Kamala and Haifa Mahabir have watched business percolate steadily since their mother, Souad Mahabir, six-plus years ago opened Blue Mountain Coffee Roasters at 35 Main St. in Poughkeepsie ”“ Dooley Square.
Then came October 2009. “When the Walkway opened, I”™d say we saw an increase of one-third,” said Kamala.
Their aunt, Hayat Thompson, joined the young women, sharing a laugh and enjoying the day. A relative was in town, of note for his white cowboy hat and bolo tie. On the open-air porch in front of the coffee shop the positive family energy was something to which the chains can only aspire. “The biggest benefit here is this is a walking city,” said Haifa. “I love that.”
Blue Mountain”™s home city after seemingly an epoch of inertia, is of a like, active vibe. “Our most-recent census numbers are 32,759,” said Mayor John Tkazyik. “Not since the 1960s have we been over 30,000. We have reversed the trend. It”™s a great time for Poughkeepsie.”
Blue Mountain was the first store to sign at the renovated Dooley Square, now boasting 100 percent occupancy with the recent opening of a nail salon. A few doors north, early lunchtime crowds filtered into Mahoney”™s Irish Pub and Restaurant, designed around a circular, interior balcony. The day was overcast, the mood at Dooley Square: upbeat. “I don”™t even think they call it Dooley Square too much anymore,” said Haifa. “People just call it ”˜the Square.”™”
At the bottom of Main Street in Waryas Park, Jeffrey Pyle was about to cast off with his inaugural restaurant-boat cruise from the park”™s dock. His gourmet menus will feature “tons of linens and tons of food,” he said. “Buying local is huge for us. It is key to us to procure all of our supplies and needs locally.
“Tourism is huge here,” Pyle said, 24 hours shy of his launch. “It”™s growing and it will continue to grow.” Pyle grew up in Poughkeepsie as a boy and has returned with his wife/business partner Stephenie and his brother, Richard, specifically because of what they saw happening. “Irrespective of political party, we think Mayor Tkazyik has the right vision. This river is the biggest thing we have.”
Viewing the river from 212 feet in the air has been a boon.
“They are getting the numbers,” said Tracy Norfleet, principal of Tracies Ladies Shoes in Poughkeepsie and Kingston, who hiked the Walkway Over the Hudson recently. “I”™ve seen a lot of people from all over. We”™re bringing in the tourists, now we need the businesses to support their needs.”
The Walkway attracted 780,000tourists in its first year of operation, walloping the walkways”™ own economic development prediction of 287,000 in the first year. Tkazyik called the walkway “our single-biggest economic engine in the last decade.”
Tkazyik credits, at least in part, a pro-business attitude. He promises open arms to the business community, saying, “We are cutting red tape and we”™ve transformed the way business is conducted in this city. That has resonated.” Though he hesitates to talk about the family business on the city”™s dime, he is a third-generation principal in 63-year-old Andy”™s Restaurant at 45 Dutchess Ave. in Poughkeepsie. Walking the walk of economic revival, he said the restaurant just underwent a $1 million expansion.
Tkazyik ticked off a string of development successes beginning south of Waryas Park at Joe Bonura”™s DeLaval Separator Co. development ”“ on a former cream-and-milk plant site ”“ now entering Phase 2 of development. Phase 1 has witnessed the completion of Shadows on the Hudson Restaurant and The Grandview, hosting “any type of social or business function from weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs to banquets, meetings and conferences.” Besides the view, the ballroom capacity ranges from 100 to 600. Both Shadows and Grandview are at the south end of Rinaldi Boulevard. A 55-slip marina, under way, is part of Phase 2, which will include outdoor recreation opportunities, restaurants, retail space and a river esplanade.
Farther north, the Old Poughkeepsie Ice House is becoming a restaurant and cafe. The cafe after $150,000 input from the developer, should open in June, Tkazyik said. “These are the sort of public-private partnerships we are working toward,” he said, noting the Pyles”™ Mystere 88-seat dining boat fit that equation, as well. “It”™s one step at a time ”“ each is a piece of the puzzle we”™re putting together. These public-private partnerships are allowing municipalities to work today ”“ cities and towns can”™t go it alone.”
The mayor wants to open further the walkway to Highland to pedestrian traffic, a goal mentioned also by the Mahabir sisters. The city has agreed to build a pedestrian footbridge over the Fallkill Creek to spur movement from Main Street north along the water and to pursue Community Development Block Grants to build an elevator to the walkway, making it more accessible to those with impaired mobility. “The perfect link,” Tkazyik said, hoping to see results next year.
Tkazyik credited Vassar Brothers Medical Center ”“ the city”™s biggest employer ”“ with spurring growth via a $66 million capital-projects infusion. He also was enthusiastic about the Dutton Lumber project, a planned mixed-use development on a current brownfield south of Marist College. “We”™ve erupted,” Tkazyik said, referencing the word positively.
