Peekskil Soaring

PEEKSKILL

SOARING 75 YEARS A CITY AND SPREADING ITS WINGS

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL | JULY 21, 2014

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MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR THANK YOU TO THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL for providing the city of Peekskill with this chance to showcase the wealth of opportunities that our community has to offer. Peekskill has a historic and vibrant downtown, a scenic Hudson River waterfront, arts and culture, a diverse population and workforce, and excellent development opportunities. We continue to invest in our infrastructure and community facilities to create a better place for businesses and families to thrive.

Peekskill is becoming an important entertainment center with its location at the gateway to the Mid-Hudson Valley Region; especially when you consider the Paramount Hudson Valley, the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, downtown and waterfront restaurants, wine bars and music venues, art galleries, festivals and public art installations. The ongoing renaissance of our pedestrian-friendly downtown reflects the diversity of our community with a variety of shops, boutiques and ethnic eateries. Peekskill is home to two museums, more than 100 artist lofts and studios, outdoor and riverfront dining, the award-winning Peekskill Brewery and a restored Metro-North commuter train station. Our three miles of Hudson River waterfront are packed with opportunities for recreation, tourism, boating and dining. All of this located under an hour by train from Grand Central Terminal.

PEEKSKILL SOARING 75 YEARS A CITY AND SPREADING ITS WINGS

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL | JULY 21, 2014

Peekskill has exciting development progress to report starting with the opening of the new Holiday Inn Express and moving on to White Plains Linen’s impressive job creation statistics that have doubled over the last four years. The city has secured proposals from major developers and plans to award a development designation for Lower South Street that will bring a major retail destination and almost 500,000 square feet of mixed-use development. A new development team is actively planning to rebuild the restaurant and marina at Charles Point and the city is currently considering a plan for a proposed commercial sports training facility at the property at 9 Corporate Drive. Plans for a new Central Fire Station are on schedule to break ground by the end of this year with a state-of-the-art facility that will centralize our fire operations.

Improvements to our waterfront parks are underway with construction of the Southern Waterfront Trail starting this summer, while Peekskill Landing to the north of the train station is scheduled for completion by this September. Peekskill is proud of its industrial past and the companies that have become part of its future. Companies like White Plains Linen, BASF, Wheelabrator Westchester, D. Bertoline & Sons, Giuliante Machine Tool, Hudson River Health Care, Westchester Community College Center for the Digital Arts and West Ledge Rehabilitation Health Center provide a strong and diverse employment base for the

PEEKSKILL SOARING WESTFAIR COMMUNICATIONS INC. CUSTOM PUBLISHING DIVISION Fairfield County Business Journal, HV Biz, Westchester County Business Journal 3 Westchester Park Drive, White Plains, New York 10604 Tel. (914) 694-3600 • Fax (914) 694-3699 westfaironline.com

city. Together with the Common Council, our professional staff at City Hall, the Peekskill IDA, and partners such as the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce and the Peekskill Business Improvement District, we will make Peekskill a better place to live, work and visit. I invite you to come see for yourself the many positive things that are happening in Peekskill.

Sincerely,

Frank A. Catalina, Mayor, city of Peekskill

PUBLISHER - Dee DelBello MANAGING EDITOR - Bob Rozycki SUPPLEMENT COORDINATOR - Barbara Hanlon ADVERTISING SALES - Barbara Hanlon • Anne Jordan • Lisa Cash • Kathleen Reilly • Patrice Sullivan SENIOR ART & DIGITAL DIRECTOR - Dan Viteri Background cover photo by Jim Pinto.

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PEEKSKILL’S MARK ON WESTCHESTER AND THE WORLD

BY AARON PELC

P

EEKSKILL BECAME A CITY NEARLY 75 YEARS AGO, BUT THE HUDSON RIVER COMMUNITY HAD CARVED A PLACE FOR ITSELF IN HISTORY LONG BEFORE. FROM THE AREA’S ROLE IN THE UNITED STATES’ FORMATIVE WARS TO ITS CONNECTION TO NOW-INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS BRANDS AND HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES, THE FOLLOWING ARE NOTABLE HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT PEEKSKILL.

• Peekskill got its name from Jan Peeck, the first European known to make contact with the native people of the area in the 1600s, and the Dutch word “kil,” meaning “stream.” (Peeck was a resident of New Amsterdam, a Dutch settlement on the southern tip of Manhattan).

• The area was an important strategic point for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and used as a command post. Local army units saw action at the pivotal battles of Saratoga and Yorktown.

• Abraham Lincoln’s only public appearance in Westchester County occurred in Peekskill in 1861, according to the Lincoln Society of Peekskill. The president-elect was received at the Peekskill train depot during his inaugural train trip from Springfield, Ill., to Washington, D.C. Lincoln thanked city residents and officials for their greeting, and delivered a short statement, including the following: “I will say in a single sentence, in regard to the difficulties which lie before me and our beloved country, that if I can only be as generously and unanimously sustained as the demonstrations I have witnessed indicate I shall be, I shall not fail.” The visit is credited to William Nelson, a Peekskill at-

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Peekskill-based Westchester County National Bank provided funding for the Bear Mountain Bridge, shown here under construction. Credit: Peekskill City Historian Frank Goderre.

torney who served as a U.S. congressman and was a friend of the president.

• Henry Ward Beecher, the brother of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” author Harriet Beecher Stowe, was an abolitionist minister in Peekskill. The Peekskill Museum’s website says Beecher Stowe “certainly was in Peekskill at some time.” Some Peekskill residents’ homes were stops on the Underground Railroad for people who had escaped slavery.

• Crayon maker Crayola L.L.C., formerly Binney & Smith, has roots in Peekskill. Before setting up shop in New York City, company founder Joseph Binney began the Peekskill Chemical Works in 1864. The plant produced lampblack, used as a pigment.

• L. Frank Baum, author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” attended the Peekskill Military Academy. And while many towns around the U.S. celebrate their ties to the book and its film adaptation, Peekskill has a claim as the inspiration for the famous “yellow brick road” in the story. Legend has it that Baum arrived from the Hudson River via steamboat and was told by residents to “follow the yellow brick road,” part of which still exists, to get to the military academy.

• Fleischmann Co. began operations in the

The Peekskill-based Westchester County National Bank financed the Bear Mountain Bridge, and its president, Cornelius Pugsley, helped develop the county parks system. Credit: Peekskill City Historian Frank Goderre

area in the early 1900s with a factory at Charles Point that produced gin, vinegar and yeast. The company billed the plant as the “largest yeast factory in the world” at the time, with close proximity to New York City for easy shipping.

• Peekskill City Historian Frank Goderre called the Bear Mountain Bridge, which opened in 1924, “a Peekskill project.” It was financed by the Westchester County National Bank based in the city. The bank’s president, Peekskill native Cornelius Pugsley, was also the treasurer of the Bear Mountain Bridge Corp. and vice president of the Westchester

County Park Commission. The commission developed the county parks and parkway system based on the idea that “no matter where you live, you had access to a county park,” Goderre said.

• The late actor and comedian Jackie Gleason built a home called Round Rock Hill, complete with a broadcast studio, on the outskirts of Peekskill in what is now Cortlandt Manor.

A 1960 issue of Popular Mechanics reported, “Everything about the home is round,” from its exterior structure to the furniture, rugs and a shower room.

• Baum wasn’t the only notable visitor to the Peekskill Military Academy. Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath practiced at the school with the New York Jets during the offseason in the 1960s. When asked how much he remembered of the city in a 2012 interview for HBO, Namath said, “I can see Peekskill Military Academy and our players in camp right now like it was yesterday.”

