Investors bring new energy to downtown Haverstraw
A former daycare turned bed-and-breakfast and a former barber shop turned real estate office, both in historic properties, are among the noticeable changes.
HAVERSTRAW - From an antique shop to a brewery, hopeful entrepreneurs opened a variety of businesses in the village downtown over the years, only to find their dreams shattered because of the lack of foot traffic.
That doesn't daunt Richard Sena. The longtime Rockland resident is seeking to apply his skills as a real estate broker and historic redevelopment specialist to help revitalize the village, once known as the brick-making capital of the world.
"I feel that this village has the potential that other rivertowns don't," Sena said. "This village has 90 percent of its original architecture, and that's unheard of in America. Usually everything gets knocked down."
A little more than a year ago, Sena purchased a two-story brick building on Haverstraw's Broadway for $155,000. The structure was built at the turn of the 20th century as two-family home; a section of the ground floor was later converted into a barber shop. Sena, who has previous redevelopment experience in the city of Hudson, transformed the ground-floor space into a real estate office, displaying a vintage barber chair and a marble mirror to honor the building's history.
Now he hopes to bring in more investors who want to restore the beauty of historic brick buildings that are currently covered up by aluminum siding.
"We should work with materials that are here," Sena said.
Haverstraw — a two-square-mile village with about 12,000 residents — has been trying for almost two decades to redevelop its waterfront into a lively downtown where people enjoy strolling, dining and shopping.
The yet-to-be-completed luxury Harbors at Haverstraw residential development on the Hudson River, part of the village's urban renewal initiative, brought hundreds of new residents, but was delayed by the recession. Ginsburg Development's plan to build condominiums has been modified to accommodate luxury rental apartments, but construction of the final few buildings in the riverfront community has yet to begin.
Several entrepreneurs who had invested in the downtown — including the owners of Ironhorse Antiques and Furniture Restorations, Bricktown Brewery and Soup Stone Cafe — packed up and left, saying that they were disappointed with the slow progress.
But Mayor Michael Kohut believes investors like Sena are a sign things are improving.
"It's another demonstration of people taking the chance in the village," Kohut said. "There's something about the village that draws them here."
Kohut, who's been in office since 2007, noted a downtown streetscape project, which many business owners have sought for more than a decade, is expected to finally begin this spring.
The plan is to install new sidewalks, decorative street lighting and trees.
Another investor in the downtown is Andrea Caccuro, who, along with her partner Nelson Diaz, has carefully restored an Italianate-style brick building on First Street beginning in December 2009. She purchased it for $275,000 from the Haverstraw Ecumenical Project, which had operated a day care program there for more than three decades.
Before repointing the exterior wall, Diaz, who's an artist, painstakingly removed layers of blue and white paint that had coated the bricks. He also reinstalled a towering radius-top front door to its original location, which had been altered to comply with day care regulations. The wooden door now shows off its natural color through coats of varnish.
The house, named Casa Hudson, has become a popular destination among travelers who use the lodging website Airbnb.com. Operated under the village's bed and breakfast permit, Casa Hudson offers three bedrooms, each equipped with a private bathroom.
“We are tapping into the new way that people travel," Caccuro said, adding that her guests range from New York City millennials to international travelers from the Middle East, Europe and China. "They love the diversity of the village and what it has to offer."
A former New York City resident, Caccuro said she isn't concerned about the pace of Haverstraw's revitalization.
"We like the village for what it is," Caccuro said. "There’s something to be said about the energy of Haverstraw and the creative people that it's pulling here."
