When you share a vision with someone who loves a city, dreams can come true.
William Richards, president of SUNY Orange, wanted to see the campus”™ Newburgh Extension in the former Key Bank building on lower Broadway expand and accommodate more students. He could not have chosen a better person to share his vision with than Bill Kaplan, whose Newburgh company, Regal Handbags, was a city mainstay for decades.
Kaplan and his late wife, Elaine, had created a charitable foundation and were busy investing in the city where they did business, raised their children and, like so many of their generation, knew Newburgh when it was the “All American City” in 1952.
Kaplan and his daughters have continued the work he and his wife began: giving back to the city and to several other organizations in the Hudson Valley. From hospitals to centers for disabled and troubled children, Kaplan”™s name is on the landscape in many towns and communities throughout the area. Now, the Kaplan Family Foundation has another feather in its cap, the 85,000-square-foot science and technology center on Grand Street in Newburgh, which was formally dedicated March 24.
From U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey to state Sen. Bill Larkin and dozens of county and local officials, the Kaplans and more than 400 guests, faculty members and students took part in the formal dedication of Kaplan Hall. You couldn”™t miss the excitement in Hudson Hall, with its magnificent view of the river, and  the celebration was carried throughout the school via a live broadcast ”“ one of the many ways Kaplan Hall has distinguished itself as a 21st century model for learning and making use of the latest technology on the market.
SUNY Orange Extension students are no longer “extended” ”“ they  can take all their classes at the new campus and graduate from there now that it is a standalone facility from the Middletown campus. Students are taking classes in Kaplan Hall while Holt Construction is renovating the former Key Bank building. Once that”™s completed by the end of summer, the entire campus will be ready. Richards said he hoped the new college would bring the entire city hope for a stronger and more vibrant community and reminded guests that, “for every dollar spent, twice that amount comes back to us in the form of economic development.”
Kaplan”™s $10 million donation ”“ made with the stipulation that the college be built in the city limits ”“ was the impetus to get former Gov. George Pataki, the SUNY system and Orange County Executive Ed Diana and the Legislature to take the project seriously. Coming in on time and under budget, the new $85 million Kaplan Hall is a marvel of technology and certainly the shape of things to come in education, from smart boards to real-time hospital settings, complete with simulated patients.
“I”™ve worked on many projects,” said JMZ Architects”™ managing principal, Tenee Casaccio, “but this is the first project we”™ve done in an urban area that was so complex. It is a perfect example of, “Where there”™s a will, there”™s a way.”™Â It was just incredible to work with the construction team, the SUNY staff and everyone who made this happen. Even though we designed it, I”™m absolutely in love with the finished project. It truly is a perfect fit.”