• Though it wasn’t actually shot there, the

1980s sitcom “The Facts of Life” was set in Peekskill, referencing the city in dialogue and episode titles.

• George Pataki, governor of New York from 1995 to 2007, was born in Peekskill. He served as mayor of the city in the early 1980s before being elected to the state Assembly in 1984 and the state Senate in 1992.

Jackie Gleason built a round home, complete with a broadcast studio, on the outskirts of Peekskill.

• Lifelong city resident Richard Jackson became when he was a child. Tucci, who has recently New York state’s first African-American mayreceived attention for his role as Caesar Flickor in 1984, when he took over the leadership erman in “The Hunger Games” series, attendof Peekskill with the departure of his friend, ed the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at SUNY Pataki, to Albany.

Purchase. Reubens is known as the comedic • Famous actors born in Peekskill include man-child character Pee-wee Herman.

Mel Gibson, Stanley Tucci and Paul Reubens.

— Sources: Peekskill City Historian Frank Gibson, whose film credits include “Mad Goderre, the Peekskill Museum and historiMax,” “Braveheart” and “The Passion of the cal and media reports.

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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Photograph by Jim Pinto

PEEKSKILL SOARING

IT

It is not without forethought that a bald eagle is used on the cover of this special supplement.

The marked growth of bald eagles along the Peekskill riverfront during the winter months has been a harbinger of all the good things happening in this city year-round.

The increased population of this majestic bird that adorns The Great Seal of the United States has been noticed by train riders, motorists, hikers and of course, the residents of this city.

Inside, you will find we have profiled a dozen business owners who are just a mere sampling of all the good that is being done in the city.

We would like to thank Deb Milone, executive director of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce, and Jason Angell of the Peekskill Business Improvement District for all of their assistance.

A special thank you goes to City Manager Anthony Ruggiero, Jim Pinto from the Peekskill Department of Economic Development and Michael Welti from the Peekskill Department of Planning and Development for all of their help in the compilation of this publication. We also thank Jim for his great photos that helped illustrate many of the articles.

And, of course, we thank the advertisers who supported this publication.

Bob Rozycki Managing Editor Publication design: Dan Viteri, Art Director

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The bronze diver statue was created by Carole A. Feuerman.

A BID TO MAKE THINGS BETTER Photograph by Jim Pinto

BY FRANK PAGANI

Jason Angell

IF

“If there are investors taking a second look at Peekskill, they are probably too late. People who are savvy about this city’s revitalization are already in the game,” said Jason Angell, executive director of the Peekskill Business Improvement District (PBID).

To prove his argument that revitalization of Peekskill is well underway, Angell points to several recent and soon-to-be developments. Among them are the emergence of a new dining destination in the Hudson Valley with the opening of eateries and plans for others to follow; the commitment of business owners to make new investments either in their existing operations or to launch new ones as Keith Barardi did with the large-scale expansion of his Peekskill Brewery and as real estate investor Gabriel Arango is doing with his 14,000-square-foot Peekskill Central Market; and the transformation of the iconic Paramount (rebranded as the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater) into a popular entertainment destination under the leadership of a new management team.

Founded in 1996 as a nonprofit corporation, the PBID encompasses downtown’s central commercial district — a 25-block area that is home to a host of businesses, including law firms, medical practices, nonprofits, artist galleries and live/work studios, restaurants and cafés, fitness studios, hi-tech design and software firms and other specialty retailers. Angell’s long-term plan is to energize this mix and help it grow in the city’s new economy that is taking shape.

He has been working with city officials to create a 24/7 environment, one that will be characterized with increased foot traffic. Right now, it’s primarily a weekend economy when most of the visitors come to the area to shop and enjoy the restaurant and entertainment scene. “We want to change that so that there is robust foot traffic seven days a week.” He added, “One way of accomplishing that is to open some vacant parcels in the district for residential development as we recently proposed to the city.”

Currently, zoning hinders new residential development by restricting potential tenants to artists only.

He said that under the plan, which would maintain the artist district and artist work/live program, as many as 170 new residential units would be developed. “Our studies show that both the young and post-retirement segments of the population have been increasing, creating a demand for this type of residential housing,” Angell noted. He is very confident that the rezoning proposal, which has bipartisan support, will be approved by the City Council.

Another component in Angell’s strategy to help make Peekskill’s street scene hum 24/7 is to increase the small retail sector that will primarily help meet the shopping needs of the growing residential community while supporting other businesses in the downtown. “The district is perfectly ideal to accommodate new, easy to access, mom- and-pop-type shops.”

If all goes to plan, the new Peekskill Central Market, across the street from City Hall and scheduled to open in the fall with a host of small retailers under one roof will be the first significant step toward turning the vision of a lively shopping street scene into a reality.

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Photographs by Jim Pinto.

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Photograph by Leif Skodnick

JOHN SHARP SPREADS THE CRAFT BEER GOSPEL

BY LEIF SKODNICK

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John Sharp stands behind the bar in Gleason’s, one of two Peekskill restaurants he co-owns.

W

hen the restaurant revival began in Peekskill, John Sharp got in on the ground floor.

The former Queens resident opened Birdsall House, a restaurant that pairs locally-sourced food with craft beers, at 970 Main St. with business partner Tim Reinke in 2010. The pair doubled down on the Peeksill restaurant market, opening Gleason’s, a restaurant featuring unique cocktails and flatbread pizzas, at 911 South St. Two years ago, Sharp told the Business Journal, “There’s a lot going on a lot of people moving in, a lot of businesses opening.”

Since then, Sharp says business has been great.

“Birdsall House is clicking on all cylinders, it’s getting busier and busier,” Sharp said from a stool at Gleason’s. “We’re slightly challenged in the upper county, as far as population, and as far as a population that is a little more educated in craft beer and the gastropub scene.”

In spite of that challenge, Sharp says that the eateries have established a following and changed peoples’ tastes.

“It’s funny, because it is higher in product and a better quality product, people have turned, so to speak,” Sharp said. “We’ve not only got new people coming into the Upper Hudson Valley, but we’ve also changed how people think about food and how people drink beer.”

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BREATHTAKING VIEWS OF THE HUDSON

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS PEEKSKILL CREATING AN EXCITING BUZZ IN THE REGION

BY FRANK PAGANI

S

ince the Holiday Inn Express Peekskill at 2 John Walsh Boulevard opened earlier this year, strong interest has made Hudson Valley’s newest hospitality addition a popular destination for social and business meetings.

“We are already selling out next year for wedding parties,” said

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Monika Wojcik, general manager. “The word is out that our hotel is a perfect venue for small wedding parties as well as for other special occasions like bar and bat mitzvahs, confi rmations, birthdays, anniversaries and graduations.” In addition to providing 76 guest rooms and a host of amenities, the hotel offers catering options for small groups.

Wojcik also pointed out that the hotel’s “breathtaking views of the Hudson River provide a spectacular setting for special celebrations and are especially appealing in these return-to-nature times.” The hotel’s immediate market is the surrounding Hudson Valley region. But, Wojcik noted that New York City also provides opportunities for couples who might like to celebrate tying the knot in intimate, easy-to-get-to beautiful surroundings. She said that the hotel’s close proximity to Manhattan (just a 60-minute Metro-North ride from Grand Central to the nearby Peekskill station) is another marketing plus.

The hotel is also proving to be equally appealing to business travelers, according to Wojcik. Among the amenities offered are two meeting rooms (one can accommodate about 50-65 depending on confi guration, banquet or classroom style) and a second for a smaller group of 25), free high-speed Internet access in all rooms, complimentary continental breakfast, free daily parking and a 24hour business center.

With a staff of 21 local employees, the hotel is making a significant contribution to the Peekskill economy, which is expected to grow as increasing numbers of guests spend money for local goods and services during their stay.

