A group of Ossining residents has launched a community investment fund and commercial development initiative that its founders see as a pioneering model in Westchester County for sparking downtown revitalization and private investment in Main Street business districts.
Started in March, Grow Ossining recently reached its initial goal to raise $10,000 in seed money to cover startup costs for the enterprise by seeking $100 contributions from 100 Ossining residents. Attorney Wayne Spector, who co-founded Grow Ossining with another longtime Ossining resident, Dennis Kirby, said a little more than $11,000 was raised in the brief startup campaign.
“Even though it”™s a small amount, it indicates that people are interested in and embrace the initiative,” Spector said. The founding members will use some of the funds to structure Grow Ossining as a limited partnership and to prepare a business plan, legal prospectus and an offering plan for investors.
- The former Bank for Savings, a landmark in the village of Ossining’s downtown business district.
Spector is a partner at Cohn & Spector Esqs. in White Plains and attorney for the town of Ossining. Kirby is a former facilities and planning manager at PepsiCo Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and a member of the town of Ossining planning board, on which Spector served for 15 years. Their focus at Grow Ossining is the village”™s Main Street business district, which they said has lagged behind those in nearby communities on the Hudson River and Long Island Sound, such as Peekskill and Port Chester, that have reanimated their downtowns as retail, dining and entertainment destinations.
“People kept saying, ”˜Why can”™t Ossining be like Nyack? Why can”™t Ossining be like Tarrytown?”™” Spector said. “We always felt this was a great community. What it lacked was a central core of business ”“ if it could ever ignite itself.
“I think there”™s been a psychological barrier in some ways that has to be crashed in order for Ossining to take off,” he said.
In the group”™s second investment phase expected to start later this year, the founders are aiming to reach a funding threshold of $1.25 million to $1.5 million, which Grow Ossining will use either to buy land for commercial construction or to redevelop an existing property. The community group plans to open a social destination such as a bar, restaurant, marketplace, gallery or live entertainment venue to draw local residents and visitors to downtown Ossining and catalyze more development there.
“Every option is on the table,” Spector said of the group”™s potential business endeavor. Grow Ossining, though, likely will not directly operate the funded business. “We”™re not going to run a restaurant,” said Spector, citing an example. The group instead could form a joint venture with a leading restaurateur, he said.
Kirby said the group ultimately aims to raise $2.5 million from investors. If 600 to 800 families invest in the community fund, “They”™re all going to have skin in the game,” he said.
Spector said the group wants to attract a broad range of investors and will set minimum and maximum limits on investments. “There will be a maximum because we don”™t want any small group of individuals to take control,” he said.
Kirby said the investment offering will be extended only to New York residents to avoid U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory filings required for interstate investments.
“We feel we should be ready by either late fall or the end of the year to accept investments or pledges,” he said.
The founder said Grow Ossining has a core steering committee of 10 to 12 residents of the greater Ossining community who have professional expertise and personal experience in finance, law, architecture, construction, marketing, real estate, fundraising, community action, property management, restaurant operation and interior design.
“We feel if we bring the community in” as commercial investors, Spector said, “it”™s going to open up eyes in the business world to Ossining. People are going to realize this is a community worth investing in. This could trigger an incredible renaissance for Ossining, given all its wonderful features.”
Kirby said his personal interest in forming Grow Ossining was spurred by his reading last year of a book by journalist Amy Cortese, “Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It.” “As an investor, I have money in the stock market and some 401(k)s and retirement funds,” he said. “And it always bothered me that you could not invest any of your funds into local industries.” Cortese”™s book showed ways to do that and case studies in local business investing around the country.
“I think this would be pioneering for Westchester County,” Spector said of Grow Ossining”™s enterprise. “You don”™t see anything like this in Westchester County.”
“I think this could be a tremendous example for other communities that are working to revitalize their downtown, create a buzz in their downtown,” he said.
