When the New York Military Academy in the Orange County village of Cornwall-on-Hudson announced its 2009 graduating class would be its last, parents of students, calling themselves NYMA 2.0, sprinted into action.
The parent group was fundraising to keep doors open, reaching out to past alumni for financial aid. Two local business owners and developers, Joseph Bonura Sr. and Wayne Corts, came forward in late June, loaning $5.8 million to the 121-year-old military academy to continue operating.
Corts, who owns several properties in the region and recently bought and renovated the former Inn at Central Valley (now Falkirk Estate and Country Club) and Bonura, a restaurateur who owns Anthony”™s Pier 9 in New Windsor and The Grandview and Shadows on the Hudson in Poughkeepsie, stepped up to keep the school”™s doors open.
To recoup the loan and provide future capital for NYMA, Bonura and Corts are proposing to develop part of the 133-acre property that fronts the Hudson River. A desirable location for new residential construction, it would include rehabilitation of former residences and offer the promise for retail and restaurant development. They have been discussing the proposal with the Cornwall Town Board, said supervisor Kevin Quigley.
“Mr. Corts and Mr. Bonura want to develop some of the land NYMA does not actively use,” said its new superintendent, Army Major Jeff Coverdale. “Right now, the school is open, we”™ve got a new curriculum, have downsized the staff and have a good program in place. Several students have returned and we hope to see our enrollment increase to at least 100 by 2011. We”™ve had several meetings with the town over the proposal, and I think we have a very good working relationship.”
Quigley said he and the Cornwall Town Board have had several meetings with NYMA, Corts and Bonura. “We understand the need for the school to be financially viable, and the proposal to develop part of the property would help NYMA repay the loan they received to stay open and to become financially viable.
“There would be a need to make some changes to the road leading down to the faculty housing, which is currently a private road. We”™d want that road to conform to town code and be dedicated as a public road,” Quigley said. “We are also reviewing the town”™s master plan, and the 118 acres NYMA currently owns is a substantial size of that plan.”
Bonura, whose granddaughter is currently enrolled at NYMA, and Corts, whose brother attended the academy in the 1980s, plan to meet with the town board with a proposal on how the property would be developed within the next few weeks.
“This is a way for the town to create some rateables and to safeguard the academy and keep it running in the black, since the school and the entire property is totally off the tax rolls,” Quigley said. “Both Mr. Bonura and Mr. Corts are proposing to build some new housing and rehabilitate the existing homes and stay within the existing footprint, as well as adding some retail and commercial space to the waterfront. We anticipate they will present us with a plan for development that would benefit all concerned.”
