The current housing landscape features tracts of land with planned homes waiting to be built, with millions invested in the building of same, but no buyers are on hand and investors are unwilling to financing anything that smells of risk in the slippery housing economy.
It”™s been no different for developer Martin Ginsberg, founder of Ginsberg Development Companies in Valhalla, trailblazing along the Hudson River with upscale town home communities quickly gobbled up by enthralled buyers until the Great Recession took its toll, leaving many plans on drawing boards or in varying stages of construction at a standstill.
For Ginsberg, it meant scaling back longtime staff and watching verbal commitments made by banks and investors dry up like a drop of water on a hot grill. A planned market-rate apartment building on the southern end of his Rockland County Harbors at Haverstraw project remained dormant for several months, much to the disdain of Harbor homeowners.
Frank Cantore, project manager, said construction started again on Parkside Condominiums in November 2009 after the site sat dormant for 14 months. The idea of creating market-rate apartments is history, as is the rent-to-own concept envisioned when the market started to sour. Now, the new multistory building with underground parking available is strictly condo.
“We”™ve got models built and we have pre-sold a few units,” said Cantore, “but nearly a dozen others have binders contingent upon the buyer selling their current home. We”™re literally caught between a rock and a hard place. People come in and love what they see. They want to sell their home and move in, but they are stuck.”
Prices on apartments “have come down,” said Cantore. “We”™re seeing a lot of traffic ”“ but not a lot of sales. I think every builder out there is facing the same dilemma.” Despite the market, said Cantore, Ginsberg is going to finish the façade of the building and begin building apartments, hoping that funding streams begin to swell once more.
The village of Haverstraw Mayor Michael Kohut, is sympathetic to Ginsberg”™s plight. “I became mayor in 2007,” said the lifelong resident and former village trustee. “It was ”˜boom time”™ here. Marty Ginsberg was pumping millions into philanthropic endeavors here in the community, restoring the stone building next to the village hall for Rockland Community College, creating the sculpture trail along the Hudson, and sprucing up the downtown area. He truly had a vision for revitalizing Haverstraw. Then the home market came crashing down, taking everything with it.”
The village, a diverse mixture of cultures, had been slowly coming together with the influx of new money via Ginsberg”™s ambitious project and philanthropic efforts. “It was not until 2009 that we really started feeling the strain the recession was putting on the community,” Kohut said. “Revenues across the board, from parking meters to building permits, have come down 5 (percent) to 10 percent … and it could be more. We”™re not done yet, it seems.
“Yes, we have some empty storefronts,” he said, “but we”™ve also seen some new businesses come in, particularly restaurants. People still want to go out and are willing to spend money on good quality food. It is truly unfortunate the ”˜Ferry-Go-Round”™ didn”™t happen last year, nor will there be one this year. It was a big plus to our local restaurants and businesses and helped introduce Haverstraw to visitors. Marty (Ginsberg) funded that undertaking; it”™s just not do-able right now.”
Haverstraw”™s mayor is optimistic about Louis Hornick & Co.”™s Broadway manufacturing site being purchased by Blue Beverage Group in mid-2008 for a reported $6.46 million. “We lost hundreds of manufacturing jobs when Hornick”™s closed,” said Kohut. The new owners are renovating the 180,000-square-foot building to market shelf-stable milk-based drinks. “We”™re hoping to see at least 150 jobs created,” said the mayor.
Kohut is preparing the village”™s tentative $8.25 million budget for public review this month. It represents a 6 percent increase over last year, with fringe benefits, state pension costs and other expenses to pay municipal workers going up.
“New hires now pay 10 percent of their health insurance,” said Kohut, “but for others, it was built in and we are committed. Anyone reading the paper has seen how the state”™s pension costs have skyrocketed. We need to meet the gap. We have no choice.”
Kohut concedes municipalities are changing. “When municipal pay was low, fringe benefits were made attractive to attract good workers, but I think the system as we know it today will change in the next 10 years and we”™ll see a major change in government. Our property tax system is so punitive it cannot sustain itself and unfunded mandates are sucking the life out of us.”
The village has taken some steps to reduce costs: consolidating its police force into the town of Haverstraw”™s force and streamlining the approval process so new business can come into the village.
Kohut said New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo came to the municipality to talk consolidation and mergers between towns and villages last year.
“Getting rid of layers of government is easier said than done,” said Kohut. “I”™m not afraid to say I would consider dissolution of the village if it meant helping the taxpayers. But if we”™re forced to downsize, let”™s not start revving it up once the economy gets better again. The fact is, people like the small town feel of being able to walk into the village or town hall and talk to the person in charge. But eventually, something”™s gotta give.”
Ginsberg was unavailable for comment.
