as Vassar Brothers Hospital. The hospital has seen many changes and innovations over its lifetime, but none more transformative than its newest project.

Vassar Brothers, operated by the nonprofit organization Health Quest, is building a new 696,000-square-foot in-patient pavilion—at $510 million, the largest construction project in Poughkeepsie to date. The pavilion is

scheduled to open in January 2019, and Health Quest expects the construction phase will add 300 jobs in 2017 and 2018.

The pavilion will help Vassar Brothers develop clinical programs and improve care at every level, signaling a new dawn for health care in Dutchess County.

“I believe this is something that our community deserves,” says Robert Friedberg, president of Health Quest. “It makes sense for us to be able to provide this type of environment for our care teams and our patients. We’re excited to bring this to fruition.”

Comfort is paramount at the new Vassar Brothers pavilion, which will include 264 private patient rooms that are twice the size of the rooms at the existing Vassar Brothers facility. These rooms will have separate patient, clinical, and family zones.

Clinically, moving to private rooms allows Vassar Brothers to better prevent the potential spread of infectious disease. The new rooms will also allow families to participate in the plan of care.

In addition, the pavilion will feature an emergency and trauma center with 66 treatment rooms, plus 30 critical thinkdutchess.com

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Healthcare

care rooms and larger operating rooms.

The operating rooms will include two da Vinci Surgical System surgical robots, allowing for robotic surgery in urological, gynecological, colorectal, and gastrointestinal procedures.

Other features include a 300-seat conference center, a 240-seat café with outdoor veranda, a bus stop, and a rooftop helipad.

Currently, Vassar Brothers brings $247 million in economic activity to Dutchess County and the Hudson Valley region. It employs 2,000 people in Poughkeepsie; that number is expected to increase with the new pavilion and added services. It’s a Level II Trauma Center and has a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for premature and critically ill infants.

The hospital is also home to the only cardiothoracic surgery center between Albany and Westchester County.

Surgeons regularly perform coronary artery bypass grafting and valve surgery, ventricular reconstruction, and minimally invasive heart surgery and lung cancer surgery, among other procedures. The surgery center has state-of-the-art equipment and 24-hour urgent care for cardiac patients.

“Our CT program is among the best in the state from a quality standpoint,” says 26

Friedberg. “We’re able to take care of patients with significant cardiac issues, not only in a compassionate way, but with high standards of outcome.”

The combination of award-winning programs and a new pavilion gives Vassar Brothers an advantage when recruiting physicians and care workers.

That will lead to new programs, which will lead to more jobs.

“As we build programs—all of the different programs that require investments in tech, space, and people—I have to have the space to do it,” says Friedberg. “And this gives us the ability to expand. It’s going to drive more activities on campus. That’s going to drive the economic side of it and jobs.”

COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, GLOBAL ADVANCES As Vassar Brothers enters a new era, Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck—also part of the Health Quest family—has expanded its campus with its own new pavilion.

In 2016, Northern Dutchess opened its $47 million Martin and Toni Sosnoff Pavilion. At three stories, and attached to the original hospital building, it offers a comfortable environment for patient care, with state-of-the art technology.

Highlights include 40 private patient

Cutting-edge surgical technology is important to Dutchess County's health providers. Vassar Brothers, Northern Dutchess Hospital and MidHudson Regional Hospital all use the da Vinci surgical system for several procedures.

rooms with an integrated monitoring system and added space for guests, who can now stay 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The pavilion also has a new surgery department with six advanced operating suites, 15 preparation bays, and seven postanesthesia recovery bays, plus sophisticated ventilation systems and high-definition imaging. A da Vinci Surgical System surgical robot is also part of the new department.

“With the opening of the building we started robotic surgery,” says Denise George, president of Northern Dutchess Hospital. “Patients are reaping the benefits of very high-tech procedures in a small community hospital.”

The expansion has allowed Northern Dutchess to modernize its original pavilion. Chiefly, responding to a 30-percent increase in volume from 2013 to 2015, the hospital in 2016 unveiled its expanded emergency department.

Healthcare

The $1.5 million rehabilitation project added six patient-care areas, bringing the total to 16.

Northern Dutchess employs more than 500 people, plus 200 at a 100-bed nursing facility on its Rhinebeck campus.

After Bard College, it’s the secondlargest employer in northern Dutchess County. It’s home to Health Quest’s Paul Rosenthal Rehabilitation Center, for patients recovering from neurological, cardiopulmonary, and orthopedic disorders, as well as the first hospitalbased birthing center in New York.

ALL-IN-ONE APPROACH The improvements at Vassar Brothers and Northern Dutchess add to Health Quest’s vision of ensuring accessible and quality multispecialty health care for Dutchess County residents.

“Our objective is to create a healthcare system that is constantly in pursuit of the highest-quality standards for service and outcomes, and allowing people to be able to receive care close to where they live and work,” says Friedberg. “We are promoting and delivering on exceptional care at all of our facilities.”

In Dutchess County, Health Quest has eight medical practices, which together offer primary care and 27 specialties, including oncology and gynecology.

Its Heart Center, with four Dutchess County locations, offers comprehensive cardiac care, and received the American College of Cardiology 2011 Bridges to Excellence award.

Health Quest also operates two urgent-care offices in the county and offers in-home care options. Moreover, nearly 1,200 physicians are available to Dutchess County residents through Vassar Brothers and Northern Dutchess.

“If you’re looking to develop a business in this community and attract talent, one of the things that you need to have in the community is great health care,” says Friedberg. “By far we are the provider of choice because we provide excellent health care to the community, and that is an invaluable asset to economic development.”

MIDHUDSON REGIONAL HOSPITAL MidHudson Regional Hospital of Westchester Medical Center in Poughkeepsie is a Level II Trauma Center that cares for more than 9,000 trauma patients annually. The hospital offers robotic surgery for thoracic, urological, gynecological, and oncology procedures, and is home to Therapy Connection, which offers physical and occupational therapy.

MidHudson’s Redl Center for Cancer Center offers treatments for all major cancers and has been accredited by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons, the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, and the American College of Radiology.

CAREMOUNT MEDICAL CareMount Medical, which provides care to 500,000 patients across New York State, has 10 campuses and offices in Dutchess County. It’s affiliated with all three county hospitals, plus Massachusetts General Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Mount Sinai Medical Center.

CareMount provides care in 40 specialties, plus on-site laboratory and radiology services, and endoscopy suites and infusion suites. Its five Centers of Excellence focus on aesthetic surgery, breast health, kidney health, cancer care, and robotic surgery.

Physicians at CareMount’s Cancer Care Center of Excellence perform targeted therapy and immunotherapy. The Center also has on-site pathology lab services and diagnostic imaging services.

Further, cancer patients with CareMount have access to national and international cancer research clinical trials through CareMount’s affiliation with the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the Dana Farber Institute.

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Profile

Denise George President

NORTHERN DUTCHESS HOSPITAL Location: 6511 Spring Brook Avenue, Rhinebeck Founded: 1903 • Number of employees: 600 • 68-bed acute-care community hospital • 40 private patient rooms in the new Sosnoff Pavilion • Expanded emergency department with 16 patient care areas • 24,000 babies born at the hospital’s birth center since it opened in 1985 • 100-bed on-campus nursing facility (200 additional employees)

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Profile

Care Leader Enjoys a Healthy Lifestyle

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hen Denise George began working as operations manager for the Hudson Valley region at Kaiser Permanente, she commuted from her house in Olive, Ulster County, to Poughkeepsie. That commute continued in 1999 when George began working at Northern Dutchess Hospital.

In 2007, so she could be closer to work, George says she “saw the light” and moved to Red Hook.

“I grew to love Dutchess County,” says George. “Red Hook was quaint and intimate, but it had a rural feel to it. Within three minutes I could be in town.”

George is president of Northern Dutchess Hospital, which in 2016 opened the $47 million Martin and Toni Sosnoff Pavilion—an expansive new wing that includes 40 private patient rooms and a new surgery department with a surgical robot. The hospital also expanded its emergency department to 16 patient care areas, and recently finished a capital campaign in which community members donated $10 million.

The improvements will help Northern Dutchess physicians and staff members give patients a more comfortable experience, with the highest-quality equipment, says George. But for her, the experience itself matters most.

“The new facility is great, but what really defines us and what makes us valuable to our patients is our staff and physicians,” says George. “We have excellent staff. It really makes a difference.”

George says hospital employees are not only essential at work but they are also embedded in the community, from school boards to charitable ventures.

Many live close by in Dutchess County.

“Once physicians are here, they love it,” says George. “It’s a great place to care for patients, a great place to raise a family. And it’s beautiful.”

George serves on the Hudson Valley Mental Health Board and previously served for eight years on the Hospice Board. Her youngest child graduated from Red Hook High School. On the weekends, George enjoys gardening, bicycling around Red Hook, and using the Dutchess Rail Trail and Walkway Over the Hudson. She also visits the weekly farmers’ market at Greig Farm in Red Hook, where she regularly purchases cheese, fish, and bread.

Many people George sees in Red Hook both live and work in the community. Having gotten to know

“It’s a great place to care for patients, a great place to raise a family.

And it’s beautiful.”

her neighbors, she says people in her community are proud of their work, and conscious about improving their surroundings and lifestyles.

Though she previously lived in other parts of the world, and nearly her entire family lives in Atlanta, George says she chooses to live in Dutchess County because of overwhelming community support for Northern Dutchess Hospital, and the county’s mix of beauty, serenity, and culture.

