The Diamond Mills Inn & Conference Center in Saugerties is the jewel in Tom Struzzieri”™s Horse Shows In The Sun”™s crown. He came to the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Kingston April 26 to talk to its members about the difficulty of getting projects built in a timely manner.
Struzzieri shared the history of the property and highlights of Diamond Mills Inn & Conference Center, which he hopes to complete by September. Diamond Mills is expected to feature a conference center and 40-room boutique hotel with a 400-seat catering hall and 100-seat restaurant.
“My hope is that this project makes a statement, not just as a beautiful building that will house and facilitate some wonderful events ”¦ but a statement that Ulster County is a can-do community,” Struzzieri told business owners.
Struzzieri, founder of the Horse Shows in the Sun (HITS) in Saugerties, described the approval process as “fairly difficult.” Struzzieri said it could take five to seven years to obtain the necessary permits for a proposed hydroelectric plant to be built on the Esopus Creek dam.
“Every time I build something, I”™m overwhelmed with how difficult it can be to bring a project from start to finish,” he said. “We”™ve got to find a way to streamline that. There”™s just no way we can expect people to tie up money and resources for as long as we ask them to build any kind of a project in our community. We have to find a way to get past that. We waste so much resources, time, intellect and money.”
Struzzieri found Ulster County”™s Development Corporation (UCDC) “terrifically useful and helpful.” The Ulster County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), the UCDC”™s financing arm, helped secure $8.8 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project. The total cost of Diamond Mills resort is anticipated to be $12 million.
“There is no question that the project was able to be completed because of the UCDC,” he said. UCDC President Lance Matteson was “always there” to speak favorably of the project, Struzzieri said.
Struzzieri said many of the horse show participants who attend HITS would use the new hotel rather than seek lodging elsewhere. He noted that 1,000 hotel rooms are needed when HITS is in season.
“For three months, HITS will use it pretty hard, thank goodness,” he said.
Struzzieri said Saugerties Town Supervisor Greg Helsmoortel reminded him recently of a conversation the two shared not long after Struzzieri moved to Ulster 13 years ago.
“I said that Saugerties really is a village with extraordinary potential ”“untapped potential perhaps ”“ and what would make it complete and get it turned in the required direction is some sort of a beacon.
At the risk of being cocky about our new project,” said Struzzieri, “we hope that we”™re about to build such a venue.”
HITS will host the Pfizer $1 million Grand Prix Sept. 11. Pfizer held the annual event in Saugerties for the first time last year.