But the hotel is also making a major impact on the environment in very positive ways as a result of a decision to go green by its owner and builder George Liaskos, who also owns the Cortlandt Colonial restaurant and ballroom. Following the acquisition of the property, Liaskos excavated and removed hundreds of thousands of tons of scrap metal at the site. “I decided then to build a completely LEED-compliant building from one end to the other.”

His investment in equipping all the rooms, hallways and public spaces with motion sensors and energy-efficient light bulbs will reduce the hotel’s annual energy usage by about 35 to 40 percent.

The same level of savings can be expected in water usage as a result of the ability to collect and recycle rain water.

Liaskos believes he has created the fi rst-of-its-kind, completely sustainable hospitality destination in the region (the application process for LEED certification is expected to take about a year).

But like everything else he has undertaken as a successful restaurateur who always puts the customer fi rst, he also took the extra step in double insulating the walls between the guest rooms. That actually counts as another amenity for overnight guests who want to enjoy a truly quiet, good night’s sleep.

WILFREDO MOREL AND COMMITTEE LATINO

BY FRANK PAGANI

A

bout five years ago, Wilfredo Morel, a long-time Peekskill resident, community supporter and sculptor artist, undertook a survey on behalf of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce to identify how many Latino businesses there were in the city. The initiative came about as a result of Morel’s work as director of the Hudson River Healthcare, a community-based volunteer health center providing serWILFREDO MOREL vices and programs, especially for new immigrants.

As Hispanics constituted one of the community’s significant sized groups, Morel wondered how many of them owned businesses. The chamber agreed with Morel that it was important to get answers to that question.

“After one month of literally counting the businesses, street by street, we were astounded by the total number we came up with—262!,” Morel said. As a result, Morel and the Chamber looked for ways to provide programming and services for what was clearly emerging as a dominant demographic group in the Hudson Valley.

In April 2013, the first step in realizing that goal occurred when Morel helped to establish Committee Latino, starting with 20 members. In just a year, membership leaped to 125 Latino businesses.

Shortly afterward, the second pivotal development occurred when the Chamber started to bring in the Committee as a separate business group under its umbrella. Because the goal is to integrate Latino businesses into Peekskill’s mainstream business community, Committee Latino members are not required to be chamber members. “Basically, it’s building relationships and getting to know each other,” said chamber Executive Director Deborah Milone.

Morel says the relationship between the committee and the chamber is an ideal fit. “It has allowed our members to meet monthly for breakfast with chamber members to exchange ideas and to participate with them for an after hour networking session on a quarterly basis.” He added: “The long-term goal is for us to come together and realize our full potential as a business community.”

Morel, who was appointed to the chamber’s board of directors, views his role as facilitator and mediator. He notes that the key to the committee’s success is clear communications about how the Hispanic business community can thrive. One ongoing initiative is to assure that Hispanic businesses understand the city’s rules and regulations. “To do that, we arrange for city officials to make periodic presentations to our members on various compliance issues such as the proper use of store signage in an historic district,” Morel explained.

Although the committee currently lacks a board of directors, Morel is part of a small group that is identifying eight to 10 potential leaders who will help chart Committee Latino’s future course.

In addition to his committee and chamber duties, Morel is busy planning a new art program for the Kiley Youth Center that will bring in four artists from the community including himself to help fire the imaginations of children ages 8 to 13 about the creative power of art. And, as always, he devotes creative energies to his main passion— creating large-scale outdoor sculptured works. He

is especially proud of “The Tree of Life and Water” that stands along the Peekskill riverfront on the corner of Bank and Main Streets.

Fabricated with recycled metal from the Hudson Valley’s industrial past, Morel views it as a symbol of what a community can accomplish when people communicate and understand each other and devote time and effort to a common cause “so that we can succeed in all we can be.”

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ARTISTS FIND THRIVING, NURTURING COMMUNITY

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

Aaron Taylor Kuffner in his “Gamelatron Sanctuary,” a collaboration between Caramoor’s “In the Garden of Sonic Delights” and the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill. Photograph by Pascal Charles Petit.

In the early 1990s, Peekskill sought to revive its downtown scene and economy by offering artists and galleries — many of whom were being priced out of lower Manhattan — incentives to relocate farther up the Hudson. The result is the Peekskill Artist District, which contains some 75 artists in live/work lofts and some 15 galleries and arts organizations that have played host to thousands of visitors, particularly during Open Studio tours in June.

Begin your tour of cultural Peekskill, however, on the outskirts of town at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (1701 Main St.), a 12,000-square-foot former factory dedicated to provocative exhibits and related programs that deal with social issues. HVCCA, founded by the Marc and Livia Straus family, is also the primary sponsor of the Peekskill Project, an annual, citywide display of site-specific work.

Through July 27, HVCCA presents “Art at the Core,” an exhibit and performance series that considers the myriad ways — political, psychosexual, Surrealistic and art historical, to name a few — in which the visual and performing arts, intersecting with new technology, affect our everyday well-being. But HVCCA doesn’t confine itself to its own space.

In conjunction with Caramoor’s “In the Garden of Sonic Delights,” HVCCA is offering Aaron Taylor Kuffner’s “Gamelatron Sanctuary: Suara Sinar (The Sound of Light)” at a transformed warehouse on the Peekskill waterfront through Nov. 2. Picture a dark, 10,000-squarefoot space feathered and festooned with couches, pillows and rugs.

Soaring in concentric circles are various percussive instruments from an Indonesian gamelan orchestra that are retrofitted with mechanical mallets. These instruments not only fill the space with

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sound, but give off pulses of light.

“Movements of music become a choreographed panoramic dance of light,” the website (hvcca.org) notes. “‘Suara Sinar’ is a refuge, it is a universe unto itself, it is an offering, a respite, an escape and a confrontation.”

From HVCCA, head on over to North and South Division streets, which is what people mean when they talk about the Peekskill Artist District.

Here you’ll find Westchester Community College’s Center for the Digital Arts (27 N. Division St., sunywcc.edu/locations/peekskill); and the Flat Iron Gallery (105 S. Division St., flatiron.qpg.com), which features works in various media by artists from around the country. Part of what makes Division such a fun thoroughfare, though, is that you can savor food for the body along with food for the soul. Check out the BeanRunner Café (201. S. Division, beanrunnercafe.com), which serves up hot jazz and cool exhibits, and the Division Street Grill (26 N. Division, divisionstreetgrill. com), where you can also savor jazz and the blues.

But while Division Street may be the spine of the Artist District, culture’s nerve endings radiate throughout the city. Finish your aesthetic day in Peekskill over at 1008 Brown St. That’s the address of the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater, formerly The Paramount Center for the Arts (paramounthudsonvalley.com), a onetime movie palace now enjoying its third act as a venue for films and such live entertainment as the July 26 Peekskill Music Festival (noon to 10 p.m.) Upcoming acts include Bob Newhart (Aug. 16), Bernie Williams and His Allstar Band (Aug. 22) and the adult male revue “Thunder From Down Under” (Aug. 28) — spiced with saucy Aussies and proof that Peekskill is a city for every artistic taste.

For more, visit the Peekskill Arts Alliance at peekskillartists.org and EMBARK Peekskill, a coalition of literary and performing artists, at embarkpeekskill.com.

JUSTICE SUSTAINED IN A TOWN WHERE THE GREATEST HARDSCRABBLE lawyer in history, Abraham Lincoln, delivered an address, the prospect of fair and sturdy legal representation for those involved in civil suits, yet who have limited resources, is a comfortable fit.