“For me it’s very calming. It’s very peaceful,” says George. “I love the mountains, I love the river, I love the variety, I love the food and restaurants.

It’s home.” thinkdutchess.com

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Higher Education

A Winning Partnership

Working with Business to Educate the Next-Generation Workforce

The Murray Student Center at Marist College

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Higher Education

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utchess County’s world-class colleges and universities, including Marist College, Vassar College, Bard College, and the Culinary Institute of America, draw students and visitors from around the world.

With cutting-edge innovation in cloud computing, health care, and agriculture, these schools are educating the nextgeneration workforce, providing the skills needed to thrive in the evolving 21st-century business landscape.

BUSINESS INCUBATION TAKES OFF A national leader in innovation, Marist College is dedicated to bringing jobs and economic impact to Dutchess County.

“We believe the college serves not only the students through the primary elements of our directed focus, but also the community in which we live,” says Geoffrey Brackett, executive vice president of Marist College. “Marist is a place that is actively engaged and understands deeply the needs of economic development.”

Marist, which has an annual local economic impact of more than $500 million, is developing a hotbed for business incubation at its Fulton Technology CrossRoad, a tech park growing on its east campus.

The heart of CrossRoad is the Marist Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which will provide office space and advanced technologies for small- and medium-size businesses thanks in part to Marist’s Cloud Computing and Analytics Center.

Leveraging its 30-year partnership with IBM, the Cloud Computing and Analytics Center offers big data and analytics to clients. Also, for up to three years, start-up businesses can use the center for office space, training,

marketing support, and referrals to financing resources. Clients include Lenovo, Plexxi, ADVA, and Brocade.

BlackRidge Technology, a Nevadabased cybersecurity company, sought the center’s help for incubation and to move its engineering operations to New York. Students at the Center helped BlackRidge develop new technologies and training, and the company now has five employees in Dutchess County.

“We don’t take our eyes off the prize,” says William Thirsk, vice president and chief information officer of Marist College. “Is this, in the end, going to create a revenue stream into our county that is beneficial for our economic growth? If we can find a way to prove to ourselves that this will be an economic benefit to the county, we’ll see it through.”

Local organizations such as the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum and Walkway Over the Hudson also use the Cloud Computing and Analytics Center to host databases and websites. These partnerships ensure that Dutchess County’s cultural institutions and organizations can adapt to 21st-century needs while keeping business at home.

Also part of CrossRoad is the recently opened Science and Allied Health Building, a $33 million center that will house Marist’s physician assistants’ program, with 120 students over two

Marist College's ambitious new plan is the Fulton Technology CrossRoad, designed to be an incubator for small businesses.

“Marist brought me to Dutchess County as an undergraduate and kept me here as a professional. Today, I live and work in a community that I believe in, along with a group of leaders who understand the importance of community engagement.” ­— Freddie Garcia, Presidential Fellow, Marist College ‘09/’14M

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Higher Education

Chefs Paul Bocuse and Daniel Boulud, with Samantha Grassian and CIA President Tim Ryan.

Photo by Phil Mansfield, CIA

CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA One of the world’s premier culinary schools, the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park is where world-renowned chefs like Anthony Bourdain, Michael Symon, “Ace of Cakes” Duff Goldman, Cat Cora, John Besh, and Roy Yamaguchi cut their teeth.

Jerome Bocuse, the son of legendary French chef and founder of the Bocuse d’Or culinary competition Paul Bocuse, graduated from the CIA in 1992. The institute honors the family name through the Bocuse Restaurant, a stylish, contemporary French bistro. It’s one of five eateries on campus, all of which are staffed by CIA students.

Thanks in part to those restaurants, the CIA is a tourism engine: More than a quarter of a million people visit the school annually. It’s also innovating: A partnership with 3D Systems allows students to explore the possibilities of 3-D printing, turning sugar into three-dimensional printed food in the school’s design program.

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years, as well as its biomedicine, sports science, and lab sciences programs.

“Those clinical placements will be the frontline providers for hospitals and medical groups in the region, who will need that kind of support and training for their own medical practices and support for services,” says Brackett.

Marist’s fine and digital arts programs and an art gallery are housed in the renovated Steel Plant Studios.

The school is planning an expansion of this space for its fashion program’s manufacturing and distribution work.

The college’s national reach extends to the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, a renowned survey research center founded in 1978. Its Marist Poll measures public opinion of politics, economics, sports, and culture at the local, state, and national level. The Wall Street Journal and NBC News are some of the clients that use Marist Poll results.

The Marist Poll, together with the Marist College Center for Sports Communication, also conducts polls for “HBO Real Sports.” In 2015, the Center for Sports Communication awarded its first Lifetime Excellence in Sports Communication Award to broadcaster Bryant Gumbel. The award ceremony attracted personalities like Katie Couric, Jane Pauley, and Kelly Ripa.

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion has involved undergraduates in conducting survey research for more than 30 years, and students participate in every survey. It regularly hosts conferences and seminars with journalists, pollsters, and government officials while offering student employment and internships.

Marist also honors luminaries in the communications industry with the Marist College Lowell Thomas Award, named for the broadcaster who made Lawrence of Arabia famous and received an honorary degree from the college in 1981. Past recipients of the award include Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Cokie Roberts.

Higher Education

Lin-Manuel Miranda, left, is seen here during the 2013 Powerhouse Theater season, working with cast members on what was then called “Hamilton Mixtape.” Photo provided by Powerhouse Theater/Buck Lewis.

A NEW PHASE OF COLLABORATION Dutchess Community College’s newest programs signify a new phase of collaboration with local businesses and organizations.

Chief among these is an extension of the college’s aviation program.

Working with Dutchess County Airport’s fixed-base flight operator FlightLevel, the college is launching an FAAapproved mechanics program called A&P (airframe and power plant). The airport is adding five mechanics to service small and midsize aircraft, and to mentor about 25 to 30 students, who will accrue 1,950 classroom hours over a full year with the goal of aircraft

mechanic certification.

“We are not only fulfilling a need here in the community,” says Virginia Stoeffel, dean of community services and special programs. “This will also lead to new jobs in Dutchess County.”

The college, which is part of the State University of New York system, is also investing in being a hub for businesses in the engineering sector looking to test new products affordably. Its material science laboratory has equipment specializing in tensile, impact, fatigue, and hardness testing; and the measurement of melt temperature, glass-transition temperature, and surface roughness. Some 3-D printing and basic metal fabrication is also available.

Businesses can access this equipment, while engineering students in the school’s two-year program are using the equipment in their classes, especially on a research-anddevelopment level.

“The beauty of the Hudson River really struck me. It’s one of the most beautiful waterways in the country. I also have realized how many families grew up here and are multigenerational, and how stable the communities are. That’s wonderful.” ­— Catharine Bond Hill, Retired President of Vassar College (2016) and Managing Director at Ithaka S+R

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Higher Education

Bard will also launch an online public information resource that will help others across the state install microhydropower generators.

“Our recent grant award provides the opportunity to move a few more steps toward our sustainability goals and a thriving, low-carbon future,” says Laurie Husted, chief sustainability officer at Bard College. “While we are grateful for the chance to take these next steps, we know we have many more to take. We must adapt to a changing climate and enhance our resiliency to the changes that have already begun to impact our community.”

“I love the electric spark that comes from a constant confrontation of a historic past and a vital present. They bounce off each other, so there’s a kind of creative tension between memory and dreams.” ­— Leon Botstein President, Bard College

The laboratory stemmed from a $600,000 State University of New York 2020 grant awarded in 2014.

“This is going to provide public and private partnerships with our local companies,” says Stoeffel. “That’s always been our mantra: ‘We want our companies to stay here and be successful.’”

MICROHYDRO PROJECT Bard College is leading innovation in energy efficiency through a small project with big possibilities.

A group of Bard students won a $1 million state award in the Energy to Lead competition for its “Micro Hydro for Macro Impact” project. The project focuses on two dams on the historic Montgomery Place property—home to an early 19th-century estate—which the college purchased in 2016.

With the award, Bard will use the dams for microhydropower—less than 100 kilowatts of production—resulting in the avoidance of 335 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

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FIELD WORK Vassar College’s work program is a partnership with local businesses that gives students real-world training.

Health sciences students intern at hospitals and clinics across the Dutchess County area. Upon graduating, many of these students remain in Dutchess County to start their healthcare careers.

Also available to Vassar students is the school’s 527-acre farm and ecological preserve. Students conduct research projects and internships on the farm and preserve, while the Poughkeepsie Farm Project facilitates community interaction through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and education on food justice and security.

Vassar is also a leading arts institution, a highlight of which is the Powerhouse Theater, a summer theater incubator and partnership between Vassar and New York Stage. More than 200 artists visit the Powerhouse each summer to develop new works. The first reading of John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize–winning “Doubt” took place at the theater in 2003. Recent shows that the Powerhouse introduced to the world include Edie Brickell and Steve Martin’s “Bright Star” and LinManuel Miranda’s groundbreaking Tony winner for best musical, “Hamilton.”

The school’s Loeb Art Center houses a collection of 19,000 works and has rotating exhibitions of classic and contemporary art.

Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Photo by Noah Sheldon.

