From the time Martin Ginsburg and his bothers Sam and Jerome built their first home in the town of Greenburgh in 1964, much of the developers”™ philosophy in building homes has not changed.
“We didn”™t have much money so we learned how to build on very difficult lots that no one else wanted to,” Martin Ginsburg said. “Everyone thought we preferred difficult lots. We still have a tendency to do that.”
The brothers”™ development company, Ginsburg Development Corp. recently celebrated its 45th anniversary.
Ginsburg, president and CEO of the company, has long had a passion for the Hudson River and many of GDC”™s major projects have been built on the waterfront.
In an interview, Ginsburg discussed the untapped potential of the mighty river and changes he has seen in the industry through 45 years.
After completing the first project in Greenburgh, the Ginsburgs”™ fledgling company built two homes, then five lots and then 25 lots.
Martin and his brother Sam were architects who didn”™t think of getting into the development business, but were recruited by their brother Jerome, an attorney who wanted to go into the building business.
“He became involved thinking this was going to be a good business to make money in,” Ginsburg said. “We were both idealistic architects.”
Over the next few decades, GDC branched out and built office buildings, high-rise apartments and affordable housing.
“We had built up a substantial portfolio,” Ginsburg said.
GDC eventually built several luxury projects over the years on the Hudson riverfront, including Harbors, Haverstraw and Riverbend and Chapel Hill in Peekskill, and Hudson Pointe in Poughkeepsie.
“Creating destination places on the Hudson River is a major part of what I”™m trying to accomplish, both as developer and someone interested in the future of the Hudson River Valley,” he said.
Ginsburg is a longtime proponent of “activating” the river and making it an international tourist destination. And has been very outspoken about how to get that done.
Ginsburg views Hudson Valley rivertowns as a “string of pearls” that will revitalize the entire region.
Tens of millions of tourists flock to New York City each year and they would travel up the Hudson if there were things attracting them, he said.
Heather Duke, director of tourism for Rockland County, agreed that the river is underutilized, and believes the vision for the valley in the future replete with cruise ships that Ginsburg espouses could become a reality.
“That”™s certainly something that could be in our future,” she said.
Ginsburg said once riverfront cities and villages are revitalized, tour boats and cruise ships can be operated that link each town and city. He envisions tourists traveling up and down the river, stopping periodically at different locations shopping, walking and eating, and staying overnight at one of the many inns or hotels that each riverfront city would have, and continue the process the next day.
One of the major keys to achieving this vision, Ginsburg said, is piers, so the tour boats could stop at each river town.
If you add cultural attractions, such as museums, the valley would be flush with tourists and become an economic engine, he said.
Ginsburg discussed the state”™s quadricentennial celebration set for 2009, to commemorate Henry Hudson”™s trip up the river that bears his name.
He said the event “is a huge missed opportunity” for the state.
While there will likely be fireworks, tall ships and shoreline festivals, Ginsburg said it “will be just an event” whereas he believes the anniversary should be used as a springboard to creating the “string of pearls” he has long advocated.
He said the event should be treated like the Olympics, and used as an opportunity to construct legacy projects that will last long into the future, much like the stadiums and other structures sometimes built for an Olympic games and used by the region for years thereafter.
Some riverfront projects GDC is currently working on include The Abbey at Fort Hill in Peekskill and Saw Mill Lofts in Hastings-on-Hudson.
Ginsburg said he is not looking to destroy the natural beauty of the Hudson Valley by simply building wantonly, but rather to build projects that preserve the character of the area.
“We seek to build a project that looks like it always belonged there,” he said. “We try to work with the natural elements of the site.”
Ginsburg is on the quadricentennial committee appointed by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and has expressed his views to others involved with the river celebration. Ginsburg said he has talked to other committee members, as well as the former governor and other state legislators about his ideas for the future of the Hudson Valley, but believes there needs to be more political will to get it done.
“Words aren”™t going do this, there must be a vision and there has to be the money to follow the vision,” he said.