Legal Services of the Hudson Valley marked the opening of its Peekskill office at 1 Park Place June 19. The nonprofit across more than four decades has helped some 300,000 persons with legal issues of all stripes.

A host of officials from the county and local levels was on hand to commemorate the addition of Peekskill to the services’ addresses in White Plains, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, Newburgh, Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Spring Valley.

“Legal Services of the Hudson Valley opened this office in Peekskill in order to make access to justice more easily accessible to residents of northern Westchester and Putnam counties, especially seniors and veterans, who cannot af-

BY BILL FALLON

ford an attorney,” said CEO Barbara Finkelstein, who noted the address was new, but local law efforts had already begun.

“Our Peekskill staff has already participated in a number of outreach events and developed community partnerships, including a collaboration with the Peekskill Senior Center, which helps them to provide for their clients’ multifaceted needs,” Finkelstein said. “We’re excited to work together with other service providers to protect the rights of our neighbors in Peekskill and its surrounding areas, and are grateful for the support of Westchester County.”

As part of the celebration for the new office, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley collected backpacks and school supplies to be distributed to children from the city of Peekskill and in northern Westchester County through the Back to School Program run by Peekskill C.A.P, Peekskill Community Centers and the Kiley Youth Center staff.

Since 1967, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley has provided support, advocacy and civil legal representation to families and individuals in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Rockland counties who are unable to pay an attorney.

Since forming, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley has provided free civil legal assistance to some 300,000 clients. Because of its work, the state and local governments have saved millions in taxpayer funds by preventing homelessness, abuse, hunger and other societal harms that result from an absence of affordable justice.

Legal Services of the Hudson Valley is a recipient of Legal Services Corp. funding for the region and is able to provide a full array of services to low income individuals and families to preserve the “essentials of life” and stabilize their lives. Its appeal for money is basic and acknowledges that, even in clear matters of right and wrong, justice requires money: “With enough funding to meet demand, we could serve thousands more – ensuring fairness and closing the ‘justice gap.’”

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Photograph by Jim Pinto

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PARTNERSHIP CREATES JOBS, HELPS ENVIRONMENT

BY CRYSTAL KANG

T

the commencement of a long-term partnership between a commercial laundry operator and waste disposal plant in Peekskill has expanded new job opportunities and reduced a ton of greenhouse gases within the past nine months.

White Plains Linen, which signed a 10-year contract with Wheelabrator Westchester L.P. to start a renewable energy partnership that can serve as a green model, has increased its staff to 85 employees since October when it first struck the deal.

“I think we’re a model for the world in the creation of running a whole business on fossil fuels and changing it to an eco-friendly company,” said White Plains Linen President Bruce Botchman. “The first couple of years we won’t see any savings because the pipeline was a $2 million investment. But it’ll get paid back to us over 10 years, and in the long run, the company will be more profitable and will save the environment.”

Connected to Wheelabrator by an underground pipeline that provides continuous, ready-made energy to power the laundry operations, White Plains Linen is estimated to reduce natural gas by about 4,775 metric tons

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PEEKSKILL SOARING

Bruce Botchman

of greenhouse gas emissions annually, which is equivalent to taking 995 passenger vehicles off the road, said Leonard Labonia, vice president of operations at White Plains Linen. Through using steam power, White Plains Linen will significantly reduce its natural gas usage from 1 million therms per year to fewer than 90,000 therms per year. (A therm is a unit of heat equal to 100,000 Btu.) Despite operating in a market where the economy contracted at a much steeper pace than expected in the first quarter with gross domestic product down by 2.9 percent — the sharpest decline in five years — the company’s revenue grew consistently by 4.5 percent since January, Botchman said. He attributes this to the fact that the commercial laundry services market has shrunk, especially following the shutdown of Sea Crest Linen Supply in Brooklyn, one of White Plain Linen’s biggest competitors which folded after operating for nearly 100 years. White Plains Linen also acquired half of Cascade Linen Supply in Manhattan, another competitor that struggled during the first quarter of this year.

What kept business going at White Plains Linen was its “consistent and reliable supply of steam” that translated into “high-quality washing,” Botchman said. The wash water is already set at the temperature needed to do each load of laundry, reducing the energy used to generate hot water. Since the company relies on steam energy instead of natural gas, it hasn’t been subject to the volatile gas prices that have impacted many other businesses. Since October, the company has washed about 39 million pounds of laundry, growing its revenue by about 2 percent during the winter months alone, Botchman said.

White Plains Linen, a family-owned business since 1937, employs 575 people. Botchman, 62, is the third-generation business owner of the laundry services factory. Currently, White Plains Linen is planning to start an apprentice program next year. The program will sponsor students who want to learn how to operate a laundry services business.

Botchman said he hopes to find new talent to take over after he retires.

In the next five years, he said he envisions his company to grow its revenue by 50 percent.

White Plain Linen’s customers include well-known restaurateurs such as chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, owner of several restaurants in Manhattan and Westchester; Danny Meyer, owner of Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Café; and Mario Batali, owner of Tarry Lodge and Babbo Ristorante. The commercial laundry company also provides services to 42 The Restaurant at Ritz-Carlton in White Plains and Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown.

SEEKIRCHER GROWING NATIONWIDE

BY FRANK PAGANI

I

n 1977, it started as a home-based family business. Today, Seekircher Steel Window Repair at 423 Central Ave. is a thriving niche enterprise that specializes in restoring casement windows nationwide (36 states and counting) — from a Tudor-style home in Bronxville and an historic building at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to a mid-Manhattan penthouse apartment to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater home in Mill Run, Pa. Riding the wave of increased appreciation by the general public in the preservation of historical architecture, the company recently expanded its operations by adding 3,000 square feet — double the original space. “We were cramped for space and needed more work space,” said owner and founder John Seekircher who along with his team of eight, dedicated-to-the-craft pros repair and restore thousands of steel win-

dows every year preserving the architectural integrity of countless homes and national treasures.

Seekircher says the success of his business evolved as “we got more respect for the quality of our craftsmanship and personalized attention to each of our customers.” At the same time, the business benefitted from a change in society as a younger generation of homeowners is seeing the value of retaining the architectural beauty of older homes. Instead of ripping out the older windows and installing replacement windows, homeowners have been turning to Seekricher to restore the vintage windows. “Old is now cool,” noted Seekircher.

He explains that windows are the most significant element of a classically designed structure. ”Windows not only let in the light but they are visually a distinctive feature. If you merely

replace them during remodeling, it’s like plucking out the eyes of the structure and compromising its distinguishing architectural look.

New is not always better, nor cost effective when you consider that the original windows lasted 60 to 100 years. If you replace them with replacement windows you need to keep replacing them as restoration expert Robert Yapp observed.”

As part of an informative Q&A on Seekircher’s website seekirchersteelwindow.com, homeowners are advised to look at the environmental costs as well when considering restoring windows versus replacing windows.

“Restoring is actually one of the ‘greenest’ choices you can make when you consider the energy that is expended to manufacture a replacement window: extracting raw materials, transporting them, producing the window, shipping and installing it. By comparison, existing windows have all this energy embodied.

Tearing out historic windows not only wastes energy but it requires additional energy to remove and dispose them.

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13

PEEKSKILL SOARING

Sharp —

something, and we cheer Jackie Gleason.”

The population increase has helped Sharp’s business grow, but Sharp also sees more people visiting Peekskill from out of town. Peekskill has a good population base that has grown, but Sharp sees people coming in regularly from Mount Kisco and Dobbs Ferry.

“We’ve had other business that have opened up and are opening up that are proof positive that Peekskill is becoming a destination,” said Sharp. “Peekskill Brewery has been great. As they’ve expanded their brewery, they’ve gotten into a lot of hipper, newer places in Brooklyn and Manhattan.”