Higher Education

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Profile

Kathleen Durham Executive Director

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT CENTER AT VAL-KILL Location: 56 Valkill Park Road Hyde Park Founded: 1977 • Girls’ Leadership Worldwide program included 84 attendees in 2015 • Eleanor Roosevelt Community College Emerging Leaders program includes students from SUNY Dutchess, SUNY Orange, SUNY Rockland, SUNY Ulster • Val-Kill Medal awarded in October; 2015 recipients were New York attorney Stephen M. Saland, Cheetah Conservation Fund Executive Director Dr. Laurie Marker, Chairman of HELP USA Maria Cuomo Cole, Manchester Bidwell Corporation President and CEO Bill Strickland, Ashinaga Foundation President Yoshiomi Tamai

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Profile

Leader Empowers Young Women to Lifelong Success

The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill

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utchess County and the legacy of famous Hyde Park resident Eleanor Roosevelt have proved instrumental in Kathleen Durham’s mission to transform young women into dynamic global leaders.

Durham, the executive director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at ValKill, grew up in Virginia. She studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and practiced law in California, but moved in Rhinebeck in 1988 and opened a practice in Poughkeepsie.

She also joined the boards of Scenic Hudson and the Bardavon 1869 Opera House, wrote a weekly column for the Poughkeepsie Journal, and, in 1996, ran for Dutchess County executive.

Though she lost that election, Durham realized the effect female leadership had on young women throughout Dutchess County.

“One thing I began to notice was the growth in young women’s eyes whenever I came to see them, or when their parents brought them to one of my talks,” says Durham. “They would say, ‘Ooh, there’s a woman there!’”

Though she took a nine-year detour in Savannah, Georgia, Durham concluded that she missed the combination of urban and country offered by Dutchess County. Plus, she says, Dutchess County leaders give everyone an opportunity to affect community change.

“I feel that there’s such great opportunity in Dutchess County for people to be a part of a change and see it happen, if they want it to,” she says.

She returned to Rhinebeck, and in 2008 joined the board of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center and became its executive director.

Located on the site of Roosevelt’s Hyde Park home, Val-Kill, the non-profit Eleanor Roosevelt Center, helps to empower individuals and organizations to accomplish work that epitomizes the philosophies of social justice and human rights championed by the former first lady and diplomat.

For 20 years, the center’s Girls’ Leadership Worldwide program has brought together high school girls from across the world for nine days of transformative learning in Hyde

Park and New York City. The girls ­– 20 percent of 2015’s class of 84 girls lived internationally ­ – develop skills like self-confidence and share diverse viewpoints about social issues.

At the center, Durham acts on the connections she felt with young women when she was involved in politics.

Working with students in the Girls’ Leadership Worldwide program gives Durham assurance that the Roosevelt legacy continues, touching thousands internationally.

“My landing at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center was very perfect for me, because it sort of speaks to the things that light me up,” says Durham. “And it lets me actually have the opportunity to impact somebody’s life in ways that I didn’t think of.”

The center also awards individuals and organizations who best represent the legacy of Roosevelt with its Val-Kill Medal. Winners have included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Pawling resident and actor James Earl Jones. thinkdutchess.com

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Hudson Valley Regional Airport

Flying High

Dutchess County Is Taking Off

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Hudson Valley Regional Airport

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udson Valley Regional Airport is a perfect home for corporate jet and helicopter customers wanting fast access to Manhattan and other East Coast hubs, offering a convenient, cost-effective alternative from the ground delays at other New York Metropolitan Area airports.

A helicopter flight from the airport to Manhattan is 22 minutes, without the restrictions and wait times typically experienced at Westchester, Teterboro, and Waterbury-Oxford airports. Jets are minutes away from those airports, and can land immediately at Hudson Valley Regional saving time and money.

“We’re probably one of the best-kept secrets in the Northeast when it comes to jet traffic,” says Assistant Dutchess County Executive Ron Hicks.

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Hudson Valley Regional Airport

FLIGHTLEVEL AVIATION Hudson Valley Regional Airport is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The airport is an FAA-approved, Part 139-certified airport, which signifies it has attained high operational and safety standards. Nearly 35 FAA Airport Certification Safety Inspectors annually conduct inspections for Part 139 certification, which include timedresponse drills for aircraft rescue and firefighting, administrative review of airport files and paperwork, and evaluations of both morning and night operations.

The airport has a FAA-operated control tower staffed by FAA-certified controllers. “It adds a whole new measure of safety,” says John Mouris, director of Hudson Valley Regional Airport. The FAA also trains personnel 40

in the tower. Plus, Westfield Flight Academy and Dutchess Community College train student pilots at the airport.

FlightLevel Aviation, the fixed-base operator at the airport, is always on call.

It facilitates rental car and limousine pickup, plus hotel and restaurant reservations for pilots and passengers.

There’s also a preflight resting room, lounge, and conference room on site.

Since opening its Hudson Valley Regional Airport location in 2015, FlightLevel has leveraged its relationships with charter jet companies to bring their planes to Hudson Valley Regional. As a result, FlightLevel has increased jet fuel sales 10 percent in its first year at the airport.

FlightLevel is also devoted to working with the community to bring

jobs to the airport. The company is partnering with Dutchess Community College to provide its Airframe and Powerplant program on small and midsize planes.

One result of this initiative is construction of a 30,000-square-foot facility for classroom space and aircraft maintenance. This addition, along with a new hangar that is projected to open in 2018, positions Hudson Valley Regional for growth in the small and midsize corporate jet market.

“One of the things you need to attract a corporate flight department is you have to have a maintenance offering,” says FlightLevel Aviation President Peter Eichlay. “So now that we’re bringing that, the hope is there’s one more box the corporate flight department can check off its list.”

Hudson Valley Regional Airport

Students in the airframe and power plant training program will earn 1,950 hours of experience both in and out of the classroom, working with FlightLevel mechanics at the airport in a cooperative learning setting. Students who successfully complete the program will be certified to work on any aspect of a plane.

“Our hope is to expand this and make it a center, a part of a whole growth plan that we have for the airport,” says Virginia Stoeffel, dean of community services and special programs at Dutchess Community College.

After the maintenance facility opens and instruction begins, FlightLevel will turn its attention to the opening of a Cirrus Service Center.

Cirrus, which manufactures the single-engine SR20 and the SR22— the world’s best-selling single-engine plane since 2004—would service its aircraft at the Dutchess County center, one of more than 200 worldwide.

Cirrus operates a service center at Norwood Memorial Airport, a

Above: The design of a new state-of-the-art 32,000-square-foot mechanics operation facility to be built at the airport. Through an innovative partnership with Dutchess Community College, the operation will include a Federal Aviation Administration-certified mechanics training program. Opposite: Aerial view of the airport.

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Hudson Valley Regional Airport

FlightLevel site in Massachusetts, but much of the traffic there originates in New York City. Opening a Cirrus Service Center at Hudson Valley Regional would save those metropolitan-area pilots time and provide the resources to keep their planes flying smoothly.

Together, Hudson Valley Regional Airport’s new maintenance facility, storage hangar, and Cirrus Service Center create an accessible and costeffective alternative for jet customers in the New York City metro area.

“The big corporate aviation airports surrounding New York City—Teterboro, Westchester, Essex County—are completely strapped for hangars and there’s very little developmental land,” says Eichlay. “In Dutchess, the airport has more than 12 acres of land available for development. There is sufficient runway and instrument approach infrastructure. We can see attracting these corporate flight appointments that are being squeezed out, creating jobs and having an economic impact at a county level as well as at our business.”

Hudson Valley Regional Airport provides corporate and general aviation transportation services.

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THE BEST CHOICE FOR HELICOPTERS When it comes to helicopters, Hudson Valley Regional Airport provides a perfect alternative to the congestion at other metropolitan-area airports.

Associated Aircraft Group (AAG) can get passengers where they need to be in minutes—to Manhattan in less than 25 minutes.

And for those coming up from New York City, taking one of AAG’s Sikorsky S-76 helicopters to Hudson Valley Regional couldn’t be easier.

“Being able to bring someone into Dutchess County and land at the airport, and have them at their meeting in 10 minutes is a huge advantage, rather than taking the train or having to drive,” says Scott Ashton, president and general manager at AAG. AAG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, operates the Northeast’s largest fleet of Sikorsky S-76 helicopters out of Hudson Valley Regional. More Fortune 100 companies fly Sikorsky S-76

Hudson Valley Regional Airport

helicopters than all other executive helicopters combined.

AAG offers three options for customers: Aircraft management is a comprehensive turnkey service where AAG manages the entire aircraft, paying insurance, bills, and landing fees. In fractional ownership, customers invest in a share of the aircraft for convenient and flexible access. AAG also offers charter service for customers who pay per flight.

The range of options allows clients to flexibly meet their business transportation needs, from Boston to Washington, D.C. Helipads in those hubs are closer than international airports to downtown areas.

“We provide that connectivity,” says Ashton. “You really can’t get that with any other mode of transportation.”

AAG also operates a SikorskyCertified repair center, an FAA-certified Part 145 repair station that does maintenance on “just about every S-76 on the East Coast,” says Ashton. AAG

has two 25,000-square-foot hangars at the airport.

The company employs 60 people at the airport: skilled mechanics, pilots, schedulers, and administrative personnel. Across the board, AAG employees are trained in direct interaction with customers.

“If you’re a technician, we have clients that will be involved with the maintenance of the aircraft, overseeing it," says Ashton "Schedulers may be dealing with an executive assistant.

Everyone deals with customers individually.”

Like FlightLevel, AAG works with Dutchess Community College, providing internships for students interested in pursuing aviation as a career.

