Downtown homestead
Roach motel, crack kingdom: Both described the old Newburgh Hotel on lower Broadway, where squalor and crime went hand in hand and violation warrants were used like wallpaper. It was 88 apartments that were “home” in name only.
Trish Haggerty-Wenz may have been thinking Ritz Theater when she saw the Newburgh Hotel ”“ but she was inspired to try to do what her sister-in-law had done to another flea-bag in midtown Manhattan: transform it from welfare hotel to a community residence with tenants like Starbucks. “When I called and told her about the Newburgh Hotel,” said Haggerty-Wenz, “she wished me luck.” Â
It took more than luck to secure the $3.1 million needed to purchase the 116,000-square-foot hotel with adjoining theater; another $17 million was needed ”“ and secured through grants during New York”™s boom time ”“ to create 116 apartments and 12 artists”™ lofts out of the former hotel.
Today, Safe Harbors of the Hudson is a real home, with a community room for parties, a library, a computer room and gives its residents a feeling of self-esteem beyond value.
There”™s no loitering allowed in front, and with a staff of 25 administrative people and security guards, Safe Harbors makes sure the entrance, halls and common areas are secure, safe and pleasant. Â
Haggerty-Wenz said that “55 of the original 88 families that were here stuck it out during construction,” which began in 2006 and ended last year. Safe Harbors is self-supporting, relying on rental income and grant money to keep its books balanced. Â
Haggerty-Wenz has not given up on refurbishing the Ritz Theater, the last one standing in Newburgh, which sat 800 people in its heyday, propelled Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz to stardom and was a focal point of downtown Newburgh. That restoration project? $10 million ”“ a daunting sum even in a healthy climate.
Haggerty-Wenz is not easily defeated, having already turned the theater”™s lobby into a meeting place where performances on its polished, restored wood floors have helped raise funds for the eventual reclamation of the theater. Around the corner on Ann Street, an art gallery is another addition to what Haggerty-Wenz and her energetic board of directors hope will enhance the theater when, not if, it reopens.
“When people think of the homeless, they think of people that can”™t make it in the ”˜regular”™ world,” said Haggerty-Wenz. “But the fact is, it could be any one of us. Divorce, lack of any living family members to help, the inability to find decent work, debilitating illness can all contribute to going from having a home to becoming homelessness. How many of us think we will ever live in our cars and then lose the car, too?”
Right now, the Ritz is making a small but significant dent in Newburgh”™s downtown. Tom Humphrey”™s successful guitar series sold out in February and is already sold out this month, with the hotel”™s former lobby as its venue. “That”™s money that”™s going to eventually help us reclaim the entire theater,” said Haggerty-Wenz. The art gallery and the lobby are both rented out for events, which have become an invaluable source of capital for the theater project. A planned collaboration between the Ritz, the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie and the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston would create an artistic triangle for the Hudson Valley”™s music and art community.
“It goes without saying we need more places like Safe Harbors,” says Haggerty-Wenz. “Rents are astronomical, and many people just can”™t afford to make ends meet. Safe Harbors truly provides affordable housing and is making a positive contribution to the neighborhood. We need more of them.”
Haggerty-Wenz has every intention of being part of the stakeholders that bring Newburgh back to its former status of “All America City.” And if you visit her at Safe Harbors, this time, you”™ll be able to take the elevator, the one that wasn”™t working before the former hotel became a safe haven.