That, according to Sharp, has gotten Peekskill into the minds of the cityfolk — who then come and visit the brewery and see what the city, as a whole, has to offer.

“We keep thinking that we’ve hit a ceiling, and it keeps growing beyond it,” Sharp said of the upward trend in his business. “We’re definitely on the rise, but I don’t think we’ve come anywhere close to where it’s going to be.”

From page 7

the craft beer movement. “We [do] sell the big ones, we do have Budweiser,” Sharp said.

“But it’s always lovely to have a guy that starts with Budweiser, and then a year later he won’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. It doesn’t necessarily be that he has to turn into a beer snob, just that he finds the taste for some malt or more hops or whatever else.”

Birdsall House aims to highlight the American craft brewer, and seeks to draw a clientele that wants to try a wider range of beer, including beers they couldn’t find elsewhere. Gleason’s drink menu focuses on wines, whiskeys and unique barrel-aged cocktails, as well as flatbread pizza.

“Every Friday night, we do a little toast to Jackie,” said Sharp of a custom referring to his restaurant’s namesake, the famous actor who once owned a home outside of Peekskill.

“At 10 o’clock, everybody gets a little taste of

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PEEKSKILL SOARING

HATS OFF

TO

THIS COMMERCIAL COMPLEX

BY MARY SHUSTACK

L

eading a visitor into yet another part of The Hat Factory, a sprawling Peekskill commercial complex that traces its roots back to the 19th century, owner Ben Green said something that made him burst into laughter.

While his uttering the phrase — “But wait, there’s more” — did indeed recall the voice of a cheesy television announcer, Green was actually spot-on in describing the intricacies of the one-of-a-kind space that some 30 individual businesses call home.

“There aren’t two spaces here that remotely resemble each other,” he said.

And that, it turns out, is a big part of the appeal of the complex at 1000 N. Division St. Companies, Green said, rent anywhere from 250 to 15,000 square feet of the available 67,000-square-footage — a tin-ceiling, hardwood-floored haven for business, light manufacturing and artist studios where tenants in search of open floor plans, a creative atmosphere and a sense of community seem to find it all.

The Hat Factory serves as the realization of Green’s dream, to transform a 19th-century industrial complex into creative and alternative commercial space. It’s now the home of small businesses with expertise in everything from security to technology to art collecting; of a fencing school and yoga and clay studios; of film-production soundstages and recording studios; and of woodworkers and fine artists.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to this place whatsoever,” Green said.

And yet, it continues to thrive.

Cathleen Page of Page Integrity Inc., was captivated from the outset.

“We kept driving by and saying ‘What’s in there? This space looks really special,’” she said.

Today, she shares the headquarters of her business-technology consulting firm with her husband, Todd Page, an independent architectural consultant. With the fifth anniversary of their

16

PEEKSKILL SOARING

Ben Green in the Peekskill Clay Studios at The Hat Factory. Photograph

by Mary Shustack.

tenancy coming up in September, the Pages love doing business — and just being — at the factory.

“That’s the beauty of it, too,” Todd Page said. “It’s like a little community.”

Aiding that are the art exhibitions and gatherings along with special events such as tenant barbecues.

It’s just what Green, a successful singer-songwriter who also dabbled in the film business, had in mind. Growing up in New York City, he got to know the Peekskill area as a child, as his grandfather had a country home nearby.

“I’ve been coming up to Peekskill since I was born,” he said.

The Hat Factory complex, at 1000 N. Division St. in Peekskill. Photograph

by Mary Shustack.

Originally a 365-acre farm, the property would go on, over the years, to host a reform school for boys and then, a hat factory. When the hat manufacturer relocated, the facility fell into disrepair, reverted to town ownership and in 1979 was purchased by the Green family from its then-owner.

“It never really got to the point where it was rehabbed,” Green said.

From the start, Green — who stepped into the leadership role in 1997 —realized he was not able to go head-to-head with modern corporate parks.

“The old model was never going to fly up here,” he said. “You can’t compete with ‘Class A’ office space.”

Instead, he played up the factory’s unique appeal.

“I just sort of figured my role was to capitalize on the charms that an old structure has,” he said. Instead of vintage touches “being a deficit,” he put them in the spotlight.

“I didn’t really have a vision,” he said, beyond knowing he would have to “invest heavily.”

Roofing and heating were major undertak-

ings: “You have to keep people warm and you have to keep people dry,” he said with a laugh.

But it went deeper than that, with Green continuing to update while retaining the vintage feel. Having the ability to tailor spaces for each tenant has further enabled Green to attract a diverse group.

On a recent afternoon, Leslie Bloome, who with his wife, Andrea, runs Alchemy Post Sound, is hard at work re-creating the sound of someone coming down the stairs in the television show “Royal Pains.” He paused to show off the dozens of pairs of shoes and then the surfaces designed to create different effects.

“We re-create all the sounds of the actors’ movements,” he said of his foley work before turning back to a scene.

The factory also houses Peekskill Clay Studios, a state-of-the-art facility that offers studio space, classes and exhibitions. Green, a potter in college, saw the factory as an ideal setting for this creative venture, which he also owns.

“Clay is an art form that is better served in a communal environment,” he said.

That sentiment spreads throughout the factory complex, where the arts have always been considered an “intentional aspect” of the place.

“The Hat Factory has become a little bit more than just a rental building,” Green said. “Lately, things have just really, really taken off. … There’s a number of people that just want to be here.”

And one of those is Jeffrey Cobelli, president of Good4You Productions and best known for his documentary “Someday Melissa.”

His hat-factory studio marks his first home since founding his own company, and Cobelli is a real fan.

“It’s definitely a place where you can come and grow your own thing,” he said. “It’s the cliché ‘do your own thing.’” And Cobelli said he hopes to keep doing just that at The Hat Factory for a long time.

“I’m not leaving anytime soon because I can’t imagine anywhere else.”

For more, visit peekskillhatfactory.com.

PEEKSKILL SOARING

17

PEEKSKILL SOARING

SAYING IT WITH MUSIC

BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

THE PIANO MAN HAS GONE GOURMET. Not Billy Joel but Peekskill’s Piano Man, John P. Ford, owner and president of Ford Piano Inc., a fourth-generation family business that specializes in rebuilding the popular instrument.

He’s partnered with chef Louie Lanza (see related story) to create the 4,000-square-foot Hudson Room, opening July 26.

“The food is going to be game-changing in this town,” Ford says. The restaurant’s concert stage isn’t too shabby either.

The Hudson Room is a no-brainer for a man who’s been a game-changer himself.

Together with sons John P. III and Michael, Ford will gut your piano if necessary, giving it new strings, tuning pins, tuning pin blocks, keys and hammers as well as a new finish.

Or if you’re looking to buy, he can sell you an instrument that he’s rehabilitated or one from the company’s Mathushek line, which is made with Asian parts.

Why would you need Ford’s services? First, consider the numbers: A new grand piano from the top names – Steinway, Mason & Hamlin, Knabe, Baldwin – might cost you $40,000 to $50,000.

For $10,000 to $20,000, Ford can overhaul your Steinway or Mason & Hamlin over a three- to six-month period. Or you can buy a Mathushek for about $6,500.

But there’s another reason to avail yourself of Ford’s expertise: He’s that good. Stephen Sondheim had two of his instruments serviced by Ford. So did Duke Ellington. One of his is now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Ford has also done work for the likes of John Lennon, Barry Manilow, Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates, Madison Square Garden and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and

18

PEEKSKILL SOARING

John P. Ford adjusts a hammer.

Performing Arts.

You don’t have to be the Duke or a Beatle to restore a piano. But it helps.