This work, along with the many improvements occurring now at Hudson Valley Regional Airport, shows that both operators and Dutchess County are committed to growing the airport as a primary choice for accessible jet and helicopter travel.

“Being able to work collaboratively with some very smart, passionate people in public service, nonprofit leadership, and in our businesses is so impressive and satisfying. There’s a palpable desire to enhance the quality of life in Dutchess County, and people’s willingness to problem solve with each other is really telling.” ­— Pamela Edington, President, Dutchess Community College

DUTCHESS COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S JOB TRAINING If a local business needs resources for training, Dutchess Community College can help. The college provides training for approximately 2,000 employees from local sectors. Training focuses on management development (leadership, time management, effective listening), organizational improvement (project management, sales, and marketing), and employee growth, among other topics.

Dutchess Community College aims to not only educate tomorrow’s workforce but also to close the skills gap for employees across the county.

“We’ve always been the workforce partner of the community,” says Virginia Stoeffel, dean of Community Services and Special Programs.

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Profile

Michael Lyons Software Engineer

IBM Location: 2455 South Road (Route 9), Poughkeepsie Founded: 1911 • Was named ComputingTabulating-Recording Company before becoming International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924 • Opened Poughkeepsie operations facility in 1941; 400-acre campus has 45 buildings • IBM Poughkeepsie is the global hub for development and manufacturing of the z Systems mainframe • 50 percent of the IBM Poughkeepsie workforce are engineers • 30 percent of IBM Poughkeepsie workers have a master’s degree or higher • More than 6,000 patents have been secured by IBM Poughkeepsie employees over its history • IBM’s total revenue: $81.8 billion (2015) • IBM’s operating pretax income: $17.7 billion (2015)

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Profile

IBM Draws Young Talent to Dutchess County

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or software engineer Michael Lyons, working at IBM and living in Dutchess County is the best of both worlds. The work allows him to help transform industries through technology, and the lifestyle gives him opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and meet new people.

Born and raised near Worcester, Massachusetts, Lyons developed an early interest in computers from his uncle, who oversaw the data infrastructure of a dental company.

Lyons graduated from Cornell University in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, then received his master’s in electrical and computer engineering one year later from Cornell.

After graduating, Lyons sought to remain on the East Coast to be close enough to family. He received job leads in the financial sector but was torn about where he wanted to start his career.

“IBM had more to offer,” says Lyons, who was drawn by the company’s mission to use technology to drive results.

“On top of that, the proximity to New York City is good, and it’s also good that you can get the city experiences but you don’t have to sacrifice a lot of personal space,” he adds about deciding to land in Dutchess County.

“That’s pretty important to me, important to my general well-being,” he says, noting that he regularly takes advantage of local hiking spots.

Lyons started at IBM in September 2012. A software engineer in firmware, he designs and develops code used in an array of industries, from banking to air travel to retail.

Recently, he helped develop

language that enables faster and more robust analytics for businesses, designed to help them better reach their customers. For example, a sales associate can give a customer who typically buys one product an instant coupon for that product, thanks to IBM’s faster analytics solutions.

“It’s a purpose you can really rally behind—specifically, helping people,” says Lyons.

A millennial with plenty of new, young co-workers, Lyons helps them acclimate to IBM through its New Hire Network. The network, which young employees typically use in their first two years, sets up IBMers with professional development opportunities. It also organizes outboarding events like ice cream socials and miniature golf outings, and community outreach opportunities like cleaning up local trails and mentoring students in P-TECH schools.

The program is important for the

IBM employees find Dutchess County is a perfect place to collaborate in the development of technology that powers our world.

total wellness of young IBM employees, Lyons says, as it allows them both to have fun experiences outside of the workplace and become part of the Dutchess County community.

“You have to make sure they feel linked to something, and that’s something you see in the millennial generation,” says Lyons. “It’s not a job anymore, it’s more about purpose. If you drive that here in Dutchess County— that you have a higher purpose you can direct into the community—that’s really important to drive home.”

Millennials like Lyons are choosing IBM because there, they have the opportunity to help change the world through technology—to have purpose.

It’s a unique career path claimed right here in Dutchess County. thinkdutchess.com

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Beacon

A RIVER CITY REINVENTS ITSELF

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Beacon

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Opened in 2003, Dia:Beacon, located on the Beacon waterfront, helped fuel an artistic renaissance that continues to thrive in this "city on the river."

ART MOVES FROM MANHATTAN In 2000, 95 percent of all homes in Beacon were valued at less than $200,000.

Shuttered factories— remnants of the city’s manufacturing past—remained, while storefronts sat empty on Main Street.

But the city began improving its code enforcement in the 1990s, and developer Ron Sauer began renovating vacant Main Street buildings. The improving conditions led to the Dia Art Foundation’s unprecedented announcement in 2002 that it planned to open a contemporary art museum in a 200,000-square-foot former Nabisco packing plant on the waterfront.

“Dia wouldn’t have come if we weren’t working with code enforcement and improving some of those buildings,” says Beacon Mayor Randy Casale. “It

made us a destination.”

Dia, which operates art sites in Manhattan and across the globe, opened Dia:Beacon in 2003. The museum’s world-class art collection— including pieces by Richard Serra, Louise Bourgeois, and Sol LeWitt— has brought international attention to Beacon: 100,000 people visit the museum each year.

“I knew what happened to Chelsea when Dia moved there in the late 1980s. The whole art scene in Manhattan moved,” says John Gilvey, co-owner of Hudson Beach Glass, a glass studio that specializes in hand casting and sells glass kitchenware and sculptures to clients from Hong Kong to Central America. “We knew that something similar was going to happen here.”

Independent businesses like Hudson Beach Glass began filling those vacant Main Street buildings. Art galleries, boutiques, and restaurants followed, transforming Beacon’s main thoroughfare into a tourism engine.

Dia soon brought in local restaurant Homespun Foods as its café operator, and the museum encouraged visitors to explore the rest of Beacon.

ne of Dutchess County’s two major cities, Beacon, located along the Hudson River south of Poughkeepsie, offers its 15,000 residents access to a Metro-North train into Manhattan, nearby hiking trails, and 71 acres of green space, including a revitalized waterfront.

Thanks to an urban renaissance over the last 15 years, Beacon also has a world-class art museum, and a Main Street packed with galleries, concert venues, cafés, and farm-to-table restaurants. These aspects are making Beacon a popular place for young professionals who are just starting their families.

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Beacon

Clockwise from top: Beacon is a place for small business owners and creative individuals (photo by Michael Credo), and is home to boutiques and shops, high-quality public spaces, and the newly renovated Roundhouse Hotel.

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Beacon

STRONG COMMUNITY SPIRIT When Dia announced its move to Beacon, the city’s established community of artists created BeaconArts. The nonprofit organization, which seeks to foster economic and cultural development in Beacon, is one of the reasons why the city has become the region’s de facto cultural capital.

“We knew that there were going to be people from all over the world visiting,” says Kelly Ellenwood, vice president of BeaconArts. “How were we going to make that work for the city and for the people that come here?”

BeaconArts promotes Beacon as a sustainable economy fueled by the arts through regular events. One example is Second Saturday—held on the second Saturday of each month—during which art galleries and shops remain open until 9pm. Many galleries hold exhibit openings on this night, while organizations and shops host special events. Another example is Beacon Open Studios, an annual weekend event during which artists open their studios to the public.

In recent years, BeaconArts has increased its support strategies for Beacon’s artists. Often, the organization will take on a fiscal sponsorship with other organizations or artists to provide administrative help such as grant writing.

One such sponsorship is with Windows on Main Street, an annual event in which local artists display their work in the windows of local businesses.

“We’re really catalysts in a way,” says Ellenwood. “We’re providing that door so that fundraising can be possible. The benefits are astronomical.”

Those benefits include more business on Main Street. In 2000, Beacon reported 308 jobs in the arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation sector. In 2013, the city reported 704 jobs in the sector.

EAST END DEVELOPMENT In recent years, the city’s development has expanded to the east end, where Main Street crosses the Fishkill Creek at a dramatic waterfall and beside former

factory sites. Local investor Robert McAlpine noticed potential in one of those sites, once home to Braendly Dye Works.

McAlpine restored and rebuilt the long-vacant structures on the property, transforming it into The Roundhouse, a hotel that opened in 2012 with 41 wellappointed guest rooms and suites, some with soaring ceilings and skylights. An event space overlooking the cascades is key to the Roundhouse’s development, as it generates weekend visitors for weddings and other special functions.

The hotel, which brings 20,000 people into the area annually, hosts approximately 80 events per year, more than 90 percent of them weddings.

“More often than not, people coming for weddings are coming from an hour or more away,” says Katie Guerra, general manager of the Roundhouse. “They’re staying for two days. They’re doing their rehearsal dinner either with us or with another restaurant in Beacon.”

McAlpine also owns another warehouse in the east end that is being transformed into retail storefronts and high-end condominiums. Other East End developments include the Hudson Valley Brewery, which opened its space in a circa-1880s factory near The Roundhouse, and the Lofts at Beacon, a renovated 19th-century textile mill along the Fishkill Creek.

The center of Main Street is also experiencing an unprecedented level of mixed-use development. The Towne Crier Cafe, a famous Dutchess County concert venue and restaurant, moved to Beacon in 2013, sensing the opportunity to be an anchor business in the city. The Towne Crier has hosted performances by the likes of Ani DiFranco, Don McLean, and Pete Seeger.

Also in the center of the city, the 1928 Beacon Theatre on Main Street is being converted into a movie theater with a performing arts space, plus a market and 30 residential units. And following the Roundhouse’s lead, a boutique hotel is opening on the west end of Main, and the former Mount Beacon Hotel is being renovated.

“What started as the rehab of some old buildings downtown has led to a remarkable transformation in Beacon over the past decade. Our thriving arts scene, walkable downtown, beautiful riverfront, and other natural resources provide endless entertainment and other opportunities for residents and visitors alike.” ­— Randy Casale, Mayor of Beacon

ATTRACTING YOUNG PROFESSIONALS This activity has changed Beacon’s image. Millennials and innovative professionals seeking an urban environment accessible to New York City are moving to Beacon, bringing youthful energy and entrepreneurial skills. These recent arrivals are taking advantage of the city’s walkability and small-business culture, which promotes community involvement.

For example, a resident can buy produce at the Sunday farmers’ market and meat at Barb’s Butchery, which acquires its supply from local farms. Residents can be found daily at haunts, and Dogwood, a craft bar and restaurant. Main Street is filled with restaurants that specialize in farm-totable bites, like Harry’s Hot Sandwiches, Kitchen Sink Food & Drink, and Poppy’s Burger & Fries.

Beacon also boasts 71 acres of parkland within a half mile of its thinkdutchess.com

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Beacon

Main Street, Beacon

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Beacon

municipal boundary, and as a result, 90 percent of Beacon residents live within a half mile of a park. The highest peak in the Hudson Highlands, the 1,611foot Mount Beacon, offers spectacular vistas and is a popular hiking spot for Beaconites and visitors alike. The mountain was once home to a casino and incline railway, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Beacon also has a public waterfront area, anchored by Long Dock Park and its 15 acres of trails, a kayak and canoe launch, and picnic areas; and the Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park—named after the city’s famous folk-singing activist couple—which hosts annual festivals in the summer and fall.

Though he died in 2014, Pete Seeger’s influence in Beacon looms large. Seeger moved to Beacon in 1949 and built a log cabin and house at the foot of Mount Beacon by the Hudson River. Around 1966 he began campaigning to clean the river, founding Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, an organization dedicated to clean-water advocacy.

Seeger’s efforts to clean up the Hudson River have improved Beacon’s quality of life, helping to make it an attractive place to live.

“The proximity to Mount Beacon and the Hudson River is amazing,” says Jeremy Pyles, creative director at Niche Modern, a hand-blown pendant lighting manufacturer that moved from Brooklyn to Beacon. “I enjoy my time in New York City, but when I cross the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and see the river and the mountain, I am always happy to be coming home.”

“A lot of younger people are coming up here, because that generation likes to be in a city,” says Mayor Casale.

“They like to walk where they need to go, and they want recreation and like open space.” As more people are discovering Beacon’s combination of natural beauty and urban vitality, it’s evident that the city has a bright future ahead of it.

NICHE MODERN Business owners looking to develop in an area with accessibility to New York City have found Dutchess County to be a perfect place to grow.

Niche Modern, a designer of hand-blown modern pendant lighting, manufactures in a 20,000-square-foot former bronze foundry in Beacon. Niche previously had its manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, but Creative Director Jeremy Pyles moved to Beacon for popular reasons: lower costs, a better quality of life for his growing family, and more space and opportunity for his business.

“We knew we needed to be poised for massive growth, not incremental growth,” says Pyles. “Looking back, I don’t think we would have had the appetite for growth had we had the constraints of New York City. It would have been too overwhelming.”

Niche had one part-time employee when it moved to Beacon; today, it employs 23 full-time workers. Helping to fuel that growth has been international sales, which now account for 20 percent of the company’s business.

“For high-level positions, having our beautiful facility in an area like Beacon is a huge selling point in convincing people to relocate,” says Pyles.

“And that goes for younger people, too, who are looking for excitement and energy, but can’t necessarily afford to live in New York City.”

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Profile

Brian Arnoff Chef-Owner

KITCHEN SINK FOOD & DRINK Location: 157 Main St, Beacon • Voted Best New Restaurant of Hudson Valley 2016 by Hudson Valley magazine

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Profile

Everything, Especially the Kitchen Sink

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rowing up in Dutchess County, Brian Arnoff always knew that someday he would return to his roots to open a restaurant. He traveled the world, but did just that at the age of 28 when he opened Kitchen Sink Food & Drink in Beacon in 2015.

The cozy farm-to-table restaurant, which has a pleasant patio out back during the summer months, has quickly become a Main Street favorite. It’s well located across the street from the popular Hudson Beach Glass studio, next door to the new Inn at Beacon, and one of the first eateries patrons of Dia:Beacon hit after walking or driving up the hill from the contemporary art museum.

Kitchen Sink showcases a menu rooted in locally sourced ingredients and produce plucked straight from his family farm, Truckload Farm and Orchard in Hyde Park. The seasonal menu changes regularly, and dishes are influenced by family recipes and Arnoff’s travels. Diners have enjoyed everything from lambstuffed eggplant to chilled red-curry mussels. Latkes, kreplach, and brisket grilled cheese sandwiches—all made from his grandmother’s recipes—are perennial favorites.

Growing up in Poughkeepsie, Arnoff might have considered joining the family business—Arnoff Moving

& Storage, which is a fifth-generation, family-owned transportation company that has been operating in Dutchess County for nearly a century. But with a passion for food and pursuing his dream, he made his way to Boston University. While working on his degree in hospitality management, he had the opportunity to work for James Beard Award–winning chef Barbra Lynch. Arnoff spent two years honing his craft there, during which time he helped open Sportello restaurant, Chef Lynch’s modern take on casual Italian fare.

While in college, Arnoff also completed a semester abroad at Apicius International School of Hospitality in Florence, Italy. He says that his time in Italy had a profound effect on his cooking style as he began to learn the true art of fresh handmade pastas and gained a deeper appreciation for seasonal and regional cooking.

After receiving his degree and taking time to travel and “eat like a local,” Arnoff moved to Washington, D.C., and opened a food truck business specializing in macaroni and cheese.

Dubbed “CapMac,” the food truck earned rave reviews and shortly became an institution in the nation’s capital, with mentions and awards from the Washington Post, The Washingtonian, Southern Living, Thrillist, Zagat, and

Poughkeepsie native Brian Arnoff returned to Dutchess County to open Kitchen Sink, in the heart of Beacon in 2015. It features a cozy, comfortable ambiance and locally sourced food.

more. After three and half years in business, Arnoff sold CapMac with an eye to returning to Dutchess County to marry his high school sweetheart.

It took nearly a year of “research and development,” but Arnoff found the “perfect” spot to open Kitchen Sink in August 2015. “Beacon has so much potential,” Arnoff asserts. “It has great walkability, art, live music, and access from the city. There’s a lot going on here all year round.”

“I really wanted to showcase a wide array of tastes, cuisines, techniques, and products,” Arnoff says of his new restaurant, “using locally grown ingredients that are globally infused, in an intimate and relaxed atmosphere.

There’s a terrific network of farmers and distributors here in Dutchess County.”

Arnoff continues to travel the world in search of inspiration for his cooking—including a recent trip to Thailand with his wife—but he says that he’s glad he has “come home” to the Hudson Valley. thinkdutchess.com

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Agriculture

Growth Opportunity Dutchess County’s Agricultural Heritage

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or more than a century, intrepid farmers have migrated from New York City and other parts of the country to Dutchess County, seeking an opportunity to grow crops and support their families. Their work built a strong agricultural sector that has brought billions of dollars into the county.

Today, Dutchess County’s agrarian roots are expanding and diversifying. An influx of young farmers and artisan distillers and brewers are embracing that agricultural heritage, and this production of goods has made Dutchess County the foodshed of New York City and beyond.

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Agriculture

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Agriculture

CRAFT BEVERAGES New York is helping to lead the national surge in craft beverage production. From 2007 to 2011, the number of craft distilleries in New York increased from five to more than 20. In 2015, the state announced that the craft beer industry had grown 59 percent over 2013–14, with a total economic impact of $3.5 billion.

Dutchess County played an important role in this growth, with the majority of its distilleries and breweries opening since 2011.

Breweries include Hudson Valley and Two Way in Beacon; Mill House, Blue Collar, and Plan Bee Farm Brewery in Poughkeepsie; and Hyde Park Brewery.

Dutchess has three craft distilleries. Denning’s Point in Beacon produces gin, vodka, and whiskey.

Dutch’s Spirits in Pine Plains makes moonshine, peach brandy, and six types of cocktail bitters on the footprint of a historic Prohibition-era bootleg complex. Dutch’s bitters-making kit is available at Williams-Sonoma.

At Taconic Distillery in Stanfordville, founder Paul Coughlin has 115 acres where he grows corn for his bourbon and rye whiskeys.

Coughlin distributes Taconic Distillery’s offerings in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and soon in all of New England.

“The demand for our spirits is growing,” says Coughlin. “We’ve got a good product, and loyal customers.

People love it.”

New York is third in the country in wine production; Dutchess County facilities include Cascade Mountain

Winery in Amenia, Clinton Vineyards in Clinton Corners, and Oak Summit Vineyard and Millbrook Vineyards & Winery, both in Millbrook.