As Ford puts it, “You don’t have to know how to fly a plane to build one. But it might be nice.”

He is like that, a gregarious man who laughs and banters easily at his shop, a three-story, 20,000-square-foot space that is filled with pianos, piano parts, dust and the heady smells of wood and varnish.

Ford knows how to fly the plane, so to speak.

“I am musical, and I do play,” he says, mostly jazz and blues, though he was classically trained.

The technology of building pianos has not changed since the 19thcentury. It’s no iPhone. “The piano,” Ford says, “is steeped in tradition.”

Photographs by Bob Rozycki

And so is he. Ford is the third generation of his family to make and restore the instrument. That story begins with Ford’s grandfather, Janos Fekete (FEH keh tah), a Hungarian immigrant who came to New York City between the 1880s and ’90s and worked as a foreman at Steinway & Sons on 14th Street in the action department, overseeing the piano keys and the accompanying felt hammers.

In the late 1890s, Fekete struck out on his own, setting up Fekete Piano at 242 E. 74 St. in Manhattan.

Though the family would change its name to the easier-to-pro-

nounce Ford in the 1950s, Hungary and its musical heritage (Franz Liszt, folk melodies) remained in the soul. And while Ford would study psychology at Long Island University and Stony Brook University, he would return to the business he had known since childhood.

Now music, the food of love, meets actual food in The Hudson Room.

“The food is going to take center stage for a while,” Ford says. But don’t be surprised to see concerts in the next few months.

And Ford pianos taking center stage then.

For more, visit fordpiano.com.

PEEKSKILL SOARING

19

PEEKSKILL SOARING

FORECAST:

SUNNY TIMES AHEAD

Sunny Cover Photograph by Bob Rozycki

IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY INSIDE THE PEEKSKILL COFFEE HOUSE. Mismatched furniture? Sunny.

Polished copper ceiling? Sunny.

Housemade paninis? Sunny.

Unique and tasty coffees? Sunny.

An inviting atmosphere reminiscent of San Francisco coffeehouses?

Sunny.

So, who is this Sunny?

She’s Sunny Cover, the fiery-haired, age-belying owner of the coffee house that just marked its 11th year in business.

From the imaginative crepes — Chiquita “Yo’ Mama” Ferrero (nutella and bananas) and Frenchie (ham, Jarlsberg cheese and Herbes de Provence) — to the young, friendly and attentive staffers, Cover has her

20

PEEKSKILL SOARING

BY BOB ROZYCKI

imprint on the business.

The coffee house is in the triangular-shaped building at the corner of South Division and Brown streets. Sort of like the bow of a ship aimed at the city’s downtown.

On a recent sultry mid-afternoon, the diversity of the coffee house played out. A white-haired woman was immersed in a hardcover novel on an overstuffed chair, a bearded hipster had his face buried in his laptop, two women seated by a window smilingly chatted, high school kids were in a corner with algebra books open. At the counter a day worker was ordering a dozen iced teas to go from the bronze-haired barista. A tattoo-emblazoned biker followed. And so it went.

Consider it your favorite aunt’s house where you can drop by on a moment’s notice and feel a sense of congeniality and family.

Cover calls it Peekskill’s “living room.”

When she and her husband, Patrick Conlon (owner of Speakeasy Tattoo just down the street), bought a house in Peekskill in 2001, she said there was no place to meet. She talked with her neighbors and a consensus was readily reached: the city needed a coffee house. Having lived in San Francisco where coffee houses are part of the culture, she began the hunt for the perfect location. And so it was at this tri-cornered slip that Cover deemed a “lovely corner” for her business. Destiny also lay under some floorboards. In excavating her find, Cover found old Maxwell House coffee cans covering holes to keep four-legged urban dwellers at bay. “This was meant to be.”

The inevitable crush happened on June 21, 2003 as she opened the doors. She had a winner. But winning came with long days without much rest. She made less money than her staff.

But all her hard work created a solid foundation for the business today.

“You have to know your business,” she says. “You should always be working on it. Trying to reinvent yourself is important.”

And so she has. From five workers two partners, and just coffee and pastry, in a tight space, Cover bought out her two partners in 2009, knocked down a wall that was a storeroom for a shop next door, added another 10 workers and more food to the menu. There’s also a live music night, trivia night, a night when a knitting group stops in and of course the work of local artists grace the coffee house walls.

Cover is proud of her staffers.

Cover put the structure and procedures in place for her workers — “The what to do and how to do it.”

She says “You have to lead by example.”

She smiles when it’s pointed out that the continuous line at the counter is impressive for a summer afternoon on the quiet end of downtown.

“I try not to micromanage. It empowers them. They care about their jobs. I’m totally blessed.”

“They’ll tell you they love me. Ask them.”

LANZA FINDS CITY’S MENU ENTICING

Photograph by Jim Pinto

BY FRANK PAGANI

Louie Lanza

S

Seven years ago, prominent New York City chef and restaurateur Louie Lanza and his wife, Joni, a former Broadway dancer and Kentucky farm girl, cashed in, sold their penthouse apartment and left the Big Apple to start a new life for their family in Garrison. The 40-acre land they purchased became Lanza Farms, a successful family farm that produces maple syrup and goat cheese.

A few years ago, Louie discovered Peekskill when he opened another business, Hot Rod Hotel, in nearby Buchanan. “It was love at first sight,” he recalled. He was attracted by the riverfront setting, historic buildings and homes, charming storefronts, art galleries, cultural diversity, the friendliness of the residents, civic-minded business leaders and the emerging restaurant scene, which of course, caught his eye.

He was struck by the variety of small restaurants off the beaten track where you can get home-cooked meals that transport you to other countries or a local grocery store that carries everything from plantains and hot chili peppers to organic peanut butter.

All in all, he was impressed by signs of economic revitalization, one he saw as a potential opportunity for himself.

As an accomplished restaurant operator with more than 25 years of experience (among his highly popular Manhattan eateries were Josephina, Josie East and Citrus Bar & Grill), Lanza saw great potential in investing in Peekskill’s future as a major restaurant destination in the Hudson Valley region. With that in mind and taking advantage of attractive prices, he invested “all that I had” and bought six properties. This month, the public will see for the first time what he did with his investment at one of those properties at 23 S. Division St. when The Hudson Room restaurant opens. Lanza says his new eatery, in close proximity to the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater, will offer a globally inspired cuisine prepared with local food sources as well as a sushi bar.

Lanza plans on opening his second restaurant, 55 Hudson, next spring. It will be built on the original site of the Peekskill Brewery and will consist of a roof deck where “patrons will enjoy outdoor dining and unrivaled views of the Hudson River, sure to become a hit.” His other investment properties are at 32 N. Division St., 137 N. Water St. and 51 Hudson Ave. As a member of the board of directors of the Peekskill Business Improvement District, Lanza is working together with its members, restaurant and business owners to build on the momentum of taking the city to the next level, not only as a major dining destination but as a highly attractive and affordable place to live and work. He says the city holds much promise and is fortunate to have attracted many who are investing in its future.

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Photograph by Bob Rozycki

A SPOT OF

TEA AND A SIDE OF CHARMING RESPITE

BY MARY SHUSTACK

“MY FINGERS ARE NOT BLUE ANYMORE,” Vivian McKenzie said with a laugh on a recent afternoon.

The owner and operator of Kathleen’s Tea Room in Peekskill had been asked about her monumental Super Bowl XLVIII assignment this past winter — preparing 1,500 miniature blueberry pies for a VIP Tailgate Party at MetLife Stadium.

It was tough, exciting and smart business.

“That was huge,” McKenzie said. “It was such an opportunity.”