Millbrook Vineyards was founded in 1983 by John Dyson, a New York City deputy mayor under Rudolph Giuliani, former state commissioner of agriculture, and developer of the “I Love NY” advertising campaign. Millbrook produces 15,000 cases of wine each year. Sixty percent of its wine is sold to winery visitors at events, tastings, and tours.

“We’re in such a large demographic market that the sky’s the limit with us for what we can sell out of the front door,” says David Bova, vice president and general manager of Millbrook Vineyards.

“We have room to grow, and we’re growing as the market dictates.”

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Agriculture

its Open Kitchen series, telling the farm’s story and featuring recipes from the farm.

Migliorelli Farm, a fruit-andvegetable farm that originated in 1933 in the Bronx, now has more than 400 acres under cultivation in Tivoli and provides produce to more than 20 markets in New York City.

Meiller’s Farm, founded in 1971 in Pine Plains, supplies beef, lamb, pork, and veal for restaurants across the region, like American Bounty at the Culinary Institute of America, Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, and Cafe Clover in Manhattan.

Roadside farm stands are a common site across Dutchess County.

REGIONAL METROPOLITAN FOODSHED The American Farmland Trust reports that the United States loses nearly 40 acres of farmland every hour. Dutchess County, however, is bucking this trend.

In 1998, the county introduced the Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan, which has led to the protection of more than 3,300 acres of farmland and open space. As of 2012, the county had 678 farms, up 3 percent from 2007, and 112,482 acres of farmland, up 10 percent from 2007.

Land in Dutchess County, just 60 miles from New York City, produces much of the food found in restaurants and markets across the New York Metropolitan area, fueling a vibrant farm-to-table ecosystem.

This contributes to the nearly $50 million the agricultural sector produces in market value.

Some of the farms supplying food to the region are longtime family farms with rich histories.

Fishkill Farms, which started in 1913 when Henry Morgenthau Jr.—the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt—purchased an apple farm, sells apples and other produce at three weekly farmers’ markets in Brooklyn.

“Most people that attend the farmers’ markets in Brooklyn are regulars, and that’s where they get their groceries,” says Mark Doyle, business manager of Fishkill Farms and Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency board member.

Today, Josh Morgenthau runs Fishkill Farms, having taken over for his father, longtime Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Williams-Sonoma recently featured Fishkill Farms in

MAKING AN INTERNATIONAL IMPACT Several of Dutchess County’s food producers are distributing at a national or global level, in some places spurring rapid growth while creating popular brands.

Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie sells 50,000 pounds of cheese each year. It distributes to high-end supermarket chains like Wegman’s, and to specialty food shops in California, Texas, and Colorado. Cabot, one of the nation’s leading cheese brands, sources its cheese from four Dutchess County dairy farms.

McEnroe Farm in Millerton produces soil and compost that is sold from Vermont to Georgia. And Migliorelli Farm recently partnered with Blue Apron, the online service that sends farm-fresh produce and other foods to customers across the country for weekly home dinner preparation.

Millerton is home to internationally renowned tea blender Harney & Sons, a family-owned-and-managed operation founded by John Harney, who traveled the world for ingredients for his popular tea flavors. Today, the company’s teas are sold internationally in food stores and tea shops, as well as in Target stores worldwide. The company employs more than 155 people with its warehouse, tearoom, and shop in Millerton, and operates a tasting room in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. Millerton is also home to Irving Coffee Roasters, thinkdutchess.com

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Agriculture

The Victory Cup Polo Match in Pawling.

EQUINE CULTURE An integral part of Dutchess County’s agricultural diversity is its horse culture. It ranks first among 62 state counties in the number of horses and ponies—more than 4,600—within its boundaries.

Millbrook Hunt Country, an area encompassing 50,000 acres in the Millbrook region, is a special part of this rich culture. Leading that culture is the Millbrook Hunt, an equestrian organization founded in the 1890s that sponsors trail rides, hunter trials and paces, and hound and puppy shows.

Coole Park Farm, a boarding and training facility with 16 stalls, is in the center of Millbrook Hunt Country. The farm hosts Millbrook Hunt fox hunting events and the annual Millbrook Horse Trials, a United States Eventing Association competition that attracts Olympic-level equestrians from across the world.

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an artisinal coffee chain with seven locations in New York City and a larger wholesale business.

The story of Crown Maple, which produces high-quality maple syrup, shows how Dutchess County’s agricultural producers have found immediate international success.

In 2010, Robb Turner—a West Point graduate and co-founder of ArcLight Capital, which has invested more than $16.5 billion in energy assets—and his wife Lydia left New York City for Dover Plains, ultimately purchasing 800 acres of property they named Madava Farms. After discovering the property was filled with maple trees, Robb Turner developed an ambitious plan to launch a maple syrup business called Crown Maple and began by installing 15,000 taps. The company has been an unmitigated success, growing rapidly and garnering international acclaim.

“Immediately, Robb realized there was an opportunity here to have national and international distribution of a quality product,” says Tyge Rugenstein, chief operating officer of Crown Maple.

Crown Maple stands by a philosophy of bark-to-bottle, managing quality control as well as packaging and distribution. It’s also a standalone brand with international aspirations— unique in the maple syrup industry, which is populated primarily by small producers who work with packers on a local and regional level.

The company—which owns one of the largest reverse-osmosis machines in the sugaring industry and has the largest maple syrup production facility in North America—has grown to 90,000 taps. By 2018, after installing taps on land it has purchased in Vermont and nearby New York counties, Crown Maple will have 200,000 taps, increasing its workforce from 35 to 50 employees.

Crown Maple has more than 2,000 points of distribution and is available at national grocery stores, including Whole Foods Markets, Albertson’s, and Kroger. The top restaurants in the world,

Agriculture

LAND PRESERVATION Farmers looking to protect their land in Dutchess County can turn to a variety of organizations and government programs for assistance. This work has helped position Dutchess County as a national leader in land preservation.

Established in 1985, the Dutchess Land Conservancy has protected more than 39,000 acres of farmland, water resources, wildlife habitat, and other county scenic viewpoints.

The conservancy works closely with farmers to complete “purchase of development rights” projects, which act as a way to pass on land to younger family members or extract equity to continue the farm operation. It also assists farms in the conservation-easement transaction process.

Plus, through its Farmer Landowner Match Program, the Conservancy pairs farmers needing additional land with landowners in both Dutchess and neighboring Columbia County.

Scenic Hudson has protected more than 13,000 acres of farmland on 100 family farms across the Hudson Valley since 1992. Its recent work includes the protection of 440 total acres on eight farm properties in Red Hook in 2012.

Since 1999, the Partnership for Manageable Growth Program has protected agricultural and open space resources throughout Dutchess County. This government program, which provides locally matching funds for land preservation purchases up to 50 percent of the total project cost, and has helped protect more than 3,300 acres of county farmland and open space.

Located in Dover Plains, Crown Maple is a leading producer of maple syrup.

including Bouchon and Eleven Madison Park, use Crown Maple’s syrups in dishes, and Crown Maple was also part of the menu for the 2013 presidential inaugural lunch.

“We take great pride in Crown Maple, and we have a quality product that we want to maintain,” says Rugenstein.

A NEW GENERATION OF FARMERS The agricultural sector’s growth is partly attributed to an influx of young farmers seeking opportunities in an area accessible to vibrant urban centers.

Those young farmers include Kallie and Michael Robertson, who own

Sawkill Farm in Red Hook. The Robertsons produce meat, eggs, and vegetables, along with soaps from leaf lard and beef tallow. At Growing Heart Farm in Pawling, young farmers Jessica and Justin Offerman produce vegetables through small-scale sustainable practices.

“It’s about a whole change in the way we live, in the way we eat, in the way we socialize and what we socialize around,” says Margo Morris, development director of Sprout Creek Farm, about the influx of young farmers. “It’s food, it’s fresh air, it’s environmental integrity.”

From Here to the

World

These popular brands have links to food producers right here in Dutchess County.

thinkdutchess.com

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Profile

Josh Morgenthau FISHKILL FARMS Location: 9 Fishkill Farm Road, Hopewell Junction Founded: 1913 • Number of employees: 16 year-round, 18 seasonal, plus volunteers (up to 45) • 130 total acres (60 acres of apples) • 80 varieties of apples grown • Up to 9,000 visitors per weekend during fall apple-picking season • Sales range between $1 million and $3 million per year

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Profile

A Return to the Family Farm

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n 1913, Henry Morgenthau of Manhattan bought farmland in Fishkill. Later, while serving as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Morgenthau purchased more farmland in the Fishkill area, and put his son Robert in charge of the farm operation, known as Fishkill Farms.

Robert Morgenthau served in the Navy, then for 35 years as Manhattan district attorney. His youngest son, Josh, grew up in Manhattan, but would visit the family farm on weekends.

“I always had the fortune of having this farm in the family, and having it as a refuge from the city and a place where I learned how to work,” says Josh Morgenthau.

Though Morgenthau studied painting and English in college, he returned to the farm in 2008 and loved being involved in the family business.

Today, he oversees the farm operation at Fishkill Farms.

Morgenthau says he’s motivated to preserve his family’s land while keeping the farm an integral part of the Dutchess County agricultural community. Though he never received a formal agricultural education, he relies partly on extensive family knowledge, the local farming community, and the Cornell Cooperative Extension as sources of advice when running the farm.

Since Morgenthau moved back to the farm, Fishkill Farms has increased fruit and vegetable production from 40 to more than 100 acres. Fishkill also has pasture-raised hens, fruit trees, a pick-your-own CSA, and an apple orchard with 80 varieties that attracts up to 9,000 visitors during busy fall weekends.

In 2015, Williams-Sonoma featured Fishkill Farms in its Open Kitchen series, telling the story of the farm and hosting a farm dinner with local growers and chefs. Fishkill also operates its own farm cidery, where it bottled its first

apple cider in September 2016.

Fishkill also brings its produce to a handful of farmers’ markets across the New York Metropolitan area, underscoring Morgenthau’s mission of supplying local communities with organic farm food grown using sustainable practices.

“We’ve been able to connect to communities in the Hudson Valley, Westchester, and farther south that really want local food and want to be getting it from farms they trust, farms that have a commitment to higher quality,” says Morgenthau.

This kind of connection is crucial to why Morgenthau lives and works in Dutchess County. It’s an agricultural center devoted to growing better food and serving the people, just as it was more than 100 years ago when his grandfather started the farm.

“I’ve been struck by how much the landscape has changed over the past 15 years, in terms of a cultural renaissance in food and farming in the county,” says Morgenthau. “Whereas some years ago you may have missed some of the great food culture that New York City has, now I think you have a stronger, unique food system that’s close to the land, and that’s the source of the local ingredients.”

The Morgenthau family has been a consistent part of this food system, evolving to become an organic producer for the New York Metropolitan area. Through every change, Fishkill Farms has remained an integral part of the Dutchess County agrarian tradition, rooted in the past and growing toward the future.

Henry Morgenthau began Fishkill Farms in 1913. Now a third-generation farm, it includes more than 100 acres of produce with an abundant apple crop.

In 2015, Williams-Sonoma wrote about Fishkill Farms' legacy of more than 100 years. The farm also hosted a dinner, where guests included other local growers and chefs.

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Pawling

A Storied Past with an Eye on the Future

The Akin Free Library on Quaker Hill, a historic late Victorian building in the town of Pawling

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Pawling

Pawling Train Station. Photo by Kathy Ng, RealEstateHudsonValleyNY.com.

Pawling: The Gateway to Eastern Dutchess County

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estled on the eastern edge of Dutchess County, in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, Pawling may be one of the area’s bestkept secrets. The town, which has just under 10,000 residents spread across 45 square miles, deftly balances a storied past with developments that secure its future.

History abounds in Pawling – from an early settlement of Quakers on a hilltop with panoramic views of the Hudson Valley to 1778 when General George Washington and his troops were headquartered at the John Kane house and planned strategies to help a fledgling nation win the Revolutionary War. The centerpiece of the village and a former luxury hotel, the 120-yearold red brick Dutcher House, stands as a landmark where operas and other entertainment was staged during the 1800s.

Today, the Dutcher House contains many stores and restaurants as well as apartment homes to village residents.

Bustling shops, cafés and galleries also surround a central village green.

Metro-North trains come and go from the downtown station, adding to the action. There’s a popular farmers' market overflowing with the agricultural bounty of the region and great swaths of conserved land that draw nature lovers from near and far.

Pawling has long attracted people seeking refuge from New York City and other crowded cities to the south.

Governor Thomas E. Dewey was a resident when he ran for president in 1944 against fellow Dutchess County summer resident President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as in 1948. Lowell Thomas, the radio commentator and world traveler, broadcast many of his daily radio shows from Pawling and donated 1,000 acres he acquired near his home in Pawling to the Nature Conservancy, intent on preserving what he called “Paradise on Earth.” Thomas was also responsible for creation of the Quaker Hill Country Club and

Quaker Lake.

According to a 1996 article in The New York Times, “Pawling has long been sought after by the well-to-do. The eastern fringe of the village is perhaps the greatest source of local pride — Quaker Hill, a historic community cherished for its rolling countryside, magnificent estates, and famous residents past and present.”

Edward R. Murrow, the radio and TV journalist, was a resident of Quaker Hill, as was Norman Vincent Peale, the author of the worldwide bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking and founder of Guideposts magazine. William B. Ziff, the publisher, and Sally Jessy Raphael also own homes on Quaker Hill.

While Quaker Hill continues to attract affluent buyers drawn by its scenic vistas and laid-back charms, newcomers are attracted to the Village of Pawling.

Young families who find themselves priced out of the Westchester market, for example, are migrating north. They are lured by the wide array of housing thinkdutchess.com

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Pawling

Downtown Pawling. Photo by Kathy Ng, RealEstateHudsonValleyNY.com.

Opening night at Daryl's House, a restaurant and live music venue owned by singer Daryl Hall, of Hall & Oates.

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and the small-town atmosphere, as well as the good school districts and ease of access to New York City.

While less than two square miles in size, the Village of Pawling contains two of Dutchess County’s largest manufacturers: Pawling Engineered Products, Inc and Joe Pietryka, Inc. Pawling Corporation. The latter was founded in 1945, and has grown into a global supplier of rubber and plastic architectural products such as athletic flooring, entrance mats and gratings, and parking and traffic safety products.

The company recently secured a project with the country of Jordan, for example.

Pawling’s newly completed Village Green is injecting new energy into the village with paved walkways, a bandstand, and veteran’s monument park.

The green, which was the brainchild of world-renowned urban planner Andreas Duany, was funded by the Pawling Community Foundation, which raised more than $2,600,000 in private donations and grants from all sectors of the Pawling community.

The town offers an eclectic mix of housing ranging from Main Street apartments and lofts to white clapboard farmhouses. A new development now under construction by Castagna Realty, Inc. will also serve the senior market.

The first phase of 81 units of housing is well under way at the 200-acre Castagna Commerce Park on Route 22.

This phase will yield 400 units of senior housing, a 65,600-square-foot medical office building, 200,000 square feet of retail space, and a hotel.

Upon the completion of phase I, Castagna has plans to build another 110 senior townhomes, a second 65,600-square-foot medical building, and up to 100 units of assisted living, depending upon demand. The project, which may take five-seven years to complete, is expected to generate 800 new jobs and 1,200 construction jobs for the region, along with $4.5 million in annual taxes for Pawling.

Access to the great outdoors is also a calling card for Pawling. The 1,043-acre Pawling Nature Reserve and the 6,000-

Pawling

acre Great Swamp offer tremendous opportunities for hiking, canoeing, and nature watching. Fishing and bird watching are also popular. Nearby, Lakeside Park features riding trails, tennis courts, swimming, and boating on the crystal-clear Green Mountain Lake. Dutcher Golf Course, according to Golf Digest is the oldest public ninehole golf course in America, and the private Quaker Hill Country Club offers members, golf, tennis and croquet.

The Great Swamp, which is one

of southern New York’s two largest remaining wetlands, extends for more than 20 miles and is home to a remarkable variety of wildlife, including some endangered plants and animals.

The Appalachian Trail crosses the Great Swamp on a boardwalk and then goes through the nature reserve. It’s not uncommon to encounter Appalachian Trail hikers laden with massive backpacks needed for their 2,000-mile trek from Georgia to Maine.

Pawling is also home to the highly regarded Trinity-Pawling School, a private school for grades 7-12 that attracts boys from across the country for its day and boarding programs. The school makes its indoor hockey rink available to the community and also sponsors a concert series that attracts exceptional talent from around the world to the campus.

Arts are also alive in Pawling. Each summer, the free Music by the Lake series brings popular music to the shore of Lakeside Park, and Pawling Public Radio’s SummerFest concert celebrates a variety of performing arts. The ArtEast organization sponsors an annual Artwalk tour of the studios of local artisans. The Akin Hall library and museum presents a juried art show every year, as does

Above: Lacrosse players ar Trinity-Pawling School, an all-day boarding school founded in 1907. Left: The Historical Society of Quaker Hill and Pawling John Kane House, located on Quaker HIll in Pawling. Photo by Natalie Keyssar.

the Friends of the Great Swamp (FrOGS) organization, which organizes an art show at Lankler Hall on Quaker Hill.

The Pawling Theatre Company — just 95 minutes from Broadway — stages several productions each year, and the Pawling Shakespeare Club has been active for more than a century.

“Pawling is the home of ‘positive thinking,’ where neighbors help neighbors," observed long-time resident Charles Daniels III, who is executive vice president of Rose & Kiernan Insurance Agency in Pawling "It combines the charms of small town and rural living with natural beauty, vibrant arts and culture, and abundant recreational opportunities.” Serving on multiple boards in his hometown and surrounding areas, including the Pawling Resource Center and Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency, Mr. Daniels agrees with Lowell Thomas: “Pawling is paradise on earth.” thinkdutchess.com

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The Real Deal Ambitious Development Projects Boost Residential Options

W

ith close proximity to New York City and East Coast hubs, natural beauty and walkable communities, Dutchess County is an attractive locale for families and businesses alike. As more professionals make their home in the county, residential development will give new arrivals many options, from luxury resort living to urban loft space.

CLOSE TO EVERYTHING “My co-founder also happens to be my wife, and when we were expecting our second child we wanted to leave the city for a better quality of life,” says Jeremy Pyles, creative director of Niche Modern, a pendant lighting manufacturer in Beacon. He cites

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accessibility to transportation and a small-town feel close to the big city as the chief reasons he moved to Dutchess County.

Need to get to Grand Central Terminal? Train stations in Beacon, New Hamburg, and Poughkeepsie serve Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line.

Metro-North’s Harlem Line stops at Pawling, the Appalachian Trail, Harlem Valley–Wingdale, Dover Plains, Ten Mile River, and Wassaic.