Her networking led, for example, to her connecting with a Goldman Sachs scholarship program that offers business-growth mentoring.

For McKenzie, such forward movement reflects the goals she set when she bought both the business and its building, at 979 Main St., back in 2010.

“I left corporate America,” she said. “I was an insurance executive for probably 27 years.”

The move, though, was a natural as she was already involved in a soul-food restaurant in the city and its offshoot, a food truck (which she continues to operate today).

“I always had a passion for food,” McKenzie said. As one of a family of 10 growing up in Peekskill she said she was well familiar with cooking with “big pots.”

With its original owner retiring, McKenzie saw opportunity in Kathleen’s, a place she knew well.

“This has been rooted in the community for a lot of years,” she said. “It was my favorite place.”

Its success, she added, just needed “some tweaking.”

That included extending both the hours and the menu, adding seasonal and comfort

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Vivian McKenzie on the receiving end of her fine service.

foods ranging from a hearty macaroni and cheese to a summer shrimp salad.

In all, she said, “It was a very seamless transition.”

Today, the 48-seat spot remains an oasis from the everyday grind. Vintage-inspired surroundings include a tin ceiling, hardwood floors and tables dotted with mismatched tea cups and floral cloths. Throughout the room, where exposed brick adds a bit of an edge, accents range from teapots to artwork to jewelry and scarves that spill from wellworn cupboards, decorate mantels and surround mirrors.

“It’s really just a place to relax,” McKenzie said.

Patrons indeed linger over the traditional afternoon tea — there are some 60 tea options plus its famed scones — but equally savor sandwiches, salads, quiches, soups and desserts including the signature, a mixedberry shortcake.

Kathleen’s under McKenzie has thrived, she said.

“I’ve seen the business grow, probably by 60 percent, since I first took over.”

Plans for further growth include adding takeout and identifying and serving new customers. The venue is also popular for bridal showers and other celebrations, with

off-premises catering also available.

McKenzie, who is also a Democratic city councilwoman, said being an elected official complements her day job.

Flexible work hours allow her to attend to city business and also work with community organizations.

Having additional insight can only help Kathleen’s, she added.

“As a business owner, you need to know.”

A strength of the city, she added, is its “very diverse but close community” where business owners often bond.

“Everyone works off each other,” she said.

McKenzie sees much, from new restaurants to new alliances, only helping Peekskill grow.

“I think the business sector working with the artists is giving the area a real push,” she said by example.

And that means more people to enjoy Kathleen’s Tea Room.

“It used to be kind of an ‘older-ladies’ thing,” she said. Today, it’s a place for all ages, even drawing its share of businessmen attracted by options such as the roast beef sandwich.

And when it comes to her male customers, McKenzie is ready: “I tell them ‘If you don’t like the little dainty cups, we have mugs.’”

For more, visit kathleenstroom.com or call 914-734-2520.

EVENING STAR SHOWCASES HUDSON HIGHLANDS GATEWAY

BY MARK LUNGARIELLO

THE EVENING STAR, A HUDSON RIVER CRUISE BOAT, IS A 46-FOOT LONG DECOMMISSIONED U.S. COAST GUARD BUOY TENDER. IT SEATS 34 PEOPLE ON AN OPEN DECK COVERED IN A CANOPY AND THE BATHROOM IS ONLY ACCESSIBLE

BY CLIMBING DOWN A LADDER. It was converted to a passenger boat and toured the Erie Canal for several years before it was rechristened, sharing a name with the city of Peekskill’s now-defunct daily newspaper The Peekskill Evening Star.

When it first docked at the city’s Riverfront Green Park in 2011, it became the first cruise boat to call Peekskill its home port in what locals say must have been 50 or 60 years. (A boat called The Commander, now for sale according to its website, formerly had one tour a week).

Mary Pat Driscoll, boat owner and captain, had been working out of Chelsea Piers in Manhattan when she settled on Peekskill as a home port. She and her husband, Tim, moved the family up from New Jersey to Peekskill.

“I went on the advice of some people that were involved in the city and some people who had moved up this way,” she said.”It was a city that was working hard to promote itself as a destination, right away.”

The arrival of the Star for a half-season in 2011 was the sign of what many are touting as

the new waterfront renaissance in Peekskill that is serving to create a new economy for a city that struggled to come to terms with its post-industrial identity.

Near to where the Star docks is the busy train station on the Metro-North line, which brings city dwellers who purchase package train-boat deals for weekend getaways. Near the station is Yellow Brick Café, which opened last year, and just slightly upriver is the Peekskill Brewery. Scenic Hudson Park at Peekskill Landing is scheduled to open this summer north of the Star and to the south is Riverfront Green Park. All together, the city has nearly three miles of riverfront parkland, the largest such stretch in Westchester County.

“I do see more activity down here,” Driscoll said. “I think a lot more people are realizing things are happening down at the waterfront.”

The Star is now in the midst of its fourth season in the city overall, and third full season. Its most popular cruise, according to its owner, is the 1.5-hour sunset cruise in which riders are taken north up the river past the

Bear Mountain Bridge, near Sugar Loaf mountain and back down to the city as the sun sets.

Peekskill, Driscoll said, is the first port past New York City that visitors get the beauty of the mountains. “We’re right at the gateway of the Hudson Highlands,” she said.

The boat is also available for chartering, an increasingly popular option for school groups and others. That business has caught on mostly by word of mouth, she said. The Star expanded its offerings this year, and now does biweekly themed cruises that leave every other Saturday.

There is a wine-tasting cruise, a Sangria & Salsa cruise and a Brews & Blues cruise. The “Brews” cruise features craft beers from local breweries.

The Evening Star, run through Trinity Cruise Co., got a late start for the season this year, when the seemingly endless winter reared its ugly head. “Everybody was a little pushed behind because of ice on the river,” she said. The season began officially Memorial Day weekend – ideally it would open in mid May and run through October.

Driscoll said that even after captaining dozens of sunset cruises, the sunset still gets her attention. “Every time, I feel like a tourist myself,” she said. “I’m amazed at how beautiful it is.”

For info, visit trinitycruisecompany.com, call 914-589-7773 or email info@trinitycruises.com.

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Fleischman Pier

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Photographs by Jim Pinto.

KEEPING THE SWEET TASTES OF THE SOUTH ALIVE Gay WheelerSmith and Kecia PalmerCousins.

BY CRYSTAL KANG

SIX MONTHS AFTER SHOWCASING ITS SWEET POTATO PIES AND TARTS AT THE SUPER BOWL VIP TAILGATING PARTY IN METLIFE STADIUM, THE PEEKSKILL-BASED G&K SWEET FOODS L.L.C. BUSINESS HAS SPREAD ITS SOUTHERN HOME-BAKED GOODS TO NEW VENUES, INCLUDING BUSINESSES SUCH AS MORGAN STANLEY IN PURCHASE AND RESTAURANTS SUCH AS MAC IT IN NORWALK. The sweet potato pie business owners have increased sales by more than 50 percent since the Super Bowl, said Kecia Palmer-Cousins, G&K Sweet Foods chief operating officer. The best-selling item so far this summer is the 6-inch sweet potato pie.

The company’s newest product is the oatmeal raisin cookie, which it has been selling along with its pies at venues, including Elton Brand Leadership Academy in Peekskill, Soul Fixins’ in Manhattan, Muza Cafe in White Plains, Kathleen’s Tea Room in Peekskill and events such as the Big Backyard BBQ & Music Festival at The New York Botanical Garden and the Southern Westchester Food & Wine Festival in September.

Within the next quarter, they plan to launch their line of frozen sweet potato pie mix.

CEO Gay Wheeler-Smith’s great grandmother, who came up with the original recipe, has not only passed down a family tradition, but a formula for creating a business product.

“I remain motivated knowing that my great grandmother’s recipe has been passed down five generations, my daughter being the fi fth generation, and that Kecia and I have turned my family recipe into a thriving business,” Wheeler-Smith said. “It is exciting to see a dream from a long time ago evolve into a reality. It takes determination, perseverance, a specific skill set and relentless team approach to continue the legacy.”

G&K Sweet Foods, which is certified as a disadvantaged business enterprise, will continue to work with mentors to structure its marketing strategies and business plans to help them increase food contracts, Palmer-Cousins said. As they increase their presence in tristate supermarkets, they plan to partner with event planners that can use their pies and cookies as party favors for weddings, family reunions and corporate events. The long-term contracts they have sealed include partnerships with Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor, C-Town Supermarkets in Mount Vernon and Inga Watkins’ personal development program Modelquette in New Rochelle. They are also on the lookout for government contracts, including one with the Tappan Zee Bridge project.

Wheeler-Smith and Palmer-Cousins, who became friends at a book club in New Rochelle in 1997 after they realized they were both raised in the South eating sweet potato pies at every family meal, said they couldn’t fi nd a better way to carry on the tradition than to start their own business, which they hope to pass down for generations to come.

“Partnering and collaborating with Gay to commercialize her family’s recipe, has been a great opportunity for me to use my positive attitude, marketing, relationship building, decision making, networking, confl ict resolution skills and problem solving skills to take G&K Sweet Foods L.L.C. to the next level of becoming a profitable business with the goal of creating generational wealth and opportunities for my two sons, Gay’s daughter and job creations in our communities,” Palmer-Cousins said.

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PEEKSKILL SOARING

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BUOYED BY ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY

BY FRANK PAGANI

HUDSON VALLEY GATEWAY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN CELEBRATORY MODE DEBORAH L. MILONE,, executive director of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce, is in a very a festive mood. She has several good reasons to be, foremost is the chamber’s 100th anniversary in 2015, which will be celebrated during the annual dinner to be held in January at the Colonial Terrace.

The highlight of the program will be the recognition of businesses and organizations that have been in existence for more than 100 years. “We take great pride in the fact that there are several businesses and institutions, many of them family owned, that have been so much a part of the Hudson Valley’s rich history,” Milone said. Among those in the 100-plus club that will be honored are Cole’s Market, Bethel Homes, N. Dain’s Sons Co. Lumber, Arthur Weeks & Sons Jewelers, Peekskill Ice, Hudson Valley Hospital Center, Knights of Columbus and Peekskill Yacht (originally Peekskill Motor Boat Club) among others.

The centennial’s focus on the region’s history, which will be captured in a commemorative dinner journal consisting of archival photos, will set the stage for the chamber’s plans of bringing back one of its past signature events — the Hudson Valley Exposition. Launched in 1945, the exposition was designed to spur the region’s economy after the end of World War II. Recognizing the increasing attraction of the Hudson Valley as a major tourist destination, Milone says the 2015 Exposition, which will be held Aug 1, will feature reenactments of some of the area’s historic moments as well as a daylong program of fun-filled and educational activities, offering something for everyone. Visitors will be able to see how soldiers fought and lived at encampments along the Hudson River, which served as a key strategic setting and turning point for the American Revolution and relive Feb. 19, 1861 when the community cheered the arrival of President-elect Abraham Lincoln at the Peekskill Train Depot — his only stop in Westchester — on the way to his inauguration.

On a children’s stage in Peekskill, special presentations of historic moments will be acted

Deborah L. Milone

out, including “Heroes of the Hudson Valley, The Underground Railroad.” There will also be a performance of “The Wizard of Oz,” produced by Antonia Arts. The Oz offering will be part of “Peekskill: The Beginning of the Yellow Brick Road,” recalling how the experience of attending the Peekskill Military Academy in 1868 inspired author L. Frank Baum to create the classic children’s story.

Another reason for Milone to cheer is the chamber’s enhanced role in meeting the needs of businesses, residents and tourists in its service area encompassing the city of Peekskill, town of Cortlandt, town of Putnam Valley, village of Buchanan and village of Croton-on-Hudson. Under her leadership over the past four

years, membership grew from 324 to 450 and the attrition rate has been low, a testament to both the quality of new business-centric services and initiatives such as the integration of the Committee Latino into the chamber to “help assure we are providing services to the Latino business community.”

She also cites the emergence of the redesigned website, hvgatewaychamber.com, as a highly effective portal for tourists and other visitors. “The chamber is often the first place people from all over the country go to in order to get information about what to do and see while they are here. Once people experience the Hudson Valley as one of the country’s very best tourist destinations, they come back.”

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DAIN’S BUILDS ON ITS REPUTATION

BY FRANK PAGANI

TODAY, JEFF DAIN — the great-great grandson of Nathaniel — continues a sixth-generation family tradition of excellence as head of N. Dain’s Sons’ Co., Inc. — Peekskill’s oldest, continuing business.

To say that the times and the nature of the business have dramatically changed over the past 166 years is an understatement. What began as a modest, single-service operation on the banks of the Hudson evolved into a major, multiproduct/service business at 2 N. Water St. The three-acre property comprises a 30,000-square-foot warehouse, a 5,000-squarefoot store, 1,600-square-foot showroom and a 2,000-square-foot showplace for decks (one of the company’s principal markets) and a staff of 14 professionals committed to providing top quality products and exceptional customer service, the kind that generates repeat business and referrals.

As in the early years, contractors and builders remain a core market but “to keep up the with the times, we are constantly looking for niche products and services,” said Dain, adding that the company’s highly sophisticated customer base — extending throughout the Hudson Valley region, Connecticut and New York City — also includes homeowners and architects. Its diverse product line offers virtually every building product including kiln dried Douglas fir, the largest selection of composite, wood and vinyl

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Photograph by Jim Pinto

WHEN NATHANIEL DAIN FOUNDED HIS LUMBER COMPANY IN PEEKSKILL IN 1848, HE USED A HORSE AND WAGON TO DELIVER HEAVY LUMBER AND TIMBER TO CONSTRUCTION SITES IN TOWN AND OTHER INLAND LOCATIONS AS WELL AS A COMPANY-OWNED SCHOONER, ANNIE, TO TRANSPORT THE PRODUCTS TO SITES ALONG THE HUDSON RIVER INCLUDING WEST POINT.

Jeff Dain with sons James and Bryant.

decking in the area, moldings, windows, doors, siding, roofing, drywall, plywood, building materials, power and hand tools. It also maintains a complete contractors hardware store.

Another growth opportunity for the company is a green initiative. The Sawmill and Millwork division enables Dain to pick up wasted wood and logs on the properties of homeowners and transport them back to the shop to produce custom lumber to create flooring, beams, counterparts and furniture.

“There is a growing appreciation today to create natural looking products for the home and our company is in an excellent position to provide the better grades and competitively priced woods for this purpose,” explained Dain. “This is potentially a huge market for us, especially in New York City.”

Dain takes great pride in the fact the com-

pany is still in business helping people and the community. He says most of the houses of the 1800s were built with Dain lumber, a fact homeowners remind him when they walk into his shop to show him the name of the company on the reverse side of a wood panel that was removed during renovation. Another lasting Dain imprint on Peekskill is the new boardwalk along the riverfront that attracts many visitors year round. The company supplied materials for the framing for the popular walkway.

As for the company’s future, Jeff ’s two sons — Bryant, 22 and James, 21— are the sixth generation who are bringing complementary skills and talents to the business and are exploring ways to help assure the company will remain preeminent in its field. In keeping with the family’s legacy, they were also named after Nathaniel’s two sons.