Amtrak trains stop in Poughkeepsie and Rhinecliff, and are able to take travelers to points like New York City, Syracuse, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, and Albany, which offers connections to Boston and Chicago.

Hudson Valley Regional Airport,

which is eight miles from Poughkeepsie and 12 miles from Beacon, is a costeffective alternative for corporate jets and helicopters to Westchester, Teterboro, and Waterbury-Oxford airports. Plus, it’s a 22-minute Sikorsky S-76 helicopter flight from Hudson Valley Regional to Manhattan.

Being close to urban centers is important, as is having room to breathe.

The Taconic Mountains, part of the Appalachian chain, run through eastern Dutchess County. Mount Beacon is a popular hiking spot less than two miles from downtown Beacon. The county has more than 110,000 acres of agriculture.

And the Hudson River and its riverside cliffs provide incredible views and recreation opportunities.

Real Estate

Among the largest development projects in Dutchess County, the planned $500 million Silo Ridge Field Club in Amenia includes 245 luxury homes and an 18-hole golf course.

Historic sites at or along the river include the Vanderbilt Mansion, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Staatsburg and Mills Mansion, and the Walkway Over the Hudson. Altogether, Dutchess County has 244 historic sites and districts.

Dutchess County’s public schools educate more than 46,000 students

and employ more than 3,000 teachers in grades K–12. The schools spend $19,131 per student, more than $6,000 higher than the national average, and among the highest in the state. There are also 38 private and parochial schools in the county.

LUXURY LIVING Major real estate projects in Dutchess County show that this is a place for urban professionals to grow their families and pursue greater business opportunities.

The $500 million Silo Ridge Field Club in Amenia, is a projected luxury residential resort that calls for 245 homes, including 21 lodging units, and an 18-hole golf course with putting

park and practice range.

The construction effort will generate 3,000 jobs over 10 years. When completed, Silo Ridge is expected to generate 200 full- and part-time jobs, plus $63 million in property tax revenue over 10 years for the county, town, fire districts, and Webutuck Central School District.

The development is aimed at high-income New York Metro-area residents, primarily those with families.

Residences will range between $1 million and $10 million.

Silo Ridge aims to blend luxury living with the natural beauty of Dutchess County, protecting 80 percent of its 670 acres of land for open space. Plans also include a public park at the property’s DeLavergne Hill—the number one fall foliage view in the county, according to Dutchess County Tourism—plus an indoor field house and activity barn, which will feature a bowling alley and movie theater.

“There are many activities on the property and within the region that appeal to the healthy lifestyles most members typically live,” said Mike Dignacco, vice president of construction at Stoneleaf Partners, Silo Ridge’s codeveloper with Discovery Land Company.

Bellefield at Hyde Park, located on Route 9 across from the Culinary Institute of America, is a $100 million mixed-use development project that will draw tourists, professional conferences, and social gatherings and events, while also providing 559 residences over 339 acres.

“We are very excited about our future plans for a residential village, which will feature more than 500 single-family homes as well as cultural and recreational amenities,” says Thomas M. Mulroy, chairman and chief executive officer of T-Rex Capital Group, the developer of Bellefield at Hyde Park.

The homes, which will be in Colonial farmhouse, and Dutch Revival styles as a nod to Hudson Valley history, will use geothermal and solar energy, and thinkdutchess.com

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Real Estate

have their own sustainable gardening planters and beds. Forty-eight acres of the site will be devoted to community gardens and farmland to provide food for an on-site restaurant. In this way, Bellefield honors Hudson Valley history and agricultural heritage in its community.

Bellefield’s operation and visitor spending will have a combined economic impact of more than $634 million, and in its first year the project will generate $4.25 million in spending in Dutchess County. Construction is creating more than 550 jobs, plus 369 full-time, permanent on-site jobs once the project is complete. Dutchess County will gain more than $36 million in taxes over the development’s first 10 years.

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MARKET-RATE HOUSING Poughkeepsie has numerous developments with market-rate housing units.

Among them are Queen City Lofts, a $21 million project of 70 housing units—20 of them at market rate— and 12,000 square feet of commercial space will be developed in a previously vacant space.

Another is the $8 million Pelton Manor project, a restoration of a historic Poughkeepsie mansion and property that will add 36 apartments (30 of them at market rate), plus create a community garden and parks.

In Beacon, 248 Tioronda will add 100 market-rate units in four buildings along Fishkill Creek. The development also features a clubhouse and pool, plus a publicly accessible greenway trail.

The Kingdome, a $25 million investment in Dutchess County on 33 acres, will be the largest inflatable sports dome in the United States at the size of three football fields, and hire more than 100 employees when it opens in 2017.

Final Word

For Life And Work, Dutchess County Rises Above

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rom its accessibility and charm to its long history of innovation, arts, and agriculture, it’s easy to see why Dutchess County is a great place to live, work, and do business.

Dutchess County truly is the northernmost suburb of New York City.

The Beacon Metro-North train station is 75 miles north of Grand Central Terminal, and Hudson Valley Regional Airport offers a 22-minute helicopter ride to Manhattan and fast charter plane access.

When at home, residents relish the local beauty by hiking Mount Beacon, traveling walking and biking trails, and visiting 112,482 acres of farmland. In the county’s vibrant cities, charming towns, and agriculture-rich countryside,

a high quality of life is easy to find.

For these reasons and more, entrepreneurs, long-standing family businesses, and booming businesses like Crown Maple Syrup — which owns North America’s largest maple syrup production facility — find Dutchess County is the perfect home.

Major projects are setting the tone for an innovative future in Dutchess County, including the 696,000-square foot in-patient pavilion at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, a $510 million construction project that is the largest in Poughkeepsie history. And Marist College, one of the county’s exceptional higher-education institutions, is developing a business incubator at its Fulton Technology CrossRoad site.

In all, nearly $1 billion is being invested in major construction projects in Dutchess County, with more than $2 billion in development in planning or permitted.

Key residential development includes the $500 million Silo Ridge Field Club, which includes 245 units and an 18-hole golf course. Plus, an influx of younger entrepreneurs is coming to Beacon and Poughkeepsie, thanks in part to projects that are turning onceshuttered historic sites into residential and commercial hubs.

If you’re seeking the perfect home for your life and business, it’s clear there’s no better choice. Think access.

Think innovation. Think Dutchess! thinkdutchess.com

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Think Dutchess

"Dutchess County is home to some of the most attractive talent and desirable property in the Northeast. Here, you’ll find a plethora of towns with character and a strong sense of community – all just outside of New York City. Think Dutchess for your business…and for life." ­— Ron Hicks Assistant County Executive Economic Development

Think Dutchess

T

hrough the stories, profiles and images in this inaugural issue of Think Dutchess magazine, you have experienced just a taste of Dutchess County. From our early pioneers, generations of innovators have paved the way for creative growth that pays homage to our roots while looking forward. Our premier academic institutions have provided a first-rate education to tomorrow’s leaders and created an environment where entrepreneurs can flourish and create world-renowned products and technology that drive today’s global economy.

Many of the brands and companies mentioned are household names — others may be new to you. With a rich 70

focus on history and education, this mix of old and new has positioned our county for tremendous growth. Our organization, Think Dutchess Alliance for Business, has been set up to respond to your business needs. From the startup entrepreneur to the tech company CEO, the Think Dutchess team provides business counseling, networking, incentives, site selection, and expedited permitting so that you can focus on doing what you do best.

As the one-stop shop aligning our dedicated partners mentioned right, Think Dutchess will steer you and your business in the right direction. Let us show you our beautiful county and the unique lifestyle and industry we’ve created here in the heart of New York’s

Hudson Valley.

If you’d like to learn more, contact our offices or explore our website at ThinkDutchess.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

3 Neptune Road Poughkeepsie, NY ThinkDutchess.com 845.463.5400

Think Dutchess

"Our resources at Think Dutchess allow us to connect businesses looking to relocate or expand to the right people, right away. This gives companies more time to focus on what they’re good at, and means less time searching for answers." ­— Sarah Lee President and CEO Think Dutchess

The Think Dutchess Alliance for Business is an unprecedented coalition of the county’s leading education, workforce, and business institutions developing investment and job opportunities for current and future Dutchess County businesses. The partnership will ensure the retention, expansion, and attraction of business and jobs in Dutchess County.

Dutchess County Local Development Corporation

Dutchess County

Industrial Development Agency

thinkdutchess.com

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[ADVANCING COMMUNITY CARE [

Michael Cho, MD Neurosurgeon

“That’s why I chose

MidHudson Regional Hospital.

There are many reasons why the area’s leading physicians choose to affiliate with MidHudson Regional Hospital and live in the Hudson Valley. For Michael Cho, MD, it’s because of our dedication to advancing community care. And that brings the right care, closer to you. It’s one more way we’re advancing care. Here.

”

MidHudsonRegional.org

Westchester Medical Center Health Network includes: WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER I MARIA FARERI CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL I BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CENTER I MIDHUDSON REGIONAL HOSPITAL GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL I BON SECOURS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL I ST. ANTHONY COMMUNITY HOSPITAL HEALTHALLIANCE HOSPITAL: BROADWAY CAMPUS I HEALTHALLIANCE HOSPITAL: MARY’S AVENUE CAMPUS I MARGARETVILLE HOSPITAL

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3 Neptune Road Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 845.463.5400 www.thinkdutchess.com Scenic Hudson’s Poets’ Walk Park in Red Hook, Photo by: Robert Rodriguez, Jr.